"Qualiquity"!!!

There are times when we take not more than five minutes to understand something that is told to us. And there are other times, when there are five people trying to explain a concept, but it just refuses to settle down in our minds. My first post on this blog is all about how I tried to understand the concept of quality and equity in education and how they are both important. They should essentially co-exist in an education system.

If we cannot have both at the same time, then what is more important - quality or equity? Can we have 'quality' education without being fair and just? Or can we afford to be fair and just, and compromise on quality? To these questions, the answer was one that we all knew. They both should go hand-in-hand. There were no two ways about it.
But what do we mean by quality in education? And equity?

My understanding of quality is very simple - something that has a specifically good standard, is long-lasting and which creates an impact. Bring it into education and we have a system that is reliable and efficient in all ways - from planning the process to executing it. Equity, as per my comprehension, is when there is fairness, justice and equality in all aspects. I believe that an indicator of quality education is the inclusive factor of it. If a school can operate while successfully bringing together children from diverse backgrounds, then I consider it to be imparting quality education. It is, however, according to me, just one of the parameters in forming an opinion about the system.

But how much of it do we witness in government schools? India is such a large and complex country that several years of work have to go into achieving acceptable results. Huge drop-out rates and insufficient infrastructure still are a characteristic of a government school. And they are NOT the features of quality education. Socially, caste and gender still play a deciding role in who goes to school and who doesn't. Economically, resources of the land go the rich and powerful, while the under-privileged remain so forever. No fairness. No justice. And definitely no equality. 

But there is hope. Because there are children who want to attend schools. There are parents who will go to any lengths to educate their children. And there are teachers who take their jobs seriously. There is a lot to look forward to.