Free & Quality Education for all.. A possibility!!!!

Andhra Pradesh is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad. The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third among all states in India. The State has the second-longest coastline of 972 km (604 mi) among all the States in India. The primary official language of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu and Urdu is the secondary official language in some places, while other languages spoken in Andhra Pradesh are Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Oriya.

Andhra comprises of 23 districts or blocks. These districts cover over 1124 mandals. In all, there are 26,613 villages in Andhra Pradesh.

I happened to work in the education system in Andhra Pradesh thanks to an internship that I carried out with Society for elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), an independent society under the Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. Of Andhra Pradesh. I got an opportunity to visit a number of schools especially in tribal Andhra Pradesh. After visiting the schools and interactions with a number of households, parents, teachers, government officials, NGO’s etc.

Common Observations at most schools

• Most of the schools visited lacked basic infrastructure like benches, tables, electricity, good buildings, toilets etc.
• The teachers and Head Teacher at many places are hardly X^th or intermediate cleared makes many of the schools sub standard and incompetent.
• Only one teacher is present for a school of 45- 120 students. Rest of the teacher positions is either vacant or the teacher is absent at many places
• Students roamed around or kept playing even during the school hours
• Parents at some places complain of being abused by the teachers when they raise voices against sub standard teaching
• There is minimal accountability on the part of teachers
• There is no evaluation mechanism for teachers
• Herd rearing was the major reason for dropout of male child and wedding or handling family chores was prime reason for girl child dropouts.
• Male children were given preference for education
• There is no attendance at many places, or there is fake attendance.
• Hygiene levels at school premises is extremely low
• Some public schools are efficiently functioning and churning out great results
• Some public schools have adopted private modes of school marketing like putting up hoardings, distributing pamphlets, holding seminars etc. They also provide career counseling to students and are extremely competent. This is in areas where private schools are quite prominent.
• Private schools are highly preferred by the rural families
• Private schools are beyond the financial capabilities of majority of tribal families
• Most families aspire to send their wards to private schools
• ICT infrastructure available in many private schools
• Teacher accountability in private schools is very high
• Parents are constantly updated of the progress of their children
• Quality education is provided very cheaply at many private schools
• Hoardings of private schools put up at prominent places
• Special training targeting IIT’s carried out by some schools
• Many private schools although do not have necessary recognitions
• Community Resource Persons were substantially able to bring down the dropout rates

To overcome this, I propose an education model which can turn Andhra Pradesh in to a literate state with Best Quality education.

Few assumptions are:

• ·        Schools are present in all the villages
• ·        Mid day meal is served in all schools
• ·       All schools receive the grant for books and scholarships, maintenance, teaching aids etc. earmarked for them
• ·         There is atleast a teacher or proxy teacher in every school
• ·         Government machinery provides full support to the program
• ·         SERP promoted SHG network is prevalent or people are acquaint with the concept

There are 2 options. These can be carried out independently or simultaneously.

Education via DTH

Satellite based DTH is widely penetrated throughout Andhra Pradesh. The key players in DTH are SUN TV, Tata Sky, among others. 2 Televisions with DTH sets can be set up in every school in every village. Through DTH, sessions shall be delivered simultaneously to all schools. Timings for every class would be pre fixed. Or, Multi Grade Multi Learning form of education can be delivered wherein joint lectures of multiple classes can be simultaneously delivered. Multi grade multi learning system has proved to be very successful at many places. The lectures shall be highly standardized and formalized designed on state standards. Regular awareness movies can also be transmitted through DTH. The DTH sessions will be complemented with necessary activity worksheets, quiz papers, etc. Which the teacher will ensure gets completed on time. The teachers shall be provided with a toll free helpline number to clear her doubts. This mode will reduce the dependency on teachers, bring standardization and improve the overall quality of education in state by using the existing infrastructure. Also, the remotest villages could be accessible to quality education. The model could also lead to electrification of many schools. The above model could be made purely market driven by charging for advertisements which would be delivered through that channel straight to rural masses.

