Understanding the Depression in Primary Education System in India
Do you want to make some serious changes in the lives of the underprivileged? You can visit India and help out the victims of the educational depression in the country. My experience in India taught me that development has had a slow growth in the country. Consecutively, education has suffered backseat.
The Indian government has always tried to come up with the best provisions for its people. But, almost all measures take two backward steps for each forward step.
This is what you will observe as a volunteer in India.
# Lack of trained teachers
Visit any public school in remote parts of the nation and you will come across untrained teachers. As a result, they do not realize the exact way to teach first generation learners. At a time, when specialization is the keyword to the development of the world, Indian schools are unabashedly lagging behind.
Child education in India has become more about inserting a bunch of information in their minds. Rote learning is the prime technique of teaching in India. Teachers are not bothered whether students understand anything or not. They either read out lessons to students or write on the board. In most cases students cannot comprehend even a word of the lessons. Since, they are not trained; the teachers cannot impart proper education to anyone. Not all students in a class are intelligent. The teacher has to assess the learning ability of each student.
# Poor learning conditions and absence of adequate infrastructure
The government has mandated primary education for all. However, in this land of millions, the learning atmosphere is not always apt. Most schools in the interior part of the nation are not well-developed. Most of the classes take place in wrecked rooms with broken blackboards. Students have to suffer from lack of proper infrastructural facilities like water, electricity and proper connectivity.
If you visit politically disturbed areas inside the country, you will realize children in those areas are scared to leave their homes. Schools are a far-fetched prospect for them.
# Lack of resources
In India, you will notice that public schools provide necessary resources to their students before the start of a session. At least the blue papers say so. In many cases, the headmaster or headmistress of the school does not bother to purchase the books on time. Thus, the books reach the students post the commencement of the session.
# Teacher absenteeism
You will get to hear parents complaining about teacher absenteeism. There are several reasons for the frequent absence of teachers. Poor infrastructure in school campus and the surrounding areas is one of them. Many teachers come from cities as government employees in these schools. They cannot cope with the poor living conditions of the villages and are thus, not motivated to attend schools regularly. Some teachers put the onus of their absence on student absenteeism.
# Student absenteeism
Even though, free education is now a right enjoyed by every child in the country; students are often absent from their classes. If you are wondering why, you have to take a look at the dismal state of the Indian village economy. Most of the villagers have poor living condition. They send their children to work in cities. Lack of proper nutrition is one of the main factors behind the absenteeism of the students from schools. To ward off food problem and ensure higher enrollment in schools, mid-day meals have been introduced by the government. This has resulted in higher enrollment rates, but 1 out of 5 students discontinues after a certain time period.
Daughters are sent to work as domestic help. Indian society still witnesses early marriage of the female child. It is true that child marriage is banned in India. But, it is still prevalent in states like, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana. These girls cannot attend school because they get bound to domestic responsibilities at an early age.
# Emergence of private schools
These days, private schools are mushrooming in every corner of the country. They offer regular education, but at exorbitant prices. Villagers send their children to these schools with the hope of providing their children proper education. However, the high fee structure forces parents to discontinue the education of their children in the middle of the session.
India has been able to enhance school enrollment. But, her next challenge is to ensure that drop outs and student absenteeism is decreased. It would be wrong to say that there is no effort from the authorities. But, given the plethora of problems in the country, reaching a definite slab of achievement is time-consuming.
Visit India. Observe and evaluate the issues faced by the primary school students and teachers. Do you have any suggestion to improve the condition of the country’s future generation? Tell us what you see and experience. Your comments may help find a new solution.
I am Carol Griffin and I love to help as a volunteer. In my free times I like to write posts on volunteering works & programs, gap year programs, child education and teaching English.
