Education Priorities

Yesterday I was reading an article on how the new government should 'correct' the history syllabus of our schools and why secularists are scared of this move. As I am in the government service, so am not supposed to comment on government policies, yet as a citizen who has benefitted most out of government subsidised education I would like to express my personal views on the things that should be prioritised in the sector of education.

In the field of primary education, the issue is not of content but of quality of dissemination. In a country where a class 5 student is not able to divide 27 by 5 and find the remainder, (ASER report), I don't think it will matter whether she grows up thinking that Aryans invaded India or otherwise. When a bright student of a remote village lands up at IIT because of his sheer talent but feels cheated when the entire course is in English, he really doesn't care if Akbar was a bigger hero or his rival Rana Pratap. I come from a typical middle class family and all that my parents wanted out of my education was to ensure a job for me. Most middle class and lower middle class parents in India still send their kids to school in the hope that they will become employable in future and will be able to earn for themselves. Our education system must cater to that need without taking any moral high ground. 

I was always interested in history and my father never discouraged from spending time on it. My grandfather was a Gandhian freedom fighter, my father is a communist trade union leader and my brother and I have attended 'shakhas' run by RSS in our localities as kids. I have heard different versions of history from these different sources. Even now I keep re-reading history books to know more about India and love reading books which contradict each other. That is what makes history interesting- it changes depending on who is narrating it.

But that is not the case with Mathematics and Science. They do not change with the educator. And hence the scope of improvement in dissemination of maths and science becomes so much easier to implement.  Our existing economic setup is hugely biased towards students of Mathematics and Science. A science student has a much higher probability of employment than a commerce or humanities student and hence the rising madness for engineering colleges. So if you want to change history in school books, first change the economic setup where history students can get a good employment.

Our government schools are hiring the worst talent in the society. Anybody who is a an above average student either makes a career in the private sector or at least ends up as a clerk in the public sector. The leftovers are the ones who apply for government teacher jobs. So the worst student in the class ends up becoming a primary school teacher in a government school. Yet we find some exceptional teachers in the government setup and people like me are the handiwork of such brilliant government teachers. There is a lot of improvement that needs to be done in the way we teach our kids. Recent experiments in primary school have really deteriorated the quality standards. Recently I was appointed observer for evaluation of answer sheets of state board examinations of 10th and 12tn standard and some of the random copies that I checked were very disturbing. The quality of answers were so pathetic that it made me cry. Not to mention that my job was to ensure that the teachers who were empolyed as examiners did their job well, and that too wasn't easy. They were the least motivated lot that I had ever witnessed.

Teachers, especially primary teachers are the most neglected as well as the most politicised group. Neglected because they are given no inputs to teach more qualitatively and are mostly busy with the administrative work like distribution of school uniforms, free textbooks, mid day meals, and minor construction works in their schools. They are also the most politicised as they are the largest number of workforce in any state government and hence their postings and transfers etc are highly influenced by local politicians. I remember that in Bihar and Jharkhand there was always a flood of teacher recruitment so just before assembly elections, just to gain votes. This is not to say that our primary teachers are good for nothing. They excel in all the non-teaching jobs that they are assigned. Census of India and Election Commission of India claim to be the most efficient of the public organisations and both of them hire teachers as the field workers. Sadly, no thought is spared for the kids who are rendered teacher less during census and elections.

A lot has been tried in training the teachers but hasn't given us expected results. And when we are hiring a very poor student as a teacher, we should not expect miracles at his/her hands. Thankfully technology is at our aid now. Smart classes like educomp, virtual classrooms like Khan academy are making primary education more interesting and dissemination of knowledge more efficient. The MHRD needs to focus on scaling up the inputs in these directions. Our existing school systems can only produce clerks and that is why coaching institutes produce doctors, engineers and managers. The way science, mathematics, technology (including computers) and English (to enable global employability) is taught in government schools needs a total overhauling. Things like biometric attendance of teachers, GPS enabled apps to track presence of teachers in schools, optical fibre connectivity to all villages are things that should be on the minds of the people dealing with education policy.

