ManiKrishna

Human capital has been recognised as the major vehicle for the growth and development of any economy. Education, a major component of human capital (apart from health) plays a vital role in economic growth. There is a high correlation between education and economic prosperity.

It is a sad state of affair, that in India the importance given to education, even at preliminary levels itself is very negligible. India is only proud of its constitutional goal of universal elementary education. In reality, there are approximately 63 million children in the age group of 6-14 estimated to be away from school. In 13 States in India, over 85 per cent of women are illiterates. According to United Nations Development Report, India has a long way (centuries) to go. For example, Uttar Pradesh needs 92 years and Bihar needs 121 years to reach cent per cent literacy rate. The department of education, the ruling governments and the policy makers have not realised the urgency of the situation.

With education, many other socio-economic issues can be addressed. For example, infant mortality rate is directly correlated to primary education. In Orissa with 35 per cent of literacy, the infant mortality rate was 112.1 per thousand, as compared to Kerala with highest literacy rate, only 24 infants per thousand died. Further, the use of birth control is also directly correlated with education. Similarly, child’s immunisation is also related to education. Thus, education plays a vital role in socio-economic improvement of India.

Further, education helps in all aspects of an economy. For example, illiterate farmers who are not able to read the instructions provided by the fertiliser and pesticide companies, not only destroy their health but also a superior harvest. Thus, education helps for better agricultural out put also. In a country like India where agriculture is the backbone of the economy, literacy will definitely bring more output.

Either over population nor lack of funds cannot be stated as the arguments for not providing sufficient education. Because, in China - which has more population compared to India - the average adult spends five years in school; and a Sri Lankan puts seven years in school. However, in India it is only about two years.

Another argument usually provided by the authorities is that children do not want to study, since they want to work even as child labourers. However, this argument was found invalid by the published Report on Basic Education in India (PROBE) by Delhi School of Economics. According to the PROBE survey, 98 per cent parents said that boys should be educated and 89 per cent wanted girls to be educated. PROBE also found that only a small minority of children are full time labourers. More than 80 per cent of parents preferred compulsory primary education for children. Thus, the labour arguments by the government authorities do not hold good.

With respect to the quality of education, it is believed that private schools provide better quality compared to government schools. It is true and an undisputed fact that schools run by the government in India measure far below acceptable standards. But, there is a paradox too. Tutors of private schools do not receive even 50 per cent of the salary, which the government teachers are getting. But, private schools provide superior education. This implies that the selection process of government school teachers itself is wrong, thanks to political interference in selection boards.

Government schools or its authorities claim that private schools have more fund to provide superior education. This fund problem can be solved by the government if it thinks prudently, with out utilising public money. How? For example, there are various private sector companies in this country involved in social activities. Identify them. Make them support/adopt schools. Computer firms or computer education companies will be willing to sponsor computers plus skills to government schools. Only thing is that the government has not started its thinking process in these lines. It always complaints that it lacks funds, Not findings ways out. Thus, with a well carved out strategy involving entrepreneurs the financial problems of government schools can be solved.

The educational policy pursued during the last half a century can be summarised in four words according to Dr S.Ambirajan, Planned drift and criminal neglect. The government has failed to reduce the number of illiterates even after 50 years of independence. In fact, increased that figure to a great extend. This is due to the fact that the Indian government is incompetent, and totally careless in setting its priorities.

Indian government does fund allocation for education with out any well carved out strategy. It has allocated in the last Budget (1999-2000) Rs 1136.69 crore for higher education and university education. Ideally speaking, university education should be made privatised, which will make Indians to shift to earn-and-study culture rather than study-and-study culture. Thus, these funds can be made available for primary education.

Another area of importance with respect to education in India is adult literacy rates and its lags. India has around 30 per cent of adult illiteracy population in the world. Since independence multiple attempts have been made by the planners to tackle this problem. However, they could not succeed. Because, their planning was at a national level. Thus, the issue of adult illiteracy can be handled only at the regional scale with decentralised planning. The objective of education for all was established by the UNESCO, World Bank and UNICEF and it is a fact that more than monetary contributions, it is the human will and the close link of education with primary schooling are vital to cover the literacy lag of India.

To sum, India has comfortable raw human power. Only if this raw power is converted into skilled manpower, it will help in Indian economic development. If educational need of the nation is not attended swiftly, it will also add additional burden to the government, such as increase in crime rates, higher health expenditure, more subsidies, etc. Thus, a swifter action with a well carved out and integrated strategy with respect to education is the need of the hour, which Indian government and policy makers should attend to.