Education is a key which cultivates an ability to think and make mental operations both literary and numerical possible for all. But it is clear that India is not paying attention to education and proper learning.

The World Bank published a report on learning and the outcomes of the report for India are staggeringly distressful and painful. The children in rural India, 75 percent of them, in the primary school cannot perform subtraction and simple arithmetic tasks. They don’t improve as they move on in their school level. All talks of India as a teacher of the world (Vishva Guru) is misleading.

The World Bank report ranks India lowest in many areas and it is clear that the schools are not performing. While urban areas might provide quality education, the access to good and quality education is very limited in the urban areas as well.

If we map the lack of learning and the caste configuration in the villages in India, it is clear that the SC, ST, OBCs children are not learning at all though some of them may be going to schools. This is a horrifying situation. India is a young nation with a median age of 27 and this factual demography can be turned into a great advantage for India in the future as the demography of China is increasingly becoming unfavorable to it.

From this picture, it is clear that the caste system is produced and reproduced through education. The caste can only be destroyed if the lower caste learns to think and that is why the great leaders like Phule and Babasaheb Ambedkar gave so much importance to education.

Education can produce capable and learned people and as a result, it can produce an intellectual class. The rise of such a class among the lower caste is a key for social revolution. By limiting reservation policy, a gross violation of human rights, and depriving the lower caste of education, India will see the caste system in the new form.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale