Education in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh, a beautiful state containing tourist-attracting destinations such as the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort has long been established as a region full of riches and beauty. Submerged under this elegant veil however, a vital problem regarding equal access to education cripples the lives of many children, leading the state to have the highest percentage of working children in India.

Despite tremendous efforts to further lift the literacy rates, from 28 percent in 1981 to 73 percent in 2020, Uttar Pradesh’s massive population and profound illiteracy rates within rural regions illustrate the dire condition of the education system. Lagging behind the average literacy rate of India itself, reforms are needed to ensure Uttar Pradesh’s success as a prosperous state.

Critical to the root of the problem, the deteriorated nature of government schools within Uttar Pradesh has prompted many families to move to private schools, leaving those most economically challenged to continue learning in insufficient public education systems.

The District Institute of Education and Training investigated this issue, conducting a study on teachers within government schools in Uttar Pradesh. Within this analysis, a test was given to teachers regarding the subject of Hindi, the state’s official language. Of the 296 teachers tested, 70 percent of teachers scored less than 50 percent.

Poor families who rely on public education for their children are continuously stuck in a perpetuating cycle of illiteracy and inequality, causing the entire state to suffer as a result of the loss of many possible innovators and leaders. Endlessly seen throughout the state’s extensive history, Uttar Pradesh continues to be, and may forever be, a state that provides rich educational opportunities for the elite few, and a state that ignores its impoverished masses.

Government schools within Uttar Pradesh remain a symbol of poverty, with many schools simply containing a room and a window without access to water, electricity, ventilation, and more. High temperatures in classrooms have led to widespread usage of books as fans, and insufficient education has spurred many children to leave school to further aid their families through working jobs. Child labor has continued to increase rather than decrease, with 1 in 5 child laborers across India belonging to the state of Uttar Pradesh.

With children moving towards the horrors of child labor and away from the government schools in Uttar Pradesh, it is transparent that the educational system is in need of dramatic reforms. Fortunately, under the “Mission Shakti” campaign carried by the Uttar Pradesh government, children suffering under terrible child labor conditions are now being admitted back to more developed primary schools, with food and other supplies being provided. Though a beneficial reform, larger steps need to be made to save over 250,000 children already working in painful conditions.

Integral to India’s rapid economic expansion and emergence as a global superpower, children across the nation are in need of adequate access to education - an investment that will prove beneficial as the children of today soon lead India into its future. The incredible responsibility the Uttar Pradesh government has is indescribable, for it holds the ability to both transform the lives of its most suffering populations, as well as accelerate India’s path to prosperity.

Psychological Impacts on Children in Kashmir

Fueled by a never-ending political contention between three global powers, all containing armies capable of engendering world war, Kashmiri society has collapsed.

The flowering rose of peaceful protests against these military conflicts has also brought with it the sharp thorns of suppression, bringing rise to unrest and violence consuming the innocent and peaceful citizens who inhabit the land.

Often ignored in light of politics, the children of Kashmir continue to endure violence and are subject to immense impacts, both physically and mentally.

Though rubber bullets inflict widespread damage on children, equally severe and more ubiquitous are the psychological impacts observed in an increasingly polarized and stressed public.

A study conducted by MSF(Doctors Without Borders) in collaboration with Kashmir University and the Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience conveys that approximately 41% of all people surveyed in Kashmir exhibited noticeable symptoms of depression, signaling a significant collapse in the psyche of thousands.

Their whole lives enveloped with brutality, many children of Kashmir have lost all feeling of security, feeling of safety, and no longer encounter the luxury of freedom. PTSD, anxiety, and a diverse array of psychological disorders cripple Kashmir’s future generations, inevitable to an eventual collapse and restructuring of society as a whole.

Already troubled with child labor, the loss of early development and the experiences of childhood have long been swept away, establishing a precedent of misery and stress.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled this blazing fire of injustice and inequality, with both army/terrorism and quarantine applying pressure on the already struggling population.

Recovering from an 18-month long ban on internet services after the region’s semi-autonomy was fully revoked, the pandemic has enabled deepened isolation, with children being further affected after education was halted as a whole.

Sprouting from the blood of conflict, the pandemic has brought with it growing concern of mental health, with educators and parents alike conveying alterations in emotions and increases in suicidal thoughts within children.

Regardless of the havoc formed and deaths created as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, children continue to be falsely arrested, incarcerated, and inevitably abused in police stations under the heavily exploited Public Safety Act, where countless youths across the region have been taken away from their families and sent to detention centers. The separation of family further demolishes any remaining strain of mental health, spreading anxiety among Kashmir’s many vulnerable families and children.

The importance of this multidimensional issue cannot be understated, with the future of millions being deteriorated as social tensions alter the souls of many. Kashmiri students and children hold the destiny of an entire state within their hands — deconstructing the minds and crashing the sanity that is held within them ensures the destruction of society itself.

It is through the action of stabilizing the health and mental health of the children and citizens of Kashmir that will allow it to arise from the ashes of conflict, and rebirth as a phoenix of prosperity — one founded on the wellbeing of all, and the desolation of none.