What use is a right when the supply is broke,

The Annual Status of Education Report, or ASER, makes for very dismal reading. In 2016, only 47.8% of students of Class V in India were able to read a Class II textbook. Standards vary wildly between states, from 70.7% in Manipur to 25.5% in Arunachal Pradesh. Both are northeastern states so why such difference in standards? Class VIII students able to do simple division varied from 78.6% in Manipur to a low of 28.1% in Chhattisgarh. The only good figure was that 97% of students are enrolled in schools. On the other hand a government census in 2011 showed that 840 million children do not attend school at all and 7.8 million have to earn a living, even as they attend school. Sadly the BIMARU states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have some of the worst figures. In UP only 7.2% of Class III students can read Class II text and a pathetic 7.9% could subtract a two-digit sum. Despite such dire figures it seems that MP is even worse. Poor children. Bihar and UP have the highest fertility rates in India. Educated women, even those who are just about able to read, have fewer children so illiteracy is a cause of high fertility. On the other hand, parents with a large number of children are unable to feed them, so send them out to work. Those who do attend school learn little as teachers in government schools are burdened with other tasks, such as census duty, election duty, Aadhar card registration, opening bank accounts and supervising midday meals. Mark Tully found that even poor rural folk preferred to send their children to private schools rather than government ones because of the difference in teaching standards. Sadly, cynical politicians do not hesitate to use little children to create a class divide, so as to get votes. The Congress passed the Right to Education Act, which forces independent private schools to reserve 25% of seats for children of poor people. This acted as a sly tax on the middle-class as school fees soared. Unfortunately, a lot of teaching is done at home and children of illiterate parents would be at a disadvantage. To prevent these children from failing in exams the Congress stopped all exams in schools. In the absence of exams teachers had no incentive to teach and since no one could judge whether children were learning anything at all in lower classes the failure rate at higher levels were shocking. Even a simply talking to babies results in permanent changes in the way the brain handles languages. No wonder then that cheating in exams is not seen as anything wrong. With Artificial Intelligence poised to take over 70% of jobs education of a high standard is absolutely essential. But, it is a game for politicians. To win votes.