Chetan's Musings

"The redemption of this education system cannot happen," says the gentleman to my left somewhat pontifically, "till the time the children have the katora (bowl) in their hands!" I am in Hardoi, a district to the west of Lucknow in the heart of Uttar Pradesh, for a new Edulever project. Rains have eluded this part of the state this year, and a disconcerting sultriness hangs in the air. Hardoi town, with a population of 170,000, seems like any one of the numerous small towns that dot the north Indian landscape. Its most recent claim to fame is that the 2012 Bollywood movie Ishaqzaade was shot in the district. Over two-and-a-half days, we visit a few senior secondary schools - also known as Inter Colleges - in parts of Hardoi. These schools typically run from Classes 9 to 12, and the ones in the villages are usually plain-looking single-storied structures. Enrollments vary - from as low as 50 students in Classes 9 and 10 in some cases, to as high as 750 in others...

The recently completed Shaheed Path in Lucknow - an elevated 6-lane expressway that allows quick access from the airport to eastern UP - is a driver's delight. If you're travelling to Faizabad, for example, the road can get you speeding towards your destination, bypassing Lucknow city almost completely, in a matter of minutes. If your visit is during the waning winter season, you will be enthralled by the miles of mustard fields on the way - the enchanting yellow atop green stretching for as far as the eyes can see. You can do your business in Faizabad and be back at the Lucknow airport to catch an evening flight, carrying with you an idyllic portrait of rural India, and feeling smug about improved infrastructure in the state of UP. Venture a little within the state, and you will quickly realize how deceiving this idyllic portrait can be. Barely 40 kms from Lucknow, within the Lucknow district itself, is the Mal block. On 19 Feb 2014, I made a visit to Mal to understand th...

Government of India, Act 1: THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION ACT, 2009 Chapter II, Section 3 (i) states: "Every child of the age of six to fourteen years shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education." Chakkarpur Village is in the heart of Gurgaon, surrounded by malls, five-star hotels, and gated condominiums Reality Check: In the urban village of Chakkarpur, embedded in the heart of the sub-metropolis of Gurgaon, and home to thousands of migrants from Bengal and Bihar, at least 1000 children of school-going age do not attend school. This, despite the existence of a large government school in Chakkarpur. Since most of these children are from Bengal, they are unable to adjust to the school environment, are forced to drop out, and the authority's apathy ensures they stay away. Government of India, Act 2: THE NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT, 2005 (NREGA) Ch...

Nearly 20% of India's population forms the base of the socio-economic pyramid, earning less than Rs. 100 per day By the time Mr. C.K. Prahalad published his most famous and cited work in August 2004, I had spent two years in Pratham, the largest primary education NGO in India. Till then, I had seen the innards of our metros - particularly Delhi and Mumbai - and had seen enough to know that the reverend management Guru had a point, but was not convinced in entirety. The book spoke of the BoP as the 4 billion poor of the world, living on an annual income of less than $1500 (which translated to just over Rs. 5000 per month then). In the Indian context, this Bottom of the Pyramid had a population of 400 million, around 40% of the country's people. But it was clearly visible, even then, that this BoP has several layers, and the bottom-most of these layers (often called the poorest of the poor) did not qualify for any of Prahalad's theorizations.  Thousands of young me...