Education Inequality

My first community visit to a low income community (Yerawada area) in Pune was on Saturday. I was excited to visit a low income locality and see closely, what could be the mind set and hardships faced by them.

We were a group of 106 people, and I along with one of my friends (who was also an intern like me in the NGO) went about to understand and connect with the children’s of that locality. We walked a bit far into the locality and took a small detour from the main road and entered a narrow lane, where we saw a number of children in the age group of 5-6 years.

My friend then started to talk with 2 children, and I went a little more inside the lane to survey the children who were sitting as a group outside a house. The houses were all single room; the women were washing the utensils and clothes outside their houses; and some houses had TV’s.

The first thing I did was to roll down my sleeves to hide my watch which seemed the most useless but the most expensive thing out there. I went near the group and asked what are they doing? Two ran to their houses seeing a stranger (that could be the reason) but three remained seated there. As we were instructed to ask in English, I asked to the eldest child there, “What is your name?” Shahdad was the reply. “Which school?” XXX English School. Next was which class? He replied class 6^th.   

Then I asked the other child but he did not know English, as he went to a Marathi school. Next, I asked the most silent kid (her name was Sana), who after much coaxing spoke she was in class 2. I asked her to write from 1 to 10. She was silent. I promised her, I will give my pen if she even tells me from 1 to 10. She somehow managed from 1 to 8. I gave her the pen and asked her to draw 5 circles on an A4 size paper I was having. I was shocked to see that the kid struggled to even catch the pen properly. She tried hard and managed to draw 5 shapes resembling circles all very widely in size.

One interesting thing I noticed was, throughout the time their mothers stood there and after this the girl’s mother came to me and said she can sing a poem. She sang 2 English poems one was “Johnny Johnny Yes Papa”. The parents also enquired what were we doing; a survey or something else. They never complained about the schools where their children went, but definitely I have seen my cousin in class 2 who is solving computer programs. Is this education inequality found everywhere, was the question I asked myself?  

Next I met a class 8^th boy who was observing me from the last 1 hour. I had a chat with him. Getting to know he was in class 8^th, I asked him what subjects he was studying. He said nothing. I told English, Marathi, Hindi, Science, on hearing science he gave a puzzled look. I then asked Chemistry, Physics, but still he was confused. I sensed his uncomfortable look and diverted him from that topic and asked him what game he plays. I expected Cricket but, when he said Football I was really happy and asked him what he wants to become in future. He said he wanted to be an engineer. The innocent but determined look in his eyes made me feel sad because in schools you need to teach science which can help a child to pursue his engineering dreams.

Then I met a 9^th standard boy whose dream was to become an army person. I asked him why not air force, when you are in Pune. “Have any of your relatives ever been in Army?” He said no. “Then why kid”. He told,” Bhaiya, I want to serve the nation”. I also came to know, he runs every day, plays football, hockey and cricket for increasing his physical endurance. I told him never to lose confidence and was about to leave when he asked,” Bhaiya, do we need science for getting into army.” I didn’t expect this from a 9^th grade student. I told him,” As you know Mathematics; you just need to know the basics of Physics and Chemistry for the written exam.” He looked a bit relaxed after my answer in which I intentionally reduced the importance of science in written exams.

Just think about the metropolitan kids who start their IIT preparation by class 8^th. These low income society’s children neither get good education, resources, reading materials but still their goals seem clear than the overqualified people. Presently the Government’s duty is to ensure every child attends school, which is quite achievable because parents are motivated and want their children to get education (The mother of a 4 year old girl told me, she will send her child to school so that she can stand on her feet). But which Government can ensure that all these children will pass school. Even after 10^th class, without a pass certificate from college, very few people can earn money (commonly stated example Bill Gates). And these children can’t even pass 10^th class, leave alone college.

Solutions can be many, but this truth of education inequality should be dealt fast because children go to school and also work hard but they don’t get to know that slowly and with years they are getting eliminated out of the competition.

Mumbai-Pune

How can the alarm bell ring so early?  Anyhow, today the alarm has to win as I have to leave Mumbai and reach Pune by 1 pm. I felt sad to leave my friends back and head to Pune, because for the last 4 days we did enjoy a lot. All these memories made me to recreate the best moments from the weekend in my mind but suddenly, I was rattled by a call from Avinash (Avinash and Akshay accompanied me to Pune). He yelled at me, “get ready within 5 minutes”, as we had to catch the train from Kalyan at 8:57 am and already it was already 6:50 am and still, we were in the NITIE hostel, in Powai.

With 30+ kg (measured last at airport 30kg) of luggage, it was a bad idea to experiment going to Kalyan, by local from Kanjurmarg. Dragging the luggage from hostel to NITIE main gate were signs of what we might face. Next we booked an auto for Kanjurmarg and then surfaced the real physical challenges. Walking upstairs with the luggage to go to platform number 2 made me realise that, sometimes when free cab is offered by your company, one should never say no to it.

