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Gowriv

very thought provoking article

I would say that it is better to devlop Govt. schools rather than build new schools, since some infrastructure is already avaialble

One way of improving Govt. schools is for philantrhopists or for people of the community where the Govt. schools are located to adopt the Govt. schools by way of donations for improving infrastructure or by arranging good quality teachers and arranging mid-day breakfast & meals.

We praja members can sit down and definitely chart a fool proof plan to develop Govt. schools not only in Bangalore but throughtout Karnataka / India

Srinath Heragu

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@Mcadambi,

So if there are practical laws namely such as not needing to have a playground and less height restrictions of the school building and greater FAR/FSI - then it will be very economical to build and hence charge lesser fees to students to recover the investments.

What's the big idea here? If infrastructure is expensive, do away with it and let kids study in dilapidated shanties? I fail to get what you're driving at. School education is not just about feeding kids something from a textbook inside the four walls of a classroom all day long. There has to be physical activity and exercise as part of the school curriculum - and for this, schools MUST have playgrounds and open spaces within their campuses.

Also, no one wants new schools in the CBD anymore - there are enough of those already, and besides a majority of the population resides in the suburbs. So rather than cribbing about high land prices in the CBD, it would make more sense to shift to the outskirts - which is what most of the new 'international schools' are doing.

Regards,
~~~~
Manish, Nagarbhavi.

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cz. ayyo hangalla. since i started the discussion, i was cribbing about my failure to take the discussion where i wanted it to go. the issue i realize was that insead of starting from basics and the problem i jumped directly into the solution. as far as i know, no self respecting country has outsourced basic education to private players. in the US there is now something called as a 'no child left behind' policy. which basically gives gives the parents freedom in choosing school districts and some financial incentives to private players to produce educational materials and parents to buy them. but that is about it. in the US kids can _mostly_ only go to schools within the school district in which their house is in. This means that schools have some level of centrality in civic life. so areas in which better schools exist have higher real estate value!! now this on an average means that the best performing schools are in nice little predominently middle class white neighbourhoods. but that is a different issue. i have visited some rural/inner city schools in the US, which are generally considered inferior. but, IMO they are pretty good. in the US, when they talk about badly performing schools, IMHO, it is not about facilities or teacher qualification or absenteeism. In the US the fundamental problems are attitudinal. The basic issue is, in social terms, the teacher does not hold the same position within the class and the kids donot have the same attitude askids in india. yet we must be careful not to read too much into attitudes. this, for example, is a 'report' by what would be an equivalent of a Ist PUC kid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1STFM39vJ4 that this report has conceptual flaws is secondary. but the basics are right there. i were to grade this report i would give 10/10. a kid working with his mother tongue, in an accent and language natural to him and _meditating_ on a global idea. the kid produced a complete and original critique that he thunk for himself. whether he is right or wrong is secondary. fundamental take home message is that the kid thought for himself and there was somebody in the school and the system who gave him the freedom to think for himself. and yet this all not uniquely american. growing up we had three teachers for the entire period of high school, who encouraged all sorts of 'nonlinear' behaviour amongst the students. as far as i can count atleast 5 kids in my class out of 60, took these fundamental lessons seriously and turned out to be 'misfits'. these kids went to other schools and almost never fit in. and yet today, i keep talking to them and hence know what they are upto, they are doing some highly nonlinear and radical stuff in their lives. 1/12 is an awesome rate even by american standards, and it is phenomenal for kids in a traditional conservative south indian city that we grew up in. IMO, primary education has nothing to do with computers and calculators. that is all nonsense and basically triumphalism of technology which diverts attention from the real issues. the fundamentals of education are very simple. they need no new technological and organizational wizardry. the fundas are not 2 and 2 is 4 but WHY 2 and 2 is 4. there are some other fundamental disconnects in education. some of which shastri has mentioned. and the fundamental questions are: irrespective of the gold medals in math & science olympiads, and cracking of the JEE, does our schooling even pretend to seed a healthy skepticism and rationality in the young minds? does it even pretend to provide the type of nurture that shastri is talking about? the next question is, how do you instill all this when you have the made the person, the language and attitudes all problematic? what we are teaching is, unless you negate yourself completely and mimic some foriegn clone, including wearing a tie in the hot indian climate, you are worthless. this is the attitude that we are basing our education on and we expect great and unique contributions from kids? i will give you an example. the only thing that differentiates man from the rest of the animals is his facility with language. and yet, in this brave new world of ours, a saleswoman in a prominent store in blr would rather say things like 'ladies can also be used' instead of an articulate and intelligent sales pitch in kannada. i asked, hengasroo upyogsa bhudanedamma? and she would rather reply 'yes sir, ladies can also be used'. this is the level of absurdity that our schools have seeded in. what i want is, karnataka state schooling to be so good that ICSE, CBSE etc not to mention english medium state syllabus, to be inconsequential. karnaata families should not even get doubt about the quality of education.

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The Parikrma schools, whose focus is on children from the slums, obviously cannot accept each and every kid who wants to join. So, they use this filter to select a child whose elders "take active interest in their children."

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There are two ways to improve an education system:

1. Throw out the existing system and start building from scratch. Hundreds of NGOs in the state do this -- many of them are doing wonderful work in providing low-income children with both a strong self-image, creativity, and basic skills.  They also develop models that can be used in other places

2. Work with the system that exists to make it better.  Government education is admittedly flawed, but the fact is that Karnataka has one of the highest enrolment rates in the country.  However bad the schools, children are going to them.  So it's crucial to improve quality.  This is a way to reach millions of children -- and there are more than 5 million children attending government schools in the state.

Even though the government schools are often thought of as hopeless, surveys (see the ASER report at www.pratham.org) show that private schools that low-income children attend are often teaching them just as much (just as little) as government schools teach.

The government also has plenty of resources for education.  In Karnataka, government education spending comes to about Rs. 5000 per child per year.  The government runs several programmes in its schools -- summer camps, remedial teaching, mid-day meals, a radio education programme, and supplementary programmes supported by NGOs.  Schools teach in children's mother tongues but also teach English with the intention of preparing students for the job market.

So where is it going wrong?  Accountability.  Lots of money, lots of programmes, lots of experts, lots of beautifully designed curriculum, and the largest human resource pool you could possibly have -- but no one to make sure it's working. No one to make that teacher feel that anyone cares if she teaches or not.  Few people to force the government to think critically about whether its top-down initiatives are really having an impact.  

 Why the absence of support?  Middle-class citizens have disengaged from government education, even though they pay taxes for it.  And low-income parents of children in government schools and community members lack the resources and power to make a difference -- they may even feel too intimidated to visit their children's schools.

 It's not that the government doesn't want help -- in fact, Karnataka's education department is unusual among other states in that it's relatively warm to outside input.  It's just up to citizens to have the good faith to participate.

 

 

 

 

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