India ranks 86th in Education

In a report called the 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, India is ranked 86th while in terms of overall prosperity, the ranking is a much better 45 which is better than Russia and China. Now, if we set ourselves the task of improving the education ranking.....

More on this report can be found at:
http://www.prosperity.com/rankings.aspx

Competitions on Primary Education Postponed

Due to examinations for most students in professional colleges, the competitions have been postponed to 19th December 2009.

Websites for Vizag schools

After a lot of searching, the website for government schools in Vizag was located. Although incomplete, the website is at:
http://schools.conedtec.com/gvmc/SchoolsList/tabid/1843/Default.aspx

Competitions on Primary Education

Prof. Somaraju has decided that instead of just a poster competition, we should hold competitions in three areas of creativity - posters, songs/poems and skits. The competitions details are:


Theme of the Competitions: Primary Education - Existing & Future

Rules of the Competitions:

1. Open to anyone below 24 years of age.
2. Posters need to be on A0-A3 size paper.
3. Every poster should have a title.
4. Poster competitions will start at 2 PM and go on till 5PM.
5. Prize money for posters: 1st prize = Rs.500 ; two 2nd prizes = Rs. 250 each; three 3rd prizes = Rs. 100 each.
6. Length of each song or poem should be a maximum of 2 minutes.
7. Songs and poetry competitions will begin at 5 PM and go on until 7 PM.
8. Song lyrics and poems should be sent to studentsforeffectiveeducation[at]yahoo.in BEFORE 10th Nov 2009.(replace [at] with @).
9. Prize money for songs/poems: 1st prize = Rs.500 ; 2nd prize = Rs. 250; 3rd prize = Rs. 100.
10. Length of each skit should be a maximum of 4 minutes.
11. Skit competitions will begin at 5 PM and go on until 7 PM.
12. Draft skits should be sent to studentsforeffectiveeducation[at]yahoo.in BEFORE 10th Nov 2009.(replace [at] with @).
13. Prize money for songs/poems: 1st prize = Rs.500 ; 2nd prize = Rs. 250; 3rd prize = Rs. 100.
14. All entries will be judged on originality, clarity and presentation.
15. Judges decisions will be final.
16. Prize distribution will begin at 7 PM.
17. Downloaded or otherwise copied entries can be and shall be disqualified at any time. No movie songs.
18. Entry fee of Rs. 10 per student per competition. No refunds under any circumstances.
19. All entries shall become the property of Students for Effective Education (SEE).
20. Register online at: http://tinyurl.com/ygjqqgs
21. Sponsors: BCT, Conduira and GVP

The theme of the entries should be:
Primary Education in India - Existing & Future.

New people, New ideas and School visits

We had a couple of new people come in - Mrs. Hattangadi and Mr. Abdullah. They had new ideas and new contributions. Some of the students, like Prasanna, Srujana and Saranya are following up on Mr. Abdullah's idea of conducting a poster competition on Primary Education. The idea is to gain publicity, make more people think about the issue, come up with posters that are creative and maybe even bring out new things that we are not aware of.

Some of the students have been encouraged by Prof. Somaraju to print out the slides from the presentation and place them in front of the college or in the college buses. Srujana and Prasanna are following up on this.

Accepting the invitation by Ms. Jaganmohini, 6 of the students will be visiting MLBT school and Visakha Seva Sadan school on Friday between 10 AM and 12 noon.

ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair bemoans poor quality higher education

Business Standard carried this news article by PTI:
ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair, who is to retire by this month-end after an illustrious career at the space agency, bemoans that the country's higher education system is not up to the mark, churning out graduates only for routine jobs.
...
Nair said if the quality level is not up to the mark, then one would only get people for clerical or routine jobs.

For reading the full article, please click here.

Mr. Nair is talking about the quality of the 12.4% who are going to college. To quote Mr. Mohandas Pai's (Member of the Board, Infosys) article in The Business Line, "greatest human tragedy in this planet is being played out in India".

How can we make everyone realize the urgency of this matter?

