The "Education" page is a composite of what was written
about the schools we visited
and can be found woven into the
diary entries of following cities.
Calcutta (The Loreto Day School)
Bombay (The Godrej School)
Ahmedabad (Eklavya School)
Varanasi (The Premjyoti School)
RATIONALE: To examine and compare Indian and American culture in order to develop a better understanding of both.
STUDENT OUTCOMES: Students will:
BACKGROUND NOTES/HISTORICAL CONTEXT: In India, the story of education is not encouraging. Class size ranges from 40 to 60 students per teacher and teachers are poorly trained. A primary school teacher only needs the equivalent of a high school education. Some 33 million children between 6 and 10 are not in any school at all. More than half of all government classrooms in India don't even have blackboards and half of the villages have no school at all. Part of the problem is lack of funding. However, lack of funding isn't the entire story.
One of the problems that complicates the education process is language. The constitution regcognizes 15 national languages but there are some 227 recognized mother tongues plus dialectical variations. The decision as to what language or languages should be used to delivered education is not an easy one to make. Several scripts further add to the problem. The British tried to solved the problem by using English and the Roman alphabet as the teaching medium and there is still an effort to use English as sort of a neutral national language. In many palces, therefore, English is taught along with the local language or dialect. To many people the use of English smacks of colonialism, yet, often those who complain the loudest are the same people who send their children to private English-speaking schools [called Engish-medium schools.]
Another major problem is the allocation of the funds which are available. In the past, institutions of higher learning have been supported, at the expense of primary schools, with the intention of developing homegrown talent. [Tuition at state instututions runs about Rs 15 or about 50 cents a month, a figure that hasn't changed in 50 years.] However, with the lack of jobs for these highly trained graduates, other countries [the U.S., Britain,etc.] are the beneficiaries as they syphon off computer software writers and engineers, leaving India to foot the education bills. Meanwhile, primary schools are left wanting and those village schools which do exist are especially handicapped with virtually no equipment and often indifferent teachers. Why, one asks, doesn't the government end subsidies to colleges and universities? Because a well-educated elite, which can afford to send its children to private primary, middle and high schools, wants the luxury of free, first-rate higher education. The present government has promised to increase the level of expenditure on education from approximately 3% of GNP to 5 or 5% of GNP
NUMBER OF CLASS PERIODS: 3 class periods
STRATEGIES/ACTIVITIES:
Whole class:
Read through the Education in India page.
1st period: Discuss
Assignment:
EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT: Essays should be evaluated for examination of underlying cultural assumptions, thoughtful discussion, significance of problem, resonableness of the solution to the problem and mechanics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/APPENDIX: All information on this page was based on site visits and personal interviews.