Most schools in India DO NOT look like this! (Pic: courtesy dooneducation.com)
Yesterday, just as I was getting off the Twitter grid, saw this tweet from Nitin Pai:
I returned to Krupakar Marukonda‘s timeline a few hours later and I’m so glad I did (I now follow him). The tweets are one part rant, one part facts, and one part opinion — all of which combine to deliver several thought-provoking starting points for further exploration. It appears that this Government announcement (a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for 2,500 secondary schools) got him going. I’ve reproduced the most interesting tweets below:
https://twitter.com/#!/Krupakar_m/status/187120586235981825
Govt doesnt need to give land for PPP schools, just give some of the existing schools with no children under lease to ppl who want to run
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
some 38,000 schools doesnt have children at all, no? need to dig up the report…..
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
The enrolment rate is in excess of 100%…. we dont need more schools…. we need more teachers…. more quality…more standards
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
Clarifies that 100% enrollment rate is for primary, not secondary.
And how are we filling teachers posts right now?… wait for vacancies of 30,000+ teachers per state and then start recruitment… 1/2
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
Then all these private school teachers apply for these posts and leave all at a time….massive screwing up of private schools 2/2
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
I looked at teaching material giving by Govt of AP to teachers…. just amazing… no private school can stand a chance…
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
By insisting on PPPs, the government is insinuating itself in private schools unnecessarily. Recipe for dubious political economies.
@acorn
Nitin Pai
I am terribly terribly against govt vouchers for private schools, but still i support that over PPP….
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@Meetasengupta Govt can do everything…. we just need massive massive marketing to boost confidence in “public education system”
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@_R_Srikanth No No… Those stats are true… They just enrol for Mid-day meal…. after that teachers wont come, students wont stay..sad
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
In response to @_R_Srikanth’s tweet: “stats from Oxford companion to Economics claims that enrollment is > 90% nationwide. enrolled but not attending? Bogus stats?”
How many times have u heard this story… Parents say, “they dont teach anything in government schools” 1/2
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
Teachers say, “students wont come, where is the motivation for us to teach”… This is the puzzle we need to crack 2/2
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
All govt teachers were once private school teachers, no? so when/where did they become “inefficient”
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
I visited a private school in a village in AP, a 7 yr old was made to remember 12th multiplication table. imagine the stress on little brain
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
There are lot of private schools in India who teach how to get marks than “how to think”… study hours 15 hours per day… Dangerous…
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
and when govt says, all schools need play grounds, libraries, labs, our columnists will be enraged..They point to James Tooley
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
James Tooley is a Professor of Education Policy at University of Newcastle and did some ground-breaking research on private education for the poor in India, China and Africa. He lived in Hyderabad for a few years.
@smitaprakash Ha Ha.. our Board exams… I did Sanskrit in 10+2, they ask questions in Sanskrit and I answer in Telugu. got 97 marks @acorn
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@smitaprakash I think we were slowly moving towards grading system frm marks system,which is good. but then Sibal became telecom minister 
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
One REAL joke i remember from Infosys campus placements. a form on languages.. 1.Can read 2.Can write 3.Can Understand. We need to tick
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
For Sanskrit we all ticked…. We can read….. We can write…… We cant understand…… Thats our education system in a nut shell.
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@pbmehta I was just abt to tweet what u said at CASI lecture..”wht sense does it make to pass RTE as right whn enrolment is already > 100″
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@_R_Srikanth Seriously, why one anyone with 25 crores start a school in rural areas… bound by Govt regulations…. @dkarthik
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@dkarthik Schools run soley based on results.. if govt puts conditions of 25% reservations to x y z category.. kills incentive @_R_Srikanth
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@_R_Srikanth as I tweeted earlier- the current students pay out of their own pocket. But students of PPPs dont have to @Krupakar_m
@dkarthik
Karthik Dinne
@dkarthik If students wont pay, parents wont demand… vicious circle starts…. same as Govt schools @_R_Srikanth
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@dkarthik IF students wont pay from pockets, its same as government school, no? @_R_Srikanth
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@rokul88 Do you think only 5000 ppl in India can absorb what is being taught in IITs… we simply need more colleges of that standard
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
One very surprising reality check: Govt teachers do private tuitions and Private school teachers also do. Find out whom parents prefer.
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@Krupakar_m I guess parents prefer govt school teachers.. they are better qualified
@Meetasengupta
meetasengupta
@Meetasengupta Exactly. I checked in few places. But parents dont send kids to schools where the very same teacher teaches…
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@Meetasengupta But private tuitions start only after school ends… so why not send kids to the same school and same private tuition.
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
@Krupakar_m is there not a rule against it? Govt teachers apparently cannot do private tuition.or at least not for kids enrolled in their..
@Meetasengupta
meetasengupta
@Meetasengupta There is a rule….. but a lot of Govt teachers still do… and they tell the kids if vigilance officer asks them..”its free”
@Krupakar_m
Krupakar Manukonda
