An excellent list of problems with Indian education

Over a relaxed weekend, I came across this article by Rushi Bakshi in The Hindu. Certainly worth a read. As you’ll see, Rushi makes an excellent, nearly exhaustive list of all the problems that plague the educational in India. Everything we’ve been telling people for a year—from lack of teachers to unhygienic schools to boring, colorless textbooks—Rushi mentions it all.

The similarity is striking. But then again, not quite. Rushi is recommending the satellite route to cure many of the ills—set up the hardware in rural schools, and beam quality content via satellite.

While I do not doubt that such an arrangement will benefit students, I’m not sure to what extent it will fix the problems we face. After all, good education can only be facilitated only in an environment where there is open interaction between teachers and students, and where students participate in their education, rather than just “undergo” it.

I suppose satellite can allow two-way interaction too, but I doubt if that will be financially viable in terms of equipment required, as well as in terms of scale.

On the other hand, using the Internet to achieve the result is far more practical and cost-effective. And with Internet spreading into various corners of the country at a dramatic rate, more and more schools—and children—are in a position to benefit from the Education For Free initiative every year.