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.