Ideas on Education

Disclaimer: This post was made on Bharat Rakshak Forum on 1^st April 2010. I request interested readers to visit the forum to read associated discussion and participate.

Background

The conventional wisdom in Indian strategic community is that India is a poor nation and it cannot afford to have both butter and guns so Bharat must sacrifice its security (territorial - PoK, Aksai-Chin, Tibet etc; Civic - terrorist attacks, law and order; Civilizational - Reclaiming occupied temples etc) for economic growth. 

I disagreed with that conventional wisdom and wrote a series of posts on how Bharat can plan achieve all rounded glory using existing economic resources.

This post is on the topic of Education.

Ideas

There are three parts to the Education focus area

1. National Literacy Program: (Budget: Rs 10,000 Crore Per Year for 10 Years)

Objective: National Literacy Program is to achieve near 100% literacy throughout India. The definition of the literacy program is to make an individual learn to Read, Write, Understand any Indian language, in addition to obtaining a National-ID plus Voter Card/Ration Card.

Methodology: All undergraduate and graduates students can join this voluntary program and earn Rs 500 for each illiterate member:

1. A volunteer joins NLP by applying its teacher-membership.
2. The volunteer member identifies the illiterate people and submits their forms. If the students (illiterate) do not have National-ID cards, volunteer makes sure they obtained them. The Program Officer confirms that they are not duplicate entries after checking the National ID database and NLP Database.
3. The volunteer helps educate the beneficiary on prescribed course work and helps the beneficiary prepare for the exams.
4. Examination: Pro-metric type computerized test centers in all towns. The participant has to show national ID card (Aadhar) as proof. Must get 70% correct answers to pass. Can take exam as many as times needed till passes.
5. Course content includes

• Language Skills - Reading, Writing and Comprehension
• Math – Simple Arithmetic 
• History – National History, Geography
• Governance – Local/State/Central governance structure
• Law and Order – What are their basic rights and responsibilities
• Form Filling – How to fill a Voter card, Demand Draft, Ration Card form, etc.,
• Civic Sense – Basic understanding on civic sense – Rights and responsibilities

Cost Structure:

1. Book – A single handbook – Rs 250
2. Examination costs – Rs 250
3. NLP volunteer – will receive Rs 500 for each passed student
4. The participant will receive Rs 1000 cash upon passing the exam.

TOTAL = Rs 2000 per illiterate.

 
With an annual budget of Rs 10000 crore, we can have at least 4-5 Crore people become literate every year.

Risks: 

There will be a significant amount of corruption in the beginning by already educated people. So be it. If an educated person is willing to learn the above items and pass the pro-metric exam for a Rs 1000 benefit, it is worth the investment. 

2. Primary Education (Budget: Rs 97,632 crore including 2 meals a day and 100% Health Insurance)

Note: These were 2010 estimates based on 1.13B population.

1. Any graduate and above who completed their BEd (Bachelor of Education – How to teach, method and art of teaching) can participate in this program.
2. A group of 10 graduates must join and apply as a group to start a school. Govt of India will offer them Rs 5Lakh as loan to kick start the school. This amount becomes FREE GRANT if the school continues for minimum 3 years.
3. Each school can have as many students as required. They will receive Rs 250 for each registered student, with National-ID as proof, per month. They can charge additional fee if the parents are willing to pay the additional amount.
4. The current public school system will be modified to make a village as a unit. In towns each municipal ward will become one unit. All schools in that unit, primary/secondary/high schools, will be combined to make a single unit for efficient management.
5. A school must maintain maximum 1:30 teacher: student ratio. 

Cost Structure:

Note: All existing govt. schools will be combined within a village up to 12th grade and will be converted into residential schools operated by GOI.

• A School with 1000 students (30-35 teachers) will receive ~Rs 30 Lakhs per yer from Govt grants.
• Offers employment opportunities for upto 4.5 million graduates. If graduates are encouraged to have similarly qualified spouses, the family income would be around Rs 1.5-2.0 Lakhs per year, bringing them into the 15% IT bracket above Rs 1.5 Lakhs.
• Will open ~13,500 Akshayapatra type modern kitchens (each kitchen supplies 10,000 students or 20,000 meals a day). Offers employment to at least 135,000 non-graduates. If we can integrate the supply-chains of this Aksyapatra kitchens with my Farm subsidy returns (Rs 10,000 or 30% of crop returns, whichever is smaller will be collected by govt from 4 crore acres of food grain crops) then we can achieve an efficient food-management supply chain within India.

Risks: 

Standardization. Each school may have a different style of education (within approved structures) to achieve and maintain differentiation. But it could a boon in disguise having non-standardized education up to 10th grade.

