Indian Education Essay Example for Free

Indian Education Essay A strong education system is the cornerstone of any countrys growth and prosperity. Over the last decade, India has made great strides in strengthening its primary education system. The District Information System for Education (DISE) reported in 2012 that 95% of Indias rural populations are within one kilometer of primary schools. The 2011 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which tracks trends in rural education, indicated that enrollment rates among primary-school-aged children were about 93%, with little difference by gender. However, behind the veil of such promising statistics, the learning outcomes of Indias children show little progress. The country ranked 63 out of 64 in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, with some of its best schools ranked about average among those surveyed. The 2011 ASER stated that only 48. 2% of students in the fifth grade can read at the second grade level. The number of students completing their primary education with inadequate numeracy and literacy skills is startling. To see this manifest in an economic sense, one may attribute Indias productivity growth lagging behind that of East Asian economies to a lack of progress in the foundational elements of countrywide, high-quality education. Indias private-schooled, English-speaking urban elite may attract global attention, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of Indian children attend government-run primary schools in rural areas. In 2008-2009, rural India accounted for more than 88% of Indias primary-school students, of whom over 87% were enrolled in government-run schools. This is where we see some of the nations toughest challenges. A Diverse Set of Problems Indias education system has not achieved strong learning outcomes for reasons that are as diverse and nuanced as the country itself. Key among these reasons is poor teaching quality, which results from a multitude of factors. Inadequate Teacher Qualification and Support: Teachers working in primary schools across rural India have a difficult job. Dhir Jhingran, a senior civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service, with more than two decades of experience in rural primary education, explained the multiple challenges they face: Teachers have to teach multiple grades, textbooks are pitched far above the comprehension level of students, and each classroom has children with different levels of learning achievements. Anurag Behar, CEO of the Azim Premji Foundation, an education non-profit, noted that the average school teacher in India does not get adequate pre-service or in-service education, nor does she get the support to overcome these problems. Compounding this is the relatively low educational qualifications of many teachers themselves. In 2008-2009, on average, 45% of these teachers had not studied beyond the 12th grade. Low Teacher Motivation and High Absenteeism: A key factor affecting the quality of primary education appears to be low levels of teacher motivation. In 2002-2003, 25% of primary-school teachers in rural India were absent on any given day. The impact of absenteeism is exacerbated by the fact that the average primary school in India has a workforce of no more than three teachers. At a school for girls in rural Rajasthan, we observed this problem first hand: Of the eight teachers assigned, only five were present. The three who were actually teaching were juggling eight different grades. The obvious reason remuneration does not appear to be a driver. In fact, both education experts and ordinary citizens argue that government-employed school teachers are paid relatively well. UNESCO surveys from as early as 2004 indicated that the annual statutory salary of primary school teachers in India with 15 years experience was more than $14,000, adjusted for purchasing power. This was significantly higher than the then-statutory salaries of $3,000 in China and Indonesia, and the Indian GDP per capita in 2004, which was $3,100. Indian primary-school teachers may not be underpaid, but some argue that they may be overworked. For Vivekanand Upadhyay, a seasoned educator and language professor at a leading national University, one reason for the lack of motivation is that primary school teachers employed by the government, particularly in rural India, are required to perform a wide range of duties completely unrelated to imparting education. These duties including administering government programs such as immunization clinics, assisting with data-collection for the national census, and staffing polling stations during elections in addition to their teaching responsibilities, place significant demands on teachers time. Another disheartening factor has been a highly bureaucratic administrative system that discourages bold decision making and makes implementation difficult. For example, as Jhingran observed, it is difficult to test new practices on a small scale before rolling them out: If a new program has been developed, the philosophy is that every school must have it. Such indiscriminate application often means that teachers are implementing programs without understanding their key principles and ultimate goals. Flawed Teaching Methodology: In India, rote learning has been institutionalized as a teaching methodology. Primary school teachers in rural India often try to educate students by making them repeat sections of text over and over again, said Jhingran. Often they do not explain the meaning of the text, which results in stunted reading comprehension skills over the course of the childrens education. For example, many students in grades two and three in one particular school struggle to read individual words, but can neatly copy entire paragraphs from their textbooks into their notebooks as though they were drawing pictures. Linguistic Diversity: Finally, Indias linguistic diversity creates unique challenges for the nations education system. The countrys 22 official languages and hundreds of spoken dialects often differ considerably from the official language of the state or region. Jhingran commented that the teacher not only has to account for varying learning abilities within the classroom, but also dialectic nuances which affect students comprehension of the subject matter. Government-school-educated children from rural India struggle to speak even basic sentences in English. Students with rural primary schooling are at a significant disadvantage as they transition to higher education, because Indias best universities teach exclusively in English, said Upadhyay. Part of the problem is that there is no one to teach them. As Chandrakanta Khatwar, an experienced middle school teacher in a rural government-run school in Rajasthan, asked: When teachers themselves know little English, especially spoken English, how will students learn? A Parallel, Non-governmental Education Universe Since the late 1980s, government efforts to augment rural primary education have been supplemented by the emergence of an intervention-based non-governmental system that spans multiple institutional types. While private schools have emerged as a parallel system over the last two decades, their impact is limited because they serve less than 13% of Indias rural primary-school children. However, do private schools really make a difference? Some studies have found a small, but statistically significant, private school advantage in rural India. Behar was skeptical about the superiority of private rural schools over their government-run counterparts, noting, Once we control for a childs socioeconomic background, private schools add little-to-no value. In many ways, private