Educational Inequality in India - Raising Awareness:
Educational Inequality in India:
Brought to you by the ‘Daskalos Initiative’
Education has been a necessity to facilitate the development of the world over the ages. Education has allowed all humans to build a stronger relationship not only with the Earth, whether this be working together with the environment or unfortunately exploiting and destroying the ecosystems that exist, but also with fellow humans and all other surroundings. A general consensus across the world has been ‘the more people around the globe who are educated, the better chance there is at achieving equality and progression as a global society’. Therefore, there is only one thing to do, which is to provide the platform for education. Easier said than done, but that should be the main objective of every country around the world, in order to get all of their citizens literate and educated. Unfortunately, currently, this is not the case universally and is not exactly close either. India is an example of one of the many countries that suffer with educational inequalities.
In India, gender, place of birth, ethnicity, class, and linguistic background all have an impact on the educational experience children have in the country. Each and every single one of these factors derives from something the children themselves cannot control; they have not done anything wrong to deserve this, yet the punishment is as harsh as one could possibly imagine. All of this results in substantial inequalities in knowledge within India’s society. Statistics show that 10% more boys completed secondary school education than girls. India’s childhood literacy rates, in 2011, reached 73.5%, which may not seem a low percentage, but it is certainly not high either. The UK compares with a literacy rate of 99%, as every single child is provided with the opportunity to be educated. Furthermore, in India, gender educational inequalities complicate the situation even more. UNESCO states that for each additional year of education a girl completes, the chances of adolescent pregnancy are lowered by 10%. This change has been seen previously in the process of less developed countries becoming more developed with time. The same change has happened before, so there is a clear example set ahead for India to follow.
Rome wasn't built in a day, but together we can, and will, tackle the educational problem in India and, in turn, ensure that one day we will yield an India which is full of bright, young, well-educated prospects capable of changing the world. To catalyse this arduous process, awareness can be raised. As has happened with climate change, raising awareness has impacted everyone, and let everyone know that this is a problem that needs addressing promptly. Through writing this article, I’m playing my small part, so why don’t you play yours in some way at least?
Help make a genuine difference, and check out our GlobalGiving and other social media pages: https://linktr.ee/DaskalosInitative