Education via DVD’s

This model will be very similar to education via DTH. But, the mode of delivery will be in form of DVD’s which shall be standardized. All the schools shall receive the DVD’s containing lectures at the beginning of the month/ year along with necessary activity sheets, worksheets, quiz papers etc. The advantage of this model over DTH could be that the lectures could be viewed repeatedly at comfortable timings. Advertisements can be displayed through these too to make a healthy source of income.

  

The cost heads for the above Project are:

1. Content Development & Helpline Creation: Content Development shall be one time expenditure. Content in local dialects can be prepared with the help of experts. New & innovative methods of learning can be employed. Content can be pre developed for all standards, and as per state standards. Content especially of higher classes shall be developed in such a way that even the students with minimal understanding for that level can cope up. Or additional sessions as remedial for that standard can be carried out before school starts.
   
   An additional toll free helpline shall also be created wherein teachers or students with any doubts, questions, etc can get their solutions just by a simple phone call.The cost of Content Development along with Helpline Creation is estimated to be 2 crore rupees.
   
2. DTH with television or television with DVD player: 2 television sets with DTH and/ or DVD players need to be purchased for every village school. These units would be the chief mode of delivery of lectures. 2 units would be set up in every school. These units can be used for primary and secondary sections and at different times of the day. Cost of each television with DTH/ DVD is assumed to be Rs. 16,000. 
   
3. Infrastructure Upgradation: Most government schools in Andhra Pradesh lack proper infrastructure like benches, electricity, water etc. This fund shall help in providing these basic amenities. This fund would be in addition to what government already spends. A fund of 1 lakh rupees for every school is earmarked for this purpose.
   
4. UPS with solar panel: Most schools in Andhra Pradesh lack electricity. The chief necessity for the success of this project is electricity. Hence, a solar PV cell charged inverter battery shall be installed at schools to produce enough electricity to run fans, lights and televisions. A fund of 25000 Rupees per school is earmarked for this purpose.
   
5. Teacher & Community Resource Person Training: A chief reason for substandard education is lack of efficient teachers. Teachers to undergo a vigorous short term training course to better handle the doubts of children ensure high learning of students with the proposed model and improve teaching standards.
   
   SERP has an initiative wherein they appoint Community Resource Person (CRP). CRP is an educated person from the community. He looks after the education status, reduce the dropouts, and ascertain the causes of dropouts, community motivation etc... He can also be trained to run the school along with some more locals in absence of teacher. This is done because teachers in school have a huge backlog of government delegated work, which renders them incapable of running schools. These resource persons can run the DVD’s/ DTH at pre scheduled times to avoid loss of student hours due to unavailable teacher.A fund of 20,000 has been earmarked for this purpose.
   
6. Miscellaneous: There can be several other costs. Roughly Rs. 10000 are earmarked for every school anticipating unexpected expenses.

Additional Features:

• Schools to be run by village level Self Help Groups. These groups ensure smooth functioning of school. 
• These SHG’s would also encourage fixed monthly savings from all the parents. These savings would be deposited in the bank in account name of the student. Students can use the fund, or use it as collateral to fund his/ her higher studies. 
• These SHG’s are run by women. Hence, it will encourage girl education.
• Student already get Mid day meal, books, bags, uniform etc from government.
• Additional schemes like a rupee a day incentive for every student attending the school can be laid out to attract and retain students
• Child Labour abolishment rule should be implemented more strictly to avoid losing children to labour. This should also be complemented by providing of jobs under MGREGA or other employment schemes.
• Parents should be equally involved in child education by way of regular Parents Teachers meetings, report cards to parents, etc. SHG and CRP can ensure this. This shall also make the parents more hopeful of bright future of children.
•  Extra sessions on demand can also be organised at nights for students who missed the earlier session or some session. Also, night schools can be run by SHG to teach the illiterate of the village of basic arithmetic to ensure that moneylenders and traders do not fool them. Basic sciences can be imparted to dispel myths and superstitions.
•  Community harmony video, movies promoting social cause, social awareness videos, children movies etc. can be screened at regular intervals.

