Varun Hari Prasad

Having been to the wonderful state of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and seen its people, I am extremely saddened by the way in which things are shaping up in the paradise of India. Since July 2016, J&K has been simmering with anger and exasperation. This has not happened overnight, the lava was slowly but steadily building up and Burhan Wani’s encounter just provided the trigger. Despite the fact that one of our state is in turmoil for nearly two years now, we as citizens, as a Nation, do not seem to have sensed the gravity of the matter. Unfortunately, even the Government of India doesn’t seem to have comprehended the situation. Day in and Day out we watch people shouting on prime time TV shows that J&K is an integral part of India, we heard the Prime Minister roar in the Parliament by making an hypothetical reference to J&K earlier this year; Ofcourse Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India! But are we as a Nation, as a society, awake and aware of the pain...

Last week, I had written about the cracks in our education policy. In this blog I wish to look at the possible policy actions that can plug these loopholes. Access The number of students enrolled in primary and secondary school is way below global average. Therefore the focus of the policy makers must be on increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). The Right to Education Act, 2009 has done a great deal in making enrolment in primary schools nearly universal. The trends noticed thereafter suggest that the children tend to drop out when they reach high school. Therefore the best policy approach, atleast for the foreseeable future, would be to amend the Right to Education Act and expand its scope upto Class 12. A rights/entitlement based approach is the best way forward for now. Quality To enhance quality we have already embraced e-learning, however it is a well-known fact that internet penetration in our country is very low. To enhance the use of ICT in schools, the go...

With knowledge being the currency of the 21 st Century, education is slowly gaining the strategic importance it deserves in policy making even though the pace is hopelessly slow. The Government’s decision to come up with a new education policy must be viewed in this direction. Any education policy stands on the three pillars of Access, Quality, and Equity. In this blog I wish to explore the cracks in these pillars and deal with the possible policy actions in the forthcoming ones.   Access The tried and tested way of measuring access to education is the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). GER is the percentage of students enrolled in primary and secondary school. As of 2015 GER was as follows: Global Average 27% India 23% Europe and USA Over 50% The GER in India (as per 2015 data) is way below the global average of 27%. We now have the world’s largest working age population, if a sizeable portion of...