Equal Opportunity and Meritocracy
As long as monarchies and colonial occupations ruled over the Subcontinent, mostly everything revolved around the requirements of the rulers. To a large extent it still does. But as people become sovereign, the state has the responsibility to look after its citizens, all its citizens. However this does not mean that the State needs to look after the citizen from birth to grave, but the State has to ensure that all its citizenry get an equal opportunity to realize its potential. The implication here is to give every child an opportunity to avail of school education. In fact, it has to be a duty of the state, society, family to get each child to go to school.
The problem is that schools are unequally good. The teachers in all schools are not required to show excellence in their profession. In some government schools, the discipline amongst teachers even is abysmal, and they don’t feel the need to show interest in their work, as they know their government job is secure.
The State should not be in the business of teaching at all. They should leave that all to private schools. The private schools do it professionally. They compete with each other and are very aware of their reputation. The State should however be intensely involved in ensuring that these private schools fulfill all the basic requirements of curriculum, hygienic facilities, and other standards.
Each child in the Subcontinent, be he poor or rich, should be supported by the State in his school education. One model would be for each child to get a schooling account – similar to a bank account. Distinguishing on the basis of economic need of an individual child would be administratively prohibitive. Besides one wants to give each child the feeling that the State is there for each one of them. Every month a particular amount of credits is deposited in the account of the child, and a registered private school can avail of these credits as school fees. For some schools this may be sufficient, for others, who offer a lot more facilities and are generally considered better, these credits may not suffice, and the child’s family may have to pay more, if the family can afford it.
Moreover all school fees above a certain amount need to be taxed by the State. This would allow the State to plough money from the rich to the poor, and thus partially finance the program.
Such a model would give the child the flexibility to choose a day care center, a primary school, a secondary school, or a senior secondary school of his own wish. Children who show promise in school through various evaluations, or through state-wide school-level competitions, can be given, an extra stipend. More important is that the quality of education and commitment of the teachers would rapidly increase.
Moreover schemes like Mid-day Meals can still be continued, where every school, in this case there will be private only, would need to offer their own Mid-day Meal program, and the State pays for the Mid-day Meals of the needy children. Of course, any non-needy child also can have the option to register for this school scheme, only they would have to pay from their own pocket. Best would be when external contractors are used for cooking the meals, and then delivering to schools. Depending on attendance, a needy child should also be able to get some dry rations for the family. This would increase the acceptability amongst the poor families to send their children to school.
Only if children are given an “equal” opportunity, can a society with a social conscience truly embrace meritocracy. Meritocracy is not an option. For a society to move forward it is a must. But if merit becomes a function of the affluence of one’s family, and their ability to send the child to school, then it loses its claim as being the only factor for consideration in the choice of someone for some college seat or job position.
Also in a society based on Meritocracy, there should be no scope for favoritism, nepotism. One should always take the candidate, who is most deserving.
The Pan-Subcontinentalists have a social conscience and are fully committed to see, that all children in the Subcontinent receive the opportunity to learn in school and that too on a full tummy. Also the Pan-Subcontinentalists want to see that in institutions of higher learning, politics, government departments, public sector, and even private companies, the most deserving candidates, the candidates showing the most merit are taken.
Only this can ensure that the Subcontinent nurtures a society, which is educated, and ensures that the Subcontinentals get the best service in the world, that the Subcontinent progresses more rapidly, for it is the mission of the Pan-Subcontinentalist to ensure that the Subcontinent is the best place to be!
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