History is,and has always been, an important subject of interest for mankind. It is taught in schools only to give a cursory view of how the country and the world came into being in its present form. Out of the same school syllabus that has been taught over years, we have produced intellectuals from the extreme right to the extreme left in our country. So for heaven's sake, let's not waste our energy and resources on rewriting history or in 'correcting' it. People who are interested in knowing the counterview shall know them later (provided books are not banned for providing counter views). Let us focus on quality of the various other subjects that are taught very poorly at our primary schools today, namely Mathematics, Science, English and Computers. 

Afterword- my constant emphasis on English is also because all technological higher education institutes of engineering, law, medicine, management as well as commerce and chartered accountancy are i. English only and we should not be unjust to students who aspire to do big in life but are forced to compromise because their school education in English was not of a good quality.

Honesty begets poverty

Someone just shared a picture of Arvind Kejriwal on Facebook, probably to show that he/she was influential  enough to get a picture of himself clicked with Arvind or just in praise of the new icon of democratic protests in India. Another someone commented that he was impressed to see the simplicity of Arvind and his home. And I found that disturbing. Why should simplicity be impressive? And why should we loathe something that is rich and grand?

India, having its roots in religion and philosophy very deep, has always marvelled at the image of the reunciator, or the Sanyasi. The four ashrams of a human life culminate into Sanyaas where one is supposed to give up all that one has earned in his life. We have also held in great respect people who do not earn anything at all and just live on begging and alms. Not only did Brahmins glorified living on alms but Buddha took it to a much higher level. The simplicity of food and clothing also gave Mahatma Gandhi the respect of the people. We get amused to see that men who could have made millions have actually decided to lead a simple life.

But, then, do we not also accept that it is a great deal to be able to make a lot of money and hence a greater deal to have voluntarily quit such wealth. In a country which is primarily poor, placing a higher value on renunciation and simplicity than on affluence and wealth is paradoxical. We marvel at Gandhi and Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal but we want our kids to get the best education and get a very good job, the "good" directly meaning well paid. In fact, for ourselves also we want good money and all the comforts of life. But why feel guilty about it? There is nothing wrong in being able to lead a life of comfort and richness and one should strive to reach that. My present economic situation is better than my father's and his was better than his father's. That is a development. I would want my offspring's economic condition to be better than mine. I wouldn't rejoice that my offspring should not get the affluence that he/she deserves.

Renunciation, however, is different from poverty as the former is voluntary and the latter a destiny. Through out my childhood days, I have heard from my parents how they only had one pair of clothes when they were kids and how they got their first shoes after coming to the city. And they saw a pride in the fact that they were able to give to their children much more than their parents could do. I am sure most parents feel this way in our country. But when it comes to political or business icons, our value system changes. We want our politicians to lead a very simple life and not be a rich man. And if one is rich, our first assumption is that one is corrupt. A similar value system exists for a civil servant as well. Even businessmen, who are in the profession of making money, are ridiculed if they show off too much affluence. We, however, fail to acknowledge that in our country, the fair means of making money are limited while the desire to make money is as normally present as in any other society.

In such scenario, we train our kids to be good in academics so that they get a good job and lead an affluent life. But we do not want them to become politicians or entrepreneurs, mostly because of the risks involved. Though most of us want our kids to become civil servants, it is mostly because of the non-monetary perks that the job provides which shall ensure an affluent lifestyle. So, in a world, where everyone wants to be richer than they already are, we are no different. But we don't want our leaders to be so.

One of the arguments is about empathy. Only a leader who leads a simple life can understand the problems of the poor and then find solutions to them. Apparently such a value drove Gandhi too to adopt the lifestyle of an ascetic. But do we want our rich to live like the poor or the poor to live like rich. The government spends lakhs of crores to ensure that the poor rise in the socio-economic hierarchy, but if that rise is too much for us to digest, we find his methods corrupt and wrong. 

