Indian economy is shining and most of the analysts are now hoping for a double digit growth for Indian economy. May be, we are too much obsessed with the idea of following China in economic growth. High economic growth is of course a great thing for any country and India badly needs it. However, I feel that the most important thing that India needs is universal education. I am happy that Rajendra S Pawar, chairman of NIIT, also feels this way. I just finished reading his article titled ‘View from the Top: Dreams for India’ in Times of India. He praised the initiative of Indian government to educate all the children in the country.
Mr. Pawar talked highly about Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA):
“The good news is that that the SSA has managed to keep pace with its ambitious goals. It's reflected in the statistics notched up by the programme during 2004-05.
At the end of that year, it had succeeded in setting up over 25,000 new school buildings, recruiting 1.96 lakh teachers, disbursing around 7.85 lakh school development grants and covering around 53.1 million students under its free text book scheme.
The mid-day meal, too, has been an unstinting success, creating a significant incentive for the poorer families in India's hinterland to send their little ones to school. It has proved to be a unique and intelligent way to attract and retain precious learners.”
While I agree with him about this matter, I am disappointed that Indian government recently backed away from One Laptop per Child program. It seems that digital divide will only become stronger in Indian education system. The rich children will have all the latest facilities while the poor children will have to remain satisfied with mid-day meals.
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