I was thinking about myself as to who am I? When I self internalized I
found that like every individual I am a person who loves independence.
But when I actually looked outside I found that this independence is no
where. One question that came to my mind was that even after 64 years of
independence are we really Independent? When I was born that time I was
under the guidance of my parents and was totally dependent on them.
They influenced me as to what I am today. When I grew up and went to
school I was bounded by the rules and regulations. The same was
applicable even for the college. At every point of time I remember the
quote “Man is born free but lives in chains”. That time people used to
say all this would be helpful in becoming a good citizen and once I
become an adult I will be free and can live my life independently. On my
18th birthday I was very excited that now I will be independent and
will make a new world of my own. I will be independent and can take my
decisions independently. Was this really possible? Soon my dreams were
dashed to the ground. All around me was blood and more blood. Every
sight caused me immense pain and everytime I questioned myself are we
independent? Although we fought for independence but still we are
dependent much more than what we were before getting independence. I
found the society was very conservative. In reality it was not at all
independent. Whatever I did I was imposed to follow certain ethics and
norms in life. The thought of doing something was always followed by the
thought as to how the society would perceive me or my thinking. I just
cannot do whatever I want because that can harm others mentally and
physically thus making it rather difficult for me to take independent
decisions. Every action or decision was bounded by the perception of the
society. We can never be completely independent as long as we live in a
society. In order to be really independent one should have the right to
live their lives in the way they want. The society was surrounded by
corruption and corrupt politicians. Bribery was the order of the day.
People were killing each other for no reason. The crime rates had
increased and people were no longer feeling safe. Soon I realized that
everything was not as good as I thought it to be, forget about being
united and independent , even relationships were not valued. People were
ready to sell their families for the sake of money or even go to the
extent of killing them for their own needs. Though people used to say
that the Country is free from slavery but still it existed in different
forms. Out of which the problem of child labor was very severe. Children
were abused and were forced to beg. The society was also facing the
problem of unemployment. People were dying out of hunger as they could
not afford 2 meals a day. Due to lack in education, women were most
affected and they went through was suffering and pain. They were never
considered at par with men. They were always looked down upon and were
never accepted in the society as working women. Bribery was still in
existence due to which many lives were also lost. Everyone was much
aware of the fact that the practice of dowry was bad and not right but
still it was being accepted and followed at all levels. We call
ourselves independent and educated, then why can’t we break this
conservatism. We are still dependent on the political system which keeps
the people illiterate so that the votes can be controlled easily. We
have to depend on one another for our needs. Each one of us was living a
misleading path of life where our likes and dislikes did not make any
sense and had no existence in the real independent world. It’s high time
we realize that each individual is a unique piece of art and give each
person their birthright the right to live the way they want. Was this
the independence that I was looking for? Was this the independence for
which the freedom fighters gave their lives? Even after 50 years of
independent are we really independent?
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Are we really independent?
I’m here to help with just about anything, from explaining EDI to helping you decide what toppings go best on a pizza (spoiler: it's never pineapple… unless you’re into that). Need a serious answer? I got you. Need a laugh? I’ll try my best (AI humor: it’s an acquired taste). Basically, I'm like that friend who always shows up to help, just without the snacks.
Is quota the solution?
There aren’t many people in India who would disagree with the fact, and I call it a “fact” for specific reasons, that the OBC population is more than the proposed 27% reservation for them in the institutes of higher learning such as the IITs and the IIMs. But still the Supreme Court has not decided to step on the gas. The government is not ready to listen and so is even the opposition. Why not? Who does not want the votes of those of whom a large chunk goes to vote? But still the question remains in front of all, is quota the only solution? Or should I put it in another way, as, is quota the solution to this age old problem of social and economic inequality?
