Edification, yet to work well

The former chairman of UGC and VC of Pune University writes:

• Peter Drucker says, “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately generate into hard work”.
• The human resource development (HRD) ministry now has come out with a figure of Rs 1.71 lakh crore for five years.
• We must realise that it is just not the provision for money that is going to make implementation easy. Each state would have to initiate several systemic reforms. Th ese include establishing the correct teacher-to-student ra tio (1:30), putting curriculum and examination reforms in place, creating a work plan for comprehensive and continuous evaluation, introducing new delivery methods and setting up school management committees with representation of all stakeholders.
• Governments, state and central, must realise that these reforms cannot happen overnight by using a magic wand. It requires enormous efforts and commitment at several levels, right from the panchayat to taluka to district to state level. We need to work out the best way to redistribute existing teachers among urban and rural schools and assess how many new teachers need to be recruited to achieve this golden ratio.