Giving Underprivileged Children a Boost

India has made great strides to ensure all children receive at least an elementary education. Unfortunately, for children living in remote villages, government-run schools are not preparing these children well enough to end poverty in these remote villages.

Elementary education teaches children basic math skills, ensures all children can read and write, and provide children with access to technology. When children learn these basic skills, they will be prepared to step into the world and obtain a job.

Although the Right to Education Act states that all children should have free access to an elementary education, the National Center on Education and the Economy reports that approximately one-third of the children in India do not have access to education. It’s estimated that about 12.5 million Indian children aged 6 to 14 do not attend school and instead work in fields, factories, private households, prostitution, and quarries to help their families survive.

Females make up the majority of the uneducated in India. Although Indian law states men and women should be treated equally, in India’s lower social castes, females are considered inferior and are often excluded from school. Without an education, it will be virtually impossible for the upcoming generation to find employment that pays a decent wage.

The Indian school system is based on the British education structure. Primary school is for children aged 6 to 11 and includes grades 1 to 5. Middle school is for children aged 11 to 14 and includes grades 6 to 8. Although both are compulsory, researchers estimate that approximately 70 percent of children aged 6 to 14 actually attend school.

Reform efforts have been primarily on increasing school attendance rather than focusing on providing Indian children with a decent education. Schools across the country have dismal literacy achievements. The ill-maintained government schools are often held in canvas tents with no teaching aids. Many of the teachers spend little time teaching, and instead, they concentrate on merely tending the children throughout the school day.

The quality of an elementary education varies from location to location. For example, in a city, a classroom may have rows of benches with a teacher’s desk located at the front of a classroom. The children will be given access to technology and will receive a quality education that will provide them with the knowledge needed for the future.

In urban areas, children have access to government-funded schools as well as private schools. Private schools are typically available to middle and upper class families. Private schools often have modern luxuries, including access to technology, modern teaching aids, and computer systems. 

Conversely, government schools in the rural areas of the country typically consist of a one-room school with only one teacher for the entire school. The teacher can have upward of 40 students and is required to teach multiple grades at the same time. Many rural schools do not have blackboards, toilets, or clean drinking water. Because the student to teacher ratio in rural schools is much higher than schools in urban areas, minimal teaching and frequent teacher absences are typical.

Providing highly qualified teachers in rural settings has been difficult because of the lack of funding, the increased student to teacher ratios, and the devastating conditions of rural schools. However, we can work together to improve these conditions and ensure that children in remote villages are provided with the same educational opportunities as those living in urban areas. 

Giving children access to technology, healthcare, education, including field trips helps to improve a child’s education and future adult life. Additionally, giving teachers a prescribed syllabus, providing the school with clean drinking water, toilets, and technology can aid in bringing millions of families out of poverty in the future.

Improving classroom instruction, building educational facilities, and increasing access to an education for all children helps strengthen a village. We work to improve education participation in communities across India.

All children have a right to their childhood. Children across India should have the right to learn, play, grow, and be safe. Investing in a child’s health and education should be our number one priority. The life-changing methodologies have been shown to reduce mortality, child labor, malnutrition, early marriage, violence, and poor health.