Financials:

Heads	Per School	Schools in 26613 villages	Shared between 2 villages	Shared between 3 villages
DTH with television x 2	32,000	85,16,16,000	42,58,24,000	28,38,72,000
Teacher Training	20,000	53,22,60,000	26,61,40,000	17,74,20,000
UPS with solar panel	25,000	66,53,25,000	33,26,75,000	22,17,75,000
Infrastructure Upgradation	1,00,000	2,66,13,00,000	1,33,07,00,000	88,71,00,000
Miscellaneous	10,000	26,61,30,000	13,30,70,000	8,87,10,000
Total	1,87,000	4,97,66,31,000	2,48,84,09,000	1,65,88,77,000
Content and Hepline (One time)		2,00,00,000	2,00,00,000	2,00,00,000
Net		4,99,66,31,000	2,50,84,09,000	1,67,88,77,000

In effect, best quality education can be delivered to every student in less than 500 crore rupees. This includes upgradation of infrastructure, teacher training and Best quality education in local dialects for the students. Additional benefits include night schools, increased social awareness, etc.

The new infrastructure can be created in every villages, or can be shared between 2 or 3 villages.

The budget of Andhra Pradesh Government for the year 2010-11 is a staggering 3155 crores. The face of education in Andhra Pradesh can instead be changed forever at less than one sixth of annual state budget!

Further, I have few suggestions as to how to make the entire project free of cost to the state exchequer!

Major Heads of expenditure in the project are:

• DTH/ DVD with television
• Teacher training
• UPS with solar panel
• Infrastructure Upgradation

a.      For DTH/ DVD with television

• DTH/ DVD with television as well as UPS with solar panel can be provided to every school on loan. Loan amount can be payed by the schools in the following ways:
• Savings of parents. Parents pay a minimum amount to school every year to ensure their interest in the school
• Solar PV panels for electricity can save huge carbon emissions. CER’s or VER’s can be issued and encashed in the market to pay for the debt.
• Subsidy schemes of central government on Solar panels can be utilized to bring down the costs
• Advertisements can be broadcasted through DTH or DVD’s. These advertisements reaching to everyone at BoP can command huge premiums. The returns from these advertisements can be used to pay off the debt. After clearance of debt, the money generated through advertisements can be used in development of school.

b.     For teacher Training

Just as pharma companies do, teacher trainings can be carried out by getting the entire event sponsored by one or many private education providers in Andhra Pradesh. These education providers in turn get wide scale publicity and acknowledgement for their contribution.

c.      For Infrastructure Upgradation:

This is slightly difficult. But, donations from NGO’s, donor agencies, CSR’s etc can be called for. This can be further incentivised by selling the naming rights of schools for a fixed tenure recognizing the contribution of the donor. Donors can also be thanked by displaying their name on website, newspaper advertisment by state thanking them, etc. Besides, the upgradation can also be sponsored by the advertisement revenues generated by DTH/ DVD’s.

Only thing needed for making the entire state of Andhra Pradesh literate with high standards of uniform education is Government willingness, support from SERP and a good project management team!

Advantages in Brief:

• Every village can have a well developed school with latest infrastruture
• Uniform education provided to everyone 
•  Universal Primary Education can be ensured by 2015
• Entire project covering whole India can be done in 12000 crores, which further can be made free of cost by free market economics
• It would be a one time investment. For all the following years, the schools shall generate its own revenues. This money can be used for maintenence and covering day to day costs of school
• Schools can run even without a teacher, by a trained local; as local person has just to play the right session to the students
• It can lay a foundation for secondary education also     
• Good quality primary education would further usher in private companies to invest heavily in schools and education. This would further boost the education system.

It is amazing and confusing how merely one time investment of Rs. 500 crores can be sufficient to educate an entire state and 12,000 crore to educate an entire nation with best quality education. But, government, over the years spending crores and crores of rupees every year have not been able to produce even a fraction of desired output!

Arpit H Shah.

Email: arpithshah99@gmail.com
Mob: +91-9821211381

Experiencing Adversity, Fighting Adversity and Living in Adversity... The Big Question???

This is about a small fishermen settlement of about 35 families located on the outskirts of Kandla in Kutch district of Gujarat. The place is Paarth.

                                                                 Paarth Settlement

I happened to visit this settlement as a part of my IRMA fieldwork study with Kutch Navnirman Abhiyaan. The study involved analysing the effects of industrialization in the coastal villages of Kutch, Gujarat. During the visit to this area, the car could be taken only upto a point, and after that, we had to walk some 300 meters in marshy sand to reach this settlement.

