Rural education and Globalisation: A Critical Analysis

Majority of India still lives in villages and so the topic of rural education in India is of utmost importance. A survey named called the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), shows that even though the number of rural students attending schools is rising, but more than half of the students in fifth grade are unable to read a second grade text book and are not able to solve simple mathematical problems. Poverty is another setback. Government schools are not as good and private schools are expensive. This results in a very low number of students actually clearing their secondary education and taking admission in colleges for further studies. So the drop-out-rate at the secondary level is extremely high in villages. Only parents who can afford college education send their kids to secondary schools. If parents are not able to send their wards for higher education then all their previous efforts get wasted as completing just secondary education means a low paying job and the person is again struck in the same never ending cycle of money, life and poverty.

Globalization is believed to affect most the earnings and the living standards of people in the urban areas. NGO's and several organizations are studying the impact of globalization on value system and employment. People describe its impact in relation to literacy, skills, growth and development mostly on urban life but its effect on rural livelihood that impacts more than 60 percent of Indian population is seldom discussed. Globalization has no impact on rural life as standards of living are suboptimal but migration of people is taking place and poor people are moving to urban areas in search of employment. Through this paper the efforts have been made critically analyse the nature of globalization and how it is effecting rural education and to suggest some recommendations with regard to them.