AAKROSH: THE CRY OF THE WOUNDED (1980)

I have never done a Movie analysis. So when my Professor gave us a movie to 'intellectualize', i was stumped. However, writing academic semi-intellectual bull after 5 years of Political Science comes naturally to me. A brief summary of my paper:

PLOT:

The Movie- Aakrosh begins with a powerful imagery of an old Lawyer/Judge hesitating to touch the strong waves of the sea while a young lawyer takes the plunge. It makes the viewer’s hope for an upcoming New Wave- a new generation that would perhaps challenge the old, repetitive cycle of oppression.

The Movie puts forward the protagonist, Lahanya Bhikhu (played by Om Puri), an Adivasi who is accused of brutally assaulting and murdering his wife, Nagi Bhikhu (played by Smita Patil).  The silent and loud emotions of Lahanya in different circumstances are shown without him saying a single word’ but depicted through flashbacks or are visible through the stark emotions behind his silent façade.
Bhaskar Kulkarni (played by Nassaruddin Shah) comes in as an advocate for Lahanya’s defence. This case is crucial to him as it’s his first case as an independent law practitioner and that too against his mentor, Dusane. Kulkarni is shown as an ‘Idealist; - one who strong believes in the power of law to meat out justice irrespective of ones place in society. He has strong ideas of conscience, truth and justice.
Dusane, the public prosecutor in the case (played by Amresh Puri) is a well-connected and well-known lawyer. He is shown to frequent the local clubhouse where the power-elites come together to play cards- the Local M.L.A, the forest contractor, civil surgeon, DSP etc. They talk about contemporary issues of politics such as the growing Naxal problem in the area. It is hinted that they are concerned about this specific case.
Bhaskar initially confronts Lahanya with his pre-conceived notions of tribal nature and asks questions on the assumption that he is guilty of the crime. However, frustrated with the enigmatic silence and the non-cooperation of Lahanya in formulating his own defence strategy, he independently decides to investigate the sequence of events of the day the crime took place. He visits Lahanyas family that is survived by his ailing father, his sister and an infant. However, the neighbours refuse to answer his questions and the ailing father only shouts in an increasingly agitated voice , asking him to go away- “Jao yahan se, Jao”.  It is hinted that the silence of the family and locality is coerced by the forest contractors and his allies.
Bhaskar also meets a mysterious guy, adorned in a short kurta and a jhola. The fellow claims that he is working among the tribals, to awaken them and bring them together., When Bhaskar calls him a ‘social worker’ , he mocks the term as elitist and fashionable given by the petty bourgeoisie.
Lahanyas feelings of horror and grief, in the course of the trial, is depicted through his facial expressions. Bhaskar is also attacked many times in this period for his association with the case. He comes to know that Lahanya is an innocent in the crime who is paying for his resistance against the orders of the Forest Contractor and as a result, his wife was raped and killed.
When Lahanyas father dies, he is allowed to perform the last rites where we are shown the tormented and conflicted look on his face as he looks at his sister, who is now alone in the world and perhaps more vulnerable to the predatory gaze of the forest contractor and his allies. Perhaps realizing this, Lahanya snatches an axe and chops off his sisters head. His animalistic scream of anguish and ‘aakrosh’ stuns the viewer.

ANALYSIS:

• LAW AND JUSTICE
  The movie successfully portrays the dis-junction between ‘law’ as written down in the constitution;the ideals and values it symbolically upholds and the real social position of advantage/disadvantage that people occupy in society that makes their relationship with these state institutions relative. Rational Legal procedures may not necessarily lead to a ‘free and fair’ trial and thus most often, obscures justice. The court trial was a farce where the witness and medical examiners testimonies, silence of the neighbours and other tribal workers were either bought or coerced by the powerful and wealthy perpetrators. In a Liberal-democratic state that upholds the values of a rationalistic institutional framework, the ‘evidence’ has no holding power if it can so easily be bought and manipulated by the nexus of power and wealth, of privileged in society. Even Bhaskar who starts his career as an idealist of the liberal system, questions the claims of law which leads to acquitting the real culprits and devastation of the innocent. 

