umesh sharma
Wed, 06 Oct 2004 18:03:43 -0700
the Indian govt data is on link
http://www.education.nic.in/htmlweb/edusta_pt2.htm#Educational%20Indicators
under sl. no: 7 - Educational Indicators
check out GER (Gross Educational indicator) which shows that ALL male children in India are primary school graduates.
Are they?
Umesh
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Please find attached - my abstract for the CIES regional conference at Washington DC- Nov 12-13, 2004.
I beg forgiveness for the delay.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Umesh Sharma
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is mass education truly speaking to the masses? - the Indian case.
A lot has been said about the benefits of mass education and much has been done in terms of planning for the same at national level, in various countries for meeting national and global objectives ( such as Educational For All goals [Dakar] and the Millennium Development Goals). Much research has gone into analyzing the results of policies and programs launched to meet these objectives.
The picture presented for education in India is a dismal one - suggesting that India would not be able to meet the goals by 2015.
I question even the little progress which is said to have been achieved so far - in India. Given the level of corruption and level of ingenuity of the powers that be and the large number of charges of scams and frauds these policymakers (mainly bureaucrats and politicians) are facing - in all sectors of government - with increasing criminalization of the elected members of legislative bodies - it seems doubtful that whatever achievement in mass education in India is quoted to have achieved (in the data of UNESCO etc) is really reflective of reality - since most of the data is originally collected by the govt agencies themselves or by NGOs who work in close networking with the mostly corrupt govt agencies.
I'd like to point out several loopholes - in the data collected - for example, the definition of literacy in India - "those who can read and write" in Hindi- includes our maid servant in India - who can just print her name and recognize it -- but can hardly recognize any other word in her native language Hindi. Moreover, enrollment is perhaps calculated on a particular day of the school - where even child labour is asked to sit in the class for a day - and thus in reality the enrollment is much lower.
In Haryana state, an honest, senior bureaucrat ( of the elite Indian Administrative Service) was removed from his position as the Director of the State Board of Education - when he refused to succumb to the pressures of the Chief Minister to appoint govt school teachers from his own men - from a list handed over by Mr Chautala the Chief Minister - the case is pending in the High Court at Delhi. The teachers of government run schools, mostly appointed through such devious means, hardly attend the classes - though sign the attendance once a week (for the whole week). All this is visible, through the regular news reports by concerned NGOs in local and national dailies of India.
When such blatant corruption is evident in all spheres - especially education - in India - it seems surprising when claims are made that a majority of the Indian children are on the path of educational empowerment - through the mass education programs funded by international agencies.
I'd like to draw the attention of the concerned educators at the conference [with data and news reports from Indian publications] that the well meaning funding by the international agencies in NOT supporting mass education of the poor of India - but is primarily lining the pockets of a large majority of those responsible for implementing mass education programs in India.
Abstract for the paper to be presented by:
Umesh Sharma, MEd - International Education Policy program, class of 2005, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA.
On a F1 student visa from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}} {\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1507;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs20 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\par \pard\qc\ul\b\fs32 Is mass education truly speaking to the masses? - the Indian case.\par \par \pard\ulnone\b0\fs24 A lot has been said about the benefits of mass education and much has been done in terms of planning for the same at national level, in various countries for meeting national and global objectives ( \i such as Educational For All goals [Dakar] and the Millenium Development Goals\i0 ). Much research has gone into analyzing the results of policies and programs launched to meet these objectives. \par \par The picture presented for education in India is a dismal one - suggesting that India would not be able to meet the goals by 2015.\par \par I question even the little progress which is said to have been achieved so far - in India. Given the level of corruption and level of ingenuity of the powers that be and the large number of charges of scams and frauds these policymakers (\i mainly bureaucrats and politicians\i0 ) are facing - in all sectors of government - with increasing criminalisation of the elected members of legislative bodies - it seems doubtful that whatever achievement in mass education in India is quoted to have achieved (\i in the data of UNESCO etc\i0 ) is really reflective of reality - since most of the data is originally collected by the govt agencies themsleves or by NGOs who work in close networking with the mostly corrupt govt agencies. \par \par I'd like to point out several loopholes - in the data collected - for example, the definition of literacy in India - "those who can read and write" in Hindi- includes our maid servant in India - who can just print her name and recognise it -- but can hardly recognize any other word in her native language Hindi. Moreover, enrollment is perhaps calculated on a particular day of the school - where even child labour is asked to sit in the class for a day - and thus in reality the enrollment is much lower.\par \par In Haryana state, an honest, senior bureaucrat ( \i of the elite Indian Administrative Service\i0 ) was removed from his position as the Director of the State Board of Education - when he refused to succumb to the pressures of the Chief Minister to appoint govt school teachers from his own men - from a list handed over by Mr Chautala the Chief Minister - the case is pending in the High Court at Delhi. The teachers of government run schools, mostly appointed through such devious means, hardly attend the classes - though sign the attendance once a week (\i for the whole week\i0 ). All this is visble, through the regular news reports by concerned NGOs in local and national dailies of India.\par \par When such blatant corruption is evident in all spheres - especially education - in India - it seems surprising when claims are made that a majority of the Indian children are on the path of educational empowerment - through the mass edcuation programs funded by international agencies. \par \par I'd like to draw the attention of the concerned educators at the conference [\i with data and news reports from Indian publications\i0 ] that the well meaning funding by the international agencies in NOT supporting mass education of the poor of India - but is primarily lining the pockets of a large majority of those responsible for implementing mass education programs in India. \fs20\par \par Abstract for the paper to be presented by:\par \par \b Umesh Sharma\b0 , \par MEd - International Education Policy program, class of 2005,\par Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA.\par \par On a F1 student visa from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.\par \par }
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