A lost generation.

This Congress led government has been dishing out rights to poor people. One such is the Right To Education which has done away with examinations so that children are promoted without anyone knowing the level of their knowledge. TOI, 6 April. The result has been dire. The latest Annual Status of Education Report 2012 by the NGO, Pratham says that there has been a sharp decline in the level of knowledge in children in the 3 years since the act came into effect. Fifth grade children who can read second grade text has fallen from 50.7% to 41.7%. Fifth grade children who can do a two digit subtraction by borrowing has fallen from 70.9% to 53.5%. This act was never about children or education but was born out of perverted socialism which seeks to force children out of private schools, by closing them down, into government schools run by partially educated and truant teachers. The act specifies all weather playground, well equipped library, separate toilets for boys and girls, fence around school, proper sports equipment, maximum student teacher ratio and minimum hours of instruction. Poor people are desperate to admit their children into private, English speaking schools to give them a better start in life but most such schools will now have to close. However, in a cynical piece of electioneering gimmick the Congress mandated that private fee paying schools, even those which did not receive any government assistance, will have to reserve 25% of seats for children of poor parents, thus adding an extra tax on the middle class. Our Fearless Leader even bragged that they have recruited another 700,000 teachers for government schools. So what kind of teachers has the Congress recruited to teach our hapless children? In the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, which is compulsory for aspirants, only 4,849 out of 796,000, that appeared in the exam, managed to pass one of Papers I and II. Paper I is for teaching children from class 1 to 5 and Paper 2 for those wishing to teach in classes 6 to 8. All the candidates had the Bachelor of Education degree. TOI, 3 January. Salaries of government school teachers were increased by 80% in 2008 to win elections in 2009 so that they now earn far more than teachers in private schools. Perhaps to hide this scandal the Congress is determined to shut down private schools. If basic education is so poor it is not surprising that companies are finding it tough to find entry level candidates. Pharma company Lupin has to spend Rs 25,000 on every recruit while IT company Heaware Technologies spends Rs 30,000 on each of its recruits. " While the absolute numbers look encouraging, industry-ready candidates with the required life skills and technical competence are very low," said Divakar Kaza, President Human Resources, Lupin. TOI, 8 January. But maybe the Congress has been very successful. They have managed to produce an entire generation of aam aadmi to remain khas.