Education
I come from a family where my father along with countless number of relatives and other acquaintances of his generation went to government schools. However, today even if they cannot afford it, people are increasingly turning to "private" schools.
These are considered better than the municipal ones because they have fancy uniforms and the teachers speak smart English.
Their advertisements conjure images of high quality education that was once the reserve of the privileged and encourage
parents to believe that they making the right choice by sending their wards their.
Private school are dime a dozen in every neighborhood and parents line up there rather than go to purportedly overcrowded,
filthy, ill-managed government schools. Ironically, sometimes the facilities provided by these private enterprises are only
on paper. I have seen a school that boasts of a 'playground' that could easily compete with my 60sqft of green patch that I
proudly call a lawn. Another has 'teachers' who are still in college finishing their own education.
The crisis of education erupts from the concern that anything sarkari is immediately perceived as dysfunctional and
unproductive. Considering the vast amount of funds that are required for creating and sustaining basic developmental
infrastructure like education, the government should reassess the requirements based on ground situation. For instance, there
is no longer a market for schools imparting education in regional languages. Every parent wants their children to speak
English as this increases their possibilities of acquiring gainful employment.
The administration should train its focus on reallocating resources and facilities to target communities and regions which do
not have access to basic education. This could include shutting down present facilities in urban areas where there is
sufficient presence of private market forces and relocating them to rural and semi-urban areas where access...
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