This isolated settlement of fishermen welcomed us as if we were their saviours. Most of the eyes were filled with anger of government apathy, despair, helplessness, worry and fear.  There was also a small tinge of optimism and unwavering hope of an end to their woes; and to have a decent life. The fishermen of this settlement are mostly residents from nearby Khariror village. These fishermen usually migrate to the village during non fishing season, and come back during season for their livelihood.

The residents of this Bandar (Fishermen settlement) claim it to be one of the oldest Bandar of the region. Some 150 years ago, this place was supposed to loose its existence due to some private vested interests. Their ancestors had filed a case in their defence and won it too. Nobody had then dared to harm them since then. This incident is proudly narrated to every visitor. But, after inhabiting place for such a long time, now, they are told to vacate this place owing to expansions and security at the Kandla port located closeby.

The settlement has no light, no road, no medical facilities, and no close by transport facilities. The fishermen are mostly “Pagadiyas”, These Fishermen generally catch fishes at shore, going bare feet in the waters. Some fishermen of this settlement also go for fishing on boats. They go for fishing deep inside creeks and come back only after 2-3 days. The main catch of these fishermen includes small fishes, crabs and prawns.Fishing is their only livelihood. The day they get a good fish catch, they have a meal; otherwise, they go to rest on empty stomach. They are not taught nor given any opportunity for learning alternate livelihood condemning them to this difficult life. They carry out fishing since their childhood, and believe, it is the only thing that they are good at, only thing that they could do.

The fish catch has drastically gone down due to port activities and also of the dangerous effluents released from hundreds of industries dotting the shoreline. Also, salinity has drastically gone up due to hard water discharge from salt pans (Kutch produces 60% of India’s salt) and private & commercial utilization of fresh water that otherwise used to enter the sea.

This settlement virtually becomes an island during high tides, when tide water totally covers their high raised hutments. Apart from slightly raised wooden houses, they have almost nothing to protect themselves from the wrath of nature. They procure water from place some 3 kilometres away at variable exorbitant rates ranging from some 7 Rs per small drum upto Rs. 10 (In Oct’2009). A high prevalence of skin related diseases as well as deficiency diseases was also observed due to under nourished food consumption and living in unhygienic conditions.

Access to the settlement

Off the several disasters this place has witnessed, the last one  during the cyclone of 1999. A tragedy of all 9 people of family dying in cyclone still haunts their memories. The family of  all the deceased of this settlement were offered a meagre Rs. 5000 as compensation after cyclone, which was nowhere enough to fill the void of losing the bread earner.  

People here are extremely poor. Literacy rate is almost zero. The families are large, with peculiarly high female to male ratio. Males here learn fishing at early age, get married early, and have a short life expectancy. Their short life expectancy is mainly due to environment factors of their livelihood and addictions mainly in form of tobacco.Females are mostly involved in household and fishing related allied activities.

As if this was not enough, families here marry amongst themselves. This has led to weakening of their gene pool. Every one of ten live births is marred by physical or mental handicap. All the difficulties that I expressed could explain only a decimal of what people actually faced there. In one word, I could explain their condition as "INHUMAN"!

“If you think your life is difficult, Think again.” This is the only thing I can comment after seeing this strong community almost staying inside sea, and facing ecological, social, political, environmental, biological, legal, livelihood, food, shelter, education, health, and every obstacle one could think of. Inspite of all these obstacles, although destroyed many times; sticking to their tradition, culture, livelihood, value system and production system; this settlement still stands tall and strong. They display the spirit of human endurance, tolerance and a never say die attitude.

It is amusing and confusing how government although spending crores of rupees; even a fraction of it never reaches the people who need it. This is just one of the many places in India that is facing such conditions, such horrific conditions. The fact that this place lies in one of the most industrially advanced & rich states of India; gives us an idea of what others in other states are facing. Some other amusing things are that this place is stone throw distance from Kandla port where multi million dollar transactions take place everyday, and still this condition. It is also amusing that India is trying to conquer moon, become a super power, manages to do scams of over 1,70,000 crore rupees but  so many places in India still goes hungry. Another aspect which confuses me is their unwillingness to accept change, or to switch over to other livelihoods. Their unwavering spirit, never say die attitude and endurance to live such a difficult life is a question in itself. It is a question to themselves, government, civil society, development organisations and to life itself!