I do agree with the intent of the policy makers, if at all they have one. But the way they are planning, if at all they have made any plans for it, to implement it, is completely out of my senses. Today we do not need a system where the institutes of higher learning should be made a mockery in the hands of the political parties and be run on the whims and fancies of one man with whom no one could disagree for obvious reasons. In fact, the Planning Commission would itself agree with me and would even support me with its findings. A little less than one third of the primary school teachers have not themselves completed higher education, more than one third of the children who have passed 4th standard can not read a small paragraph meant to be read by a child of 2nd standard and more than half of these children cannot divide a three digit number by a one digit number. This is where the problem lies. How can one even think of fruits from a tree which has been uprooted long back and is just standing some how because of some weak supports which can fall any day?
The truth is that the foundation of the Indian education system is weak. The government needs to revamp the whole system. It is time for an education overhaul and the first step should be in the direction of quality primary education for all. If this is done effectively, there would be no need for a quota system for these candidates in the institutes of higher learning. The government must encourage non-profit organizations to come forward and take part in such initiatives which aim to build a better future for the backward classes by building their tomorrow and empowering them to build a good future for themselves instead indulging in vote-bank politics. Meritocracy is the need in certain areas and mediocrity can be accepted in the others. But there is a need to identify the two and act accordingly. Only then can we truly achieve the goal with which this whole concept of reservations was framed!
So what exactly is the solution? Well, clearly there isn’t a good primary education system for the poor and the backward classes. So, first of all the government needs to initiate schemes for developing the same and allocate more resources towards this direction. Secondly, it must understand that there are jobs like those of major medical professionals which need to be performed by meritorious candidates passing out of elite institutes such as AIIMS and there are some jobs such as those of production and electrical engineers at the sites of various private and PSU units which can be done by an average professional who has the basic knowledge and skills and thus can be done by people passing out through the reserved seats from other institutes. This is the simple principle of “mediocrity and meritocracy”. Once implemented, it will guarantee equality and would also ensure that institutes of higher learning do not lose their identity in the eyes of the people. Moreover, it is the right approach to bring about the cause for which reservations were first introduced. Thus, it is time for the government to change its course of action. Else, the power of electorate can do wonders, any day.
I do agree with the intent of the policy makers, if at all they have one. But the way they are planning, if at all they have made any plans for it, to implement it, is completely out of my senses. Today we do not need a system where the institutes of higher learning should be made a mockery in the hands of the political parties and be run on the whims and fancies of one man with whom no one could disagree for obvious reasons. In fact, the Planning Commission would itself agree with me and would even support me with its findings. A little less than one third of the primary school teachers have not themselves completed higher education, more than one third of the children who have passed 4th standard can not read a small paragraph meant to be read by a child of 2nd standard and more than half of these children cannot divide a three digit number by a one digit number. This is where the problem lies. How can one even think of fruits from a tree which has been uprooted long back and is just standing some how because of some weak supports which can fall any day?
The truth is that the foundation of the Indian education system is weak. The government needs to revamp the whole system. It is time for an education overhaul and the first step should be in the direction of quality primary education for all. If this is done effectively, there would be no need for a quota system for these candidates in the institutes of higher learning. The government must encourage non-profit organizations to come forward and take part in such initiatives which aim to build a better future for the backward classes by building their tomorrow and empowering them to build a good future for themselves instead indulging in vote-bank politics. Meritocracy is the need in certain areas and mediocrity can be accepted in the others. But there is a need to identify the two and act accordingly. Only then can we truly achieve the goal with which this whole concept of reservations was framed!
So what exactly is the solution? Well, clearly there isn’t a good primary education system for the poor and the backward classes. So, first of all the government needs to initiate schemes for developing the same and allocate more resources towards this direction. Secondly, it must understand that there are jobs like those of major medical professionals which need to be performed by meritorious candidates passing out of elite institutes such as AIIMS and there are some jobs such as those of production and electrical engineers at the sites of various private and PSU units which can be done by an average professional who has the basic knowledge and skills and thus can be done by people passing out through the reserved seats from other institutes. This is the simple principle of “mediocrity and meritocracy”. Once implemented, it will guarantee equality and would also ensure that institutes of higher learning do not lose their identity in the eyes of the people. Moreover, it is the right approach to bring about the cause for which reservations were first introduced. Thus, it is time for the government to change its course of action. Else, the power of electorate can do wonders, any day.
