Disparity of education in Bangalore
Anyone staying in Bangalore is sure to have noticed one thing as they attempt to navigate the morning traffic - an overwhelming number of students running about to get to school. There has been a rapid increase in the number of schools that have opened in the city of Bangalore thanks to the steadily growing population that has increased by 47% in the time period between 2012 to 2017. Bangalore has almost 2632 fully functional unaided private schools but these schools charge fees that start from an average yearly fee of 12,500 INR. This is an extremely high value for a city that has almost 40.5 lakh people living in slums and earning a meagre sum as most of these families are supported by daily wage workers.
These families generally have at least 2 to 3 children that they support and after the recent NITI Aayog initiatives and RTE Act (2010), education was made compulsory up till the lower secondary grade. The families from these economically vulnerable backgrounds send their children to government schools that are completely aided and require little to no fees. The students who go to these schools very rarely receive a decent education, even at the primary level, as these schools face a plethora of problems that act as barriers to effective learning.
Most of these schools do not have a properly functioning set of staff as the teachers often do not show up to take the class. The effect of this is that the students that these schools produce have received an education that does not even remotely prepare them for high school. These factors and other economic constraints make the child’s parents remove them from the school and make them work to increase the income of the family. I was a privileged bystander who has always wanted to help but has never known the right way to access the means to help this situation.
When I joined Dream School Foundation as a volunteer hoping to help in some way at least, I was introduced to the “Headstart” programme. The fact that the programme helps these government institutions by employing and implementing comprehensive measures that help curb the negative effects of all the aforementioned problems. It also helps me find solace in knowing that the organisation I am helping is playing an active role in making these dilapidated schools, environments that are much more conducive to learning. Given below is the link to the Dream School Foundation page that talks about the Headstart programme in detail.
Comments