An encounter with my ideal: Dr. Verghese Kurien, The milkman of India.

Dr. Verghese Kurien

One of the biggest excitement in the initial days after start of IRMA was the meeting with Dr. Verghese Kurien that was supposed to happen a week after the introductory lectures started. But, unfortunately, we did not get a chance to meet Dr. Ku (as he was fondly called) then since he was not keeping well. Till that time, I had known Dr. Verghese Kurien just as the Architect of white revolution in India and a chief force behind the formation of Amul. But slowly as my time at IRMA progressed, I got to know many more aspects in the life and times of Dr. Kurien.

The matter of meeting Dr. Kurien was almost forgotten since then. But, I always had a strong will to meet the great Dr. Kurien himself who I had started idolizing by that time. Everytime that I used to meet our institute Director, I used to request him to schedule a meeting with Dr. Ku. One day the finally came. We got a chance to meet the Hero himself, we got to hear his story from the Hero himself, we got a chance to pose with the Hero himself. Luckily, I carried a copy of his Biography, "I too had a Dream" and I got it personally signed by the King himself. Meeting Dr. Kurien, in Amul Dairy in midst of the beatiful green lawns which still sung the praises of Dr. Kurien's greatness; was an achievement for me. To add to it, the 3 huge rooms in the premises of Amul dairy filled with the medals, gifts, trophies, appreciations, certificates etc. all in name of Dr. Kurien flattered me. Everything forced me to think HOW CAN A PERSON ACHIEVE SO MUCH IN A SINGLE LIFETIME?? My determination to do contribute to the society now become all the more strong. Perhaps, this is why people say, "People fade, But Legacy stays on". All the minor remaining doubts on my decision to join IRMA were flushed away and replaced with thankfulness and gratitude for the Great Institute and the great Dr. Ku!

I always kept the signed copy of the book very dearly, and close to my heart. Whenever I felt short of inspiration, I just used to open the book and get awed by the person who transformed millions of lives. He had once quoted that I will make hundreds of Kuriens coming out of IRMA. I know Dr. Kurien can only be one, but his trust in the institute, in its participants, has motivated me to do atleast a miniscule fraction of Dr. Kurien did. I dont know if I ever live upto the expectations, but I shall always try to.Now, few months after the meeting, there was placement times at IRMA. All seniors suggested that you need to read Dr. Kuriens autobiography, "I too had a Dream" for Amul's placement interview. Reluctantly, I had to hand it over to my friend to read which subsequently went to other friend; and in the end became untraceable. I had lost my most priced possession. I kept no stone unturned to get it back but to no avail.

Few days from that, it was end of IRMA journey. Everyone had started to depart for home or trips to nearby places. I had my car with me, so had decided to leave a little late to complete some pending matters. I always wanted to meet Dr. Kurien in person, talk to him and thank him for the huge role he had played in transforming my life. We were under the impression that Dr. Kurien were in Chennai for health reasons. Still, one afternoon, I just went to Dr. Kurien's house and purely as an aimless arrow in air, I inquired for him. The person at the gate went to call for Molly madam, wife of Dr. Kurien. When she came, I requested her for a chance to meet Dr. Ku especially since our time at campus was over and we were not sure when we would be coming back again. After a lot of insistence, she agreed and called me at 5pm. I thanked her and went back to campus.

Now, I wanted a copy of his autobiography for me to get his autograph. The local bookstore was out of stock, and there was no other option. As it is said, where there is a will, there is a way. I was told that some professors had undergone a training wherein they were handed over new copies of book. I requested a professor, and he thankfully agreed to give me his copy, and I promised him a brand new copy to that prof at the earliest. And instantly, I ordered a copy of the book from online store.