I’m here to help with just about anything, from explaining EDI to helping you decide what toppings go best on a pizza (spoiler: it's never pineapple… unless you’re into that). Need a serious answer? I got you. Need a laugh? I’ll try my best (AI humor: it’s an acquired taste). Basically, I'm like that friend who always shows up to help, just without the snacks.
Indian Education System
The future of India will be furnished in its classrooms. While India has made great progress in improving its education system over the last couple of decades, still a lot remains to be done. The basic issues which need to be addressed at this stage are helping teachers being effective in what they do, improving the quality and relevance of classroom studies, and making quantifiable and measurable progress towards improving efficiency. This is to be done with an understanding of the special cultural, social, political and economic factors prevalent in the country.
Currently everywhere we hear the word ‘Reservation’, be it at primary class level or at higher education level. But still we are uncertain about the improvement in the social and economic standards for all classes of society. Also this step is raising quite a few eye-brows of the people who think that this is not an appropriate way of raising standards. What we lack is a effective and satisfactory action plan which yields us the desired outcome.
What I feel is that we must primarily focus on ‘School-level’ education, simply because that is where the foundations for learning are laid and it is where the most daunting challenges lie. When we talk about providing equal education opportunities to everyone in the country regardless of religion and caste then providing reservation in higher education is never going to serve the purpose. What is required is to make the base of the system itself strong enough the extent that does not require any reservation / quota system for its support at the top.
These are a few problems we are facing currently and which need to be addressed urgently.
Lack of access to the poorest and the marginalized: While the country has made significant progress in enhancing access, a significant number of children still remain out of school – many of these coming from disadvantaged backgrounds/districts. We account for one fourth of the world’s 104 million out of school children, most of them concentrated in six states. Still a significant portion of it doesn’t have access to elementary education.
Prevailing gender disparities: Though a few states have now reached gender parity at the primary level, others still lag behind. India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. Less than 50 percent of the women aged 7 and over are literate.
Weak Outcomes: Poor quality of education is an underlying theme which runs across the system and is reflected in poor outcomes. Owing to high dropout and repetition rates, primary completion rates in the country are among the lowest in the world. Out of every 100 students that enter the primary education cycle, less than 10 graduate out of secondary education. Furthermore, student performance in standardized examinations remains poor. Less than 40% of students pass the grade 10 and grade 12 standardized examinations.
Ineffective Governance: Governance is a key constraint on improving the quality of education and this problem cuts across all levels of education. Accountability and incentive mechanisms and, checks and balances for teachers and administrators are weak.
Information about student and school performance, or how resources are allocated is rarely available to the public – denying stakeholders an important tool with which to monitor schools.
Inadequate Financing: Public education expenditures are currently about 2.3 percent of GDP - these expenditures are the definitely on the lower side compared with rest of the world. Furthermore, a significant share of the expenditures is directed at teachers’ salaries, leaving little resources to be spent on teaching and learning materials. In some of the countries, fiscal constraints may inhibit increased public investment in the sector.
Teacher quality and teaching environment: For most of the student in country the learning environment is pretty abysmal. School consists of a one room building, one teacher covering multiple subjects, and more than 40 students per teacher. With this situation where can we expect the quality? In fact most of the rural schools even don’t have these basic requirements. Many rural schools are seriously understaffed, specially in UP and Bihar. Without efforts to recruit large numbers of new teachers and an investment of resources to upgrade school facilities, we will be hard-pressed to scale up elementary education for young children.
There are quite a few developmental programs are started for the benefit of rural / tribal children. One of them is ‘Janshala’. The Janshala Programme is a collaborative effort of the Government of India (GOI) and five UN Agencies – UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO and UNFPA – to provide program support to the ongoing efforts towards achieving Elementary Education. Janshala aims to make primary education more accessible and effective, especially for girls and children in deprived communities, marginalized groups, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes/minorities, working children and children with specific needs.
