05-25-2006, 01:45 AM
<b>Reservations: the shortcut to nowhere</b>
<i>Move from sharing a declining pie to increasing the pieâs size and to accountability for services</i>
<b> Reservation is a destructive and illusory short-cut to a deep problem
⢠Instead, try a strategy based on competitive good governance in delivery
⢠This ensures a focus on performance, output and outcomes in a real sense</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A shift to a strategy based on competitive good governance in the delivery of education would imply:
(i) doubling the Budget allocation for education overall in the next three years to reach the desired level of about 6% of GDP, without which India will simply not be a player in the emerging global knowledge economy
(ii) designing clear and enforceable evaluation criteria to be used for disbursement of these resources
(iii) making district administrations and local governments responsible and accountable for the effective and honest delivery of education services at all levels
(iv) enforcing with the help of civil society institutions the provision of compulsory education for all children until the age of 15, with each MLA and MP held responsible for ensuring not a single child is seen in a workplace or on the streets
(v) strengthening the mid-day meal scheme and expanding residential facilities in government schools to benefit a much larger number of lower caste and poor children
(vi) increasing the number of scholarships for these children to go to private schools and benefit, as I did when I got a scholarship to go to one
(vii) improving the salaries and social status of teachers and academics at all levels, so that the sector attracts the best and is not a choice of last resort, and
(viii) devoting the necessary resources and attention to educating all the mothers in India, because, as the Economic Survey of 1992-93 put it, âEducated mothers are likely to invest more in to the education of their children and hence to have fewer children.â (p.16)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<i>Move from sharing a declining pie to increasing the pieâs size and to accountability for services</i>
<b> Reservation is a destructive and illusory short-cut to a deep problem
⢠Instead, try a strategy based on competitive good governance in delivery
⢠This ensures a focus on performance, output and outcomes in a real sense</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A shift to a strategy based on competitive good governance in the delivery of education would imply:
(i) doubling the Budget allocation for education overall in the next three years to reach the desired level of about 6% of GDP, without which India will simply not be a player in the emerging global knowledge economy
(ii) designing clear and enforceable evaluation criteria to be used for disbursement of these resources
(iii) making district administrations and local governments responsible and accountable for the effective and honest delivery of education services at all levels
(iv) enforcing with the help of civil society institutions the provision of compulsory education for all children until the age of 15, with each MLA and MP held responsible for ensuring not a single child is seen in a workplace or on the streets
(v) strengthening the mid-day meal scheme and expanding residential facilities in government schools to benefit a much larger number of lower caste and poor children
(vi) increasing the number of scholarships for these children to go to private schools and benefit, as I did when I got a scholarship to go to one
(vii) improving the salaries and social status of teachers and academics at all levels, so that the sector attracts the best and is not a choice of last resort, and
(viii) devoting the necessary resources and attention to educating all the mothers in India, because, as the Economic Survey of 1992-93 put it, âEducated mothers are likely to invest more in to the education of their children and hence to have fewer children.â (p.16)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->