schools are in much worse shape. However, according to Khatwar, more and more parents in small towns are choosing to send their children to private schools if they can afford it perhaps with good reason, because, on average, the number of students in each classroom in private schools is often smaller and school heads exert greater control over teachers. Some organizations are attempting to innovate with new formats and systems of education. Avasara Academy, a new school for girls, is a private institution whose mission is to mold leaders from among the best and brightest girls in India, regardless of their background. While admission is merit-based, the school intends to draw half its students from disadvantaged rural and urban backgrounds, awarding them full scholarships. In addition, it is developing a special curriculum that encourages excellence beyond academics. Avasara seeks to identify high potential young women and guide them along a powerful journey of leadership development. We expect that our graduates will form a network of leaders who will collaborate to drive positive change across the country, explained Mangala Nanda, humanities department chair for Avasara. While still in the early stages of its development, Avasaras successful implementation would provide a viable model for high-quality, accessible education and integration across socioeconomic boundaries. Governmental Efforts The Indian government at every level recognizes the need for educational reform and has made a conscientious effort to achieve it. The midday-meal plan, for example, is a highly publicized nationwide program through which government school children across India are provided with a midday meal every day of the school week. The program is largely considered a success. A study in 2011 by Rajshri Jayaraman and Dora Simroth found that grade one enrollment increased by 20. 8% simply if a midday meal was offered. According to Behar, The Indian government has worked very hard to provide rural schools with adequate infrastructure, something that was critically lacking a few decades ago. For instance, DISE reported in 2012 that more than 91% of primary schools have drinking-water facilities and 86% of schools built in the last 10 years have a school building. However, there is still a long way to go: Only 52% of primary schools have a girls toilet, and just 32% are connected to the electricity grid. In 2012, the Central Government enacted the Right to Education (RTE) Act, under which every child between the ages of six and 14 receives a free and compulsory education. In addition to regulating access to education, the act contains certain provisions that could positively impact the quality of education. According to Jhingran, one of its major achievements has been the dramatic reduction of non-teaching duties assigned to government school teachers, freeing up valuable time and lowering absenteeism. Partnering with the Government Over the past few decades, many organizations have begun working with government schools and teachers to improve learning outcomes. Pratham, a joint venture between UNICEF and the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai, runs multiple programs to supplement school education, such as learning support classes, libraries and additional learning resources. A hallmark of these initiatives is that Pratham engages volunteers from local communities and trains them to run these programs. Another important initiative that has resulted from Pratham is the annual ASER, an assessment that measures reading and arithmetic abilities by surveying more than 600,000 children across 16,000 villages in India. This remarkable exercise in data-gathering constitutes the foundation for informed decision-making and benchmarking. Other initiatives address teaching quality by placing specially trained teachers in government schools. Teach for India, modeled after the Teach for America program, was introduced in 2006. Young, motivated Indian college graduates and professionals apply for two-year fellowships to teach at government-run and low-income private schools that lack sufficient resources. An important distinction of Teach for India is that instruction is, by design, always in English. As Mohit Arora, fellowship recruitment manager for Teach for India, noted, the organizations philosophy on this point is that learning English is essential to future success, as English in todays world is more than just a language. It is a skill set. Students who do not speak English may have some difficulty initially, but the organization has made learning at these schools experiential and therefore engaging. The dynamics of one particular grade 3 Teach for India classroom were in stark contrast to other classrooms at the same school students were listening intently, contributing in class, answering questions beyond the textbook and demonstrating a strong command over English. The challenge is scaling this model to rural India. Still other organizations focus on capacity development of teachers in government schools, such as the Azim Premji Foundation. As CEO, Behar is categorical in his view that the foundation works in partnership with the government, and that it does not believe in supplanting the government school system. The foundation has established scores of institutes at the district level that provide in-service education and also empower teachers to learn from each other. For example, Behar described a voluntary teacher forum in a district of Rajasthan, initially organized by the Azim Premji Foundation, but now being run increasingly independently by teachers in the district. The Future of Primary Education in India Education in India has improved dramatically over the last three decades. Schools are accessible to most children, both student enrollment and attendance are at their highest level, and teachers are adequately remunerated. The RTE Act guarantees a quality education to a wider range of students than ever before. However, challenges in implementing and monitoring high standards in teaching and learning outcomes across regional, cultural and socioeconomic subsets prevent India from fully achieving this goal. In addition, teacher support and scalability of high-performing teaching professionals in disparate areas, funding allocation for schools in remote districts and limited use of technology in the classroom remain barriers to reforming primary education. Indias growth story remains one of the most anticipated global economic trends, and its fulfillment relies on a well-educated and skilled workforce. Improving education is a critical area of investment and focus if the country wants to sustain economic growth and harness its young workforce. A weak foundation in primary education can derail the lives, careers and productivity of tens of millions of its citizens. Already, a significant proportion of the adult workforce in India is severely under-equipped to perform skilled and semi-skilled jobs. As Rajesh Sawhney, former president of Reliance Entertainment and founder of GSF Superangels, noted, No one is unemployed in India; there are just a lot of people who are unemployable. Furthermore, in order to develop India as a consumer market of global standards, it is imperative that all of its children reap the full benefits of a high-quality education. Otherwise, large segments of the population in rural India will continue to have low purchasing power, find themselves in highly leveraged scenarios and, more often than not, continue to make a living through agricultural means. While some of this can be attributed to deficiencies in secondary and tertiary education, the root of these issues lies in low-quality primary education.