Arvind Kejriwal is a brilliant example of what our families want their kids to be. He qualified the JEE and entered IIT Kharagpur. Then he qualified the UPSC and entered the IRS. His wife is still in the IRS. He did not do IIT and IRS because he wanted to lead a simple life and work for the poor. He did this because he was a good student and wanted to do best in all fields. It is sad to see that such a sucess icon of the socity should also fall prey to the populism of leading a frugal life to get public acceptability. His wife should be an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax or would be soon becoming a Commissioner of Income Tax. Both of Kejriwal's kids are in schools, I suppose. They must get good schools and leading a simple life should not force them to get into an inefficient government school. They should also be able to crack IIT and UPSC and become successful in their lives. And we should be happy if Arvind's son becomes a great engineer and an entrepreneur and makes huge money for himself. I would consider him a success then.We would want our kids to do the same. Gandhiji, in his own obstinacy to lead a simple life did not give his children the best education and guidance, of which we have read a lot, especially about his eldest son. None of us wants to become a Father like Gandhiji, irrespective of how much respect we have for the Father of the Nation.

Let us praise the likes of Dhiru Bahi, for fighting against all odds because he wanted to make money albeit using methods not completely legal in those times. (with change in govt policies now, those methods are totally legal now) Let us also praise owners of Flipkart.com for making so much money so quickly and also praise all those individuals who have done extremely well in their life in terms of material terms. It is because of these people that we feel that we are moving ahead. We do not want a society where providing primary education and a rudimentary primary health centre should be the maximum that a citizen should expect. We want a society where every kid should be healthy like hell and should have an education to get through institutes like IIT's. We should have more rich people in this country and less reunuciators. We should have role models who inpsire us to do better in life than to give up on things. 

Let us not assume that honest people should lead a poor life. Let us not idolize Anna and Kejriwal and compel our young generation to lead a simple life. Let us create opportunities so that honest people can become rich and create a value system where richness does not connote corruption and dishonesty. Let the desire to make money be a valid desire and let us equip every single individual in our country to live up to his/her own desires.

Schooling changed

Last December, I was on a short trip to a Bihar village after a gap of 5 years. Landing in my mom's birthplace, I was anxious to see the change that the Nitish Kumar government had brought about in the small village called Gosain Gaon in Bhagalpur District.

Considering my own education, many young kids of my family were forcefully sent to me to get some "gyaan" on career and life. As always, the craze for government jobs is tremendous in Bihar and especially in upper caste families. While talking to the kids, most of them in class 10, 11 and 12, I realized that a lot had changed when I had last met these kids in their primary school days. All the kids studied in Convent schools despite the fact that one of my uncles is a government school teacher himself. Most of them were quite aware about JEE etc and some were also taking coaching in the nearby town of Naugachhia, solving problems from H.C.Verma's "Concept of Physics". This was heartening. One of the girls (my niece) who was in Class 11th, asked me some difficult calculus sums and I was amazed at her knowledge. She appeared to be the most intelligent of all and I have a hunch that she will get through some good engineering college next year.

What was also noteworthy was the change in attitude of the parents. Parents were ready to send their kids to Kota or other big cities to do coaching for JEE. People knew about various other engineering entrance exams as well and for some weird reason Kalinga Institute of Engineering was quite popular after IITs and NITs. However, these were parents and kids of Brahmins and hence were the first in the village to grab the benefits of any new initiative taken in the education sector. 

Just behind our place in Gosain Gaon (i.e., the Brahmin Tola), there lies another community (tola) of Haadis. They are an ex-untouchable caste and I vividly remember how one of its adults was badly beaten by one of my uncles about ten years ago when he had not stopped my elder brother from drinking water at his aangan's handpump. The adults, as well as the kids, used to come to our houses during ceremonies to clean floors and clothes and do other sundry manual labour and would get leftovers of the ceremonial meals. This time, however, the kids were reluctant to do such jobs. The adults did come to clean up but demanded cash in lieu of the work and denied food being given. I could see my aunties swearing at the Hadini for being so shameless in asking for money from a Brahmin family, but the rustic lady insisted she wouldn't accept anything but cash. Finally, the uncles loosened their pockets to avoid a lady brawl.

Some of my cousins, who were themselves preparing for JEE type exams, joked about how the Haadi kid wouldn't agree to come to work in their houses. "These rascals now even go to school. Look at their smugness and attitude." It was weird to see 16-year old Brahmin kids being so aware and arrogantly proud of being upper caste and swearing at a Dalit kid. There was also the frustration that the Haadis had got pucca houses built from the finds gained through Indira Awas Yojana. I tried talking to my Teacher Uncle and understand why the caste attitudes hadn't changed but he didn't have any convincing answers. My questions were seen as an urban outsider's awkward reactions to something that was quite normal.