What can we do to prevent this tragedy?

When one motivated child can accomplish so much...

The 'youngest headmaster in the world'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8299780.stm

Isn't this just amazing? We keep questioning ourselves about - we are so few, who will listen? when will things change? can we bring about the change? Well, here is a child showing the way.

If a 16-year old can achieve so much with so little, how much can we accomplish with all the resources at our disposal?

Let us march towards our goal with renewed vigour.

Radio show and ad spots

Sushma, one of our volunteers, who is a RJ at a radio station had done a show with Dr. Parameswara Rao a few weeks ago. Many of us did not know because it was done at very short notice.

Now, Kalyan, one of our newer volunteers, has stepped forward to help spread the word. He will be talking to two other radio stations, with which he has contacts, to see if they would host a segment on primary education.

Stay tuned for updates on this.

At the cost of being repetitive, what is really remarkable is the effort, energy and enthusiasm that many of our volunteers display. Be it students or young professionals, their concern for the young children and for the future of the country is indeed heartwarming. The guidance being given by many senior citizens whose untiring work serves as a example and guiding beacon to these youngsters cannot be underestimated.

Dr. Parameswara Rao's sample letter

Dr. B. V. Parameswara Rao is requesting everyone to:

Please send your email to our PM and join the group for propagation of effective primary education. A model of your mail to the PM may run as follows:

Dear Prime Minsterji,

1.  We congratulate you for getting the "Right to Education Act" passed in the parliament after 6.5 years of hibernation.
2.  As you know primary education is not only important and primary to every school going student, but also the to the country as it moulds the minds in their formative periods, as is being taken advantage of by Japan.
3.  But we learn with dismay that the primary education is in shambles all over the country with 80% of the children not reaching the Minimum Levels of Learning (MLL), 60% dropping out of school by 6th and 87% out of high school.
4.  But more pathetic and distressing is that children in primary schools are taking to stealing, marijuana and even drinking, besides other wayward behaviour.
5.  The problems is because every state government handles primary education in its own different way. As primary education is in the concurrent list, kindly take it under the wings of your central government and give the benefits of good uniform primary education to every child in the country.
6.  It is all too important a subject to be let in the hands of the state governments or the officials of HRD alone. Your role is vital, even though you are highly preoccupied.

 We urge you, with all sincerity, not to tarry any longer but consider the following steps to be taken.

1. Please generate minimum standards and develop guidelines for running the classes in the primary schools across the country and work out the head cost per child.
2. Make over all the primary schools (both private and public) to constitutionally empowered and elected bodies of Panchayat or Municipal bodies, which are nearest government machinery to every school, along with appropriate authority and adequate funds (on the basis of the cost worked out per student).
3. The local bodies may be authorized to constitute appropriate school committees consisting of the headmaster and a teacher from the school, two mahila members, two parents, two youth with total membership not exceeding 11. The committees may further be authorized to generate additional funds locally, as or when needed. The committees will supervise running of the classes, conduct examinations and do all other chores to maintain the scholastic or other standards set by the government for each student to attain.
4. The governmental authority could be delegated to the state governments to inspect, monitor, audit and supervise the operationalization of the school system.

 Thus you would have involved the neartest local constitutional authority in the operation of schools, while making parents and teachers responsible for their childre, and thus maintain the uniformity of standards and curricula. These would ensure standard, uniform and good primary education toe every child across the country irrespective of the state, class, creed, sex and location of the student.

 Hope you would take this letter in the correct perspective in getting approrpriate primary education imparted to every child across the country. May God bless you to groom many more Nobel laureates.

 In conclusion, we urge you once again with all our sincerity for your personal involvement.

 Your's in service,
 
 

Address the above letter to:
 The Prime Minister,
Prime Minster's Office (PMO)
New Delhi - 110001
email ID: manmohan@sansad.nic.in

Meeting on Friday, the 16th

Due to Deepavali falling on Saturday, the 17th, most people have opted for moving the next meeting to this Friday. So, our coming meeting will be on the 16th of October (Friday) at 6 PM at the same venue.