• CASTE AND IDENTITY
  
  I mainly focused on this aspect. Dusanes ambivalence towards the case despite his low-caste birth it disturbed me the most. The main point i put forward was:
  

  Dusane, in my view, can be seen as a ‘successful product’ of the Liberal Democratic state where while he uses the appropriate language of ‘rights and liberty’ in the court of Law and even in his personal talks, yet he fails to run away from the constant shadow of his low-caste origin.  It is a perfect example of the negative result of upward mobility where the tribal man now holds his precarious position of power with a sense of empowerment but is under pressure to constantly prove his worth by more strenuously following the rules and values of the Liberal state.(focus on 'ultra-rationalist' tendency)
  While those power-holders ultimately use social instead of secular authority against Lahanya and the Tribal population, the crime has to be proved or defended through legal and rational procedures. 
  
  
• HOPELESSNESS AND DESPAIR – HUMILIATION
  -The representation of two females as objects of lust and domination is a hard hitting real imagery.
  - When her husband Lahanya shows resistance, the forest contractor and his allies teach him a lesson by raping and finally killing his wife. Further his sister is shown as working for the same contractor and vulnerable to his actions. Lahanya does not speak in the course of the trial, perhaps out of fear of what may happen to his sister. The film potently presents the silent pervasive conspiracy of the power elites who prevent the vulnerable groups from raising their voice to gain any Justice. In the end, Lahanya knows that his sister is alone in the World with no one to protect her from the predatory gaze of the Contractor. He then raises his axe, not to kill the perpetrators of his oppression, but to chop off his sisters head. The stunning single act epitomises in one stroke the utter hopelessness of his existence in a cruel oppressive system where only death can be liberating. Nihalini presents that this hopelessness (reinforced by the occasional ‘drunkenness’ of the tribe which is viewed as ‘lazy’ by outsiders) is not out of weakness or complacency but a result of a resigned impotence towards the incestuous union of Wealth, power and authority and simultaneous silencing and systematic intimidation if the under-privileged groups. Ultimately, it is this dehumanisation and the resultant humiliation that propels Lahanyas act- a desperate act borne not out of misplaced anger or revenge but a tragic sense of merciful liberation from what he realises as an unending cycle of corruption and oppression. Here violence perpetrates violence not to seek revenge but as a last resort to avoid humiliation.
• VALUE OF LIFE
  An Ironic image in the movie disturbed me the most: in a scene where Bhaskar is reading about the killing of a Tribal women in the Newspaper, the Radio news in the background says that Vinoba Bhave is going to protest against cow slaughter. The scene was a beauty of subtlety : where the harsh truth that the value of a tribal women’s life does not guarantee any shock or protest while any religious issue becomes important enough to propel the leaders and people to action.
  
  So, I have put forward some of the themes through which i have analysed the film.The other themes included sexuality, alternative space/Marxism etc.  I think, as my first attempt to 'semi-intellectualize' a film, it was a good effort. Of course, my grades are still not out, so still no clue as to how 'deep' my analysis is. But it was surprisingly a good practice of what i was talking about in my earlier post- a practice in originality. Well, as much as i could, i suppose. There are a few citations, but i haven't put them here in my post.
  I just may do another movie this summer. 

where Originality has no points, Imagination is stunted & Plagiarism is the everyday apple.

I have always believed my writing to be average and my thoughts to be above-average, if not extra-ordinary. There is however, always a quality gap between my words and my thoughts.The problem of translating abstract, messy thoughts into precise, succinct words is one that most of us face. I blame it squarely on our poor quality, marks-obsessed, rote-learning based Education System.

