Nov 17, 2016: In a country where people satiate their hunger and fulfil their basic needs on little wages, higher education is a luxury only a few can afford. Even though the public institutions charge a very subsidized amount compared to the other private institutions, the amount requested by them are beyond the reach of many.
The Right to Education act passed on 1 April 2010 allows children between the ages of 6 and 14 to receive free and compulsory education but the problem for these young minds begin after they walk into adolescence. The families which are poor and every member has to fend for themselves cannot afford higher education for their children. This pushes the young, green saplings into the world to earn money for the family. They start to become the bread-earners of the family and lose all time, opportunity and zeal to receive better education.
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The commercialization of education over the nation has resulted in robbing these aspiring children from their dreams. "Expensive coaching centers, schools and colleges do not ever give a chance to the underprivileged as they are too busy minting money for themselves" says Rashmi, a homemaker.
For a long time, various NGOs and independent workers have been trying to improve the condition of education in India and have also succeeded to some extent. The IITs have decided to provide students of classes 11 and 12 for free over DTH or internet. This initiative starting in January, will expand the base of aspirants as it is more possible for some students to gain access to internet and DTH than enrolling for coaching centers. The IITs will record over 200 hours for each subject and the students will also contribute to this as assistants for free. This is an example of how if all the citizens tried together to bridge the gaps, this country could be a lot more developed.
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At a Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry consultation for Members of Parliament (MPs) on the New Education Policy (NEP), on which the government is working emphasis was placed on free and compulsory education till Class 12.
If education at undergraduate level is devoid of all cost, the countries literacy rates would shoot up resulting in a much greater national revenue than ever before. This could also lead to more students staying in the country to complete their academics only to repay the country later by contributing to its development. "There would be less pressure on each student as they would be able to put in more sincere efforts because they would not have to worry about their funds" said a student from a university in Bangalore.
These steps could help indecisive students find their goal as they could experience different options before excelling at one. This would not be possible to do today with the soaring prices of education.
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Apart from education, health care is a major factor denoting a country's development. Good health care facilities are a necessity especially, in India. The ones to benefit most from healthcare being free would be the downtrodden and poor. They would not have to wait at long queues at affordable hospitals, instead they could get treated at any hospital. Some people would not have to wait for enough money to be accumulated so that they could get their illness treated nor would they have to borrow money from people.
Such free clinics should be opened at regular intervals so that it is convenient for people to get help in times of emergencies. "I was so surprised. It was all so quick and easy. It's a real luxury to have a clinic close to my home instead of wasting a whole day at a hospital," Wazir, a daily wager told the South China Morning Post. Better and free health care ensures the decrease in the mortality rate in our country due to medical reasons.
Even though the government did not declare free health care as a fundamental right, it is taking steps toward free or heavily subsidized healthcare. The health ministry proposed the increase in India's health budget from 1.87 percent of the GDP to 2.5 percent to achieve its ambition to provide a basic package of healthcare services for free. Free healthcare means that the families in the country could invest this money in the development of the nation and hence, resulting in their own development.
– by Shivam Thaker of NewsGram. Twitter: @Shivam_Thaker