By: Avantika Thakur, Teach for India,

1. What is literacy? 2. Access to education 3. Quality of education 4. Quality of education – a case study 5. Towards better quality of education

A. What is Literacy? B. Is this limited perception of literacy an effective parameter for the Indian masses? C. Literacy is not an end in itself. Shifting towards a plural notion of literacy.

A. Whether or not there is a challenge in access to education in India? B. How has the government approached this challenge and through what national policies? C. The onus lies upon the state to ensure free and compulsory education for children between the age of six and fourteen.

A. Hindi versus English: What is the significance of mother tongue while teaching? Examples from the classroom. How has the mother tongue suffered due to the lack of qualified teachers? Is there a link between the use of mother tongue and the absence of qualified teachers?

B. Private versus Public schools: Increasing preference for schools providing instruction in English. What is the perception of parents while choosing schools?

90 percent of the staff in my school does not meet the bare minimum educational qualification. 50 percent of them are still pursuing their graduation. The average time period for which they teach is 6 – 10 months.

(A) Hindi versus English: Based on a small test conducted for classes I and II, aimed at assessing identification of alphabets and their sounds in both Hindi and English. ClassEnglishHindi LKG34%52% UKG25%36% II41%60% III90%74%

(B) Private versus Public schools: 100 percent of my students’ parents prefer a private school over a public school. The quality of English, reading rather than comprehension skills being taught is a primary parameter.

(A) Teach For India: Involvement of young leaders as teachers into the class room. Rigorous curriculum based on comprehension and application of skills – How are reading skills and comprehension skills different in the curriculum? How do we map the growth across different levels of comprehension?

(B) Involving all stakeholders: What are the provisions within the Right to Education Act.? Increasing reliance on tuitions for illiterate parents. How can we involve them more?

(C) Implementation of laws: The pressing need for implementation of national policies like Right to Education to better the status of quality education in India.