Do you remember the first time we were told to write a five-liner on 'My Mother' and we were dictated the usual, also very sexist words to copy down- "my mother cooks, cleans, washes .....",essentially, she is a glorified maid. And i cannot forget the way my parents hoarded the " best" essay books in both Hindi and English. Anytime we were given an essay to write, we picked up the fanciest piece we could find, and wrote it down. The 'quotes' are given extra-marks. The only thing original was perhaps the writing down part, and the one-line introduction. The teachers knew we copied it, our parents encouraged us to copy it and we were only too happy to do so if only to get the best marks possible.
Plagiarism is an everyday practice in our country, taught to us in school and it makes us experts to avoid detection in college. The best college however expects you to come up with 'original' writings- as if we can just wash our hands off years of easy work. Most of our academic journals publish expert-level plagiarized work. If those are not your own thoughts, you cannot claim them as your own work. This is the reason why as academicians or writers we are so far behind in the World. The 'Jugaad' trait  is so inherent, its nearly impossible for us to get ourselves out from under its weight. We cannot write a paragraph on our version of 'Diwali' without Googling it. There is zero impulse or adventurism in us to just pick up a pen and put down our musings into command. The capability is lost under the pressure of excelling in whatever field we are pushed into. Our imagination is stunted and allowed to move on the freely-given crutches of plagiarism.
The first time I tried to come up with something original- it ended up being paraphrased. Today, at least my academic writing has improved enough that i can sit back and not be scared of the international Plagiarism standards. My non-academic writings however, (as the present post indicates), is at least original if still below-average in quality. There is a huge thought-words gap left to be bridged.
The key, i have learnt, is to practice being average in writing to get top marks in originality. I got an amazing Acdemic Mentor (Dr. Shefali Jha) in my Masters who encouraged me to have the courage to write down my own thoughts in my academic paper and while the result wasn't flawless, it satisfies me. It was my own product.
This blog started out as a way to just pin-down my thoughts and i have tried to be regular in the past year. Most of it is filled with terrible language errors and the everyday musings of a lost, jobless student. But it has helped me give a non-evaluative, judgement-free space for my words to express my inner monologue and its Random Thoughts. :)
Good Night!

3 CRAZY-BROKE GIRLS, A HALF-COCKED PLAN AND A BUS TO MANALI

Me and my two lazy friends (Devina & Manpreet) decided to go to a Hill-Station for a cool, calm, relaxed vacation after our 2nd year college end-term exams. This was when we were still in our graduation class in LSR, cribbing about compulsory attendance and life in general. We actually did go for that trip this summer- at the end of our Post-Graduation, still continuing that cribbing about life and the heat of the summer.
 Did I mention our laziness in planning and actualizing our plans into reality? Let’s just say,  the almost 4 day trip was a great learning experience, where the 1st lesson we learnt was that Planning did involve more than a booking to ensure a bed under a solid roof and getting to know major tourist places from a 10 minute google search.
The plan itself was last minute. I talked to my dad and asked him to book a room in 'any damn hill station' he could find a decent reservation in, considering the peak tourist period and our last minute resolve to just go for it. It was on Wednesday (27th May) that we were sure that it was Manali that we were going to go, and the staying arrangement was made for the weekend- 29th, 30th, 31st and the 1st. Before anything else could get cancelled for any reason my friends could come up with (and they could come up with a lot!), I booked an overnight AC Volvo HRTC bus ticket for the 28th evening (6:30 P.M)

DOs- Always plan a trip at least a week prior to it. Last minute travel arrangements to a hill-station with a cool temperature (that requires you to search for coats, gloves and that cute pink jacket you packed in some mysterious trunk that would look cute in pictures) may lead to panic, particularly if you are planning to go directly from your hostel. Washing them and drying them and packing them may again involve a lot of four-letter word swearing.
DON'Ts- Do not trust your fellow mates to get you that coffee-bite you like a lot. Always take care of your own travel- eateries. 

The HRTC bus is a little costlier than other private buses, but reliable. We packed (all our chips, biscuits and the mush necessary pack of Avomin) and got ready for our 14 hour ride to Manali and the bus (comfortable semi-sleeper seats) started at the right time from Mandi House, Himachal Bhawan.