Next to our horrors we found that Akshay had stamped the tickets for Thane instead of Kalyan and it was already 8am. Wow! Our journey is definitely going to be adventurous. He hurried to counter to take tickets, while I and Avinash started munching Vadapaws realizing it’s better to enjoy something that’s in hand. By 8:10am, Akshay came back with tickets and by 8:48am we were nearing Kalyan. As we were nearing Kalyan, regular commuters advised us to step back from the door for our safety (but why) and reluctantly we heeded.  To my surprise, people jumped on to the running train in Kalyan; elbowing, shoving and pushing to enter an empty train. With 7 minutes for Udyan Express to leave, we with an average of 3 luggages somehow forced our way out.

Next, we ran to a TTE and enquired which platform we should go. Platform 5 from platform 2, in 5 minutes was the next challenge. Is it some kind of strong man contest? We somehow reached at the nick of time and after settling in bogie S4 the satisfaction was similar to completion of the BRM project (many people in Shillong know how it feels).

It was good to leave behind the crowd and pollution of Mumbai, but not the people.  The first station where we got down was Karjat (ht. above sea level  51m), where we ate Vadapaws . Then came the tunnels that deserved to be clicked. After that the valleys, small lakes, mountains were better than the concrete jungle of Mumbai.

By 10:05 am, Khandala followed by Lonawala (ht. above sea level 61m) passed. I got down at Lonawala to buy Chikki; but trains never wait for me. Disheartened and hungry, I was returning to my seat, but train stopped. Someone had pulled the chain. I got down and had some Chikki (a sweet dish), which was really good.

Then, I had the first glimpse of the Expressway, which crossed the rail tracks many times after that. Siddarth Valley, which seemed a housing project near Madgaon came around 11am. After this it seemed, we were at sea level and the mountains have left us. Talegaon where one of my friends frequently visited for his supply chain project was a big town and by 11:10am it had been left far behind. Within minutes we saw a huge Ganesh idol on a hillock, which was tried to be captured by 3 camera man (including myself), but Gods are elusive.

Within 5 minutes we were in the outskirts of Pune and the climate now was similar to Bhubaneswar i.e. non-humid and mercury definitely exceeding 39 degrees C. Barren Mountains seemed to distance themselves from the apartments and brick kilns. Barren lands grazed by goats and cows were followed by high rise apartments and now definitely I’m in Pune.

Akurdi, Chinchwad , Pimpi, Tapodi, Shivaji nagar and now we get down at Pune station at 11:55am. By 12:30pm, we were at our reporting venue near the airport.

Definitely, this journey was tiring in the initial stage but the natural beauty, as soon  we leave Mumbai was soothing to the eyes and mind. The next time (I don’t know when it’s going to happen) to Mumbai from Pune, is going to be the Expressway, and I know it will be a great time with my friends in Mumbai.

What motivates these people to live?

What motivates these people to live? Hunger, desire to live when they don’t have a family, friends and are ill-treated by everyone?

In Trivandrum, when I was going to Kovalam beach I saw a similar sight.

She did not have the skills or the product variety to pull consumers so as to sell her vegetables. This was quite evident as even a kid can tell the pain one can see in her eyes.

Definitely, the vegetable she is selling is grown in her garden or backyard of her house. Why is she not begging? ROI will be more. Is it her self-respect which many people think she doesn’t have?

But is the Indian education trying to address such issues? How will she survive a bad weather which gives headaches like food inflation and shakes the market causing nightmares to millionaires? She is definitely not a super human or super rich but how has she survived.

Can we make such an Indian our role model and imbibe her qualities?

Who will buy from her where we strive for quality, she even cannot weigh the vegetables as she doesn’t have a weighing pan. Can we splurge our money when we are not assured that what she gives is correctly priced?

Posting such pictures in Facebook or writing articles about abject poverty in India cannot help in mitigating the hardships of these people. The acts like MGNREGA though guarantee to provide fixed employment days to the employable but what is there for such elderly persons who cannot do physical work and are not supported by any family members. So, how to address these issues? The plight of such old women is much harrowing in the rural regions.

This can be improved by introducing FDI in fresh food retail. With FDI comes the management skills, technology, and new improved process of supply chain which can improve the margin of the growers? This will indirectly help the poor villagers who will have a constant revenue stream and FDI will increase employment opportunities as work force to meet growing demand and complexity of supply chain process will increase with passage of time. Although, this will be resisted by the middleman who kept the profits that should have been of the poor cultivators but regulations have to be made keeping in mind country’s long term benefits after trading off the risks emanating by resistance from middlemen.

Another initiative can be by the corporates who in their CSR activities can come up with innovative ideas of how to address the old age group who have been deserted by their family members. This can be community programmes which can be used for collectively addressing some concerns of the distressed populace. Example: Pipli in Orissa has very good craftsman who now cannot produce in mass which can attract shelf space. Even if it goes to showrooms the price negotiated is in favour of the dealers. This results in loss of commitment and in turn is slowly leading to the loss of the valued handicraft skill in Pipli.

So a community programme to help these weavers to sell their products at a right price by only guiding them and making them aware of the potential market can help this cause.  These guides can be executives of company who can also learn from these experiences working among the rural and underprivileged people.