Focus on Massive Education: Eradicating Opportunity / Inequality
(Extract from Speech of Management Guru, Late Dr C K Prahalad, Delivered as the Nani Palkhiwala Lecture in Mumbai in December, 2009)

India will remain unequal as long as its citizens do not have equal opportunities for a good education. After 60 years of independence, India still has one of the largest illiterate populations in the world. 35 % of India is illiterate according to the 2001 census. That is more than 300 million people. This represents a population nearly as large as the entire population of India at the time of independence or the population of the entire United States today. It is clear that India has failed in its educational mission. More worrying is that half of the children in Class V cannot do simple two digit division problems (ASER 2008). Nor is there sign that things are changing fast. The reading and math scores reported in ASER have not changed measurably over the last four years. This failure is not about adequate resources. Most children now have access to a primary school within walking distance. Most schools have teachers. However teachers often do not show up (MHRD estimates that only 70% attendance by teachers in rural schools) and even when they show up, they only teach about half the time. Absenteeism is rampant. In Jharkand it is 42% followed by Bihar at 37% and UP at 23%. The differences between States are disturbing. Kerala with 90% plus literacy and Bihar with less than 45%. Similarly, gender inequalities are staggering. Only 45 % of women are literate compared to 75% men. Poor literacy is also associated with States where the population of Dalits and tribals are significant. This is clearly a failure of the public delivery system. Moreover, there are 17 ministries in the Centre focused on some form of educational initiatives whether it pertains to specific skills or basic education. Further, education is a State subject. So the ability to enforce common standards is low. This situation calls for a radical innovation. The primary starting point is to focus on methods that can remedy this situation in a very short period of time. I suggested in my vision for India @ 75 that the first step is to educate 500 million Indians in world-class skills. This assumes 100% literacy and a quality of primary and secondary education that can lead to the development of monetizable skills or access to college education. The idea of 500 million people to be educated in skills has been accepted and was part of the President’s address to the Parliament in 2009.
This means that the preconditions for innovation in education can now be defined –

» Objective Implication - Inclusion affordable and accessible
» 500 million unprecedented scale
» 10 years + sense of urgency
» World Class rigorous with global benchmarks
» Monetizable relevant to industry
» Fungible a mix of basic theory and practical skills

(Contributed by Mr. M. D. Agrawal, Vice President cum President Elect - CSI)