DOs- It doesn’t matter if you have a strong stomach or not. Take that tablet of Avomin if you want to survive that twisty hilly badly-maintained road to Manali.
Also, take your playlist with you if you don’t want to hear that fluffy, lovey-dovey life-history based conversation of the couple sitting behind you.

We stopped at two major places- Ambala for dinner and Mandi for morning tea. The bus dropped us at Manali, Main Market at around 9, where we got our 1^st learning experience- Always make sure if there is a taxi strike in the place you wish to travel. We got down, tired from the long travel, to find no wheels around us. The coolie’s were demanding an obnoxious amount. So there we decided to carry all our luggage and walk around 4-5 Kms to Vashisht. We also found out that everything was closed that day and so we settled in the room after a long, hot bath and lunch. Then we decided to walk around till the Main Market.  We spent some time sitting on a rock, our feet in the freaking-cold water of River Beas, ‘contemplating’ about life. And clicking pictures of each other pretend- contemplating. Also, selfies. :P


DAY 2: The strike was over by them (Thank God). Took an Auto to the Hidimba Devi Temple. The auto vallah will over-charge you and being a tourist you will end up paying whatever he charges you. So no point getting outraged when you see a local paying half of what you paid up.

The Hidimba temple welcomes you with Rabbits and Yaks, each of which, as a tourist you are expected to click a picture with. The Temple itself is beautiful but it’s better to visit early or it gets too crowded. There is also a small Ghatotkacha temple nearby.

We then took a local bus from the main market to Naggar (took around an hour and 30 bucks, with a background of honey singh music played by the driver). It drops you to a market from where there we walked around half a Km of steep hilly distance to reach the Naggar castle. It’s a beautiful place. (Just with not a very hygienic bathroom, but peeing is a human necessity- so close all your senses and do your thing)
We mostly ate our meals back in our rest house, but for lunch that day we decided to eat at the much-heard about Chopsticks- a Chinese place in the Main market. The food was tasty (not much to write about though) and not very costly.

We decided to book a Taxi to Rohtang Pass that we had to visit the next day. Due to some changes brought about by the NGT, the number of cars allowed to go were limited to a 1000, due to which the driver advised us to start the journey at 1:30 in the morning. So we did not have much time to sleep, and we packed up with woolen scarfs and caps for it.

DAY 3:
DOs- Rohtang Pass is crazy cold. Wear woolen inners before starting the journey. When you buy the much-needed jumpers and boots, do it over your coat. Make sure that everything is comfortable because the reality of snow is very different from that movie one. Also, Pee before you go.
Avomin again.

So the car stopped at a point, and there were around 200 cars ahead of us and god knows how many behind us. The window much ahead was to open around 6 and so the driver told us to sleep in that very-small too cramped- to- rest car. The urge to pee made all 3 of us to somehow walk in those uncomfortable boots up the hill, to look for a tree, at around 3:30 in the morning. That was not funny.
In the morning, we got in the line for the go-ahead slip after showing the R.C. and pollution-free certificate of the car.
 Advice: Click pictures on the way to the Pass. Coming back, you will be too tired to stop anywhere. The view is spectacular. Rohtang Pass itself is beautiful (and cold!). 

We also visited Solang Valley where you will get very expensive food. The Gol-Gappas are cheap and worth trying though. We were too tired to do anything, but you can enjoy the ropeway, paragliding or Zorbing.

DAY 4: We had no concrete plans of how we would return to Delhi, except for a Shatabdi train ticket the next day from Chandigarh. We made the mistake of not properly acquiring information on how to reach Chandigarh from Manali. We ended up taking a local bus from Manali that took almost 14-15 hrs to reach Chandigarh. Murphy’s Law was in full force: we suffered through bad roads, a tyre puncture in the middle of nowhere, water getting splashed on us as we waited by the side of the road for the tyre to be replaced, bad bathrooms, worst seats with no leg space, luggage-paranoia (that needs to be explained in a separate post!).
As if that was not enough, when we did reach our rest-house in Chandigarh, the room wasn’t booked. After waking up people all around at 3 in the morning, we finally got a room where we took a bath to cleanse ourselves from the solid and liquid particles stuck on us. We stunk.