Nevertheless, in one of the evenings. I took a stroll alongside the pucca houses of the Haadis, making sure that my mom and uncles do not know about it. I saw the kids playing the typical rural games, but at the same time there were kids playing cricket (more of a gully-cricket). It was probably some serious match and one of the kids had a notebook in hand where he was scribbling the scores- runs, overs and wickets.

After our short stay in the village, me and mom headed back to Bokaro. We walked to the village chowk, where we would get the rickshaw to go the auto-stand. It was early morning. I saw some kids studying in a big hall. My uncle told me that it was Maths and Physics coaching center. Few steps away, I saw a thatched hut with about 50 kids where one kid was reciting the table of 8 and other kids repeating after them. This was also a privately run primary school by a unemployed graduate of the village. While we were waiting for the rickshaw, we heard that the rickshaw-puller was having his breakfast. He arrived shortly. He must have been from a Dalit caste, as was clear by his reactions on seeing Brahmin clients waiting to board his vehicle. Me and mom sat on the rickshaw. He asked for few minutes. He took out 5 rupees from his pocket and gave to a young girl standing there in her school uniform with the bag on her back. The rickshaw-puller told her,"buy some toffees while going to school" in a loving tone and then with a stern voice continued,"and finish your english and maths homework before I come back in the evening; don't play too much in the afternoon." The girl, the rickshaw-puller's daughter smiled and sat on another rickshaw that was carrying other kids in the same uniform to probably another English medium school.

The girl didn't care if there were Brahmin customers waiting for her dad, and I think she wouldn't even know what a Brahmin is (at least I hope so). But what caught my attention was that I did not find anybody going to a government school, irrespective of caste or class, yet I saw all kids going to school, nevertheless.

Sopan Vidyalaya and Hope...

I enter the gates of the school and today being a Saturday, children are having Drawing classes. Some students dressed in their blue uniforms and blue sweaters are sitting in ordered rows on the verandah of the sopan vidyalaya, drawing their favourite stuff on their drawing books. As I arrive there, even before the teacher could introduce me, all students uniformly stand up, fold their hands together and in a very disciplined manner greet me in their semi-musical style, "Namaasteee Sir". Having taught this type of kids years ago, I am surprised and amused at their discipline.

The Principal and teachers introduced me as an IAS officer and am sure no kid knew anything about what or who is an IAS. I did not even correct the teachers that I am actually not an IAS per se. I just cleared the exams and in fact might be into some other service. But that didn't matter right now. The kids sitting in the verandah were class 5 and class 6 students. Soon Class 7 and 8 students were called from their classrooms and asked to sit as my audience. I was supposed to say something to the kids. Trust me, I have given as many speeches as a 28 year old man can possibly make and yet every new audience is a challenge. And in fact, school kids are the most difficult audience. First of all, because they are always forced to listen when they would like to talk and play. And mostly, because they don't make a sense out of the unnecessary complicated adult non-sense that you talk.

I was a little perplexed as to what should I say these kids. Few days back I was giving Marketing gyaan to MBA students in Delhi and I was so much more comfortable there. Nevertheless, I ask the kids if they know who I was. They nodded their heads in the negative. Surely the teachers used a very complicated terminology to introduce me. I smiled and aksed kids if they felt disturbed in their drawing classes by an outsider. Thankfully some older kids knew that I have been coming to the school earlier also. I begin my talk by asking why do they come to schools. A Class 7 students says, "शिक्षा पाने के लिए" (to gain education). I ask what shall they do with that education. Another kid says, "इस से हमें अपने आस पास कि सारी चीजों कि समझ होती है. (we are able to understand the various things around us). ''Is that all?'', I ask. ''Does school teach us only about ourselves? What's the purpose of such an education? just to take care of ourselves?''. "NO", the entire audience shouts in unison. A smart girl says, "शिक्षा का उद्देश्य यह है कि हम न सिर्फ अपनी बल्कि दूसरों की भी समस्याओं का हल प्राप्त कर सकें." (The objective of education is not only that we solve our problems but also solve the problem of others.)

