Inequity- NORM

Inequity, the norm.

/****** Truly inspired by one gentlemen speech. Not my creativity,just referencing*******/

I would like to perform a little survey before I begin.

By a pure show of hands may I ask? 

How many of you have been to a school with just one bathroom?

How many of you ever studied in a school that had no proper teachers, and you had to learn a subject on your own?

How many of you were asked during your childhood to leave school and work instead?

It may shock you to know that in a country as large as this, you form less than 5 % of the entire demographic of India.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I term my speech “Inequity the norm”

All of you are aware of the extremes that govern this country from the below freezing temperatures of Kashmir to the sultry hot weather of the metropolis Chennai. We treasure our diversity from the south, the North or even from the North east. But as a country we face a much harsher difference and that is of Educational inequity.

In a country that boasts some of the best educational institutions in the world; it is perhaps a macabre form of irony that many of our schools in the sprawling metropolises like Mumbai and Delhi lack teachers let alone facilities like labs.

The majority of children these days are not tech savvy; they don’t log on to facebook and tweet about everything in their lives. The truth is the majority of the children of our country will not even reach the class of 10. Many children are forced to leave school for work or other such reasons.

From statistics obtained from surveys conducted allover India, the truth is as follows:

10 out of a 100 children will never go to school

50 % of those children will never reach class 5

Of those who do reach class 5, 90% will not reach class 10.

This in comparison to less than 5% of us that managed to go through school and on to college should seem utterly outrageous. The question all of us must ask is “Why is there so much difference?”

The answer is that these children are the products of our social system that divides us as rich or poor, from a higher caste or from a lower caste. These children do not finish school because they were never given the opportunity or the means to continue their education. The Government and lower income school systems are inadequate. From another survey that was conducted 1 out 4 teachers in such schools is absent on any day. And of those present only 50% of them are working at any given point of time. Being part of organizations that strive to achieve service excellence it should be appalling that such dereliction of duty not only exists in our system but is rampant. Apart from bad schools many socio economic factors such as child marriages stop a child from studying.  

Inequity in Education is a norm not at exception. It exists and is ever growing. We are aware of what are the many causes of this inequity. What we need now are solutions innovative ones that are singularly aimed at bridging the gap. This need is urgent because education can ensure a higher standard of living. Education is the way to spell the end of radical ideologies that seem to permeate through our society today. But most importantly education is the way for a country of a population of more than one billion to perform to its fullest potential.

I will leave you with a quote from Albert Einstein “We can't solve problems by using the  same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”