Page 61 - EducationWorld Oct 2021

LFH & out-of-school children in IT capital: official and industry indifference

Social & Economic Progress, Delhi) at $16,000 (Rs. 12 lakh) private schools of the city,”
is double the per capita national income of $6,390 (PPP) per advises V. Ravichander, a
year. With monthly salaries in IT and associated companies learned (BITS-Pilani, IIM-
averaging over Rs.2 lakh per month, markers of affluence Ahmedabad) former man-
are visible throughout the city in which construction activity agement consultant (Feed
— gated residential colonies, sky-kissing apartment blocks, Consultancy Services) and
roads, flyovers, sidewalks — continues despite the pandemic currently director of the Ban-
slowdown. As a result, the city municipal corporation rakes galore International Centre
in Rs.2,460 crore annually as property tax, bettered only by (estb.2009).
Mumbai and Delhi. However, this hasn’t resulted in world- Somewhat curiously this
class roads, sanitation and civic projects because of perni- fast track city funded by intel- V. Ravichander
cious institutionalised corruption. lectual capital seems to care
“By Indian standards, Bangalore is a very wealthy city. little about education — es-
There’s huge inflow of hard currency wealth annually. But pecially of the poor majority who have been bypassed by the
the city is divided into upscale Bangalore of the upper and garden city’s transformative IT revolution. According to an
middle classes and down-market Bengaluru of the strug- Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) survey of
gling majority. And Bengaluru’s children — especially in November 2019, 60 percent of the city’s population is uncon-
government and low-end budget private schools — have nected with the Internet. Moreover, a mere 7 percent of Inter-
been severely neglected for 18 months of the Covid lockdown. net users are aged 12-15 years and 11 percent in the 16-19 age
Neither government nor the wealthy IT industry has applied group. Translated, this means that in India’s Silicon Valley
their minds to bridge the education deficit of children who city, the vast majority of children and youth — future wealth
have suffered very damaging learning loss. The fallout of this creators — have been denied school and college education
widening education inequality can disrupt social harmony for the past 18 months during which all schools and college
of the garden city. Government and IT companies need to campuses were under government mandated lockdown for
cooperate to connect and wire up all government and budget fear of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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