"We dont need no education...?"

....but reservations and quotas?

We have all heard David Gilmore singing this line in Another Brick in the wall.. Am not here to talk about the song.. but does this line really hold true, especially in the Indian context? We had a class discussion on the various Millenium Development Goals(MDGs) laid out by the UN that are adopted across the countries in the world. "Achieving universal primary education" is one of them and India is definitely facing a great challenge in making significant progress in this aspect. It still accounts for about 34% of the world's illiterate population. Attribute this to the large extent of rural areas, high population, low unemployment or the idiosyncratic reservations and quota system in the colleges and government offices?

A country like India which is plagued by evils such as caste, creed and religion would definitely want more of a compulsory primary education rather than a huge quota of reservations in PG colleges and jobs in govt. sectors. Building a strong base is more important than trying to improve the mansion. How long can the govt continue to use reservations as an alternative to quality education?? Is it really seeing any benefits thru this with regard to achieving the actual goal? Well... i dont want to take the liberty to mention what benefits the govt might be actually deriving at present by implementing such rules.. But I guess it's really time to give this a serious thought now than just let the problem reach the brink!!! I feel, that by delinking the backward classes from having any requirements to meet the basic education markers, it is doing more harm than good. Dont you think the govt has to spend at least 10 times more money on primary education for every buck spent on these quotas and reservations? Well... we all know the answers but who will really implement this is the question....