Frogs in the well

Unless our education standards raise to such high levels, we keep breeding frogs in the well

I “was” an engineer because I got an engineering degree. I “tried to be” an engineer by working in an electronics company. I “am not” an engineer, because I explored and found my interests. Education in general and engineering in particular was a tool in my hands to peep out of the well. Once I got the taste of the outside world, I could muster courage to leap out of the well. I met so many such frogs in the well, on my first day at PMRDF today (May 1st), who took the great leap forward. Most of us have done engineering, may be because it was cheaper both money and time wise when compared to medicine, another standard career option; and may be due to lack of exposure to other fields, their prospects and opportunities they provide.  Engineering is also seen by many as an option with “guaranteed return on investment”

This is not an individual issue but a larger systemic issue. Our education curriculum doesn’t give space for experimentation. In its hurry to teach lakhs of students every year, the system is failing to teach the students to teach themselves. Either schools do not have labs or have outdated and inadequate equipment. Without practical experimentation, the theory is left to the imagination of the students. To cross the immediate hurdle, students take to learning by rote and teachers tend to encourage it for performance evaluation is done on the basis of marks obtained but not based on knowledge gained.

By the time a student finishes his/her 10^th standard all the basics should be covered and the student should be able to understand their applications. Precisely for this reason, many enrol in engineering courses, without having any idea of what the subject is about. Since we are failing to do this, students enrol to learn those basics again, at a later stage, to appear for competitive exams. It is a waste of time, money and energy today, which should have already been done yesterday. Unless our education standards raise to such high levels, we keep breeding frogs in the well. Year after year, the ASER Reports show that our math skills, reading standards are declining. We need major public policy decisions to keep the education system on the right track.

One, an unconventional evaluation mechanism, which tests students’ ability to visualise and apply the theory learnt in the school. An independent body with a clear mandate to conduct such type of exams should be set up. The schools should be given rankings through composite indexing – including quality of education, innovative and creative teaching mechanisms, infrastructure, teachers’ performance etc., which will ensure competition. Not all schools may be evaluated this way as the situation in many government schools, is so dismal that roof over the school building is a luxury. To start with, a few schools with minimum standard and infrastructure may be given rankings and gradually other schools should be supported to catch up. This would also ensure that there is no outright rejection of the idea by teachers’ union.

Two, teachers should also be made to take such exams periodically. Not as a strict performance based evaluation measure, but to make teaching more fun. There are studies that show that training teachers may not reflect in improving their teaching skills and thereby is not having any effect on the quality of education. Nevertheless, imparting innovative and creative training should aim at a larger attitudinal change.

Finally, and most importantly, the parents who rush their children into the competitive world without giving them an opportunity to explore, should be educated. Government should slowly move away from providing education towards provisioning quality education. It should build model schools to set an example to both the private players as well to show the parents what they should be expecting of any good school.   Currently quality wise both the public and private schools are worse. Therefore, we need a regulating government for quality, not providing education itself, where sufficient number of schools are present; and provide education itself in those areas where private presence is minimum or zero.

Public services and their providers !

It is so natural that we clean the house, when we are using it regularly. An abandoned one will attract our attention, only occasionally. Same is the case with our public services especially health and education.  It is not that no one is using these facilities. In fact, a majority is using them.  For example, in 2012, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) found that 28% of children in the age group of 6-14 years have attended private schools. Though the private school enrolment has been on the rise since 2009, even in rural areas, around 70% still rely on public schools.

In the health sector, studies show that there is a massive shift from public to private sector. According to National Family Health Survey 2005-06, for 70% of urban households and 63% of rural households, the private medical sector is the main source of health care. This is not so good a sign, as the lower income category is spending huge amounts on healthcare by opting for relatively expensive private services. Also, the fact remains that many still rely only on public services for they cannot afford or private is inaccessibly far.

Keeping aside the quality of private services, which is equally questionable, the statistics show that private is comparatively preferable. A recent study by Michigan State University education researcher challenged the claim that private school students outperform their counterparts in public schools. There are many studies, which bring out the reasons for these dismal public services and how to mend them. The purpose of this article is not to get into any of those details but to raise only one question – “is it because the public services are not good that the government officials/politicians (say the elite class - supposing it includes lower, middle and upper elite) do not use them or that the services are bad because the elite class do not use them? In other words, are our public services dirty because the service providers themselves do not use them?

Ideally, policies cannot enforce compulsory use of the public service by the public officials themselves. Practically, that is impossible as elite themselves make laws and implement them. Yet the dismal public services and I-do-not-use-it-anyway syndrome force us to think of this perception. The possible consequences of this kind of an attitude in education and health sectors could be many.

As the author of an article ‘An official vote of no confidence’ (The hindu, opinion oped, September 16^th 2013) pointed out – ‘The fact is that the decline of government hospitals was in part associated with the decision of ministers and officials to give themselves the benefit of being monetarily compensated for private health care’. The recent order to reimburse approved expenditure on treatment abroad for IAS and IPS officers is manifestation of such lack of confidence.

This might also be the reason for increasing governmental affinity towards private health, for wrong reasons. In addition to the voluntary shift by people who can afford, to private services, there is a developing tendency to subsidize private services by government.  This precisely means that public money is pumped into private sector leaving no scope for developing public sector and the subsidies bill will further shoot up. Arogyasri scheme in Andhra Pradesh was PPP scheme introduced to provide quality health services upto 2 lakh per annum to BPL families free of cost through an identified network of public and private providers. Soon corporate interests, corruption etc have tainted its purpose. Private hospitals have boomed with this cash rich scheme and sidelined public hospitals. Also, studies conducted by many NGOs show that many surgeries and operations have been conducted, whether a patient actually needed it or not.

  

No special study is needed to say that a very few or none at all, of the government teachers send their children to government schools. Yet an enthusiast in Tamil Nadu has painstakingly collected an important information through RTI filings. It says that over 73% of the primary government school teachers in TN send their own children to private schools. The irony is that the same teachers association has been avidly promoting government schools, just to save their own jobs. This is just one instance.

To answer the main question, it is two way. Elite do not use government services for obvious reasons. But this definitely has had an impact on development of public services. If the elite use the services, the investment, maintenance, monitoring and overall working would have been better than what it is today in the public sector. After all, we are notorious for cleaning of roads or laying them over night before a VIP visit. If I never have to use the road I am building, why maintain it in good condition or for that matter why build it in the first place?

This brings us to the question – “Is it important to attract the elite to use the public services in education and health?” Whether this becomes a part of conscious policymaking or not, this is definitely something to work on. India is still not in a position to let the market decide the course of the ‘public goods’ health and education.  

More on this …. In a follow up article ! With views from experts