Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Isn't education critical to a nation's growth?

The mighty USA is grappling with falling standards in education and the Gates Foundation is taking a keen interest in fixing this problem. You can learn more through this article written by Mr. Bob Herbert:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/opinion/29herbert.html?em

Why are Indians ignoring such a critical issue? How do we expect to develop if 15% of 10th standard students reportedly cannot even write a simple letter?

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Online Petition created

To make it easier for those who have little time to write postcards or send email, we have created an online petition at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cepe/

Please sign it. Also let your friends, who are also concerned about primary education, know.

Postcard campaign continues

 More students from engineering, dental and basic degree colleges in Visakhapatnam have started attending the Saturday evening meetings. One of them has even challenged herself to get a 1000 postcards written. A few more BPO employees have also joined us.

 The dedication of these young Indians is admirable for two reasons - they are spending a Saturday evening in a meeting instead of being out somewhere partying or relaxing; they are talking to their parents and neighbours about these efforts. So what? Well, they are putting paid to the perception that the average Indian does not care about anything in their country. They are doing this for someone else - for primary school children who are much younger than them and who cannot make their voices heard. All this with no expectation of any personal gain.

 One question keeps cropping up since the postcard campaign was suggested - how will my one postcard make a difference? For the benefit of those readers following this blog and wondering the same, here are a few reasons why it is important to write the postcard:
  •  First and foremost, writing the postcard is better than accepting the current pathetic situation and not doing anything.
  • Our one postcard may not do much but when many thousands and lakhs of postcards (and emails) start arriving at the PM and CMs offices as well as the press, they are bound to notice.
  • Even if they do not read the content of every postcard (or email), they will sit up and notice that citizens are clamouring for effective primary education.
  • If no one in the government or press responds, we can ask them why they are not doing anything about a pressing issue. They may or may not be doing their job, but if they don't do what is right for the children and the nation, it is our right to ask them why.
  • The press has been in the forefront lately in highlighting many important issues. We can also ask them why they seem to be ignoring this urgent issue.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Direct Taxes Code - action required

This is something that would affect any organization that is a registered non-profit in India and also people who contribute to such organizations. So I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed.

"Provisions regarding Non-Profit Organizations in Direct Tax Code Bill 2009"
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/DraftDirectTaxCodeBill2009?e

I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes less than a minute of your time.

Thank you.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Dr. Parameswara Rao's email and another sample letter

Dr. Parameswara Rao is sending this letter asking others to participate in our efforts:


Friends:

I am forwarding you our thoughts on the present situation in the Primary Education. We hope you will agree that it is pretty serious. We would you urge you to send your telegrams to the PM for his personal intervention in setting the primary education on a firm footing.


With warm regards,


Parameswara Rao.


PRIMARY EDUCATION


  1. Primary Education concerns itself in teaching 6 to 14 years olds in classes 1 to 8. Needless to say that it is the foundation education for every child going to school. This moulds their habits and attitudes. Thus it is the place where you can also mould the nation.
  2. Presently 82-85% of student’s classes 2nd – 9th are NOT reaching the minimum levels learning; 87% of students are dropping out of school by 10th and 60% by 6th. What is further alarming is that 10-15% students in 10th class are not able to read and write in vernaculars.
  3. One more disheartening feature is that boys in 3rd class are taking to stealing, boys in 5th to chewing tobacco, boys in 9th to drinking. The waywardness of the children going to primary & high school has gone much beyond our imagination. It is high time, the community takes cognizance of the total scenario.
  4. Added to this dismal situation, the Government of India has passed “The Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education Act, 2009; No.35 of 2009 on 26, August 2009. This is to say that primary education has been made compulsory to every child. The task is to make primary education more effective.
  5. The insufficient funds, lack of appropriate supervision, the truant teaching community, interference by the politician in the administrative set up, ignorance of the parents and above all the intransigence of the public and more particularly the parent community is playing havoc with the primary education.
The gigantic problem thus is to see that the public particularly the parents are made aware of this dismal situation. The intellectuals have to take lively and active interest in the primary education. The governments, both at the state and the central level, have to be pressurized by the public to deliver effective primary education.
  1. A few senior citizens, retired professors, engineers’ young and old et al have come together under the banner “Citizens for Effective Primary Education” with BCT as the convening agency, getting to discuss the sorry state of the primary education.
In our last meeting we passed a resolution to take the problem to the public and request them to convey their concern through post cards to the Chief Ministers in the State and the Prime Minister at the Centre.
  1. I am now sending appeals to all our friends to send e-mails at least to the Prime Minster, requesting his personal attention. You know how well Japan is managing their country, just because of its care & attention to the children in the primary school.
  2. A model of your mail to the PM may run as follows :

Dear Prime Minister:

We congratulate you for getting “Right to Education Act” after 6 ½ years of hibernation. But we learn with dismay that the primary education is in shambles all over the country with 80 of the children not reaching the MLL, 60% dropping out of school by 6th and 87% out of the high school. The problem could well be retrieved if you make parents committees supervise daily operation of schools and local authorities manage the schools. Your government could release per head grant to them while governmental machinery takes to overall supervision. We urge with all sincerity for your personal involvement in the primary education. Thanks a lot.