India was playing Pakistan in a crucial world cup semifinal on 30th March. It was same day I was to meet Dr Kurien. I knew Dr. Kurien were very particular about time, so right at 5pm, I and my friend Ajay were at doors of Dr. Kurien. Molly madam welcomed us and requested us to be seated. I glanced through the large hall of his bunglow. One wall had a beautiful picture of Dr. Kurien himself. One wall had few certificates hanging. On close examination, I realised those were Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan- top 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest civilian awards in India. One wall had a  huge life sized poster of Indira Gandhi with some other leaders across a table. On the back of my sofa, was a huge photo of Mt. Everest. Few moments later, Dr. Kurien arrived walking slowly helped by Molly madam. The eternal glow on his face was would leave anybody in awe. I thanked lord for fulfilling my dream of seeing Dr. Kurien in person, and I was soaking in the feeling of being one to one with the hero himself and the pride of long time dream getting accomplished. Molly madam explained him that we were on the brink of becoming alumnus of IRMA and were spending last few days there. He asked us about our time at IRMA. He even inquired about the food in the campus. He started telling us interesting parts of his life story. The talking went on for sometime. After few quite moments, he asked me if I saw what is hanging on the wall behind my back? I told him that it was Mt. Everest. Than he told me that it is personally signed by its first conquerors: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Sherpa. It left me awestruck! Considering Dr. Kurien had worked closely with Vallabhbhai Patel, Tribhuvandas Patel, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai and host of other national and international leaders; I realized that I was indeed witness to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen! The feeling was out of the world.

I finally told Dr. Kurien the reason that I really wanted to meet him. I went on my knees and touched the feet of Dr. Kurien promising myself to contribute in my own way for the betterment of society. I strightened, touched his hand and told him Thank You very much. I expressed him gratitude from the bottom of my heart for transforming my life for the good. He acknowledged it. I stood up and went to Molly madam and touched her feet which had been through Dr. Kurien in thick and thin, And in this wee moments of his life where ill health has caught up with him, she stood strong acting as guide, interpreter and a perfect life long partner for the hero who transformed millions of life. I requested for a photograph with Dr. Kurien. After that, I committed an utterly selfish act which I do not regret. Dr. Kurien were going through very bad health, and his hands are swollen due to edema. He had problems in writing. Still, I requested him to sign me on my copy of his personal autobiography. He willingly signed it for me, and I have decided not to give it to anybody at any cost. I thanked Dr. Kurien once again, thanked Molly madam again and left the place with an immense sense of achievement, gratitude for IRMA and a content heart.

                                      This video gives a brief glimpse of life of Dr. Ku!

He just celebrated his 90th birthday. I wish him the best for his birthday. I came across his pictures, memorable speeches, his videos and the memories of my best ever moments of my life flashed back.If somebody deserves Bharat Ratna more than anybody is Dr. Verghese Kurien. It is the only trophy missing in the cabinet of person conferred with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, World Food Prize, Wateler Peace Prize, Indian of the year award, Ramon Magasway Award, Krishi Ratna, Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award and host of other national and international recognitions. Through his efforts, he has changed the lives of over 10 million farmers, in addition to other millions who make their living off Amul products, the lives of few hundred IRMAns that he transformed who are now transforming hundreds of lives themselves, NDDB who has transformed so many lives and is on the brink of another operation flood to transform many more lives, GCMMF for the tremendous marketing success making it the largest FMCG in India with a turnover of 10K crores,  and the countless lives that he has transformed through his contributions in AKRSP, Anadalaya school, Tribhuvandas Foundation, KIIT School of Rural Management, Vikshit Bharat Foundation etc. and hundreds other through his indirect contributions via his students, inspirees & followers; He truly deserves a Bharat Ratna.

The prospect of someone achieving so much in a short lifetime, seeing happiness in lives of millions due to your efforts, fighting with the system by being in the system, getting done what is needed and  leading the life by example is truly amusing. The thing that is confusing is that why do we have only 1 Kurien in a population of over 1 billion? And the thing that is both Amusing and Confusing is how the mere presence of a great Hero inspires you to emulate them, motivates you to work hard, challenge the unchallenged, gives you immense peace of mind, source of happiness, have some memorable moments and drives you to excel in your own field whichever it may be!

I would end by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Kurien for everything! Thank You Dr. Ku.