Article Review
In her essay “How Technology is Set to Transform India’s Fragmented Education System” the author Anika Gupta talks about the lack of penetration of computers and the internet in India’s education system, especially amongst the ‘low-income’ segment and how things are bound to improve in the near future. There are a number of factors behind this low penetration of technology, particularly the lack of trained teachers, the high cost of the training and the fact that the government has no overall technology policy for schools.
But now the non-profit organizations are trying to bridge this gap and are investing in this sector. A case in point is CSF, which has tied up with MindSpark, a company that produces adaptive learning tools, to test their products on low-income and government school students. And there has been a slow but definite improvement.
Many people may disagree with the author’s optimistic viewpoint, but the fact is that in spite of the current situation, where many schools are not using the computer facilities they have, things are looking up. The non-profit organizations may be able to make technology affordable and more reachable to the children from the low-income bracket. For these children, this education is a window to their dreams; to another world that will take them to a life beyond the one of hard labor lived by their parents.
Therefore, the author is not biased or inclined towards unfairly believing her theory. It is a truly optimistic judgment based on the current social and economic scenario of India.
