How Lack of Education Affects Children in India - Research Paper Example

 Research Proposal Abstract Education is one of the fundamental requirements of development for any given state to develop into a desirable economy (Ferrel, 2010). Most governments invest a lot of money in education sector with the hope of benefiting from the increased level of knowledge and skills. This is also included in the manner of teacher quality education structuring and the way in which this important resource is trained to deliver its services to learners (Pardec, 2006). Lack of basic education in India is a major problem that is affecting many children and this has necessitated various non-governmental organizations to move in swiftly in an attempt to improve access to basic education. The main purpose of this research proposal is to come up with a research project that will assess How Lack Of Education Affects Children In India. In so doing the research will seek to find out how Efforts By Ngos From Western Countries Improve Opportunities For Indian Children To Gain Access To Education. Introduction Education in India is catered for in most cases by the government through public schools and by private providers under the umbrella of private schools (Chamberlain, 2000). Funding for education in this case comes from three distinct sources namely the federal, state and local governments in respective areas. Both Union and state government have control over education in the country with a clear division of roles that are to be performed by each division of the government. Access to basic education is one of the fundamental rights that have been entrenched in the constitution of India where it is clearly stated that every citizen has a right to getting access to quality education in the country. Statistics indicate that for the past two decades, India has made tremendous progress in terms of access to primary education (Chamberlain, 2000). However, there have been areas where access to education has been hindered by several factors that have affected children in one way or the other. Background information Despite a lot of developments in areas that of innovation and accessibility, India continues to face several challenges in terms of access to basic education especially to children in remote areas. Research shows that despite continued investment in education, at least 25% of school age children in India are still illiterate. The government of India has placed a lot of emphasis on primary school education which is popularly referred to as elementary education in India. In an effort to ensure high levels of turnout at elementary levels, the government of India has moved to ensure that child labor in the country has been banned and that no school age child is left behind. As a result of massive turnout and few resources, the ratio of teachers to children in any government run institution in India are high therefore affecting the quality and mode of education delivery in the country. Both ban of child labor and provision of free education have also not been enough in pushing for increased enrollment into primary education. This in turn leads to lack of education among children, which affects them in several ways. Various non-governmental organizations especially from western countries have been able to move in to try and improve accessibility to education for Indian children. Problem statement There have been several efforts made by the Indian government to try and improve the education system in terms of accessibility and quality provided to children. Despite all these, Children in India continue to suffer various effects of lack of education. The project proposed in this research paper will seek to find out how lack of basic education affects children in India. This will be a cause and effect research project which will also go further in trying to understand how efforts by NGOs from western countries work to improve education accessibility in India. Problem definition Education forms an important part of fundamental rights of Indian citizens as stated in the country’s constitution. This is because of the understanding that education is an integral part of the overall development system for any given country. Lack of access to education especially for children in India negatively impacts on India’s overall development plan and therefore needs to be addressed. There is also need to understand how efforts that have been put in place by NGOs from western countries improve access to education by children in India. Objective statement The main objectives of the research project proposed here include. 1. To explore how lack of education affects children in India. 2. To understand how measures put in place by Non- governmental organizations improve access to education by children in India. Justification As stated earlier, education plays a key role in economic development of any given nation and therefore needs to be accessed by each citizen. In cases where children lack education like in some instances in India, the progress of the whole country is also slowed down. Findings of this research are therefore very important to the Indian government and other stakeholders in education sectors in the country. Understanding how lack of education affects children will be beneficial to the government especially in policy formulation and integration. The impact that efforts by NGOs from western countries have had in terms of education improvement and accessibility will also act as an indicator of what has been achieved and areas where there is need for improvement. Literature review (Chamberlain, 2000) notes that despite major improvements in education sector in India, the percentage of children who are still outside school continues to be high than ever before. The author also notes that despite this problem, there also exists a major difference in gender whereby the number of girls who lack education is higher than the number of boys. In the year 2001, the percentage of children who were in primary school rose from 51% to 65%. The rate of enrollment especially in government schools rose unlike years before. ( Sarita, 2006) argues that the almost 90 million Indian children have no access to basic education which puts the whole country at a greater risk than any other thing before. The author notes that there are several factors that have greatly contributed to this which include social distance, class and gender differences among other things. These factors play a major contribution towards what denies children basic education in the country. On the optimistic side (Farrel, 2010) notes that the level of children between the age of 4 and 14 years who attend school has steadily risen over the past few years owing to several measures put in place. According to ( Sharma, 2007), the main concern has also shifted to the quality of education and what keeps the children in school. The quality and relevance of the curriculum has also been found to contribute to what works to put children in school. He also adds that the pattern of assessment has effects on the manner and how long children remain in school upto the time of completion. Efficacy of school management is also part of factors that work to improve the level of education accessibility among children in most parts of India. Scarcity of schools that are able to handle or accommodate the growing number of children who are out to seek education is quite an important contributor to education accessibility in India. (Chamberlain, 2000) notes that due to scarcity of resources, many children are forced to drop out of school because of overcrowding in school. The rate of dropping out is however manifested in different ways especially in terms of gender. He also observes that girls who belong to marginalized groups in India tend to drop out of school as compared to boys. (Parhar, 2008) observes that free education that is compulsory to all in India is a constitutional commitment of the government. Through the enactment of the education right act, the parliament has tried to ensure that education for children between the age of four and fourteen is a fundamental right. Through the act, the government is committed to ensuring that there is a universal enrollment of all children with special emphasis on children. The author also notes that this is aimed at ensuring that the ratio of primary to upper primary is at least 1:2 by the end of the fifth year since the enactment. On the other hand, (Chamberlain, 2000) notes that to completely achieve this, the government needs to put several measures in place. There is need to ensure capacity building in the whole process and the only way to go is by ensuring that there is proper networking in districts, state and at national level (Guggen, 2006). This can be channeled in the area of education management and provision of social services that will work to ensure that other programmes are supported. The author observes that the long term benefit of this will be increased enrollment in schools thus saving children from effects of lack of education. In terms of progress by NGOs from western countries (Oyawin, 2010) notes that most of these organizations have been on the forefront in ensuring that provision of primary school education for Children in India is within one kilometer of walking distance and provision of other services that are not of formal education. The main concern of most NGOs is the high dropout rates especially in classes I to V by 20% and between class I to VIII by 40%. In addition to that, they also aim at improving school facilities through revamped operation blackboard that is set to be extended to the upper level of the education system in the country. (Oyawin, 2010) puts that the achievement in this case will be minimum level learning by almost all children at the primary level which is stipulated by the constitution of India. Methodology Theoretical framework This research will draw its theoretical basis on the assumption that lack of education is the basis of many problems that children in India are suffering from. It is assumed that lack of education is the cause of ignorance, high levels of child labor and child poverty throughout the country. The original assumption is that all systems in an ecosystem affect each other in one way or the other. Child education forms part of the larger education system and is therefore quite important when it comes to proper functioning of other Microsystems within the system. Education is assumed to completely change lives of children in any part of the world and India is therefore not an exception. The research therefore assumes that lack of education among Indian Children results into a number of negative effects. (Parhar, 2008) notes that lack of education takes away hope and aspirations of many children in India. The research assumes that lack of education has several negative effects on children in India and as a result of this, NGOs have been prompted to respond swiftly so as to restore and improve where necessary. Research design The research proposed in this project is a qualitative one in that it seeks to understand how education and its quality affect children in India. In addition to that, the research project will be concerned with how lack of education affects children in terms of what is observable. The research will be divided into two parts whereby the first part will involve gathering information on how lack of education affects children in India while the second part will be a follow up research on the efforts by NGOs to address the said problem. The research will be both a longitudinal (will involve studying children between the age of 4 and 14 years) and a cross sectional (because several children at any given age will be studied in a comparative manner). Research question There are two main research questions in the project proposed here. These are: 1. How are children in India affected by lack of education? 2. How are measures that have been put in place by Non- governmental organizations from western countries improve access to education by children in India? Other sub questions in this research project are: 1. What the percentage of children in India who lack education and what is the root cause of this? 2. How are these children affected by their present state of lack of education? 3. Is there anything the government of India is doing about these problems? 