The Plight of Present Day Primary Education

Education is the birth right of every child.  But now, it seems that Education is the birth right of every child whose parents have the money power to buy it.  We could only able to recall a famous lyric in Tamil when translated reads as, “Even if the Goddess of Education wants to admit her kids in school, she should sell her Veena to pay the admission fees”.

We would like to give you a brief overview of the current system of education at least in Bangalore.  The schooling of a kid starts from the age 1.6 years, and they call it Brain Bear. From the Brain Bear starts the competitive money power of the parents. On an average, the annual fee for the private schools is INR 15 to 20 thousands.   Most of these baby care centers are private franchises and each franchise have their own fee structure.  The fee differs with the extent of the infrastructure it has on its care centers.

So, when there are schools with unimaginable fees, the competition paves way for a lesser standard schools, which offer promising care for an annual fee of INR 5 to 12 thousands, with an option to pay the fees in installments.

Given the situation of private franchises, a look into an established and registered school is much bitterer.

These registered schools admit a kid into pre-nursery only when the kid’s age is 2.6 years, stating that the kid is too young even at 2.5 years to learn an instructed education - A fact very much to be welcomed.

But, the admission for June gets over by November of the previous year.  A child who will be 2.6 years in June will be much younger in November of the previous year. How can a child of such a young age be tested for its knowledge? So what is the basis for admission? – Truly, the answer is the parents’ buying power. The fee is to be paid in full and it amounts to INR 40 to 50 thousand.

Even after such a competitive buying of school seats, the parents are in turmoil when the kid reaches standard 1. The kid has to clear an entrance exam and the parent has to shell out once again to retain the seat.

How such a business is run successfully? The answer lies in a dead-lock of the following chain of events, the competitiveness of buying power, the parents’ choice between child care and their professional career, partial success of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, non-responsive people and government who fail to question such happenings.

Another question which we would like to know is - Is there any regulatory board to scrutinize and certify these private play-schools and day-care center? Except human trust, what else can support their promised care for the kids?

What measures had the government taken to regulate such schools? We are not aware; if you are aware do post your comments.  Also write your comments and suggestion for improving such un-regulated private kids schools / kids care centers.   The idea of Aeva is to strengthen the expressed ideas, so if interested post your comments.
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