By this time, I am surprised by not only the clear, crisp hindi of the students but also their sharp minds and well articulated speech. I now get into a long chat with them. I tell them who an administrator is. They guy who is invisibly responsible for running the country, who ensures that trains run, roads are made, schools are built and electricity reaches homes. Kids are excited. I tell them what exam did I just pass and why passing this exam is such a big deal. I ask them if they have ever seen their principal giving so much respect to somebody, the way their principal was showing respect to me right now. They laugh and say "No".  Don't they also want that their principal should give them such respect? "Yes", they shyly say. I tell them how I also thought so when an IAS officer came to our school. "Our deadly ferocious Principal was giving him so much respect, I wanted to be like him." A small kid asks, "तो आपने क्या किया इसके लिए?" (what did you do for this?).

''You all can all become IAS officers. But for that you will have to study very hard. As of now, try to remember everything you study because you will need to know all the school knowledge when you take this exam.'' "पर सब कुछ याद थोड़े ही रहता है? (but one can't remember everything)'', a cute kid questions. The teachers smile. I ask how many kids remember our country's name. "BHAARAT" shout all kids. "And how many of you know which city do we live in?" "KANPUR" again a common shout. ''So how come you have not forgotten these?'' Kids are a bit puzzled.

''When you read or listen to something again and again, you start remembering it. Do you all remember your names?" The kids laugh at such a stupid question from me. ''How come you never forget your names? Because you listen to it again and again. In fact even a pet dog starts remembering its name and responds to it.'' The kids find my gyaan revealing. ''Would you like to listen to a story?''. Vibrant affirmative nods from the kids.

I tell them the story of a small kid many years ago who wanted to study but the Guru denied him admission because he didn't have a line of education in his palm. "The kid sat down beside a well crying. There he saw that the rope that passed over the rim of the well had created a mark on the stone. He was surprised how a rope can put a mark on a hard stone. He sat there the whole day and observed how everytime the ropes were pulled, the stone was rubbed and he realized that only after several repetitive efforts could the rope cut through the stone. The kid went back to the guru and made a line of education on his palm and pleaded that he would work very hard. The guru gave him admission. That kid later became one of the most accomplished grammarians of Sanskrit named Varadraj.  You would read this story in some books someday. The doha रसरी आवत जात ते सिल पर परत निसान (the continuous rub of the rope makes a mark on the stone) comes from this story."



The kids were smart. They got the moral of the story without explaining. They understood that I was asking them to do the same thing again and again if they can't get it right the first time. Isn't that what I did? I cleared my JEE in my 2nd attempt and my Civil Services in my 3rd attempt. The kids showed their understanding of my story with an applause. A few sparkling eyes of girls and boys looked at me in awe as if saying that we shall also become great someday. Not to mention that they were not bogged down by the fact that they came from poor and disadvantaged families. It is such sparkle in those little eyes that gives me hope. The hope that change is very much possible. And not only that change is possible, we are very much capable of directing and accelerating change. A small centre that Dr. H.C. Verma and some IITK students started on an abandoned compound of a government school is today a full-fledged school from class 1 to class 8. Our students over the past ten years have achieved a lot. In fact, one of the teachers at Sopan Vidyalaya is an ex-student of ours. Some of our students have also gone to do MCA, BE (electronics) and Computer Hardware maintenance.

I was told that we are coaching some kids for NTSE scholarships and Sopan hopes that someday its students would crack JEE and Civil Services as well. I came back to my room, but before leaving, the Principal told me that the kids have made something for me and that it would be delivered to me by the evening. In the evening, one of our ex-students came to my room and gifted me a pen-stand, made by the students. Beautifully packed in a golden wrap and silver ribbon, it is a pen-stand made of cardboard. The kids have used a blue velvet paper for base covering. One side has the Shiksha Sopan logo, two sides are decorated with beads etc and the fourth side has a tri-color stitched to it. The kids believe in the idea of India and the significance of the national flag. This is what they are taught. This is also what was taught to us, but we seem to have forgotten the tri-color. For many of us, an IAS is about power, about easy money, about access to politics. For those school kids, it is still about their country which they are taught is their motherland. In those kids eyes and hearts, India still thrives. In their eyes, there is still hope.