4. What NGOs from western countries have put place and how has it impacted on education accessibility for children in India? Hypothesis The research project will assume that: H1: Lack of basic education negatively affects children in India Operationalization of variables in hypothesis I Lack of basic education: In this case, lack of basic education refers to a section of children between the age of four and fourteen who have not been exposed to elementary education in India as a result of several factors. Negative impact: refers to all problems that the said children suffer from as a result of lack of basic education. H2: Efforts by NGOs from western countries have led to improved access to elementary education in India. Operationalization of variables in hypothesis II Efforts by NGOs: Refers to all programmes that have been put in place by NGOs from western countries to improve access to elementary education in India Access to elementary education: Refers to how easy it is to reach the provisions of elementary education in India. Measurement issues There are several measures that will be used as indicators for what the research project will seek to understand. Since this is a qualitative and not a quantitative research. Most variables will be measured in terms of other variables that directly or indirectly are related to the main variable. The number of children who lack education will be indicated in terms of percentage of total number of children who are supposed to be in school as stipulated by the government of India. Percentages will be indicated according to the following age brackets. 4-7 years 8-11 years 12 – 14 years The above categorization is on the basis of division of the elementary education system of India and what children are supposed to have acquired in terms of knowledge at that particular age. In terms of effects that lack of education has over children in India, the research project will be concerned with other indicators such as the number of children under child poverty line, the percentage of those who are unable to perform functions that those who are educated can do and lastly those suffering from effects of child labor. On the other hand, efforts by NGOs from western countries will be measured in terms of how many and types of programmes that have been put in place by these organizations and what have been their results. Quality indicators will be used in this case to assess how these programmes have improved accessibility to education in India. Participant sampling Participants in this research will be carefully selected from areas noted to have been adversely affected by lack of elementary education. The consideration will be based on statistics obtained from the ministry of education and national census reports where consistency will be highly regarded. Researchers will then be involved in the process of assessing and identifying the situation in selected areas. On the part of NGOs, most active foreign NGOs that have been concerned in pushing for educational reforms will be identified by the research project and thereafter an assessment of their programmes will be done to establish how they have improved access to elementary education in India. Ethical considerations Since this is a research that will be involving human beings, there are several measures that will be put in place to ensure that it does not violate scientific guidelines that govern a research involving human participants and especially children. 1. Participating in this research will be on voluntary basis and informed consent will be required on the part of any child taking part in this research. 2. Every parent of any child taking part in this research will be fully briefed on what the research is all about and what the child will be required to do. 3. All the information acquired from parents that is deemed private will be kept confidential. 4. No activities or questions that are deemed dehumanizing will be incorporated in the research. 5. Permission will be sought from the government and management of all NGOs involved in the research before it commences. Data collection methods Data for this research will be collected in form of questionnaires, observation and structured interviews. Before going down to the participants, data from secondary sources such as records held by the ministry of education and other educational stakeholders will be gathered to help lay the foundation for the whole research. On the part of NGOs, data held in its databases and other records will be assessed. Interviews of selected members of the NGOs will also be carried out to find out what has so far been achieved. Data Analysis Data from various sources will be analyzed into meaningful information that will be laid out later for presentation. This will be in terms of examining responses obtained through recorded interviews, questionnaires and observations made by researchers. Presentation of findings Findings of this research will then be presented in form of percentages, graphs and tables that will be accompanied by a detailed discussion of these findings to further elaborate on them. Limitations of the study The main limitations associated with the research project proposed here are: 1. The method used to collect data may be subject to errors and bias from researchers. 2. The research is subjective on the part of participants because it touches on most sensitive part of their lives, which might turn out to be too emotional. Recommendations On successful completion of the research project proposed here, recommendations for further research will be made to ensure continuity of research in the same topic. Conclusion Education is one of the fundamental rights that the government of India has recognized to an extent of entrenching it in the constitution. Lack of elementary education is a disaster on the part of children in India and therefore this proposal proposes a research project that will seek to assess how children are affected by lack of education in India and what several non government organizations have done to ensure that accessibility to elementary education in India is improved. References Chamberlain, W., (2000), education in India. Oxford: Oxford University press. Child rights in commonwealth: 20 years of the convention on the rights of children, Commonwealth secreatariat. Retrieved from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-rjvne7eXk4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Child+rights&hl=en&ei=R6vCTrDHFsab8QPo4LiyBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false Farrel, C., (2010), Children’s rights, New York: NY Printers. Guggen, M., (2006), what is wrong with children’s rights, Dakota: Sunshine Press Oyawin, P., (2010), American Indian Education: A history, New York: PT Press Parhar, M., (2008), Indian Education: Development since Independence, Chicago: Chicago press Pardec, M., (2006), Children rights: Policy and practice, Mumbai: Giovan press. Sarita, A., (2006), education in India: A comparative Study, Cambridge: TS Press. Sharma, R., (2007), Problems of Education in India, Mumbai: Mumbai printers Van Buaren, The international law on child rights, retrieved from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=xEAmkaqn8lMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Child+rights&hl=en&ei=R6vCTrDHFsab8QPo4LiyBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false Read More