Further work

• Collect data on Central and State budget allocations for primary and secondary education, health-care and mid-day meals program. 
• Revise estimates based on 2017-20 population data and demographics.
• Compare the cost structures and supply-chain employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled labor in Mid-day meal programs and primary health-care sectors.
• Define the course framework to be implemented across the nation while giving scope for differentiation by schools.

Brahma Vidya - Lesson 1

Following is an attempt to create a repository of class-room lessons on Hindu Vedanta.

Experiment - Part 1:
Close all the doors and windows of the class and make the room as dark as possible. Then put a lamp (preferably a ghee/castor oil lamp) in the middle of a pot with lot of holes. The light from the lamp shall brighten different places in the room.

 Questions:
Ask the students what they see. Some see parts of the board, windows, someone's nose, someone's hand, someone else's chest etc.,
Ask the students why they see only parts of the room.
Ask the students if other sections of the room exist even though they are not visible.
Ask the students who/how they see things.
 
Experiment - Part 2:
Ask the students to close their eyes.
 
Questions:
Do they see the different spots of light?
Do they exist even though the light or room is not visible?
 
Experiment - Part 3:
Ask the students to keep their eyes closed. Make a sound by hitting one of the objects in the room with a stick.
 
(Note: For better results preset the class room with different sound making objects like drum, bell, water pot etc)
 
Questions:
Ask the students if they hear anything.
Ask them if they see the sound.
Ask the students if they can identify the object you hit just by using sound.
Repeat this experiment with different objects
Ask the students who/how they hear things.
 
Experiment - Part 4:
Ask students to open their eyes and close the ears. Then make sounds using different objects.
 
Questions:
Ask the students if they hear the sounds.
Ask the students if they see any sounds.
Ask the students what they see.
 
Experiment - Part 5:
Ask the students close their eyes and ears. Light an incense stick
 
Questions:
Ask if they see anything.
Ask if they hear anything.
Ask them if they can guess what is happening.
Repeat this experiment with different smells.
Ask students who/how they figured out what is happening.
 
Experiment - Part 6:
Ask the students to close their eyes and ears. Take a warm-air blower and expose the warm air to students.
 
Questions:
Ask if they see anything
Ask if they hear anything
Ask if they smell anything
Ask what is happening in the class room.
Ask who/how they figured out.
 
Experiment - Part 7:
Questions: 
Ask the students following questions.
Ask if/how their perception of the class room different when they used different sensory organs.
Ask if there is any common thing that is knower in all these experiments.
 
Experiment - Part 8:
Show the students images of how Sun/Sky looks in different electromagnetic spectra (visible, thermal, x-Ray etc)

Questions:
Ask why they cannot see any other views of the sky/sun except visible spectrum.
Ask what could be the real existence of the universe (when combined with all these spectra)
Ask the students what is the real source of the knowledge of existence of different parts (the light, or the eyes that see or the objects in the room?)
 
Experiment - Part 9:
Prep one of the student to tell a story of his dream last night. Ask him to select of his classmates and tell them that he gave them Rs5 in his dream last night and ask when can he expect the money back. Let the dialogue play out.
 
Questions:
Ask the students what's happening. Ask them if/who is wrong for what reason.
Ask them if the people in their dreams were real.
Ask them if the things done in the dream carry over reality once they wake up.
 
Experiment - Part 10:
Explain the students deferent states of consciousness - Jagrut, swapna, Sushupti and the consciousness that is common in all states of being.
 
Questions:
Ask them how each state is different, what works and what is inactive.
Ask them who/what stays in all these states and how.

Explain the students about the consciousness (Atman) that is common in all states of being.

Lesson:
Teach the following sloka (from Dakshinamurti Stotram) and explain its meaning.
नानाच्छिद्र घटोदर स्थित महादीप प्रभाभास्वरं 
ज्ञानं यस्य तु चक्षुरादिकरण द्वारा बहिः स्पन्दते । 
जानामीति तमेव भान्तमनुभात्येतत्समस्तं जगत्  
तस्मै श्री गुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्री दक्षिणामूर्तये ॥

Swasti||

Manu Smriti - Anuloma/Pratiloma

Note: I request readers to read this post in conjunction with my post on Sa-Varna and Sa-Kula Marriages.

Often, we hear people quoting Manu Smriti on Anuloma and Pratiloma relationships between different Varnas claiming that as proof of in-built prejudice in Hindu Dharma Sastras.

Here is my attempt to give a different perspective on that topic. As always, appreciate comments/feedback.