Easing Our Childrens Fears :: essays research papers

Easing Our Children’s Fears   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Children today are faced with a more hostile world than the one in which their parents grew up. Because of this, today’s children are also experiencing greater fears and worries. The fears of abuse, violence, drugs, AIDS, and divorce are problems most adults didn’t even consider while growing, yet they are commonplace among kids today. Of those fears, the fear of AIDS is one of the few which can be reduced by efforts of parents and teachers. The most effective way to reduce the anxieties children may experience regarding AIDS is through education. The basis of most fears for children, is that of the unknown. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers alike to teach the facts about this terrible disease to our children, and through this, allay the fears our children may have regarding AIDS. By educating our children about the basics of this disease, how it is transmitted, and how to prevent exposure, we can clarify myths and facts, and send our children into the world with knowledge, and some control over their fears.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Teaching our children about the basics of the disease can help to reduce their fears. AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, is the final stage of a disease which causes an abnormal reduction in the body’s natural ability to fight disease and infection. Because of this, most people who contract AIDS will eventually die due to “AIDS related causes.'; This can occur in a period anywhere from 5-15 years after exposure to HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the cause of AIDS. So far, no “cure'; for AIDS has been found, but current treatments have been found to postpone the onset of AIDS, and prolong life. With medication and some precautions, many patients lead normal lives for years after the discovery of HIV infection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The education about the transmission of HIV will also help to reduce fears. Many myths abound about how HIV can be contracted, and this uncertainty of fact vs. fiction is a source of fear for many children. HIV is a blood-borne disease. This means that it can only be transmitted by exposure to blood of an infected person, or by several body fluids that contain blood products, such as semen, vaginal secretions, or breast milk. The virus must also have a way into the recipient, such as through a break in the skin, or through mucous membranes. Simply skin to skin contact with an infected person is not enough to cause an exposure, unless there is: a) a body fluid

