Why rural and remote areas need better and more schools

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Just like Right to Life, Right to Education has been recognized as one of the most important human right. The RTE act of Parliament (2009), describes the modalities of free and compulsory primary education and guarantees its extension to children in the age group of 6-14 years. However, despite adherence to this law, development of schools, free education, and enrollment of thousands of children, a number of loopholes feature in our education system making it inefficient and feeble.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), points towards the pity state of education in our country, whereby, the physical presence of students is recorded, however, no fruitful learning is indicative in their academic knowledge and performance. This data is even more skewed in the rural and remote areas of the country, where schools are even difficult to find with almost no initiatives of starting a private school. A number of reasons make for the substandard state of education in the rural and remote areas, some of which are discussed below.

Lack of Good Faculty

A proper teaching faculty is an essential prerequisite for efficient running of schools. However, due to the unavailability of good teachers and inexperienced teachers, students and ultimately education system is the one suffering. Apart from unavailability, a major factor responsible for lack of faculty is an improper teacher-to-student ratio. Hence, more schools with more experienced faculty is one of the steps towards reducing this discrepancy.

Proximity to Schools

It is one of the main reasons why rural people are more hesitant in terms of investing in academics. Many villages in India, still don’t have a school of their own. Hence, going to school requires covering a large distance of one’s village to that of the school’s. While, a lot of parents might be looking forward for sending their wards to school, however, commutation remains to be one of the limiting factors and essentially the biggest one for girls.

Poverty

Poverty is the main hurdle for the nation as a whole. Without the fulfillment of basic necessities, one cannot think beyond food and survival. Hence, education and its related expenditure are still a far cry in the remote corners of India. With the opening up of more schools that offer subsidized fees, if not free tuitions, a change in this vicious cycle of poverty is predictable.

Personal Values

Values play an important role in shaping someone’s preference and interest. While some sections of the rural population have begun to realise the importance of education, some still find practical skills to carry out everyday tasks more important. Hence, bringing up more schools is the first step in exposing them to the benefits of education, which is just not related to theoretical knowledge but can also be applied for one’s own development in the future.

Divergent Thinking

This is not just a problem for schools in rural areas, schools in urban areas also face the same kind of fate. Students are mostly burdened with a pre-defined syllabus, which they need to mug up and reproduce on the paper to qualify as an intelligent students. Students with lack of interest in these curriculums, either give minimal effort in understanding the concepts and perform badly or just end up dropping out from schools. While many schools started including co-curricular activities with other mainstream courses, however, recognizing their importance in the overall development of a child should of utmost priority.

The underpinnings of a strong nation and economy are the educated and skilled youth. However, with a lack of schools and the unavailability of schools with above mentioned facets, our education system, youth and ultimately the country cannot develop. 

While a major chunk of responsibility lies with the parents and people themselves, a lot needs to be done in the education institutions as well. Apart from physical aids, a change in psyche can be brought about by means of supportive discussions and talks.

Government schools are the only resort for financially weaker sections, however, with individuals who wish to bring change in the society by investing in an educational institution, Millennium Education Management is the right place. They help the individuals or groups with the process of starting a private school. 

Apart from aiding in the establishment of the institution, MEMPL also provided with learning frameworks and training for teacher that can be very effective in bringing changes in the traditional forms of teaching and learning methods.