Education 1

The human brain generates ideas, processes them, evaluates their worth etc. But how can a person perform such evaluative tasks? It comes from experience and knowledge and there is no better source of knowledge than education. Education helps us throughout our life. An educated person is better equipped to face any kind of dangers or difficulties that come his way at various stages of life. He not only understands the problems better but is also able to derive more logical and enhanced solutions to the problems. An educated person knows his rights and duties and so does not sustain any wrongs done to him. Many years back, education was provided to only upper caste men and dalits were denied education. The upper caste wanted education for their children that prepares them for technical and professional. But due to the efforts of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar dalits got recognization in the society and right to educate themselves. Due to his efforts they have reservation in the various educational institutes.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

Also because of the efforts from Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule women education received a head start. They were of the idea “One women educated, entire family is educated.”

Mahatma Jyotirao Phule

Srimati Savitribai Phule

This is how education started to develop its roots in India.

To consider the recent developments in this sector the GOVERNMENT OF INDIA has rightly introduced a bill regarding Compulsory education to all. Therefore Right to education has become a fundamental right of Indians since the approval to 86th constitutional amendment in 2002 under article 21A of constitution. According to this bill every Indian child 6-14 year of age has the fundamental right to free and compulsory education. Additional to this government of India has introduced a bill called Right to education bill 2005, which deal with early age child care and education for all children until they acquired the age of six. It also says that, it is the fundamental duty of every Indian parent to provide equal opportunities to his/her children of age of 6-14years to get education. The education system today is primarily divided into 3 stages: secondary, higher secondary and graduate. There has been a steady rise in the percentage of people coming under these educational stages. Even the poorest of the population have understood the importance of education and keen to educate their offspring. Post graduation course are however less popular among students from the rural areas due to family backwardness, poverty etc. But the trend is gradually seen to be changing. India’s production of graduates is phenomenal, only second to China. With over 300 universities and 15,600 colleges spewing out 2.5 million graduates each year, in terms of the volume of production India trails behind only the US and

recently China. Each year India produces 350,000 engineers, twice the number produced by the US. The IIT's are indeed world-class training institutes, as are the IIM’s; and in recent years the new law schools are also beginning to produce first-rate lawyers.

India produces about 2.5 million graduates every year A recent evaluation of universities and research institutes all over the world, conducted by a Shanghai university, has not a single Indian university in the world's top 300 - China has six………………... Why is India lagging in terms of education with respect to other countries? The reasons are………Pathetic infrastructure of universities, the governments minimal spending(.2% of the GDP) on education, lack of responsibility on the part of colleges and lastly commercialization of education. The teaching faculties are not good prompting the students to attend classes, coaching etc. The coaching culture has made the education system worse. Getting marks has become the craze. Students seem to have lost interest in gaining knowledge. The modern trend in education is not about knowledge but getting marks. Technology has influenced Education lot. Internet can be called the largest source of knowledge. This technology has supplemented the spread of education. Thus internet today is serving as the teacher for anyone by providing information on any topic. This can cut minutes, if not hours, off of wild goose of chase of information. E-books can be easily downloaded from internet. They are durable ie.won’t degrade over time. They are portable and easy to access. However, they are sometimes

inconvenient to read. E-books are a boon that internet has contribute to education. A book published in any part of the world can be browse on the net. Similarly search engines provide wide array of information, to the general public. Thus technology has contributed greatly to education. The latest trend in education is- studying ABROAD. Education abroad is getting popular among the youth in order to explore the framework of different educational system. Also the infrastructure and pattern of education system adopted by them attracts many. Many students study abroad due to a simple feeling of wanderlust. Earlier US were more popular among youth for higher education but today owing to the better opportunities in Australia, UK, etc. these places are getting more popular. Some institutes abroad provide better facilities and practical knowledge at lower prices. Now a day’s student exchange programme is getting popular among youth. It simply implies students being exchanged to the foreign university i.e. taking course with local students and local faculty. The Brain Drain phenomenon is basically of migration of highly skilled workers out of the country due to better opportunities that exist elsewhere. Top brains of many institutes are Indians.

The child of today is the man of the future. Education helps in directing them, developing their personality and teaching them etiquettes. It is the education which inspires one to become something one really wants to. Education makes you free, make you experiment and it make you ask questions. Ultimately, it make you realize what you are.