An Open Letter to Prime Minister

13th April 2017

My dear Prime Minister,

With world’s largest young population of under 35 years of age, Bharat stands on the crossroads – of demographic dividend or disaster! Hope or despair!

Bharat is at risk.

Will the Bharatiya people connect with rewarding vocations, live a fuller life and promote harmony and peace; for themselves, their families, mohallas, cities or societies at large, or will they continue to fight for doles, subsidies, concessions; all in the name of caste, religion or region? Will they be empowered enough to not only address their own mundane and sublime challenges or will they be slung into a state of absolute chaos and anarchy?

Is our generation creating opportunities of empowerment for all or are we readying a recipe for disaster? Are we headed for highly dissatisfied, discontented, fragmented collection of nation states or sub states, negating the very idea of Bharat? Will Bharat as a nation survive, subsist or thrive?

Amongst several others, the key answer could also be around empowering our generations through education & training. The quality of our schools, college and universities will determine and define our future. – Dividend or Disaster!

ASER 2015 [Annual Status of Education Report], an annual survey has reported on the status of education in general and learning outcomes in elementary schools. Following are the excerpts from the report; 30.8% in 2015 [8 crore children] up from 16.4% in 2006; of all 6-14 year old children in rural Bharat are enrolled in private schools.

33.5% of boys, compared to 25.9% of girls in the age group of 11-14 years are in private schools.

Private school enrollment in 2014 grew to; Manipur (73.3%), Kerala (62.2%), Haryana (54.2%), Uttar Pradesh (51.7%), and Meghalaya (51.7%). Proficiency in reading as also in arithmetic continues to be very poor in government schools, in spite of the fact that nearly 40% children in the government schools pay for private tuition.

It can be safely assumed that the ratio of children enrolled in private or non-governmental urban and secondary schools exceeds 65% of total enrollments in this segment, across the country. In Maharashtra and UP the enrolments in secondary schools is as high as 96% of the total enrolled students in this segment.

The low achievement grades in state schools and the consequent rising enrolments in the private schools amply demonstrate that the aspirational Bharat does not trust the state schools. The credibility of the state as provider of school education stands seriously eroded.

Seventy years after independence, government is still struggling with the fundamentals of reading, writing and basic arithmetic. Not to speak of 21st century skills! The educational policy and its implementation has been rather tardy. The task of educating nearly 450 million young people is becoming only more daunting, yet very critical and immediate.

The catalytic, developmental and regulatory role of the government also appears seriously flawed. The apex institutions like National Council of Educational Research & Training, [NCERT], National University of Educational Planning & Administration [NUEPA] and National Council of Teacher Educational too have not performed as expected.

The growth of enrolments in the private schools presents a new challenge now. The new phenomenon of parent teacher standoff and flood of litigation, encouraged largely by an unimaginative, ignorant, disconnected & insensitive bureaucracy, clutching to the archaic, colonial and leftists inspired controls – made-worse, agitates against the very spirit of stakeholders’ collaboration for nurturing our future generations.

Given the present situation, we seriously run the risk of the left inspired, control-savvy politicians and bureaucrats destroying the private schools in the same way that they destroyed public education and in turn put the whole nation at risk.

It is in this context that the government has to reposition itself in providing a relevant and responsive policy framework, a regulatory framework that seeks to promote & facilitate and also become a competent provider of education. In the dynamic social, cultural and educational landscapes of the 21st century, the policy framework and the regulatory regime has to move away from “Restrict, Prescribe & Control” to “Facilitate, Support and Collaborate” with the non-governmental initiatives in education.

In these times of internet, supported by abundant data and information, we should allow the collective wisdom of parents and the local communities to chose their schools without any restrictions. They will punish the under-performing schools by rejecting them and shifting their wards out of such schools.

While the delinquent schools need to be censored, the performing schools should be given more autonomy and freedom to innovate and re-invent the future of education and schooling. Allow fresh ideas to germinate.

Let the collective wisdom of society prevail. Let there be minimal controls. Small countries like Finland and Korea, now at the top of educational quality tables globally, have demonstrated that Autonomy with Accountability will work in all situations – private or state schools.

It is time that governments actively encouraged and supported public – private partnerships in improving standards and quality of school education with the final objective of improving the learning outcomes for students. It should now consider incubating, supporting and creating intellectual & educational infrastructure that includes, but is not limited to, teacher preparation programs, continuing professional development and developing vibrant school leaders.

I write this to you on behalf of millions of teachers and families and seek your support and guidance in chartering the course for Bharat as an emerging knowledge society. While Bharat must be ensured its due place of pride in the emerging world order, it must also ensure enduring peace & prosperity for its future generations.

The country knows that your government has inherited a difficult situation in this regard, but given who you are, people believe if anyone can fix it, it is YOU. And the time is NOW.

Let us fix our education and training.

Yours Sincerely,

Om Pathak