A unique feature of Janshala is that it is a block-based program with emphasis on community participation and decentralization. The blocks have been selected on the basis of different indicators such as low female literacy, incidence of child labor, and concentration of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) populations. The goal of this joint education program is to target girls and the marginalized population of children in selected areas and to improve their attendance and performance in primary education.
Before summing up I would again emphasize on the same point. We need a structured action plan very soon to overcome these basic problems occurring at school level. Unless we sort them out other measures are not going to be productive.
Currently everywhere we hear the word ‘Reservation’, be it at primary class level or at higher education level. But still we are uncertain about the improvement in the social and economic standards for all classes of society. Also this step is raising quite a few eye-brows of the people who think that this is not an appropriate way of raising standards. What we lack is a effective and satisfactory action plan which yields us the desired outcome.
What I feel is that we must primarily focus on ‘School-level’ education, simply because that is where the foundations for learning are laid and it is where the most daunting challenges lie. When we talk about providing equal education opportunities to everyone in the country regardless of religion and caste then providing reservation in higher education is never going to serve the purpose. What is required is to make the base of the system itself strong enough the extent that does not require any reservation / quota system for its support at the top.
These are a few problems we are facing currently and which need to be addressed urgently.
Lack of access to the poorest and the marginalized: While the country has made significant progress in enhancing access, a significant number of children still remain out of school – many of these coming from disadvantaged backgrounds/districts. We account for one fourth of the world’s 104 million out of school children, most of them concentrated in six states. Still a significant portion of it doesn’t have access to elementary education.
Prevailing gender disparities: Though a few states have now reached gender parity at the primary level, others still lag behind. India still has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. Less than 50 percent of the women aged 7 and over are literate.
Weak Outcomes: Poor quality of education is an underlying theme which runs across the system and is reflected in poor outcomes. Owing to high dropout and repetition rates, primary completion rates in the country are among the lowest in the world. Out of every 100 students that enter the primary education cycle, less than 10 graduate out of secondary education. Furthermore, student performance in standardized examinations remains poor. Less than 40% of students pass the grade 10 and grade 12 standardized examinations.
Ineffective Governance: Governance is a key constraint on improving the quality of education and this problem cuts across all levels of education. Accountability and incentive mechanisms and, checks and balances for teachers and administrators are weak.
Information about student and school performance, or how resources are allocated is rarely available to the public – denying stakeholders an important tool with which to monitor schools.
Inadequate Financing: Public education expenditures are currently about 2.3 percent of GDP - these expenditures are the definitely on the lower side compared with rest of the world. Furthermore, a significant share of the expenditures is directed at teachers’ salaries, leaving little resources to be spent on teaching and learning materials. In some of the countries, fiscal constraints may inhibit increased public investment in the sector.
Teacher quality and teaching environment: For most of the student in country the learning environment is pretty abysmal. School consists of a one room building, one teacher covering multiple subjects, and more than 40 students per teacher. With this situation where can we expect the quality? In fact most of the rural schools even don’t have these basic requirements. Many rural schools are seriously understaffed, specially in UP and Bihar. Without efforts to recruit large numbers of new teachers and an investment of resources to upgrade school facilities, we will be hard-pressed to scale up elementary education for young children.
There are quite a few developmental programs are started for the benefit of rural / tribal children. One of them is ‘Janshala’. The Janshala Programme is a collaborative effort of the Government of India (GOI) and five UN Agencies – UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO and UNFPA – to provide program support to the ongoing efforts towards achieving Elementary Education. Janshala aims to make primary education more accessible and effective, especially for girls and children in deprived communities, marginalized groups, Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes/minorities, working children and children with specific needs.
