Thursday, October 21, 2010

RTE victim of Govt Apathy - Ye Suurat Badalnii Caahiye-Letter from friend Rama

The situation is much worse than this. We have done an intensive study in MP and it is clear that there is no way girls and other children from marginalized groups will ever be able to access anything beyond primary education, which is also in a deplorable condition. Rather than improving the conditions of government schools, the state is increasingly withdrawing itself from education. Most welfare schemes are cosmetic and publicity stunts. There is an acute shortage of teachers, buildings, classrooms, toilets, infrastructure etc. Add to this the pyramid like structure of school education which makes the most irrational. inhuman and unjust assumption that a large number of children MUST drop out of the system after primary education, parents having to pay substantial amounts of fee, perpetuation of patriarchy and negative stereotypes associated with girls, dalits and denotified tribes, highly insecure environment at home and school and on the way to school, very high rate of sexual harassment and child abuse...
So far disability is concerned, there is utter insensitivity in all sectors of society. University of Delhi has over 1500 seats for PwD; it ends up filling no more than 500 each year; unless our schools become disabled friendly, how will children with disability ever reach the Univ? We also need to understand that all of us are disabled in some way or the other; it is just that we have created a world in the image of some ideal 'normal' person who actually does not exist.
ye suurat badalnii caahiye

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