                                                                                                            Signature:
                                                                                                            Address:

Address it to: Prime Minister                     
                         Prime Minister Office
                         New Delhi.
Or email him: manmohan AT sansad.nic.in (please replace ' AT ' with '@' removing any spaces in between)

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Great news - TV channels are willing to help us; We need to do our part

It has been brought to our notice that at least one regional channel and one national channel have come forward to help us raise the awareness among the public as well as the politicians. So, all of you who wish to join our postcard campaign, please send your postcards (even though they are addressed to the PM) to:
NDTV,
Greater Kailash - 1,
New Delhi-48

Emails and faxes are probably also ok.

Postcard campaign

The Right to Education bill has been passed although education groups have been unhappy that many lacunae have been overlooked. It is a good sign that the HRD ministry is seriously considering wide-ranging changes to high school education and higher education. It is also nice to hear the PM say that they want to achieve 100% female literacy within 5 years through their 'Saakshar Bharat Mission'. Even though past history does make one a little cynical about one more political 'mission', we hope that serious efforts are going to be made to achieve success.

In the meantime, we are very concerned that primary education is not being given the urgent priority that it deserves. After all, it is the foundation for every child before they can blossom into a productive adult. So, we are writing postcards to the prime minister and the chief minister requesting and pleading and urging them to focus on making primary education effective.

A sample letter is shown below.

To,
The Prime Minister,
New Delhi

Dear Sir,
 May we congratulate your government for getting the "Right to Education Act" passed. We also congratulate you for planning to set up seven more IIMs. However, the need of the hour is to strengthen primary education as more than 80% of the children in 2nd to 9th standard are NOT reaching minimum levels of learning (MLL) while 87% of children are not reaching college. Let us take care of the paise before we take care of the rupees.

Place:                                                                                                                     Truly,

Date:                                                                                      Address:

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

India to make every woman literate in five years: PM

Low female literacy impeding growth: PM

PTI | New Delhi

Noting that low female literacy was impeding growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday launched a major initiative in the education sector saying all steps to empower women socially, economically and politically would be taken by the government.

Launching the Saakshar Bharat Mission here, Singh also announced that a National Mission for the empowerment of women would be set up soon.



For more, please click on this link -> 100% literacy for Indian women in 5 years

International Literacy Day today

It has been reported that 2000 ribbons were made ready by yesterday. Someone decided to get the ribbons made professionally with the words "Primary Education" printed on each one. It would cost only Rupees 300, so they went ahead. If 2000 students are going to wear the ribbons all day, it is bound to attract some people to the cause. Let us hope for the best.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Taking the help of Pratham

We had the city coordinator from Pratham join our meeting on Saturday. Taking up her offer, two students from Gayatri Vidya Parishad Engineering college will be going to two locations in the city to speak to the citizens in that area about the special focus on primary education.

Prize - A piece of chocolate

A piece of chocolate will be given on Saturday to the person who gets the most number of queries regarding their white ribbon tomorrow (Tuesday). This will only apply to questions on Tuesday and not for any additional responses for the rest of the week.

The generous donor happens to be me. :-)

30-minute educative documentary in the making

A 30-minute educative video documentary is being prepared by Future Frames, a very cooperative and community service minded audio video studio located in Vizag. The video is still a work in progress because we now have ideas from children but ideas from parents, concerned citizens, teachers, administrators, etc. need to be collected and included.

Chance to talk for at least 30 minutes on Primary Education

Sushma, a young lady who is apparently also a radio show host/hostess has volunteered to highlight our efforts for effective primary education on radio when her show comes up next time. We'll have to wait for that since it is going to be about 10-15 days later. We knew that we had talent within us, but who knew that it would show up so early?!

Did I mention that the student participants are planning to wear white ribbons with the words Primary Education written/sketched/painted on the ribbon? We have to wait and see what kind of creative designs they come up with.

Excited about International Literacy Day (8 September)

A lot of college students have enthusiastically come forward to take up the white ribbon campaign idea. Some of them like Siva Kesava Kumar are going to make posters and put them in their college notice boards. His classmates and juniors, very energetic girls, are planning on wearing the white ribbon from tomorrow, Tuesday, September 8, 2009 till Saturday. They are not content with one day because they feel that for more people to learn about this, some continuity is required. This idea, of wearing the white ribbon for more than a day was extended by N. Srinivas of N. Sampath Raghav Charitable Trust.

In the meantime, Panth has volunteered to talk to some radio stations and request them to broadcast details of this campaign today (7 September) on their programs. Let us hope that at least a few radio stations will join hands with us.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Systems and Practices in Primary School Education

Rewinding to the workshop that was conducted, here is some information collected by Mr. Pragnanand of GlobalAid. Do remember that these are just outlines that are supposed to help us discuss the issues in further detail.

Systems and Practices in Primary School Education

  • Norms & Standards for a school
    • Number of teachers (male-female ratio)
    • Minimum number of working days/instructional hours in an academic year
    • Minimum number of working hours per week per teacher
    • Teacher learning equipment
    • Library
    • Play material, games and sports equipment
  • Mid-day Meals
  • Text Books and Note Books
  • Volunteers
  • Teaching Materials and Teaching Aids
  • Administration
  • Parents
  • Public Representatives
  • Role of local communities

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Photos from the rally

Some photos from the rally for effective primary education on the 14th of August 2009. These photos were taken at the end of the rally. On the very top is Dr. Parameswara Rao of BCT seen garlanding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Below that some of the rally participants can be seen following which is Manmohan, from ILP-Hyderabad with the list of organizations that participated in the rally. To the right is Prof. Somaraju garlanding Mahatma Gandhi's statue.



To the left is a view of the children applauding the skit on education performed by BCT School children. On top is another view of the rally participants. On top of that are the nursing school students, in pink, who also enthusiastically participated.