The Shatabdi train stops for 5 min and we got in at the last minute at 6:50 A.M; the ticket was with Manpreet in her phone- well, she dropped her phone in water, so we were going on no ticket. Thankfully, we got the PNR number and ‘print ticket’ version on Devina’s cracked-screen phone. It was an experience, as I said before.

We slept so deeply- I think we looked like drug addicts with drool coming out of our open-mouth expressions. The guy sitting beside me was telling me about his Jewellery business and he told me later that I apparently slept off in between the conversation.
We reached Delhi around 10:30 in the morning, tired and almost ready to drop.

But now that 2 days have passed where I have done nothing but sleep and eat, I can say that the trip was a success. No one died, nothing got lost (except my earphone). And maybe now we can ‘plan’ to go to a new place that probably will translate into reality after 2 years. :)

THE FORCES OF DARKNESS

I know,its a corny title. But i am trying to write a short story with a kick-ass protagonist in a dark age, with romance playing second-fiddle. This is just a start. I hope you like it!


"I feel exhausted", she exclaimed loudly to the walls of the empty room. Well, near empty room. There was a rat somewhere nibbling at last nights' left-over pizza . She had to remind herself twice to clean the room and every time she started, she got distracted by something shiny she came across. Everything, every possession was a new discovery.  If only she owned such a place in a more legal fashion.
"We have to get going sheila...the owners will be back soon and we need to find a new hide-out," her best friend and partner-in-crime Andy said.
The world was collapsing around them in Little City. It was days of drudgery, exhausting walks without water or food, some lucky pick-up trucks later that they found themselves at the margin of Central City. The apocalypse hadn't reached here. It was surprising how news of death and disease traveled. The first steps taken by the Center was not to cure us or rescue the residents of Little City; instead it was to barricade the boundaries, preventing us from crossing over. Humanity is the last resort that the powerful use to sell their ideas. Fear is the first emotion that is exploited.
The noise of the key turning in the lock reached them.
"We need to leave ASAP. Leave the laptop behind. We have all the material in the Back up Drive," Andy murmured urgently as he stood to get together all the food and packaged water they stole..uh..borrowed.
She was still stuck to the laptop.."Just one more file...it has all the formulas of the second code.."
"Come on cher...we don't have time" He tried to push her towards the window.
"You go along...I am behind you." She typed as fast she could accelerating the transfer speed, compromising on quality.
The main door opened.
She took out the drive as the transfer got completed and ran to the window. Her heart was beating erratically. They were in one of the WnP soldier's barracks. The soldiers were known to be ruthlessly faithful to the center, killing mindlessly, only working on orders.
As soon as one of her legs was off the edge, she tied the connecting rope to the pillar of opposite building.
"Little rat....where are you going" a cruel voice whispered in her ear. Intimately. She knew that voice. The voice of her nightmares. A tight hand gripped her shoulder. She started to scream as another hand shut her mouth.
"Come on little rat....you entered the dragons lair. Our fun has just begun."
Something hard hit her head.
And then all she knew was darkness.
Her last thought was of hope: wishing Adam saved the code that she transferred in the Disc and threw across the building , inside the opposite window. She wished she could see her little sister one last time, tell her the story of a time when there were no rulers, no liars and men with cruel voices didn't exist
But darkness called to her and she followed along, like a sirens song. 

LOVE IN THE TIME OF BULLET TRAINS

The world today exists in simultaneity.
I am expected to know what is happening in the farthest, most remote part of the world. I need to know when the satellite is launched and the space between planets and starts are of less significance than before. I have to keep pace with the fast moving stock market and brace myself against the ticking of the clock.

Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock.

