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GURCHARAN DAS Defying the universe 
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The greatest compliment to humanity was paid by Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher. Pascal said, "Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapour, a drop of water suffices to kill him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this." The prescription for a distinguished human life, Pascal felt, was to know the advantage that the universe holds over us, and to turn it around to our advantage. There are a number of Indians who are attempting to defy the universe, in this Pascallian manner, and to find a way out of ignorance and destitution that has defeated us for a thousand years. Chandrababu Naidu strives to do it in one way through information technology. His road to freedom is to wire the next generation so that the ancient race of Andhars will have conquered the curse of ignorance and poverty within a generation. Digvijay Singh has tried another way. He has endeavoured to empower the local communities in Madhya Pradesh at the grass roots to provide primary education. Whether he wins or loses the recent election, he has struck a blow for humanity. Inspired by insights gained by voluntary organisations, he has encouraged some audacious IAS officers in Madhya Pradesh to implement a daring programme called the Education Guarantee Scheme(EGS). The scheme starts with the community and not the education bureaucracy. The gram panchayat asks for a school, offers a space for a classroom, and identifies a local resident to be a teacher. The block panchayat verifies that the demand is genuine and the teacher is qualified. The district administration then transfers the funds to the gram panchayat, provides free books and teaching materials and trains the teacher. This time bound process takes 90 days and the school is up and running in three months. The strength of the scheme is that it is rapid, affordable, accountable and community centered. It recognises the urgency of time- children cannot be kept waiting for what is their birthright. It is economical- it costs Rs 8500 annually per school, plus the cost of mid-day meals. Compare this to Rs. 3000 per child per year that formal Govt. schools cost. The teacher is paid only Rs. 500 per month but the village panchayat is free to supplement this. The teacher is local and accountable to the village. This gets over today's biggest problem- teacher absenteeism in the formal Govt. schools. Being community centered means that parents want the school, are willing to provide a space for it, and supervise it. The teaching material is relevant to life in the village, and try to enthuse the learner, unlike the idiotic role that it thrusts down the throats of our young in formal schools. In the beginning, critics called it mad and impudent. However, they are silenced today for the results are overwhelming. Till August 19, 274 EGS schools had opened, at the rate of 40 schools a month. Over six lakh students are enrolled, of which 45% are girls and 68% are tribals and harijans. It has cost less than 20 crores, plus the cost of mid-day meals. Nevertheless, the EGS faces huge problems. Too often sarpanches are tempted to appoint their daughters and nieces as teachers. Where the community structure is feudal and rotten, it doesn't work. Another problem is the poor training of teachers. The scheme desperately needs to focus on quality rather than quantity. EGS is also fighting the burden of history- in the past, such alternative schools have usually collapsed after some initial success. The long term solution, therefore is to reform the formal Govt. schools. To this end, the EGS, like a beacon, has pointed the way. It teaches, at least two things: one there is a huge demand for education at the grass roots; and two that the evil of our centralised, bureaucratic school system can only be expelled by making schools accountable to parents and gram or tola shiksha mandals. | |