'No country can become successful on the back of an uneducated populace'

The RTE clearly is a landmark judgement in the direction of providing basic education to government school children. With such a vast majority of children yet to be educated, what are the bottlenecks that you perceive in the implementation of the act?

Challenges are inevitable in the execution of a vast programme such as the RTE. Lack of sound infrastructure is the major impediment that we face, physical space for the children's education is a constraint. Many government schools have limited classrooms, desks and benches which is the minimum required infrastructure. Teachers are inadequate and recruiting good quality teachers who are willing to teach is a problem. Absenteeism among the children too, is a major challenge. Getting the children to schools is not the problem, but the real challenge lies in retaining them. Having proper sanitation facilities is important for the girl students, as, after a certain age, girls need separate and clean toilet facilities and if they are not provided with adequate facilities, they go back home and do not return. The dropout rate of girls in government schools by class VIII is about 72% in some places, which is an alarming situation. No country in the world can become a successful power on the backs of an uneducated population, we have to give the children the right tools to be able to cope with the 21st century world economy. It is important to keep the children in schools until high school and thereafter offer them vocational training depending on their talent. There is a lot to be done.

Q- Why has the government reduced the allocation towards education in the last decade (4.2% in 1999-2000 3.8% in 2008-09)?

The GDP of the country has been on the rise and so has the budget, so even a lower percentage would be a higher sum of money, so there is more money going into education, I cannot confirm the accuracy of the figures but we should maintain the same percentage, so that when the economy goes up, the amount of money available for education also goes up.

Q- When many a villages do not have adequate electricity supply, how will the government ensure the success of the Aakash tablet programme?

Like I mentioned before that sound infrastructure is a problem which also includes electricity supply, but efforts are being made to bridge the gap between ambition and execution. The Aakash tablet is no doubt an excellent programme and it should not be curtailed for the lack of certain facilities. The balance of progress and remedy to challenges should go hand in hand.

Q- Is it a good trend among children to be exposed to social networking sites, where filtration of content cannot be guaranteed?

There is abundant learning and general awareness content that is available on these sites. There are many-a-forum where constructive debates and discussions on complex issues, can prove to be of a great understanding for students and children. There is no doubt, an import of matter that may not be suitable for children, at least not in their formative years of learning, in such cases, the parents can play a role in monitoring what their children view on such websites.