Sneak Peek into the Classroom

Today It was Ruksana's  first day in class at the ngo's school.She blushed and her smile couldn't be any wider as she controlled her excitement to come back to school again. I was informed that she was not able to attend school for 2 months in betwen  as her father did not have any job and they were just moving around a term for displaced unorganized workers. Most of the kids who study in the ngo are children of the migrant labourers, hence there is no certainty of their admission throughout the year as they leave the city with their parents. Recently a report was released by Kapil Sabil based on a survey by Pratham that pointed out the falling learning and reading abilities of students. This was happening when the enrollment and attendance ratio was rather improving. This made me wonder how much are the schools helping these students to enhance their knowledge? What is the advantage of spending huge amounts of money as its not translating to its require purpose ?

I thought to myself  how difficult it is for children like Ruksaana to catch up ?  As i spent a week teaching her,she needed to be taught all lessons of addition and multiplication again. How can the students be expected to have even 'decent' mathematical knowledge if they don't have access to schools because of the migrant nature of their parents job? This calls for policy making considering ground realities and not just opening up large number of schools at any location. If elementary schools can be opened near the construction sites ( like provided by this ngo) , it can surely make a big difference. 

Coming to another issue. A large number of students had come from China for a month to work in this Ngo. They mentioned about their inability to teach as the students were not comfortable in English. Given these times when English has become such an important language,  emphasis should be paid to teach English in these schools seriously so that the children are not at a disadvantage. Consequently  the Chinese cohort  could focus on physical education only! The students had a great time dancing and exercising to the tunes of  Chinese Music. However one should note that an excessive emphasis on English language should not be given. The basic concepts and lessons must be taught in their mother tongue only so that the child can comprehend. This will make sure that he doesn't have to rely on 'rote learning'. English must be taught to these children to make them competitive but as a additional language not as a medium.

One of my suggestion to ensure that how much regularity can affect in knowledge gained can be seen from this boy's story. Vinayak (see below)  the 'brightest' had  all the answers to my questions and could very well converse in English ( these kids are taught English). The reason for his great performance is regularity. His father has been working as laborer at a construction site in Delhi or at nearby places and is thus he is able to attend school.To make the students at par with any other Student in a metropolitan cities , the government should make sure to locate schools strategically  so that every child enjoys the learning process and government's efforts are not in vain.

Anna Mania BACK then

Times change dont they? This post was written when the Anna movement created a mania all over India and he was called  the Gandhi of 21st century. 

   

Corruption is believed to have been deeply embedded in the roots and soils of our country and that no amount of effort will able to uproot this monster which is voraciously eating our economy has been a widely held view. But what we saw in the past week was an exodus of people from their work , college, schools to the Ramlila grounds. The Anna movement wasn’t limited to the capital city and was  witnessed throughout India in form of protests on street, candle light marches and huge support on the social media websites. It was an event big enough to get the whole country together.People of all age groups and work strata were present to show their solidarity for the cause. The numbers at the Ramlila ground corroborated  for the popularity and support for the Team Anna’s movement.

The government finally assented with Anna’s three demands after relentless efforts and brought an end to the political impasse and the 13 day fast. It was very much against the bill initially but finally had to succumb to the demands under severe public pressure showing a flaccid stand. People celebrated in  the large numbers in India gate and  rose in exultation as the whole nation celebrated unitedly  the great victory of Team Anna.

But was it really a ‘victory’?  Firstly the demands which have been passed as a resolution include coverage of entire lower bureaucracy under Lokpal, passage of a bill on creation of Lokayuktas in states and citizens charter for redressal of grievances. However there are serious doubts on how the committee of the Lokpal will be appointed. If the committee will have people who are not elected then it poses serious threat to the functioning of a ‘representative democracy’. The whole idea of the democracy is people’s rule which will be threatened if  the same is not adhered to.Also it may just become a ‘secure’ job for retired judges and other government officials looking for stable income to cover  for  the corrupt practices of the government. This way it will just end up becoming another defunct government body and would be a retrograde step .

The means adopted by Team Anna were flawed. Holding the government at ransom to decide on nationally important policies do not signal a mature stance. The recent scams which have unfolded has led to large public dissent towards the government. But this does not justify that the parliament is forced into taking decisions which needs to be debated and passed as a resolution.Whatever has been the success of the movement and the fact that a large number of people are now conscious of the ‘prevalent corruption’ and think they can make a difference cannot be forgotten. Saying that the whole movement was a sham would be highly pessimistic and cynical, however citizens and other ‘civil ‘ society members should be wary of the ramifications of their actions .80,000 people who gathered on the grounds and the rest who actually boast of supporting Team Anna by wearing white  caps and t-shirts should not succumb to the evil of corruption. One way to combat is that citizens themselves should oppose to the practice of “corruption’. It is indeed a very utopian idea but if the people who are pressing for the Bill want an end to graft, they have to ‘be the change’ as Gandhiji says.That one man got the whole nation to its tunes for 13 days is no joke. But we should not prostrate to this as a panacea of all problems gnawing  and crippling our economy. Other serious reforms need to be brought to make sure that corruption is reduced to the minimum. Some of the measures include banning  corporate funding of  elections, judicial accountability ,speedy redressal which calls for judicial reforms and establishing transparent procedures to ensure that allocation of contracts, resources or spectrum is done in a fair manner. As Dr Manmohan Singh concludes in his speech recently in Calcutta "Corruption not only weakens the moral fibre of our country, it also promotes inefficiency and cronyism which undermine the social legitimacy of market economics. It also creates a trust deficit which ultimately weakens our ability to act unitedly."