Politicising education: a policy curse

A friend of mine sent me a short video documentary last week that somehow startled me, propelling to research about the issue discussed in the film. The video -- recorded by a local Hindi news channel in the northern part of Bihar, one of the most backward regions of India -- shows a teacher at a primary school teaching children. The lady teacher is giving English lesson to children about the names of the days of the week. She scribbles on the blackboard, spelling Sunday as 'Sande' and Monday as 'Mande.' Appalled at what the filmmaker sees, he asks the teacher whether she really knows the right spelling of these words. She fails to answer, fidgeting that she can't recall the right spelling. 

The sad fact is, it is the same plight thousands of other state-run schools not just in Bihar, but all other states in India, suffer from. The faulty selection process of inefficient teachers -- mainly because of various populist policies of the government -- adversely impacts the quality of education. The Government of India's National Policy on Education, which promotes education in the country and covers elementary education to colleges in both urban and rural parts of the country, emphasises on a substantial improvement in the quality of education. More than 45 years have passed since the policy was first implemented in 1968, isn't it worth asking whether India has achieved the desired improvement, as well as dissemination of quality education among its citizens? 

It is not about teachers and the defective process adopted by the government in teachers' selection based on the caste, religion and gender the applicants belong to, it is about the value that a country puts in education. And we seem to be boldly and deliberately ignoring the value for decades. From elementary to college level, every aspect of education provided by the state continues to be marred by politics and excessive bureaucracy resulting in severe policy paralysis that affect students the most. 

Although education sector in India is rapidly being privatised, with patents unwilling to send their children to state-run schools because of reasons I mentioned earlier, there are millions of parents who can not afford exorbitant fee charged by private schools and are compelled to enroll their kids in state-run schools that allow free education to all. While there is little hope situation will improve anytime soon, intelligentsia of the society should seriously ponder and discuss about the worsening education system in the country, especially about the poor standard of teaching. 

Urgently in need is to get rid of reluctance of taking steps to raise teaching profession to an important level, which can provide quality education to children studying in state-run schools. Only by making it selective and rigorous, we can rebuild the trust that we can repose in teaching as one of the most intellectually demanding and emotionally challenging profession in today's world. Also, a government must understand that populist policies are fine tactics for winning elections, but applying those in the field of education will prove counterproductive in terms of overall development of the sector.