Often we come across lament that Indian universities do not find place among the world’s top universities. However, the fact remains that innumerable products of these very “laggard” Indian universities have not only succeeded brilliantly in their concerned professions, they are also much sought after in international market and have indeed reached top echelons in first-world countries. In this perspective, I think “poor” ranking of Indian universities in international forum is absolutely immaterial.
Instead of being anxious about the fate of higher education in India, we should highlight the extreme sorry state of basic primary education.
In “modern” India, education is merely a commodity which needs to be purchased from the market. Now people of humble backgrounds fail to sponsor the education of their children. Thus millions of the innocent kids, bereft of education, are left with no other option but to act as child-labourer so as to put a balm on hungry and starved stomachs.
In wide parts of India, hapless parents are failing to provide basic education to their children due to lack of adequate number of schools also in concerned localities. Innumerable students, specially girls, are quitting studies just due to absence of toilets in the premises! Again lack of proper buildings, water and teachers also pose a grave threat to primary education in remote and rural areas. Due to such adversities, countless young children, who are nothing but future of this very nation, are being deprived of education; thereby fragmenting the very foundation of the country. Can a country indeed achieve “progress” or qualify to be called “modern” if the innocent little souls get deprived of their basic right of being educated and their immense potential get mercilessly nipped in the bud in such an unequal fashion?
Not only do these little “Gods” get deprived from basic amenities of life, including education; just imagine the magnitude of talent and potential that are getting scandalously wasted in this fashion! Yet, the “patriotic” Indians boast about the “Right to Education” prevailing in this country!
A society gets judged by the way it treats its children. Unless we learn to appreciate the fact that not Gigantic statues-Bullet trains-Ram Mandir, rather the common Indians form the real India; the unfortunate lot, practically deprived from all norms of basic rights, will continue to remain the worst victim in our society.
It is high time the concerned authorities award due attention towards the much-neglected basic primary education which has simply bypassed the students of poor and rural background. It must be remembered that just like the urban students hailing from rich and middle-class families, the not-so-fortunate folks are also indispensable part of this very nation only and neither Constitutionally nor morally can the little Gods be deprived of their basic right to get educated. Let the noble concept of ‘Free and Compulsory Education’ for all be promoted from theory and rhetoric to practical reality.
