Attitudinal changes: a prerequisite to policy changes

By Mehala Mahirajah

On 7 May 2015

The original article in Tamil can be found here

Photo credits: Daily Mirror

Given below is a brief summary in English: 

People believe that education is an investment that helps overcome poverty. However, the access to education has to be further widened.

All parents prefer to enroll their children in popular schools which are often located in towns.  This is because the quality of education in these schools is better compared to other schools. It is understood that the results obtained by students at General Examinations reflect the quality of education at the schools where they have studied.

Service providers prefer not to work in villages or in places which are identified as difficult areas due to a lack of “facilities”.  More often than not, they want to get transferred to schools in towns or popular schools. Therefore many parents want their children to study in “prestigious” schools which produce good results. However, every school has a limit on the number of students it can admit.

Money or  Competence?

If a person has money to make a donation he can get his child enrolled in a ‘prestigious’ school. Then what happens to the parents who cannot afford to do this? Many parents consider education as a means of overcoming poverty, as such, parents think that if the children do not get admission to popular schools they cannot do well academically. It must also be added that due to the lack of support from the parents, a child will not be able to study well. This compels a student to attend costly private classes for further guidance.

In certain schools there are few qualified teachers for subjects especially in the science stream. This then necessarily restricts the options available to a student. The demand for qualified teachers in the Education sector must be addressed.

Since the job market is very competitive, those who do not have access to quality education accept whatever the job that they can find. When a service—in this case education—becomes a business, those who are without adequate financial means become marginalized.

Those who call for policy change, educational reforms, and an end to poverty, must bear in mind the issues that I have brought to notice in this article. Attitudinal changes are a prerequisite to changes in policy. Policies cannot be implemented unless the people are willing to accept them. In order to create an all-inclusive educational system, the commercialization of education must be stopped.