Two reports, hidden in the inner recesses of the newspapers, caught my attention. The first was on 14th August, the eve of Independence Day, in the Hindustan (Hindi) paper. The second was just 9 days later on 23rd August in the Hindustan Times (English). They set the alarm bells ringing.
The first stated that between 2018-19 and now about 84,000 government schools, or government aided schools, had closed down. That translates to 12,000 per annum or a shocking 33 per day! The number of students that had left was 15 million. Should not this be a major cause of concern for all of us?
The biggest losses were in U.P., Bihar, M.P., Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Andhra. Six of those eight States, now seven, are ruled by the BJP that talks of a several trillion dollar economy and becoming a Vishwaguru (World leader). In U.P. several schools were shut down and the students absorbed into other schools, possibly far from their villages or places of residence. The best performing States were Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamilnadu. Here it is the opposite story. Four out of five were non-BJP ruled states. I wonder why the Christian majority States in the North East were not covered in this report?
The report further attributes the drastic drop to free cash doles, resulting in there being no money available for education. This should draw the attention of voters. Are they being allured by short term benefits through freebies that are counterproductive in the long run?
The second report is from Rajasthan. It is based on a reply in the State Assembly to a question raised by Tikaram Jully, the Leader of the Opposition. It states that 611 Government schools do not have their own buildings, 2047 don’t have toilets and another 1049 don’t have drinking water. Isn’t this shocking?
Following the death of seven school children in a building collapse in Jhalawar district, the Rajasthan High Court took suo moto cognizance of the pathetic state of government school buildings. A State wide survey showed that there were 5667 dilapidated school buildings and 17109 toilets were dilapidated. So who would want to send their precious children to such unsafe and unhygienic schools? What about the girls, where were they supposed to go, to the fields, where rapists could be lurking?
Perhaps this is what prompted the CJP’s “School Theek Karo” (fix the schools) campaign. It led its co-convenor, Ashutosh Ranka, to visit the village school in Jaipur’s Rampura Kanwarpura that had been relocated to a cattle shed. To prevent media attention the villagers, allegedly BJP workers, prevented the CJP investigative team from visiting the premises.
On the other hand, in U.P. Basic Shiksha Adhikaris (Education Officers) have been given an advisory to prevent outsiders from visiting or video recording government schools. What a huge cover up. How long can the ugly truth remain hidden?
What are the government’s priorities? Are stray cattle more important than our precious children? Are Ram Temples of more significance than temples of learning? The public (voters) must raise these questions. The government cannot absolve itself by just providing data, or answering questions in the State Assemblies It must address these distress signals on a war footing.
I myself am a college dropout and stay away from the education sector. I scrupulously avoid all requests for admissions to prestigious Christian schools in my city. Nevertheless I am aware of some of the shenanigans in government aided Christian educational institutions. The government invariably withholds the appointment of principals, lecturers, teaching and non-teaching staff. Since the fees in such “aided” schools are peanuts, how can they survive without government aid? Perhaps we could change their classification to “bandaid” schools, held together by a thread.
This is a grave injustice, not just to the schools and their staff, but even more so to the children who are being deprived of subsidized education. Many of these bandaided institutions have now opened unaided, fee-levying sister schools in the same premises. They cannot be faulted for that. It’s a question of survival.
By denying or delaying government aid in the education sector the government is doing a grave injustice to society and furure generations. It is also playing in to the hands of the education mafia. It is no secret that without the proper political clout one cannot begin or operate an educational institution. Very recently a Catholic school that was being constructed on its own private land, in my neighbouring district, was sealed by the district administration, because its building plan was not yet sanctioned. On the other hand does the government turn a blind eye to myriads of schools that lack basic amenities like playgrounds or fire safety measures? They are mushrooming all over these backward States. How long is the public going to be blind to reality?
What’s the use of jet-setting across the globe to hug world leaders when we cannot embrace our own poor children? What is the use of photo ops on Rakshabandan where school children are brought to tie rakhis on our Prime Minister and other dignitaries? Is the hypocrisy and vanity of it all lost on us?
The CJP, also referred to as Gen Z has opened up a Pandora’s Box for the one who had earlier advised them to sell pakodas. Now even school children, labeled as Gen Alpha, have risen in protest, asking for basic amenities in their schools. Be it the alpha or the omega, it is not just Gen Z that is asking Y?
Every Republic and Independence day I organize our flag hoisting. This year the Chief Guest, a distinguished former Head of Department in IIT, Kanpur, and another post-doctoral scholar said that education should lead us to ask questions and demand answers. They were hitting the nail on the head.
Interestingly, another report says that 30% of teaching posts in IITK are lying vacant. Small wonder then that it has one of the highest rates of student suicides. In frustration they will either take their own lives or the lives of those who should be providing them proper livelihood.
This Independence Day, at the Red Fort, the Prime Minister warned of the dangers of “dimagi naxals” (intellectual terrorists). He needs to take a peek within to ask another more pertinent question; “Who or what are responsible for creating dimagi naxals?
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