A unique feature of Janshala is that it is a block-based program with emphasis on community participation and decentralization. The blocks have been selected on the basis of different indicators such as low female literacy, incidence of child labor, and concentration of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) populations. The goal of this joint education program is to target girls and the marginalized population of children in selected areas and to improve their attendance and performance in primary education.
Before summing up I would again emphasize on the same point. We need a structured action plan very soon to overcome these basic problems occurring at school level. Unless we sort them out other measures are not going to be productive.
I’m here to help with just about anything, from explaining EDI to helping you decide what toppings go best on a pizza (spoiler: it's never pineapple… unless you’re into that). Need a serious answer? I got you. Need a laugh? I’ll try my best (AI humor: it’s an acquired taste). Basically, I'm like that friend who always shows up to help, just without the snacks.
Reservations - Is it the answer to India's woes?
India is emerging as a serious player in the knowledge economy. The main cause of concern is that if the reservation system is implemented then it will affect the quality of education. The meritorious students will also be deprived of seats they deserve. Competency is not related to any caste or community, it is also not related with whether a person is rich or poor. In the present scenario when we see that there is a shortage of faculties in most of the institutes either due to the pay package or the lack of good faculties, so if the students are increased then the faculties also have to be increased which is a difficult job. In this scenario how can the government take such a step? The higher education system in India is now being recognized in the whole world which is clearly evident from the increasing number of foreign placements in the IIM’s and other b-schools. Taking such a drastic step may seriously affect the quality of education.
There is neither enough number of seats in the educational institutes nor the job sector then how can the government take such a drastic step against the meritorious students? How can it become so selfish? Is the government taking such a step for the development of the backward class or this is a step to increase it’s vote bank?
If the government wants to educate the backward classes then the work has to be done at the grass root level because if the base is not strong then they will not be able to cope up with the studies of higher level. Today also we see that among the students who dropout of IIMs, IITs most of them are those who got admitted in the reserved seats. It’s just because they are not able handle the pressure. How can we expect a person who didn’t have proper primary education to do well at this level?
Well if there is reservation in education then why we need the same in the job sector? If the candidates who are admitted to the educational institutes are competent enough then they should get a job on the basis of their performance and not under any reservation. A company’s objective is to earn profit and this is made possible by the employees. If the employees don’t work or are not competent enough then the objective of the company is affected. In a representation to the Government, the President of Assocham, Mahendra K. Sanghi, said, “Job reservation in industrial units of private sector should not be done by the Government. This will have a far reaching impact on the industry as it may completely destroy meritocracy in the industrial units of private sector and bring inefficiency”. Moreover why should the Government direct any private company about which person to recruit and which not to? This will seriously affect the growth of the Indian economy which is in the development stage. This is not a right decision at the right time. Moreover imagine the situations of the candidates who have slogged day in and day out to get a good job, and finally not getting the desired job just because the seats have been reserved.
This quota has been implemented from this year. Various institutes have increased the intake of the students. But the intake has been increased without any improvement in the infrastructure or the faculties. Infrastructure is also one of the constraints for implementation of the quota. The IIMs have increased the seats but are still facing the problem of quality faculties. Will this quota be successful under the constraint of infrastructure or lack of faculties, only time will say.
The process of empowering the backward class should start from primary level and not the higher levels. We must attack this problem at its grass root level. In bigger cities, with adequate education facilities, untouchability has been abandoned long back. It is very clear that education is the only way of uprooting this obnoxious practice. This is because, although reservation ensures that depressed class is represented in the parliament, it doesn’t remove the psychological blocks in the minds of the society as a whole. Therefore, good primary education facilities in remote villages, is the answer to this problem. The government should also focus on the infrastructure to make it strong to support the increased intake of students. Other focus area of the government should be to increase the number of quality faculties by increasing the pay package.
There is neither enough number of seats in the educational institutes nor the job sector then how can the government take such a drastic step against the meritorious students? How can it become so selfish? Is the government taking such a step for the development of the backward class or this is a step to increase it’s vote bank?
