Rural areas are mainly responsible for Telangana’s low literacy rate of 66.54%, which is the lowest in the country. The reason is that more than 90% of parents in rural areas work as farm laborers and force their children to work in the fields for extra income. This was revealed in the study conducted by Shrikar Vemuri, who is currently in addition to two (high school student) and took Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science as major subjects at Dubai English Speaking College in UAE.
During her six-week internship with Villages in Partnership, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the Mahbubnagar district of Telangana, to understand history and connect with her Indian roots, Vemuri conducted an in-depth study on the scenario of education in the villages. including Balakistapur, Gopanpet, Khanapur, Mastipur and Singanpet in May 2022. The sole objective was to collect primary data for education and interact with children to understand the integration of the last mile of government programs in State in the rural population.
“I discovered that parents play a major role in the education of children. More than 90% of all parents in rural areas worked on farms. Since farming involves a lot of manual labor, parents force their children to work in their fields, which not only ruins their education as it falls short, but rather inspires them to work constantly on the farms for earn money fast. Said Vemuri
“This quick-money mentality is a domino effect, where it inspires other children to work on farms rather than go to school. This lack of parental guidance and high illiteracy cause children to follow in their footsteps. and complicate their growth educationally and mentally.
Mahbubnagar has a population of around 4.3 million, which is half the population of the United Arab Emirates. Data collected from Mahbubnagar villages showed how parental influences on students can change their views on education and become a big reason for the staggering 33.46% illiteracy in Telangana State.
“During my internship, I had the chance to meet parents of students and explain to them how parents are not interested in their children’s education. Many parents sent their wards to schools for midday meals. This negligence, in my opinion, will completely ruin their children’s life prospects, as they will focus on their quick money needs rather than improving their education. Vemuri said.
During this year’s spring season, Vemuri partnered with the NGO RACE4GOOD and participated in the “My Teams” challenge to recommend solutions rooted in education and self-sufficiency in Haiti. His team went on to win the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) Global Sustainability Suggestion.
In the village of Khanapur in Mahabubnagar, the teachers of a public upper primary school were very disciplined and motivated not only to teach their students, but rather to focus more on the emotional and mental well-being of their students.
It also meant that teachers would provide additional classes with workshops to help students in need of help, which is not even seen in private schools in Mahabubnagar.
Vemuri also attended Sarpanches meetings in the villages to understand development projects and government issues such as late payments or lack of funds needed to improve educational infrastructure in the villages. However, the main issues discussed at School Management Committees (SMCs) by the Sarapanches were electrical substations and good roads and not education.
Vemuri’s research found that the state government’s decision to compel schools and teach English at the same time as telegu has cast a shadow over the future of students who don’t know English. .
In Gopanpet, teachers in upper primary schools could neither speak nor write in English. whereas in upper primary school the teachers themselves did not know English, and yet the government enforces the use of English.
Overall, Shrikar Vemuri thinks that the most important points to consider in the influences of these students would be parents, teachers/government, and then the student himself, because from his understanding of human behavior, wherever the majority goes, the minority follows.
However, having outcasts, people who don’t want to follow is quite normal, its objective is to ensure that the majority side of the development of education is taken care of in the villages because, as said Mahatma Gandhi, “India is in its villages”.
Disclaimer: No Deccan Chronicle reporter was involved in the creation of this content. The group also declines all responsibility for this content.
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