The future of India depends upon the quality of education imparted to our children. There are about 45,000 Government Primary Schools and 3,029 Government High Schools in the state of Karnataka. Though the Government has initiated several programmes to ensure quality education free of cost, the schools in the villages and even the cities are crippled with poor infrastructural facilities, insufficient or poor quality midday meals, inadequate teachers and neglect of quality in teaching. We believe the onus of change lies primarily with the Govt. but we realize that given the current scenario demands intervention by concerned citizen groups to make a significant positive impact on the system.
Universalisation of Elementary Education and subsequent effort by the Government, NGOs, bilateral agencies and all other stakeholders have brought notable success in bringing children to schools. This has opened a plethora of problems like quality and equity issues which need to be addressed. While tackling these issues the most unpleasant reality is the high dropout ratio of children after their higher primary stages. While the elementary education is almost free in the schools run by Government, the story is quite different when it comes to secondary education. So bringing the children to schools is only a part of the battle, while ensuring continuity of their education is the real challenge. |