Education
The education system of India is roughly divided into three levels (plus lower levels): the primary education (primary education), the secondary education (secondary education) and tertiary education (higher / university education), whereby there are deviations between the individual states in relation to the age of the Schoolchildren there. There are both state and private institutions, the latter often being attended by children from the higher-income classes.
According to Pharmacylib.com, India has trained a large number of scientists in recent years. In some research areas such as biotechnology or space travel, the country’s scientists belong to the global scientific elite. However, the educational institutions differ enormously in terms of their quality: There are both first-class universities and some institutions that lag far behind international standards.
An overall still very narrow educated elite, who mainly live in the urban regions, contrasts with the large number of formally poorly educated people who live in the large rural hinterland. The purely numerical challenge is immense: According to the 2011 census, the 15 to 24-year-old age group alone was 224 million. This number contrasts with less than 10 million, often poorly qualified and poorly motivated teachers. Nevertheless, the progress made over the past 50 years must also be seen.
India tries to reach children, especially girls from families in the Indian hinterland, through various educational programs (e.g. scholarships for girls). The school enrollment rate could be successively increased. The school dropout rate is also very high. Anyone who drives through India also encounters many children who, despite officially compulsory schooling, never had and will never have a chance to attend primary school.
As India’s population continues to grow rapidly at a high level, it will be crucial for the country to offer an education that is of good quality. There must be a connection to the vocational schools and vocational training, which can be rapidly increased in number, and of course teacher training and further training must be promoted. Furthermore, educational institutions must be open to everyone regardless of gender, caste or religion. Questions of accessibility and opportunity costs for the families concerned also play an important role here.
A well-managed, qualitatively demanding, nobody neglected and relevant, ie job-oriented education costs a lot of money. The current editions of India for education (federal and state governments) amounted to 3.0% of gross domestic product and 10.6% of all public spending. Around 40 years ago, the Union government’s plans were based on the 6% required.
The problem of a low level of education cannot be brought under control if the people affected in the local communities are not themselves responsible for development and if integrated development is sought, ie one that goes beyond the field of education in the narrower sense. In this context, the approach of the barefoot college, which is about an expanded concept of education, is interesting. The traditional knowledge that exists in the villages is used here to improve living conditions. Every person regardless of their formal level of education becomes a carrier of knowledge; the distinction between alphabets and illiterates is irrelevant.
Health & Social Services
The picture in the Indian health system is similar to that in education. A wealthy upper class can afford access to well-equipped elite clinics or even go abroad for treatment. A growing middle class can at least afford to stay in better government hospitals or the services of a doctor. For the broad lower class, there are often no state benefits at all, not even those offered in so-called primary health centers.
Many families go to traditional healers who, however, very often do not have adequate qualifications. In poorer conservative households, significantly less money is spent on treatment for girls (and often women in general) than for boys. Awareness-raising approaches in combination with income-generating measures as well as related professional training and further education are also important here. In addition, criteria such as quality, access, affordability or good management must be met in the narrower medical field. There is also a need to develop insurance systems in the event of illness. Otherwise the relevant health indicators will deteriorate rather than improve.
The rapidly spreading AIDS diseases pose a particular risk. The government tries to get the problem under control through a wide-ranging educational campaign and distribution of condoms, but the scale of the problem, taboos, the inferior position of women and the smug behavior of many men stand in the way of such campaigns being a resounding success. A new law, with which the government wants to prosecute the discrimination and disadvantage of HIV patients, is positive.
The Indian government is also trying to strengthen resp. Revitalization of traditional medicine, e.g. Ayurveda.
Security in old age remains a desideratum, especially for the vast majority of people working in the informal sector (> 90%). Existing government approaches are insufficient to fill serious gaps in coverage. The “Indo-German Social Security Program” – IGSSP – takes on the problem of inadequate protection in the event of illness, old age or accidents. GIZ is advising the Indian Ministry of Labor and Employment in this context.
India is particularly affected – especially in rural areas – by diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, typhus and rabies. Hundreds of thousands of Indians die from it every year, and the pan-Indian spread of the corona virus makes the fight against these epidemics extremely difficult. The pandemic also clearly shows the serious imbalances that exist between state and private hospitals and the different treatment of poor and rich patients.