PARI Library bulletin on India’s classrooms

The PARI Library draws attention to what research on rural education is telling us. Using data and anecdotes from ground reportage, we get a ringside view of the education system and how policies and laws are enacted on the groundIf you are a child in the age group of 6-14 years, you have the right to “free and compulsory education” at your neighbourhood schools. The law deciding this – The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) was enacted by the Government of India in 2009.But nine-year-old Chandrika Behera in Odisha’s Jajpur district has been out of school for almost two years now as the nearest school is still too far – some 3.5 kms away from her home. Teaching and learning practices in rural India are not consistent, and laws and policies are often only on paper. In at least some cases, systemic challenges are overcome by innovation and tenacity of the individual teacher who is more often than not, making a real difference. Take, for instance, the travelling teacher in Kashmir’s Anantnag district who moves for four months into a Gujjar settlement in Lidder valley to teach young children from this nomadic community. Teachers are also trying innovative practices to best use their limited resources. Like the teachers at Coimbatore’s Vidya Vanam School who have got their students to debate on genetically modified crops...