Can India be great again?

Mr. Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate in Economics from USA, wrote a recent column titled 'The Uneducated American'.

Here are some excerpts from his article that should make us stand up and take notice. (For the entire article, please follow this link.)

If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be “education.” In the 19th century, America led the way in universal basic education. Then, as other nations followed suit, the “high school revolution” of the early 20th century took us to a whole new level. And in the years after World War II, America established a commanding position in higher education.

America, which used to take the lead in educating its young, has been gradually falling behind other advanced countries. 

Education made America great; neglect of education can reverse the process.


We are neglecting primary education. We are neglecting basic science. We are neglecting research. We have mostly forgotten innovation, at least in urban India. We have to stop this neglect. We have to get our basics right. Only then can we be on our way to being great again.

Minutes of the 10th October 2009 meeting

• Dr. BV Parameswara Rao mentioned that a meeting for the sarpanches of villages in Yellamanchili at BCT tomorrow (11 October 2009). The meeting will be attended by the sarpanches, mahila mandal members, grama aikya sangham members and teachers.
• In a school that Dr. BV Parameswara Rao visited a few days ago, there were 105 children in the school and only 1 teacher. A Vidya Volunteer who was supposed to be present was a no show. The school was surrounded by a gutter from which unbearable stink was emanating. It turns out that the people living in that village were oblivious of the situation. Once apprised of it, they offered to immediately look into it. Incidentally that village spent Rs. 60,000/- to celebrate Vinayaka Chavithi!
• Sri Ram Murty has reported that over 10,000 cards have already been sent from the villages. Another 7500 cards are planned for this week. He also aptly reminded everyone that the postcard campaign is ONLY a first step in our attempts to make primary education effective.
• Two new versions of letters to Prime Minister (PM) and Chief Minister (CM) were circulated (one in English for PM and the other in Telugu for CM).
• On a Telugu news channel, TV9, during their ‘Dial your CM’ program, the anchor asked the new AP CM about the thousands of letters they have been receiving from Visakhapatnam district, on the sorry state of affairs in primary education. The CM is reported to have said that the concerned department is taking care of primary education and that they will look into the matter.
• Students from Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering for Women, with active interest taken by Madhulika, Srujana, Hari, Prasanna and Siva Kesava Kumar, have reported that about 450 cards have been written by students so far. They are planning to send more.
• Prof. Somaraju mooted the idea of starting a group called “Students for Effective Education (SEE)” along the lines of NCC and NSS programs as new students need to be enlisted towards improving education in India. As primary education is the foundation, the students could start working on it and later get into the issues of secondary and higher education.
• Prof. Somaraju will also provide, as a first step of volunteer recruitment in all colleges of GVP, a laptop and a LCD projector in every campus for the students to show the Primary Education video and enlist new volunteers. He also said he would provide a desk and some space for the group for their meetings.
• Prof. Somaraju also mentioned that in two weeks i.e., after Deepavali, Gayatri Vidya Parishad will be releasing a newsletter called Gayatri. At first a thousand copies will be made for distribution to all the colleges and schools in Visakhapatnam city. Students have been asked to constantly contribute their ideas, thoughts and actions towards effective primary education.
• Shri Markandeya Sarma added that the force behind this campaign is and should be students only. All the elders in the group are only supporters and guides. He reminded the group that the agenda for SEE should remain the same while the members might keep changing (as the current students finish their studies and move on while new students join in).
• Saranya has been nominated to take the lead on the media advertisement idea (to generate 30 seconds video for ads as well as a short 10-12 min for dissemination). She will collect ideas from all interested people and plan with them on taking the best ideas forward.
• Senior advocate, Ms. Jaganmohini, suggested that SEE members should be visiting primary schools to make themselves aware of the prevailing situation first hand rather than relaying someone else’s observations and experiences.

Attempts at answering the questions

Since others may have questions just like Dr. Shenoy, here is an attempt at answering them.