The world has moved on to a new president, to a new disaster, to new stars and planets. And i stand here, expected to move forward. Not let myself be swept away in the maze but control the uncontrollable, the unpredictable force of these changes. To control the charged bull huffing and rushing towards the red mark; the target only visible to the wild creature i am precariously seated on- not out of will; but still, as necessary as the air that i can no longer feel. I cannot be swept away by the storm. I need to be, and more importantly, I am expected to be in control of my boat, my plane, my bullet train.

He stands there -still, silent, permanent. Waiting for me.

I don't see him in the crowd- all of us rushing towards the office, the apartment we call home, the grocery store, the movie, the salon, the protest march. All of us not knowing what we expect of life, what we need to give it, what we are doing- but still knowing, collectively, what is expected of us- to move as fast as we can , to reach that pre-decided destination.
A second passed. Tick-
 a bomb-blast somewhere.a 100-crore movie released.a women raped.a new president elected.a queer beaten.a cricket match won.a child died of hunger.a 70 year old women wrote her first word.

and we move on as fast as we can to the next second before the clock strikes- Tock. 

He still stands there. He waits for me to see him. He stands in front of me and yet i unsee him. He is not expected, so i have no reason to see who is standing right in front of me. I am expected to ignore the unnecessary, the insignificant.
I rush towards the bullet train, to reach my destination as soon as i can. I need to reach there soon so that i can leave and reach the next destination as soon as possible, so that the next stop is not missed. Its a never ending cycle of movement, of destinations and i cannot lose control by slowing down, by seeing what is extraneous to my defined being.

He sits there, beside me, in the train. Still and permanent. Not human. Waiting for me to notice his existence.

He is a sweet boy with a crooked nose. He is an old man with broken teeth. He is a musician, always humming, always smiling, always still. He is the love of my life and i cannot see him. He steps into the bullet train with me, watching me, waiting for me to notice him. And i cannot see him.

Tick Tock

The train reaches the next stop and i run along with the crowd, down the platform, to my...home. Only to get ready for the next minute.

The world exists in simultaneity. I have to be everywhere for me to exists somewhere.
He is now a middle-aged man sitting there, eating a sandwich, enjoying the scenery from the fast moving bullet train.
And I cannot see him.

From Schooling Access to Student Outcomes in India

 Indian has made impressive strides in expanding access to basic education,particularly in increasing enrollment of girls and members of the disadvantaged communities.In 2001, the Government of India launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhyan (SSA or education for all) to achieve universal primary education. In 2009, the Indian Parliament passed the Right to Education (RTE) Act, guaranteeing free and compulsory education for all children between ages 6-11. The RTE sets minimum school infrastructure standards (e.g., building, library, toilets, and kitchen), pupil-teacher ratios, and teacher hours, in all of which there has been notable progress.

 Under SSA, the enrolment of children from SC and Muslim communities has increased substantially.

Student Achievement in India is low (WB Report, 2014). On a test of reading comprehension administered to grade 5 students across the country, only 46% of students were correctly able to identify the cause of an event. Only a third of students could compute the difference between two decimal numbers. (NCERT 2011). Another recent survey found that about 43% of grade 8 students could not solve a simple division problem. Even recognition of two-digit numbers, supposed to be taught in grade 2, tends to be achieved only by grade 4 or 5 (ASER-India 2011).

Challenge: While India has largely been successful in its goal to expand educational opportunities to all, the promise to provide quality education is yet an unfinished agenda. The quality of learning outcomes depends on how the technical inputs are used, how (and how regularly) classroom instruction is transacted, and whether learning outcomes are continually monitored to improve efficiency and modify processes. The overarching system of governance and accountability in the educational sector is also key; additional technical inputs can improve learning outcomes on a sustained basis only if educational authorities, schools, and teachers are accountable—and responsive— to student needs. For instance, no amount of textbooks and teaching materials will improve learning outcomes if teachers are frequently absent or disengaged.

FROM ACCESS TO LEARNING: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

Education attainment will remain an incomplete goal if not substantiated with learning of basic knowledge and skills. Improving learning outcomes should therefore be a key priority of education policy in India.

