Poverty stems from lack of good education

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE- that's the most talked about film of recent times and everyone has an opinion on it. I haven't watched the film but from the uproar that has been caused by Amitabh Bacchan's blog and subsequent apology and the OSCAR nomination and the scores of opinion appearing in the newspapers daily, I infer that it deals with life in Mumbai especially the poverty aspect. Well I'm not going to discuss the film in this blog but an important aspect of the Indian life that it has touched i.e. POVERTY. While it is easy to blame the politicians or the system for the poor condition of so many Indians I would like to address the core issue. Poverty stems from the lack of education and the dismal state of our education system. Illiteracy-Unemployment-Poverty forms the vicious circle of life that many of our poor citizens are caught in. We have learnt in civics itself that this is a vicious circle- because they are poor they can't afford education and the lack of education keeps them unemployed which pushes them further into the quagmire of poverty.

Our education system is a textbook oriented system where the syllabus remains the same for many years. Regular updation of syllabus is a must to keep pace with the progress of the country. More over the focus is more on learning things by rote than concentrating on developing key skills. Most of what we study is hardly applicable in real life. The dismal condition of the municipal schools is another important aspect that needs to be looked at. Those belonging to the lower strata cannot afford education in private schools and the lack of infrastructure in municipal schools is not helping the cause of improving literacy. Literacy here merely means being able to read and write but actually it should be be emphasis developing one's latent talent.

What can be done to educate the poor, many of whom dropout from schools early due to financial or other constraints? "Each One Teach One" is a nice way to educate and help these dropouts or those who have never been to school. It'll help them identify their core skills and they can develope it further to acquire the employment in their desired field. The emphasis should be on developing vocational skills. And there are many who need our help like those kids at the construction sites. Look out and you may find kids who need your help. That's just the beginning.