The petition was created after some thought just like the rest of the campaign. Here are some of those thoughts though this list is not comprehensive:

1. Instead of assuming that Dr. Manmohan Singh and his cabinet are aware of all the issues, we are assuming that they do not know the harsh ground reality. This is because we want to believe that at least the PM would not allow the future of children to be destroyed by ignoring the problem.
2. Even if our assumption is wrong, since his priorities seem to be elsewhere, the postcards and emails are to show his team that there are many people who are concerned and want him to take action.
3. You may already know that recent research has shown that online petitions are not very effective. Still we created this online petition to enlist the support of those who are unable to send individual postcards and emails. So, the online petition is complementing the postcard and email campaign.
4. Yes, our responsibility does not end with signing a petition or sending a postcard. However, many of the people signing such petitions are at least aware or becoming aware of the problem. For example, of those who have signed our primary education petition so far, we personally know many who are actively working on many issues of pressing concern and some who have withdrawn temporarily for personal reasons.
5. Many of the people who are participating in this campaign directly in Vizag have already visited some government primary schools in the last few months. Some of them were visiting them for the first time while others have been doing so for many years. Not only that, they have been giving a lot of their time, energy and other resources. Hopefully, some of the students will start volunteering in these schools.
6. The brightest sign of this campaign is the participation of many students from various degree and professional colleges from Vizag (and now from other cities and towns in AP). Some of them have narrated their past experiences in primary schools and are eager to help children from going through the same poor standards. Many of them have been trying to do something for society and did not have any guidance regarding what they can do. They now have that.
7. Participants of the campaign have been talking to their parents and siblings as well as their neighbours thereby increasing awareness. Yes, many people many not have voted but maybe this might give them a reason to reflect on their apathy?
8. Many of us who volunteer in organizations working on different issues have started off with something small and a lot of ignorance. We are hoping this is the same with others who are joining this campaign and will learn more just like the rest of us.

Questions about the online petition

Dr. Bhamy V Shenoy, Convener of Mysore Grahakara Parishat has brought up some very pertinent questions which others following this blog might also agree with. Here are his comments verbatim:

   "it is not that the government is not aware of the need for primary education. Please ask yourself what another petition will serve. What we need is the involvement of each and every one who is capable of signing such petitions from the comforts of the house to visit the government schools and see what is happening. How many of us would like to send our children to those schools? Even the figure of 67% literacy is highly exaggerated number.  Many of these "literate" can at the most put their signatures on the paper. 

   We need direct involvement of professionals and not signing petitions which may produce some democratically vibrant countries. India has democracy no doubt, but it is not one where such petitions produce any results. The signatories of such petitions do not vote and it is the illiterates who know the value of the votes (may be in a wrong way) vote.

  I know not many would like to hear what I am writing. But this is a reality in India."

Dr. Shenoy has been working for India's development, including consumer movements and fighting against corruption, since 1987. He is an author of books and has published hundreds of articles on various topics in Indian newspapers. One of them appeared as a cover story in the Industrial Economist titled Million Mutinies to revolutionise India's education sector.

Press meet held on 1st October

A press meet was held on 1st October to make the print and audio-visual media aware of the campaign. Many of them have obliged. Here is one such article by The Hindu -
Campaign for effective primary education

Other links will be added as and when they are found online.

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?

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.
  

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.

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 2^nd – 9^th are NOT reaching the minimum levels learning; 87% of students are dropping out of school by 10^th and 60% by 6^th. What is further alarming is that 10-15% students in 10^th class are not able to read and write in vernaculars.
3. One more disheartening feature is that boys in 3^rd class are taking to stealing, boys in 5^th to chewing tobacco, boys in 9^th 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.
8. 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 6^th 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)

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:

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.

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.

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
  

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.

