A 100% Education

India seems to be best governed by the judiciary. Until the court steps in and passes a judgement the debates seem to meander endlessly. Then the judgement comes along like the thwack. There are some whimpers of protests and we go ahead and implement it. Clearly we as a nation behave like children who need to be mandated about what we should be doing anyway. We are a democracy, but we love being given diktats. That is just what has happened to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, (better known as the Right to Education Act or RTE Act). All schools, including privately-run schools, irrespective of the board they are affiliated to, to admit from this academic year (2012-13) at least 25% students from socially and economically backward families. These students will be guaranteed free education from class I till they reach the age of 14.What happens to them after that m'lord? Are they expected to drop out of school and return to some imaginary corner of society? I don't know. Maybe they will stop studying after the age of 14. Maybe we will need RTE v 2.0 or something. In any case it will be somebody else who will need to think of that problem?The naysayers are raising questions over the nitty gritties of implementation. I have heard debates that range anywhere from disgusting to ridiculous. There were debates on how we will need to now start counseling the students on how to deal with "these children". Counsel the children? I suppose what they meant is how do we counsel the parents who said in so many words, "I don't want to send my kid to the same school where my maid's son is his classmate." For one, I can only pity the child who have such parents as role models. But such responses are not surprising in "power distant" societies like India. Power Distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. So yes there will be some squirming. Since that will be done by a few parents, and not the children, we need not lose sleep over it.Let us understand that the legislation is a baby step. There will be more paths to clear as the years go by and this group of students moves from class 1 to the higher classes. Schools will have to resolve issues as they come up. Excursions, field trips and picnics will have to be redesigned to be more inclusive. Costs will have to be thought through. I suspect this must be kind of problems that had to be thought through when any society took a step towards being more inclusive. Whenever steps are taken to bring minorities at par, there will be protests. People will complain of dilution of standards. They will talk about the inconveniences that they have to face to accommodate these "minorities" - whichever way they define it.There is a bigger change needed in the schools. May I invite the judiciary to mandate that too. And please do it right away. That is of redesigning our horribly outdated curriculum and teaching methods. We need to craft a school curriculum that takes into account the new technologies. Why can we not put every textbook in the cloud? And then give access to the students ebook readers to download the content. There are many ways to fund the cost of readers, connectivity problems etc. So let us not lose sight of the bigger challenge of content redesign. (see my article on Kindle new possibilities <click here>) We have to look at curriculum design and delivery in the current context and not keep wearing the same lenses that we have grown used to. I also understand that the government has several competing priorities - defence, health, sports etc. Each one demands resources and can make a pressing case. It is the educational experience that can truly help a person realize their potential and change the nation. The teacher has to be a curator of knowledge. The old assumptions about education, schools, content, textbooks, teachers ... all have to be realigned to today's scenario. Without education the demographic dividend will be a social nightmare.

"Both the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Boston Consulting Group estimate that India would face a “talent gap” of more than 5 million by 2012, as existing educational institutions do not impart employable skills. Just 20% of the engineering graduates are unemployable. A McKinsey report finds only 25% engineers, 15% finance graduates and less than 10% of the other graduates to be employable. It is even more alarming when one takes into account that graduates comprise only 3.5% of India’s population — this includes graduates in all streams such as arts, commerce, science, engineering, and medicine. If 90% of the graduates are unemployable, it means that barely 0.5% of India’s population comprises employable graduates."

Incremental and radical innovation have to go hand in hand. Leverage the best thinkers of the country and bring in innovations in creating innovative content, leverage technology to deliver it. When the government grants a tax holiday to a company, ask them to buy hardware and software for as many children as the number of employees on their rolls. Get the Training Department of the companies to create curriculum for the neighborhood schools. I could go on and on. Give the kids a 100% education.Now that we have got the kids access to schools, it is time to give them access to 100% education that truly prepares the for the future. This time we need to focus not just on the 25% who are joining, but for the entire 100%.