Education Deficit in South Asia
In a recently published guest post on Haq's Musings , the author and Teach For India Fellow Rakesh Mani talks about his experience of volunteering with India's primary and secondary schools during the last six months. Mani argues that "there has to be something wrong with Indian society for it to allow its children to be among the most deprived and malnourished in the world". Mani laments the fact that "young kids are forced to submit to rote learning " and "they lose the critical consciousness they will need to intervene and transform their country in the years to come." The author questions the wisdom of focusing exclusively on producing more scientists, doctors and engineers at the expense of focus on primary and secondary education in India, and asks "how can we sustain these specialized programs without building sturdy foundations at school? Or rather, what quality of engineers and scientists must we be producing at these institutes of ex...