User:Education differences within India

Overview
35% of India’s population is illiterate today. 15% of Indian students attend high school, and only 7% are graduates. The education system of India is in need of a drastic reform.

A developed educational system has yet to be uniformly established in the developing country of India. Despite keen government efforts to improve the availability and quality of education in India, statistics present a multiplicity of literacy rates between states in India. For example, Bihar has the lowest literacy rate in India and, in the 2001 census, was the only Indian state where the majority of the population (53%) was illiterate; whereas Kerala is the most literate state in India, with 94.59% literacy. The education divide exists in multiple levels and in different degrees. It is important to understand the diverse nature of India’s economy and address her educational needs accordingly.

Evidence presents strong correlations between life expectancy and literacy. When the rate of maternal schooling is high, as in Kerala, the lower will be the infant and child mortality rate. Maternal schooling increases the ability to improve nutrition and contributes to the ability to initiate earlier and more effective diagnosis and prevention of illnesses in their children.

Bihar vs Kerala
The state of Bihar, located in the eastern part of the country away from the coast, is one of the least developed states in India, a fact which contributes significantly to the numbers of children out of school in the state. The economic characteristics and conditions of various states determine the type of education that will aid the maximization of growth. As of 2008, agriculture accounts for 35%, industry 9% and service 55% of the economy of the state of Bihar. With limited access to education and markets, Bihar has a per capita income of $148 a year against India's average of $997! The poor infrastructure of the state forces the students to migrate to other states to pursue higher degrees.

On the other hand, Kerala is located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent with a coast running some 580 km in length. She boasts the highest literacy rate and provides elementary education to all eligible. Kerala’s education performance has been so impressive that it could receive the distinctive acclamation as the ‘Kerala model’; and some recommend “Keralization” to the whole education system in India.

Reasons for Educational Differences
Three main reasons cited for the vast differences in educational systems and infrastructures include:
 * A failure to recognize the link between mass education and mass schooling;
 * Three great obstacles to mass school education in India, those created by class, caste and gender discrimination, are not addressed uniformly between states.
 * The lack of government investments in efforts to build schools.

Today, Bihar is unable to reap the benefits of her population dividend and Kerala is still unable to transform herself into a prosperous developed state. Clearly, Bihar lacks the very fundamental educational infrastructures whereas Kerala has to equip her educated with relevant skills in line with her comparative advantages. Governmental and/or Non-governmental Organizations should recognize the different levels of education and provide aid to different states in different manners.

Overview
Azad India Foundation was formed in 1998 with the mission “to contribute to the empowerment of the grass root communities for their betterment with active participation of the rural women.” The foundation’s main focus is to make a positive difference in the quality of life through the eradication of illiteracy and provision of quality education, community involvement in improving health, awareness and preservation of the environment for health, women empowerment and economic independence and the preservation of culture and heritage. Their office is based in Kishanganj district of Bihar.

Programs and Projects
The foundation started with one informal education and vocational training centre for women in the village Chhattergach. The foundation’s programs broadened in the fields of female literacy, formal education for children, informal education, rural employment, income generating skills and community health and awareness programmes on various social issues.

Project Talim
Azad India Foundation has started program linking Madarasas to formal education under National Open School. This programme is being supported by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. The rationale behind this programme is that the education being imparted in the Madarsas is based on deeni talim (religious education), which largely remains traditional. The programme would be implemented in 20 villages of Pothia block, Kishanganj that have been selected on the basis of a high concentration of illiterate female population. The main aim of the program is to bring in those girls who have been unable to continue their schooling due to various reasons into the mainstream education. The education centres would also provide functional literacy to the girls above 14 years and adult women.

Project Pahla Kadam
Azad India Foundation has opened 12 informal education centres (NFE) in 12 villages of two blocks of Pothia and Kishanganj in Kishanganj district of Bihar with the support of the Asian Development Bank. They provide functional literacy to the girls above 14 years and adult women. The project is intended to raise the literacy level of the district that is low at 18% for the women.

The objectives to be achieved:
 * The project intends to provide women and girls with functional literacy.
 * It wants to equip women with right information about their health that is usually neglected.
 * It wants to empower them by uniting them in Self Help Groups.
 * It wants women to stand on their own feet by getting skill training so that they are self independent and decision makers.
 * It wants to provide equal opportunities to rural children especially girl children to get school education through informal means (open schooling).

Outcome
National Open School together with UNESCO - APPEAL (Bangkok) conducted a research survey of NIOS open basic education program. Azad India Foundation was one of the agencies where this survey was conducted. The survey team visited the informal centers of Patharbasti and Paswantola of Project Pahla Kadam where they interviewed about 50 children. Efforts resulted in more than a 100 students joining government primary and middle schools.