In general, Anu & Prati (in Anuloma & Pratiloma) have been translated as Natural/preferred order & Unpreferred/adverse/lower order. I think this is not entirely correct & is a Indic middle age (read Charwaka era) imposition. Both Anu/Prati in AnuSarga & PratiSarga mean successive or secondary additions.

So I would translate Anuloma as one type order (patrilineal) & PratiLoma as a secondary/different (matrilineal) order.

ManuSmriti just says what the progeny of different orders are called.   Very mention of these in a treatise like ManuSmriti indicates the prevalence of such marriages in that time.

At this point it is very important to note that ManuSmriti is just a Smriti defined to create order in then prevalent social system, not some outsider imposition. Manusmriti is compilation and structuring of that era's socio-political order, same as how BR Ambedkar's Constitution of India is reflective of Indian society in mid-20th century. Like Manu of Manusmriti, BR Ambedkar too didn't find any new truth in his constitution. Both of them just laid down a reasonable structure for the society to prosper given the prevailing socio-political conditions. As these socio-political conditions change, it is our duty to write new Smritis/Dharma-Sastras/Constitutions instead of distorting those treatise.

Now let's come to science...

In nature, we can observe two aspects, seed & kshetra/soil. When we plant a mango seed we will always get a mango tree. The nature of the soil only determines the characteristics such as size, color, taste etc of that mango fruit. Different soil types create different varieties & tastes of mango fruit; some good for pickle, some as fruits, some for juice etc.

ManuSmriti considers the man in a couple as seed contributor & woman as soil contributor. It & other dharmasastras only propose what variety of mangos are generally good for what purposes. 

It doesn't mean one can't make pickle from Alfanso mango & enjoy it.

Swasti!

Secularism - Bane of Bharat!

Secularism is yet another experiment of Indian society that failed to prove any tangible value so far. The cruel joke it played on India is that even after 40 years of its inclusion in constitution of India by an emergency government without any due process, no one in India knows for sure what it means and what value it meant to provide to its stakeholders.

There are three angles to this Secularism question in the context of this election.

The first dimension of Secularism is religious dimension and it influence on definition and vision of India’s identity. Secularism gives equal say to all three major systems Hinduism, Christianity and Islam in defining and pursuing Indian Interests. This means Indian Christians with their minuscule 3% population and Indian Muslims with their 15% population will get equal vote in defining Indian Interests same as the Hindus that make 80% of the nation. Another aspect of this equation is the disproportional international power links Christianity and Islam bring in to bear upon India. This is where definition of Indian Interests gets hijacked by Christian and Islamic interests leaving 80% of Indians high and dry in protecting their native civilization.

The second dimension is economic and civic infrastructure. Secularism, by definition, gives into the sway of more organized and disruptive faith systems. One type of these forces is what we have seen in Kudankulam protests. This anti-nuclear agitation was aimed at partnerships with Russia (alone), were majorly funded by Western Christian organizations and were conducted by internal Evangelical organizations. Another type of these forces is what India has seen in JK terror attacks and 11/26 Mumbai attacks. In both cases the national economic and civic infrastructure was held hostage by religiously motivated group while secularism failed to resolve these challenges in the national interests.

The third aspect of secular debate is Law and Order. Secularism does not have any well-defined role and mandate when it comes to law and order issues involving religiously motivated groups. This causes a paradox for Indian minorities as their religious demands and social vision often contradict with that of Hindu majority leading to distortions in national posture and power projection. Recent episode of an Indian diplomat getting arrested on false charges and cavity searched in the United States is an example how the internal secular dynamics can be exploited by external powers. The witch hunt for Saffron terror and meddling of NIA investigations into terror attacks by Indian Mujaheddin amply demonstrated how the state Law & Order machinery is intentionally subverted to keep the facade of secularism by various political parties and governments. The proposed Communal Violence Bill takes this aberration to the extreme by protecting the minorities irrespective of cause and perpetrator of the crime, thus making the Law and Order apparatus subservient to religious identity of the people involved in the issue.

On one side of this debate stands BJP. This party recognizes the incorrect application of Abrahamic social issues on Indian society and wants to remove this aberration. This party promises to provide equal socio-economic opportunities to all Indians with its ‘equal opportunities for all, appeasement to none’ position. This political stand automatically removes the external handles (and their influence) on India’s internal social, economic and religious debates.

Congress and its allies, on the other hand, demand that the nation must give special treatment to followers of Abrahamic faith even at the cost of social, economic, national security and in some cases even democratic implications to the entire nation. This means Indian interests will be permanently mortgaged to Abrahamic faith systems whose core power system is outside Indian control/influence. This effectively means indirect colonization of India using Secularism for/by Abrahamic faiths. 

Notes: This piece was written as part of another post on this blog: The Fight - 2014 Elections in April 2014.