“Education for all” states that everyone has the right to education. Its aim should be to give chance and benefit from basic education- not as an accident of circumstance or privilege but as a “Right”.
According to law the right to education is available to each child but is it provided in a correct manner is the topic of worry. Mere passing budgets and setting rules do not ensure that every child is getting its right to education.
A few challenges prevent the right to education in society. We need to resolve these issues so that every child in society can be guaranteed this right.
Top principle challenges for Education in India
Lack of resources- Schools/colleges infrastructure in India is often inadequate due to a lack of funds. Many schools/colleges, especially those in rural areas, struggle to hire qualified teachers due to a lack of capital. Every year, an annual budget is devoted to education. But it is essential to plan and manage the budget in a manner that reaches every sector that is in need.
Expensive Education- In order to develop skills and knowledge, students need qualified and expert instructors along with online assistance tools. Consequently, these expenses, in addition to infrastructure maintenance, bear heavily on schools and colleges, thus increasing education costs.
It is not possible for every family in society to provide their child with this expensive education, and as a result, many children are denied qualified education.
Social and cultural gap- Indian cultural diversity makes it difficult to implement consistent education nationwide. The negligence of Indian languages is a major challenge in education for students. For some subjects such as science, the medium of teaching is English.
Lack of English skills in rural schools faces challenges in learning. This may in most cases be a reason for the dropout rate and in turn, students would lose interest in education.
Lack of practical aspect – Our education system is ineffective due to the lack of advancement of professional and specialized instructors.
“Quality of education depends upon the quality of an instructor.”
Our education system in nature is based on general education. Rather than focusing more on the practical side of knowledge, it emphasizes more on theory.
Due to this, it would prevent students from developing their skills.
Access- Lack of infrastructure and social issues makes it difficult to make education accessible to all sections of the society (women, minorities, poor). For some societies educating women is a big issue. Poor children are forced to work thus they miss out on education opportunities.
Further, the chance for an illiterate adult to gain an education at a later age is also limited. Even today 35% of individuals remain uneducated for this reason.
Talent loss – Lack of employment in our country leads merit students to take the decision to study abroad. As a result, our country lacks talent and ability. This led to the loss of a number of talents to other countries which would otherwise be helpful for our development.
Access to resources – Public schools often lack sufficient funding, Due to this schools/colleges are not able to provide basic facilities like libraries, computer systems, sports, food, etc. This makes it difficult for them to provide students with quality education and retain them.
Solutions to these Challenges
PPP model – Integrating Public-private partnership (PPP) models in the education system will help schools provide good infrastructure and basic facilities to the students.
The model will also serve as a benchmark for public schools. The quality of learning will improve by hiring professional and expert educators. As a result, students will acquire good knowledge and skills.
Technology-driven- Innovation in India’s education system is a part of the technology-driven education trend. Due to this, online education is now more popular than ever. A good internet will allow students to access learning materials online from anywhere at any time.
Quality Education-new education policy of India has emphasized quality educators. Students’ skills and knowledge depend on the quality of the teacher.
As per the new education policy, it has specified that teachers’ hiring will be on the basis of merit. They will undergo regular training programs in order to develop their skills and knowledge.
Thus, students will be able to learn more effectively.
Affordable education- In order to make education accessible to all, the government has launched programs and campaigns. With these schemes and campaigns, students will get good infrastructure and basic facilities at an affordable price.
Eg:- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, National Programme for the education of girls at the elementary level, mid-day meal scheme, etc.
Mandating regional languages – According to the new education policy of India education in the local language is made mandatory till grade 8. This will help students to have a better understanding of difficult concepts when taught in a language they understand better. This will help in retaining students and decreasing dropout rates.
How online Education can help in removing these challenges
Improves Quality – Parallel use of online education and technology, it has become easy to use alternate ideas of teaching students. Computer-aided assessment and training tools have led to continuous improvement for both students and teachers.
The use of new technology will gradually improve the quality of the education system of India.
Improves Accessibility- Online education can help students to easily access the resources online from anywhere anytime. It is now possible to provide 24×7 schooling for those who were not able to attend schools for some reason.
Reduce the cost- Software for school management systems is available at an affordable price. Moreover, this software can be combined with online training tools that are affordable for both teachers and students.
