Sunday, September 10, 2006
State No 1
Sorry to disappoint you but this is not the title of David Dhawan’s upcoming movie. Very recently, Himachal Pradesh was adjudged the best state in the whole country on the basis of the progress it has made in the areas of, hold your breath – Primary Education, Primary Health and Fastest Mover state in Consumer Market. When I read it in the newspaper, I almost fainted.
While it may be totally a coincidence that both centre and state is ruled by the same political outfit, it is no coincidence that it is the first two areas where there are gaping holes in what is on the ground. I can’t talk much about the third and last one, because it is quite subjective and there is no absolute minimum which can be established and agreed upon easily.
Most of the government schools, in the region I am working, do not have sufficient teachers, those who are there, are not trained properly and lack motivation to teach students. While the state government has secured the award by piggy-backing an irrational and nonsensical education policy which dictates that every child in primary school will be taken all the way to eighth standard irrespective of performance, it would be very interesting to see how these kids perform at higher education levels. May be, by the time, first set of students come out of such system, government will make another draconian policy to take them all the way to 10+2. Or, by that time, the current government will no longer be there to bear the brunt of such stupid policy.
The least I say about the primary health the better we all will be. The villages where I am working have no support for primary health services. It seems that by combining Irrigation and Public Health department into one, government has assumed that its work is done and now it can sit back and relax and enjoy the rewards. The fact that a tehsil town like Ghumarwin gets brown murky water when it rains, should tell everyone how serious the government is about the health of its citizens. The fact that most of the hand-pumps, installed by IPH department, deliver water with Arsenic speaks volumes about how concerned local government is.
May be the evaluating agency should bother to check facts and try to separate hype from reality. But then,
how will detaining a student, as against not detaining a student make education any more meaningful, if the system is just not equipped to ensure that meaningful learning does take place? a child in kallar, who speaks only pahadi, who has not stepped beyond the fields and hills of kallar, who has never conversed in (leave alone english) hindi is expected to "learn" in an 'alien medium', then is the onus of failure on the child, the teacher or the parent?
: 8:18 AM You are missing the point - I am talking about how the government, with its manipulative policies is producing wonderful data (and hence securing the award) though without any results on the ground.
You will find plenty of things to feel sad about the state of affairs.
The more you focus on things beyond control, you will get more reasons to faint. But, I do understand that, until we question, we dont realise our limits.
In this context, I remember a gracious quote:-
"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and
the wisdom to know the difference." -- Saint Francis of Assisi
With the way things are running, a painful gaze at corrupt governments and eyewash policies is the same as looking at a devastating rain or a typhoon and wondering what can I change. It is in the fabric of the society.
Not that you cant change it, but whats your motive?
To serve or to change.
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