Primary Education, anyone? Please?
January 12, 2011
Kanti Bajpai, noted Indian academic-analyst writes “If India is to build a stable liberal democracy, if we are to empower the vast mass of the Indian public, if we want to give ourselves a more equitable and fair society, and if we want sustainable economic growth, our university system desperately needs to be changed.”
The urgency of reforming the quality of higher education in the country is a stable topic and present developments initiated by the Cabinet Minister for Human Resource Development, are undoubtedly going in the right direction. But the underemphasized need for empowering the poor with quality primary education and easy access to college is equally important, if not more, as the majority of the population comes under this category and development can be faster by bringing them to the upper layer of the economic pyramid. In simple words, we need to facilitate the poorest of the poor with quality education so as to revolutionize the economic output and social equality in the country. Quality education offered to the poor at par with others at the right time can bring about radical changes in their outlook and can increase the confidence level of the poor to go ahead and capture the opportunities available.
I travelled to Cherthala in Ernakulam District in Kerala last summer to attend the wedding of my cousin. The natural beauty of the coastal Kerala with its backwaters, beaches and the clear, blue never-ending sky made me forget about the worries of the world for a while. Anthakaranazhi is a small village in Cherthala where the Arabian sea joins the Vembanadu lake. The endless beach bordered by coconut trees and the hamlet of fisher folk of the small village faced the wrath of nearly 30-feet killer waves six years ago. Six years after Tsunami, the half-constructed cement houses spoke of the insufficient relief funds. Some families claimed the Tsunami to be a blessing in disguise. To sleep under a concrete roof was a waking-dream wish fulfillment.
Distracting myself from the thought of scary waves which can wash away houses and kill people any time, I went across to a few families to talk. After roughly two enlightening hours, I knew their inner thoughts, dreams and hopes for the future. In their understanding of growth and development, they are just as clear as the upper middle class and educated; they know of the latest technology and other reforms taking place around them. The only thing, I gathered, that stops them from climbing the ladder of the economic pyramid is limited access to colleges after high school and the reluctance of the upper middle-class to make them partners in this development process. They lack information regarding schemes available to them. Most middle-aged fishermen expressed reluctance to hand over their profession to their children and their grandchildren. They don’t want them to risk their lives every day to the vagaries of the weather and live on inconsistent fish yield. Krishnan insisted his children be sent to an English medium school, even if it meant a harder struggle later for better job prospects. They know that a shift from their present profession is necessary for their growth. They volunteer to be trained in other skilled jobs such as carpentry and masonry, while the wives sit at home to look after the children and to send them to school.
Talking to seventy-year old Krishnan, the fisherman from Anthakaranazhi in Mid-West Kerala, opened my eyes to the real need of the moment. People are aware that developments are taking place everywhere; their village has been declared as a prospective international tourist destination since the Tsunami in 2004. But they are hardly aware how it is going to affect them and their fishing works. Krishnan opines that the Government should make their intentions clear to them, about how their fishing activities would be protected along with the development of tourism in the region.
As Philip Yancey puts it, “Among the poor he had expected defeat and despair; he found some, yes; but he also found strength and hope and courage.” Empowering the bottom of the economic pyramid with quality education is the answer to India’s troubles.
