Punjab allots 15 Adarsh School sites to private partners in the name of free quality education for the poor. Too many questions hang fire.

 Number Nuggets 

A recent national Indian survey has found that one out of four teachers in a government primary school is absent and one out of four is not teaching.

We have the IITs and IIMs at one end of the scale, and teacher-less schools at the other.

Another study found that two out of five doctors do not show up at state primary health centers and that 69 per cent of the medicines are stolen. A cycle rickshaw driver in Kanpur routinely pays a sixth of his daily earnings in bribes to the police. A farmer in an Indian village cannot hope to get a clear title to his land without the humiliation of bribing a revenue official. One out of five members of the Indian parliament elected in 2004 had criminal charges against him; one in eighteen had been accused of murder or rape.

Whose Adarsh, Mr.?

I am livid with anger so you may excuse me if I am intemperate, though I assure you that I will be thoroughly logical and factual. A foundation set up by your company, called the Bharati Foundation, for its Satya Bharati School Program, is to receive chunks of land in many a village in Punjab free of cost! 

All Punjabis who are worried about the dismal state of education in the state are shocked beyond words at the alacrity with which you are getting away with your maneouvre.

There is no doubt that education in Punjab is fertile territory. The Planning Commission of India has remarked that 62 percent of Punjabi children passing out from primary schools fail to achieve permanent literacy.

The primary education system in the state has collapsed.  Everyone passes for no one wants anyone to fail.  Teachers who do not teach, parents who are not bothered, society who couldn’t care less, every one wants 100 percent results!

There are some 20,000 schools in Punjab, of which around 87 percent are located in the rural areas.  The pupil-teacher ratio is very high and to talk of infrastructure for schools is considered sin. The proliferation of multiple schooling with different affiliations has played havoc with the education system.  The influential sections have withdrawn their children from government schools, both in the rural and urban areas.  The education system has become an instrument of social stratification, rather than that of cohesiveness.  The upgradation of government schools due to political considerations without providing the matching facilities has disturbed equilibrium.  A multi-dimensional action is required in order to make education as an engine of growth.

But all you want to do is to take the government and people of Punjab for a ride.  In Punjab, scandals are discovered very late.  Perhaps not discovered.  Perhaps lost in the din of populism and politicking. 

It is fashionable to use the word “Foundation” and route all your “corporate responsibility” through that tube. Philanthropy as business is the new side-kick of the emerging corporate giants in Punjab. Huge marketing success and skyrocketing Stocks have resulted in surefire political clout. With civil society nearly dead, (it was never much alive anyway in Punjab), philanthropy as business is the new mantra of people like you.

Political interference is the bane of the education system in Punjab and you are using that as the starting point! This benevolence will begin your confrontation with civil society in Punjab.

If your trust would begin such activities then it will be open for members of the public to cry hoarse and question the credibility of awards like the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, which was awarded to your foundation in 2006.

Though you have not followed the footsteps of your father by joining Punjab politics, perhaps you continue the anti-Punjabi campaign launched by your father. The next and new generation should certainly not perpetuate the wrongs done by predecessors and forefathers. I strongly fear that in your proposed schools, an alien culture and system will be foisted, tearing apart the already strained social and cultural values of Punjabis.

Your Foundation should not shy away from its avowed social commitment but there are more easier, tangible ways of demonstrating your contribution to society.  Virtually all government schools standing in almost every village of Punjab need a good building, a library, a laboratory and even basic toilet and washroom facilities.

The government of Punjab has failed to fulfill one of its primary objectives of providing education to all. It is seeking the easiest way out by passing on the buck to you. In 1985-86, Punjab ranked 7th amongst all states in excellence in education, today we are at number 17. 

I am determined to contest this scandalous move. I will use the choicest Panjabi abuse through all the lung and tongue power at my command to deter your foundation from shaking the foundation of our education system and culture.  If the pen is mightier than the sword, I will use it to its fullest. 

Earlier on in your career, you made it your mission to replace rotary phones with push-button phones.  Now you are on the anvil of replacing the supposedly ugly government elementary education system with your modern-looking push-button educational plan.  Phones and education are not the same.   

Sincerely
Jagmohan Singh