Inclusivity in Education - An Indian Perspective

India has truly been a great nation since ages with a rich legacy running back to 5000 years. The earliest evidence of education system prevalent in India was found in Rig Vedas, which deals with the philosophy of life and practices of learning. During this Vedic era, the system revolved around the Gurukuls, where students used to live with their Gurus and learn by precept as well as by actual study and debates.

Since its independence from the British Raj in 1947, India hasn't been too much successful as a state in providing basic needs like education, healthcare and electricity to its citizens especially those residing in rural areas. Though India has consistently grown with a 8% average GDP growth over past few years, but how much benefit out of this growth has been transformed into building a better education system in this nation of 1.2 billion people? The education system in this country has persistently failed because of the vested political interests in framing policies and also due to consistent stress which is laid on getting marks in the exams at all levels (primary, secondary, graduation). More focus is laid on passing the exams rather than true learning. Students are taught by the society to join the race of pursuing additional degrees without introspecting whether it is actually adding any value to them personally or to the society. I believe that it is the overall negative culture in the system which is propelled by the various forces acting in unison - personal, social, political and economic interests.

Inclusivity in education, that I am referring to is about strengthening the current education system from its core and expanding its reach to all those who are willing to learn. As Swami Vivekananda has rightly quoted, "Education is a manifestation of the perfection already present in man", India needs to have a belief in itself and harness its strength by giving rightful access to education to each and every person living in this country who is willing to learn. 

To meet the current demand supply gap, government has already started taking some steps and is trying to expand the reach of educational institutes at all levels like establishing primary schools in rural areas, bringing in RTE (Right to Education Act), establishing new IITs, IIMs and AIIMS. But is government really monitoring the real effectiveness of their approach to tackle this menace or are we just converting an existing problem to a much bigger problem? In spite of these actions, education in India remains an opportunity to a select few. With high poverty and high drop-out ratio of students prevailing in rural schools, we need to give a clear thought on building an educational ecosystem keeping aside vested secular and political interests. 

The availability of cheap hardware, indigenous technology and coupled with higher broadband penetration can facilitate effective delivery of education electronically. Private institutes can be asked to help their government counterparts solely in the interest of nation. These institutes can come forward by offering nationwide courses and can utilize the revolutionary model of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) like Coursera and edX. As a citizen of this unique country, each one of us who has access to this scarce opportunity shall contribute for the development of this healthy ecosystem. We must start having firm faith in our unmatched educational history and leverage the power of knowledge sharing and collaboration.

It is to be clearly understood that foundation to build India as a strong nation has to be laid down at primary and secondary level by delivering quality education. Each one of us is more or less involved in a rat race by following one's parents dream or by working consistently to turn down the social neighbor's finger. On the contrary, we must devote our energies to promote free thinking everywhere. Innovative ideas must be encouraged right from school to college level. Young start-up firms shall be supported in their ideas to the full extent. It is to be imbibed that investment in education is for lifetime of an individual. Using the synergies of educated Indian youth, the growth of this nation will become truly inclusive and the day will not be far when we can rise up once again as a citizen of this proud nation INDIA !

Abishek Mittal
NMP XXVI - Class of 2014
MDI, Gurgaon







Disclaimer:  This is a personal weblog and the opinions expressed here are solely my own thoughts and are not written under any undue influence.