White Ribbon campaign for Effective Primary Education

 Millions of Indian children are losing an opportunity to reach their true potential due to poor education. Primary education is the foundation for all other education. Instead of the concentrating on improving this urgently, our government seems to be discussing only higher education. This is despite the Union HRD minister himself stating that only 12.5% of children are entering colleges. This sorry state of affairs can improve only if we, the people of India, take responsibility and seek responsibility from the government.

 In order to raise awareness about this issue, we are wearing small white ribbons on our sleeves on September 5th (Teacher's Day) and September 8th (International Literacy Day).

 Everyone will agree that we need to provide children effective primary education. After all, the future of India depends on it. Will you also please wear a white ribbon and help raise awareness about the urgent need for Effective Primary Education?

 Thank you.

Start experiment

Now that the rally is over, it is time for planning and action. What can we do to make progress and how do we make it? A few ideas were presented for spreading awareness and gaining volunteers, such as:

• White ribbon campaign - on an agreed upon day, citizens (mostly students) wear a white ribbon on their sleeve to raise awareness about our efforts for effective primary education. This will serve three purposes:
• raise awareness
• to identify like-minded people to join our cause
• to create a sense of belonging among the volunteers
  
• Silent Placard Campaign - we stand at some of the busy spots in the city with some of the banners and placards from the rally.
• Table - set up a table at various events in the city (including seminars and workshops), requesting permission from the organizers.
• Letter Writing - it was suggested that we get citizens, especially young people, to write letters to the CM asking him for local oversight and administration of schools.
• Student Activists - another suggestion was to identify some of the students who are already aware of what we are doing and brief them about taking up leadership of their locality by constituting parents committees and visiting the local schools.

 After some deliberations, we decided that the last two - letter writing campaign and student activists should be two ideas that the group would take up.

 With a Pratigna volunteer liking the white ribbon campaign, a small group of us might experiment with that also. Stay tuned for progress reports.

Education Policy as one focus area

Progressing from the initial meetings, it was suggested by Dr. Parameswara Rao and seconded by Prof. Somaraju that we might have to meet for a longer period than 1 hour to have prolonged discussions. So, a half-day workshop was agreed upon. Planning for the workshop, we identified 3 focus areas on education:

• Policy Framework
• Systems (Public, Municipal and Private Schools) and Infrastructure
• Practices and Operations

So, three briefs on the above topics were prepared for distribution at the workshop. Each of these briefs will be posted here one after the other.

First, the policy framework note.

Brief Note on Education Policy of India
(Only some points relevant to primary education are being listed here)

• Constitutional Provisions
  
  
  
  • Provision of free & compulsory education to all children upto the age of 14 years.
  
  
  • Education is the concurrent responsibility of the Union and the States.
  
  
  
  
• National Policies on Education – 3 comprehensive statements in 1968, 1986 and 1992



• millions of young children in lower income groups, especially rural & girl children, comprising nearly 40% of first grade entrants never complete primary school.



• “88% of children are not going to college” – Kapil Sibal, Union HRD Minister.



• Middle & upper class children in private schools, are subjected to extreme competitive pressures from a very early age to acquire basic language skills and memorize vast amounts of information in order to qualify for admission into the best schools.



• Supreme Court order (Apr 04) directed schools that had received government land at subsidized rates to admit 25% students from the economically weak.



• Right to Education Bill, introduced in Lok Sabha on 31 July 2009, also stipulates that 25% of seats should be reserved for poor students in all schools across the country.



• Discrimination - classes are held for all students except those admitted under the quota from morning till noon and 'free' students are taught after that.



• When asked how many MPs will send their children to any Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) school, one MP categorically replied “never”. Then why spend on SSA? (Note: SSA and mid-day meal scheme spending has fallen in the current budget.)



• Poor “…children who study with those from the middle-class do better than those who study by themselves.”



• Spending on Education is 0.76% of GDP (2009-2010) compared to 0.70% (08-09) – while 6% of GDP is recommended.



• 2009-2010 Budget contains a scheme for setting up 6000 Model Schools at the Block level as a benchmark of Excellence.

