Education for All

Well another social issue which is quite the double edged sword. As most Indians must be aware, the government has a program called “Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan (SSA)” or “Education for All”. The government has made primary education compulsory in the country and provides the same either free or at nominal cost (with special focus on girl’s education :)). The aim is obviously to increase the literary rate in the country. And as we have seen in the past few years, Indian “minds” are becoming quite the hot property world over. Like I have said in many of my previous posts, in a country as diverse as India with wide socio economic disparity, cultural disparity (and sometimes even baseless theories), this move deserves kudos and it is bearing fruit. The literacy level in the rural area has been increasing at a greater rate than the urban literacy rate.

But there was an issue that gained a lot of media attention a couple of years ago. In a Delhi school comprising of children belonging to the higher middle class and the “Page 3” of society, the parents raised a hue and cry over the government of India’s rule that each of these schools should include a minimum number of students belonging to the poor sections of society. Parents cited the reason as the negative effect such kids would have on the students of this “crème de la crème” of society.

From the point of view of parents and students studying in the school, this is a perfectly valid point. One pays a premium fees at private schools to provide excellent education for their children. Of course the environment and fellow students have a big role to play in providing the “excellent” education. So parents are bound to get anxious when their children are put in the same environs as students from poor families. Since bad habits are easy to pick-up, these environs are bound to affect the language, the behaviour and sometimes even the thought process of these students. At the same time, the poor kids are bound to experience an inferiority complex giving rise to “the evils of complexity”.

However, from the point of view of the government, this issue should be seen in a different light. The government of India is answerable to every section of society and every individual of the country. Through this move, they are trying to improve the standard of living of the future generation. Now this is a way of the government to ensure that every child receives an education. But for the poor families, it’s about giving their child a better education with the hope that one day they will be able to change their future for the better. It’s about making an opportunity equally and fairly available to every child.

Which parent would not like to see their son or daughter to grow up to be a young confident person who does not see any limits in life and who thinks big! While I am not saying that a public school education is incapable of helping achieve this dream, the chances are generally perceived to be higher in a private school.

This is where I feel the school plays a very key role in integrating both these sections of society together and ensuring equal opportunities to all. It is actually the task of the teachers, staff and faculty to bridge this divide and at the same time ensure that the students are taken care of especially emotionally. I am proud today that I went to a convent school which provided subsidized and free education to a few students every year. I did have some classmates who belonged to not very financially stable families. But once in school in our uniforms, there was no divide and no discrimination. While I am not anyone to comment on the positive effect we had on them, I am happy to say that to a great extent, my school has been responsible to a great extent in shaping the person I am. One not only learns to be sensitive to the differences in society, but more importantly becomes a more balanced and reasonable person. The family obviously has an equal role to play in this.

While this is not exactly relevant to the previous case, two other interesting articles in the paper in the last two days got my attention to this topic. That of children born with autism and ‘Down syndrome’. Both articles had a similar theme. These children can grow up to lead a good and independent life if they receive an education at regular school along with other “normal” kids. Studying with children in a regular school (as opposed to receiving an education from a special school), these children learn faster, learn how to deal with everyday situations, learn what to say and when to say it, learn to appreciate their own success and that of others. This is because they learn a lot through imitation. There are regular schools in USA that have special integration programmes for students with ‘Down syndrome’ and autism.

This is good not only for students with special needs but even for people like you and me. These children don’t need our sympathy (and I hate it when somebody calls them “bechara”). They need our support and they need to know that they are equally capable. If there is anyone who needs special attention, its “normal” people who get uncomfortable in their presence and don’t know how to behave. Its principals, faculty and parents of schools who refuse to admit such students. It’s people who look at this world in monotones. So really, it is us who need special attention and education!