Given the constraints of limited resources and competing interests, Education planners face a choice between focusing on either improved access or learning gains. Expanding access gives a more positive feedback as it feeds the political mandate through declarations of achievements and the consumers desire to enjoy more tangible benefits. However, the goal of achieving growth and alleviating poverty will not be achieved unless the student gains the skills required for contributing to that growth. This requires:

• Explicit planning for and high political commitment to improved learning outcomes. This requires strong leadership and political skill in building the consensus needed to overcome resistance and inertia.

• Realistic pace of expansion. Big bang approaches to expansion can overwhelm education systems. India has expanded gradually, using targeted incentives to support groups for whom expenses represent serious constraints.

• Improvement in education system efficiency. This increases the availability of resources within any given budget envelope

• More accountability through monitoring systems to analyse results of schemes. School Committees can oversee and report the use of funds and quality improvement.

2. Effective School and classroom inputs

3. Children inside the school and are still excluded

 Experiences of children inside school, attending classes and getting promoted in the educational ladder, do not necessarily translate into equal participation in the education process on their part. This can be seen in two ways: children attend school but are still not learning (as the Annual Status of Education Research, ASER reports have been indicating). Another meaning is the exclusion of knowledge, perspectives and worldviews and misrepresentation or sometimes distortion of experiences of children and their families in the curriculum, syllabus and most importantly textbooks studies in classrooms. 

Children from poor families or disadvantaged communities mostly feel disassociated with what they are taught in school. Their real lives and experiences are not reflected in the texts they read. The objective behind the adoption of a common curriculum for the Nation was to promote National social cohesiveness. However, different regions and communities have unique history and life experience.

Possible Interventions:

 Since education is a concurrent subject, the States and local communities can add subjects that is closer to their heritage. Eg. Students from India’s periphery states (e.g. North East) generally complain about the exclusion of their struggle during the National Movement in the History Textbooks provided by NCERT. This may  leave them feeling excluded from the education system. Need to make school experience relevant and more representative.

4. Learning Gap

Learning gaps exist at the point of entry into the school system and grow over time. The biggest deficiency with our school education system is its one-size-fits-all approach. Classroom instruction is designed to cover a prescribed syllabus in a single-track mode to all students in a class, overlooking the wide variations in learning levels among students. Thus, those students who are lagging behind the prescribed syllabus are left stranded with no recourse. The learning gap widens with each year. These students become increasingly passive spectators and disinterested in class and finally drop-out thus threaten the goal of equity in education. Disparities in learning outcomes are especially pronounced depending on urban-rural residence and geographic location. Typically achievement in urban areas is typically higher than in rural areas, with the divide being wider in reading and languages than in mathematics.

Possible Interventions:

• Remedial Courses
• universalisation of Early Childhood Educatiion centres. ECE learning provides a powerful head start for students in the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills critical in influencing later day outcomes.
• Use of digital technology to improve effective teaching and learning

5. Improving Teaching Quality

•   Clear and transparent standards from the time of recruitment on through deployment and transfers.
•    Pre-service and in-service training 
• Uniform Pay Structure vs Performance- based pay- requires more study

6. Leveraging the contribution of the private sector, both for-profit and NGO-run schools, is crucial for meeting the double challenge of improved access and quality in the face of capacity and resource constraints. Easing barriers to entry, and carefully designing PPPs.

7.  Decentralisation : Strengthening and promoting community participation via school committees by providing them school-related information to the community. The role and scope of SMCs needs to be increased to improve education quality.

8. Enhanced assessment systems are necessary to monitor progress in learning outcomes and improvements in schooling quality over time. Without knowing how students are performing, it is difficult to tell which policies are working or when new ones are needed. There is an urgent need for an enabling environment for assessment, to align assessment activities with other aspects of the education system, to improve the technical quality of the instruments being employed, and to use assessment results in making education policy decisions to improve quality.