The Public Report on Basic Education (Probe) in India has highlighted some of the similarities between the problems in education in that country and those in South Africa – especially in the rural areas.
The report, which looked at the state of primary education in the populous northern states of India, is unique in that it was not commissioned by the Indian government, but by non-governmental organisations and is regarded as ‘free of static” because it isn’t aimed at justifying any policy.
First released in 1998, Probe found that there were familiar barriers to education – such as poor infrastructure and facilities – that many rural schools in South Africa are familiar with. More importantly, it explodes a number of myths about the education scenario that are also held here.
According to the Probe report, one of the most widespread myths is that poor parents are not interested in their children’s education. The report found that this myth remains widespread and is often supported in official circles, ‘where it provides a convenient rationalisation for India’s low schooling levels”. It reveals that, in contrast to popular belief, ‘the general pattern is not one of parental indifference,” states the report. ‘On the contrary, the ‘typical’ father and mother are very keen that their children should receive a good education.”
This misconception of parents’ disinterest is also evident in South Africa. Says Salim Vally, acting director of the Education Policy Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, ‘Parents do care. Parents send their children great distances to get quality education.”
While 98% of Indian parents agreed that it is important for boys to be educated, the report found that parental motivation for the education of girls was lacking in a significant number of families.
The report also found that the perceived prevalence of child labour in India was exaggerated and that ‘only a small minority of Indian children are full-time labourers”.
Another myth common in India is that elementary education is free, as directed by the country’s Constitution. While admission fees are negligible, the Probe report found that there are many other cost implications. These ‘hidden” costs were found to play a significant role in discouraging poor families from sending children to school, especially when the quality of education is low.
The Probe survey suggests that north Indian parents spend an average of 318 Rupees per year on education expenses such as fees, basic books, slates and clothes to send a child to a government primary school. This is a major financial burden, especially for poor families with several children of school-going age.
Another education myth common to both India and South Africa is that schools are freely accessible. While the Indian government made plenty of progress in erecting a number of schools – in 1993, 94% of the rural population lived within one kilometre of a primary school – there are barriers that are not taken into account in this assessment.
‘In many areas, for instance, villages are divided into separate hamlets, and children from one hamlet may be reluctant or unable to go to school in another hamlet, for example, due to caste tensions,” Probe states.
Having a school nearby is also of no use if that school only goes up to a certain grade, is over-crowded, is run-down or does not offer a quality education, with parents often sending their children to distant schools to avoid these problems or sometimes withdrawing them from school altogether.
Probe also found that pupils often complained about the brutality of teachers and the prison-like nature of schools, citing them as reasons for dropping out of school.
The report, therefore, places much emphasis on the joys of learning, which many pupils do not experience both in India and here in South Africa. ‘Schools should be joyful places, yet some schools are like prisons,” Vally says. ‘There is a massive difference between punishment and discipline.”