The Marion

The Marion nine men were Alexander H. Curtis, Joey Pinch, Thomas Speed, Nickolas Dale, James Childs, Thomas Lee, John Freeman, Nathan Levert and David Harris. They worked to provide an education for black children of Marion. Curtis was the most influential of the group and later led the push to reorganize Lincoln School into state institution. He was a member of Alabama Legislature for eight years and he loved the respect of his fellow legislators.With Alma Freeman he wrote an essay about Alabama State University and said as efforts to desegregate state college systems increasingly threaten the very survival of higher education for black Americans. Thomas Speed was a 56 year old black smith and North Carolina native who could not read or write, but had gathered some personal property through his business operations. Joseph D.Caver a graduate student in the department of history at Alabama State completed his masters thesis, titled Marion to Montgomery: A Twenty-Year History of Alabam a State University, 1867-1887. Which presents a quite scholarly and sensitive analysis and documentation of state. On founders day all faculty and students are expected to be in attendance to uplift the vast works performed by our predecessors in making of ASU.It is our current tradition that the event be held in the Joe L. Reed Acadome. The presidents of Alabama State at the time are William Burns Paterson (1878-1915), John William Beverly (1915-1920), George Washington Trenholm (1920-1925, Harper Councill Trenholm (1925-1962), Levi Watkins (1962-1981), Robert L. Randolph(1981-1983), Leon Howard (1983-1991), Clifford C. Baker (1991-1994), Joe A. Lee (2001-2008) and William Hamilton Harris(1994-200/2008-2012).

Essay on Working Mothers - 920 Words

It is often said that, quot;Mans work ends at sun set. Womens work is never done.quot; With sixty-three million women working and 62% of those women maintaining families, most women would this statement very true (AFL-CIO). While women are expanding their lives to include a career, they must also maintain their traditional roles at home. This combination of housework and career-work is the reason why working mothers today have more stress than working fathers. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Mothers may work in an office from nine to five, but their work does not end at the office. After working an eight-hour day, a mother will come home to take care of her children, husband, and house. Women remain the primary caretaker and housekeeper†¦show more content†¦Also, since husbands generally work eight more hours a week than their wives do, they tend to miss out on responsibilities, such as feeding their children dinner and breakfast. quot;Men miss out on meal chores and those tend to be very stressfulquot; says Dr. Barnett (Kelly). More often than not, womens work interferes with family while for men family interferes with work (Bianchi 171). This is because women tend to put family first, and therefore, they feel extra pressure to do well for their family when coming home from work. This feeling only adds to a working mothers stress. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Taking care of the elderly is very similar to the demand of taking care of ones children (Bianchi 180). With women now having children later in life, they find themselves responsible for the care of their young children and elderly parents, if they require care, at the same time. One-half of elderly peoples caregivers work outside of the home and one quarter of them have children at home who require care (Garrett). Whether your parents are living in a nursing facility or at home, it is undeniable the amount of work it takes to care for a loved one. Many elderly people require assistance with medication, eating, and bathing as well as a long list of simple every day tasks. For anyone this is a pretty big responsibility, but imagine caring for a person in such a manner along with caring for ones home and family.Show MoreRelatedHome Mothers And Working Mothers1684 Words   |  7 Pages The participants included two working mothers and two stay-at-home mothers within the ages of 20-35. All the participants I found were close friends or acquaintances but the hardest part was to find stay at home mothers. The method used for my research was interview questions. 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