Part II : For Whom The School Bell Tolls?

Ernest Miller Hemingway : 1899-1961

Nobel Prize winning American author and journalist Ernest Hemingway, known for works like A Farewell to Arms, For Whom The Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea, was a master of telling tragic tales in his economical and understated style.

Indian school education is also a tragic tale, albeit being told quite extravagantly.

Why India needs to educate its some 25 crore school kids is a question which does not need any scholarly deliberation. The Internet is full of information, conclusions and rhetoric on the subject. In any case, it all boils down to (and variations of) -

• Industry needs it… how else are we going inculcate higher order skills among our workers and be more productive, profitable, and competitive in the market place?

• Country needs it… is there a better kindling to fuel the economic engine, really?

• World needs it… courtesy (as I heard Shekhar Kapoor say at a forum) our failed family planning program over last 30 years, we now have a demographic dividend… Meaning we have crores of able bodied, young people even as most advanced countries have an aging populace (poor suckers are being penalized for such sins as great health services, higher life expectancy, social security, etc.)… Meaning that we will be the global suppliers of blue-collar workers in times to come… Meaning, if our kids are not educated, it will cause serious inconvenience globally.

Uneducated Indians are a big nuisance. And since nuisance value is often the most urgent and compelling value, crores of our uneducated kids have suddenly become very valuable. No wonder everyone is talking about Indian education. After all, this is about human resource of the future!

Now, here is a term that I love for its in-your-face honesty and transparency – Human Resource. It does not try to camouflage anything. The operating word here is RESOURCE, which to my mind is something that can be drawn upon, used and consumed to create wealth and benefits… for someone else because the resource itself is obviously getting consumed!

And that, gentlemen, is the first reason why all our efforts on education are failing. Looking at our kids as 'resource' we simply never asked what the children themselves and their families might want from education. What could be their motivations, limitations, concerns, rewards and benefits?

Needless to say that we are paying a big cost of not paying enough attention to this seemingly small aspect. All our education programs, investments and implementation efforts are going horribly wrong with we being absolutely clueless!

Consider this broad scenario-

• As per ASER 2014, enrolment up to primary level has come to 96%. However, the kids are not learning anything worthwhile. Data also says that student attendance is falling. The question is that those who are coming to school, why are they coming and what are they doing there? There are some pointers-

• Incentive such as mid-day meal and other enticements/motivations (state specific) play a big part.
• Small kids going to school bring peace to home for morning domestic chores and hence mothers are motivated to send them to school!
• The school itself is by and large a jolly good time for kids with teachers hardly present or interested in teaching.
• But most importantly, at this level, the basic learning outcomes are visible to the parents even if they may not count for anything much in ASER or PISA surveys. For example, kids learn reading and writing in the native language, and basic counting and arithmetic skills start showing up in a practical sense – recognize and count money, check correct balance when a small item is sold/purchased, etc.

• Things become interesting when these kids come to class 6^th.

• The studies start becoming more serious and involved. Since, as ASER report suggests, they have not learnt anything much till now, the going gets impossibly tough for most of them.
• Even though RTE ensures that they can’t be ‘failed’ and made to repeat a class till 8^th, the experience itself is exasperating for many children and demotivates and disengages them from education.
• The futility of it all starts dawning on the kids as well as the parents. They start feeling that even if they drag up to 9^th, they are sure to fail there and, in any case, passing 10^th is a very bleak possibility.
• In our system, employment and employability is practically out of question for someone who does not have a 10th pass certificate. This is the basic minimum eligibility for almost every job in private or government sector. Without this certificate, one can only hope for low or semi-skilled self-employment.
• In such a scenario, the sooner one learn the tricks of any vocation that comes his way, the better it is. School appears a waste of time and drop out rate start mounting. In fact, data suggests as high as ~80% drop outs during the middle school years in India!
• Onset of puberty also adds its twist to the whole equation. Girls start dropping out due to social and practical reasons (no toilets in schools, for example), and boys start dropping out as the family can definitely use another bread earner.

Unfortunate as it may sound, the fact is that, for most of our kids there is an opportunity cost of time spent in school. A poor child (and his parents) who can’t see how his education might translate into economic benefits and a better life in current and foreseeable future might be motivated to opt for menial work, which gives him money here and now.

Frankly, for all the global and national brouhaha, education is a luxury many can’t afford.