Just recently a UNESCO report said: “With the present rate, India will be 50 years late in achieving its Social Development Goals (SDGs).” But what actually are these Social Development Goals (SDGs)?
SDGs are the basis and targets of all the policies made by the members of United Nations for their respective countries. All the countries have to form their agenda taking the SDGs into account. It is expected to complete these goals over a period of next 15 years.
There is a total of 17 goals that are proposed, out of them the ones you need to know are:
End Of Poverty In All Forms
End Of Hunger And Achieve Food Security
Ensuring Quality Education For All
Ensuring Gender Equality
Ensuring Good Water And Sanitation Facilities
Ensuring Sustainable Energy For All
Combat Climate Change And Ensuring Peace
According to the UNESCO report, India would supposedly achieve universal primary education by 2050, lower secondary education by 2060 and upper secondary education by 2085 (via The Indian Express).
This means we would be late by 50 years i.e. a half century to achieve our SDGs, which ideally should be attained by 2030.
Education: The Primary Concern
Out of all the 17 SDGs, education is the elephant in the room. It is the central idea around which all the other goals are to be circumvented. But are we paying heed to it?
Even if we get the numbers right i.e. a 100 percent literacy will it be good enough?
In the next 15 years, our workforce would be a big part of the world’s human index. Imagine that many people with no skill and practical know-how of the way of work in industries.It is not very different to the present scenario, only it will be of unmanageable larger magnitude.
With only one teacher to the average 31 students, how are we going to get those many people to become sound in their respective chosen fields?
As no one wants to be a teacher, the ratio keeps on decreasing each year. It varies in the same way as one goes for higher studies.
India only prepares a few thousands of its students through its best colleges in every field. What about the other chunk which is eventually going to decide our statistics?
Indian Education System
The problem isn’t only about the teacher-student ratio. The dud which has been our education system easily makes everyone who has gone through it, resentful.
We have all the unnecessary elements in our system which should be scrapped off. Some of the fallacies are :
- Indispensable Attendance
The attendance issue is the one which has always almost irritated everyone of us. Being in the lecture room, even dozing off at the back is more important than knowing the subject thoroughly.
- Teachers Are Inefficient
Most of the teachers are not fit in their profession. In colleges the one who are experienced have attitude problems and the ones who are new are under-qualified, they are the result of the college’s attempt to increase the teacher-student ratio. Some of the private engineering colleges have their latest passed-out students as teachers- such type of colleges have their motto: Paise Do Aur Saath Mein Degree Aur Naukri Lo.
- Sex Education
The chapter Human Reproduction in our biology book was always skimmed through or was only delivered to the most sincere students, the rest being standing outside of the class on grounds of ill-behavior. And to those who were lucky enough to have been taught that chapter, mind you, the reproductive rights and responsibilities also come under the sex-education which are never upskilled.
In the rural parts, students don’t get even that much. Young girls are married early and go into marriage equipped with no knowledge of sex. This makes young ones vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teenage pregnancy.
We must not only strive for the hasty completion of goals, instead, the approach should be both quality and quantity. Creating a million of half cooked people is as dangerous as creating none.
Image Credits: Google Images.
You may also like:
http://edtimes.in/2016/07/primary-level-education-bihar-needs-evolved-dont-another-ruby-rai/
http://edtimes.in/2016/03/co-education-in-india/
http://edtimes.in/2014/02/glaring-loopholes-modern-indian-education-system/
