Trust is Important

Trust is important. I was studying in a state government run Odia medium school. During those days there were very few private schools and children of rich parents used to go there. My father could have sent me to public school, but during those days the government run schools were not considered as inferior. Even at this stage of my life, I feel my teachers were quite good and they had taught me well.

Then after completing my education, I started working in development sector and visited most of the poor and tribal districts of Odisha. I was part of the team that evaluated the pilot of the district primary education program, National Child Labour Project schools. I have also implemented several innovative programs for school quality improvement in many schools of the state as well as the country.

I have strongly felt that, the education quality in government run schools have been degraded significantly after mid 90’s. There are several reasons for this and gradually people started losing trust on government run schools. Though now some governments are working considerably to improve the quality of education in government run schools, but in most of the primary schools of Odisha the situation is too bad. This lack of trust in government run schools has forced the parents to send their children to private schools. Those who are well off they are sending their children to English medium schools and the lower middle-class people are sending their children to Odia medium private schools. The financial condition of the family is the major factor for deciding the school types. This trend is more or less increasing in the urban areas, though few of the rural areas are also witnessing this.

The success of Sarswati Shishu Mandira, Vivekananda Sikhya Kendra are the bright examples of this trend. So, do these schools have adequate infrastructures for children. The answer is yes for few and no for many. In my neighborhood in Bhubaneswar, two Odia medium private schools are running. They have barely any rooms for the students as they have hired small buildings to run the school to maximize their profit, perhaps. No need to think about other infrastructures. But these two schools are accommodating more than 500 to 600 students from preprimary to high school level of education. The lack of infrastructure is not an issue for the parents, they are happily sending their children to these schools with a trust that their children will get better education in these schools in comparison to the government schools.

So, the government which are transforming the schools just by improving the infrastructure must remember that this will not bring back the children to government schools. Rather they should ensure the appointment of adequate responsible teacher and improved quality of education thru a better class room process along with relevant infrastructures. ?They have to win the trust of the people that these schools can provide quality education. This lack of trust is also applicable to the government run medicals. I will discuss that later.?