Education `“ A Hope In The Making

1679

By M.C. Linthoingambee

Before the idea of getting independence came into India, educational rights were not something that people were aware of. Education was considered a privilege rather than a right. India`™s obligation to provide education was recognized only with the inclusion of a directive principle to this effect under Article 45 in the Indian Constitution (directive principles, unlike fundamental Rights, are not legally enforceable). But in the year 2002, the Right to Education was converted into a Fundamental Right wherein, every child within the age limit of 14 years has the legal right to have a free and compulsory education.

The most common problem that vehemently drives out the provision of education is that of poverty. Poverty imposes an oppressive weight on India, especially in the rural areas where almost three out of four Indians and 77 percent of the Indian poor live. Although poverty has been reduced during the past four decades, it remains painfully high. Despite the country`s meteoric GDP growth rate (about 9%), poverty in India is still pervasive especially in rural areas where 70% of India`™s 1.2 billion populations live. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and yet its riches are hardly distributed across the population proportionately. A wide range of anti-poverty policies have been introduced since the 1950s by the Government from time to time. If the decline in poverty went from 60% to 35% between the 70s and the early 90s, globalization and liberalization policies have made this trend go backwards in the 90s

Poverty and illiteracy are endemic. Overall, the opening of Indian markets to the world over the years did contribute to reducing poverty in India by raising the income of a large number of people, and opening access to education to many. Liberalizing the system of exports, imports and trade, along with the development of higher education in larger cities has been the major factor leading to the rise of the middle class and reduction of urban poverty in India. However, considering the scale of the country, it means that trade reforms and education should penetrate all layers of society if poverty is to be tackled substantially.

In the space of a single primary school generation, out-of-school numbers have fallen from 25 million to 8 million. The primary school enrolment rate now stands at 95%, a level unthinkable 10 years ago. Even though many girls drop out after the age of 11, gender gaps have narrowed. So encouraging are the gains that an ambitious plan to achieve universal secondary education has been adopted. But there is still an urgent need to take appropriate steps for inclusive education of children with disabilities by providing teaching-learning materials, aids and appliances in accordance with nature and needs of each disability, suitable infrastructural modifications, and training of regular teachers and school-based appointment of special teacher. There is also a need for organizing programmes for community awareness and attitude change in order to make school for all children. Home-based education has to be given to children suffering from multi-disabilities, severe and profound disability conditions.

The idea of giving education is still unacceptable in some societies. In the wake of granting the Nobel Peace Prize for two people working mainly for child rights, education is seen a growing concern. Education is to be universalized with strong recommendation on the adoption of a `common school`™ system, which would help remove or minimize inequality of educational opportunities. The quality and standard of schools also needs strong adjudication. Inequalities in education are at the heart of a wider malaise `“ a failure to translate high growth into human development. The social and political goals include rising of the levels of education in order to improve public awareness of important issues, efforts to preserve existing social orders, desires to reduce inequalities of access, and concern to reduce population growth rates.

There are new roads to grant an action plan for developing it a bit further. Illiteracy sometimes puts us in a situation where we become inclined to witness the abuse of children. That is why we need to pace up further and make a healthy environment for providing a safety route to becoming great individuals that might become world leaders someday.

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