I had a very interesting experience in two villages I recently visited (one in Bihar and one in Uttar Pradesh). The Indian govt has, since the 1960s, been providing free meals to children in primary school. In these two villages, the people were convinced that both teachers and students were more interested in respectively providing and eating the food than in studying. They said this had caused the quality of education to become useless, so even though more children were physically going to school, they weren't benefiting from it other than to have a meal.
I think part of this is caused by advertising by nearby private schools, but teachers do spend a huge amount of time on administering this scheme. Teachers are also involved in local and national elections, government surveys, census, etc. As a result, private schools which charge $2-5 per month have popped up all over the place.
2 comments:
Good luck sir!
I had a very interesting experience in two villages I recently visited (one in Bihar and one in Uttar Pradesh). The Indian govt has, since the 1960s, been providing free meals to children in primary school. In these two villages, the people were convinced that both teachers and students were more interested in respectively providing and eating the food than in studying. They said this had caused the quality of education to become useless, so even though more children were physically going to school, they weren't benefiting from it other than to have a meal.
I think part of this is caused by advertising by nearby private schools, but teachers do spend a huge amount of time on administering this scheme. Teachers are also involved in local and national elections, government surveys, census, etc. As a result, private schools which charge $2-5 per month have popped up all over the place.
Wow, a negative result of a school lunch program that is way beyond imagination.
I also wonder how private schools can maintain itselves with such low charges! Amazing. Or it must be a village thing.
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