Some problems at primary and secondary education level

Alright. This is the first of the much anticipated flash-backs...if readers remember that we started this journey a little of the way into time instead of starting at the beginning. So, without much fanfare, let's get started.

A few teachers and headmasters and headmistresses have kindly accepted our invitation and participated in at least a few of our meetings. While they initially mentioned all the good things that were happening in their schools, when asked to list the problems, here is what they mentioned. (Please note that for the sake of their privacy and since we have not yet taken their permission, their names and schools are not being listed here.)

Source 1:

• Students are at different levels


• Non-uniformity of testing for levels


• Not enough staff


• Lack of regular teachers and trained teachers


• Drinking water is a problem


• Environment is not attractive enough


• Constant training for teachers is not being given

Source 2:

• It would help to have senior people volunteer once a month in a school


• Students need individual attention since they have pronunciation problems


• No extra-curricular activities


• Need teachers with good attitude to nurture children

Source 3:

• Students leave for private school but being unable to cope they return in 3^rd standard


• Bureaucracy and paperwork reduces the time available to teach


• Other responsibilities (like Election Duty) make teachers lose time for teaching students

Source 4:

• Students do not have any physical education/sports training


• Children already in labour market forcefully brought to school do not stay – they go back.


• Children dropout primarily because of parents (who sometimes move due to work availability)

Source 5:

• 40% of the schools in rural areas near Elamanchili have no buildings.


• In some rural areas, the surroundings of the school are used as public toilets making the schools unbearable to study or teach in.


• Only 1 DEO instead of the 4 that are supposed to exist.


• Need 40 MEOs (Mandal Education Officers) but only a few exist.


• Earlier schools had 150 students but now only 5 because the others are joining convents.


• Primarily, mathematics and science teachers are missing.


• Only 15 out of 100 or 30 out of 150 students are ok. Others are not up to the mark.


• Students in 10^th standard barely know how to read and write. Teachers call their parents and ask them for Rs. 500 each to pass the students.


• 6^th standard girl thinks that a 25 paise coin is 50 paise and cannot even write her name.


• Students are being promoted to 7^th because of attendance and not because of ability.


• Unable to read even the first page of 6^th standard text books.


• Introduction of CBSE syllabus (English medium) from 6^th has made even the teachers ineffective because they are from Telugu medium and have not been trained.

Newspaper coverage

Our efforts are being supported by journalists and newspapers, because they have been crying hoarse about the sorry state of affairs in schools for a very long time. Here is a link in one newspaper:

"Primary education is vital for growth of child"
http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/10/stories/2009081054040500.htm

Rally on 14th August 2009 at 4 PM

Schools. Classrooms. Roofs. Playgrounds. Bathrooms. Books. Teachers. Teaching. Power. Water. One or more of these are missing from many schools and colleges. Primary education, the foundation, is also the most neglected. Without a proper foundation, how can we expect to build anything strong and long-lasting? Is it any wonder that over 87% of Indian children are not entering college?

Keeping this in mind, a group of concerned citizens have come together to focus on effective primary education. The idea is to raise awareness in the public, especially parents, regarding the current state of primary education. We hope to make parents ask for and take responsibility for the administration and overseeing of schools within their localities since they are biggest stakeholders. Quality would therefore improve.

As a first step, many people of all ages are participating in a rally on the 14th of August at 4 PM starting from the MLBT school opposite VUDA Park (on the beach road) and ending at the Mahatma Gandhi statue across from the GVMC building.

If you are interested in participating in this rally, please contact us at 9393104756 or 2758217. Even if you cannot or do not want to join the rally, but want to join hands with us, please feel free to contact us.

Next Meeting to be on 8th August at 3 PM

Ok, so this is the first posting and it is going to start off in the middle of the efforts by many concerned citizens in Visakhapatnam. As we go along, I will try and post information related to past events and discussions to help people new catch up with this.

We are planning to meet again in Gayatri Vidya Parishad College in MVP Colony at 3 PM on 8th August. This will be a 2 hour long meeting to bring newcomers up to speed on past happenings and future plans.