Talking Education

I read two interesting articles today --ironically I read them in order. The first one was on the Government schools in Delhi, the very good pass percentage they have had this year at the X board exams and that now they are number two in the country. All good news but I wondered, how well are these kids learning.

The second article appeared in Wall Street Journal and it talks about thousand of Indian students who despite being graduates in 'flying colors' are unemployable.

 India's biggest challenge is not unemployment, but unemployability. A study by McKinsey and the National Association of Software and Services Companies a few years ago found that barely 25% of engineering graduates are employable. Last year, another survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the World Bank reported that 64% of the employers were not satisfied with the skills of the engineering graduates. According to biotech industry sources, barely half of the 200,000 post graduates in science are employable.

They blame New Delhi for making things worse with their Right to Education Act according to which children up to the age of 14 have the right to get free education. The actual problem is not with the act itself, even though the article seems to suggest that this new act has made things worse. The real problem is that the government continues to be in charge of all aspects of implementing this act, and spreading education.

Sometimes, it feels like there is really no end to the problems. The right approach perhaps is community-managed education, rather than government-backed education.