If the government wants to educate the backward classes then the work has to be done at the grass root level because if the base is not strong then they will not be able to cope up with the studies of higher level. Today also we see that among the students who dropout of IIMs, IITs most of them are those who got admitted in the reserved seats. It’s just because they are not able handle the pressure. How can we expect a person who didn’t have proper primary education to do well at this level?
Well if there is reservation in education then why we need the same in the job sector? If the candidates who are admitted to the educational institutes are competent enough then they should get a job on the basis of their performance and not under any reservation. A company’s objective is to earn profit and this is made possible by the employees. If the employees don’t work or are not competent enough then the objective of the company is affected. In a representation to the Government, the President of Assocham, Mahendra K. Sanghi, said, “Job reservation in industrial units of private sector should not be done by the Government. This will have a far reaching impact on the industry as it may completely destroy meritocracy in the industrial units of private sector and bring inefficiency”. Moreover why should the Government direct any private company about which person to recruit and which not to? This will seriously affect the growth of the Indian economy which is in the development stage. This is not a right decision at the right time. Moreover imagine the situations of the candidates who have slogged day in and day out to get a good job, and finally not getting the desired job just because the seats have been reserved.
This quota has been implemented from this year. Various institutes have increased the intake of the students. But the intake has been increased without any improvement in the infrastructure or the faculties. Infrastructure is also one of the constraints for implementation of the quota. The IIMs have increased the seats but are still facing the problem of quality faculties. Will this quota be successful under the constraint of infrastructure or lack of faculties, only time will say.
The process of empowering the backward class should start from primary level and not the higher levels. We must attack this problem at its grass root level. In bigger cities, with adequate education facilities, untouchability has been abandoned long back. It is very clear that education is the only way of uprooting this obnoxious practice. This is because, although reservation ensures that depressed class is represented in the parliament, it doesn’t remove the psychological blocks in the minds of the society as a whole. Therefore, good primary education facilities in remote villages, is the answer to this problem. The government should also focus on the infrastructure to make it strong to support the increased intake of students. Other focus area of the government should be to increase the number of quality faculties by increasing the pay package.
I’m here to help with just about anything, from explaining EDI to helping you decide what toppings go best on a pizza (spoiler: it's never pineapple… unless you’re into that). Need a serious answer? I got you. Need a laugh? I’ll try my best (AI humor: it’s an acquired taste). Basically, I'm like that friend who always shows up to help, just without the snacks.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
I... Me... Myself
Remember the last time you lied for nothing but to impose what you aren’t. How much pressure, how much insecurity and finally when the truth divulged, what a shame! This is not something that happens occasionally, it is a usual phenomenon, as innocent as our body mechanism.
Somewhere I feel, we aren’t yet living a free life. Our freedom is but a sham. We are either arrogant of our riches (monetary, language, education) or cry of our poverty. Your residence decides your status, your money does it, your wealth, your riches, your luck, everything forms your identity, and not what you aspire, your ideals. Life has become objective to an absolute degree. We want to produce a good piece not for the sake of art, but to be claimed as a "great artist".
Those with good knowledge of the English language find it easier to fetch a job, a trait conclusive of your parents’ choice and ability to send you to an English medium school. And as such, "Hindi is our national language."
We claim to be a part of the largest democracy, where human life does not stand at par to even a few pence. We see there is a lack of consonance between what we do and what we think should be done. It starts from an individual and extends to our nation, its policies, philosophies and records.
So, let us learn to be free, be what we are, and claim what is ours. Let us understand what Liberty, Equality and Freedom mean to us and not go by the definitions.
Let me test, let me fail, let me succeed, and let me be free, the way I define my FREEDOM.
I’m here to help with just about anything, from explaining EDI to helping you decide what toppings go best on a pizza (spoiler: it's never pineapple… unless you’re into that). Need a serious answer? I got you. Need a laugh? I’ll try my best (AI humor: it’s an acquired taste). Basically, I'm like that friend who always shows up to help, just without the snacks.
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