India
India, the home to more than two billion people worldwide and one of the largest economies in the world, competing with the likes of China and the United States. A diverse culture of islamic, hindu, sikh and buddhist roots, and diasporas spanning out upon continents and generations. The nation itself remains a trailblazer as a result of its achievements and potential.
Yet it may seem to come at a price, the nation seems to be running so fast that the people themselves cannot keep up. First hand experience can really shape one's perspectives about the country. The large office complexes are reflected in the everlasting windows of shanty towns, the expansive and ever growing industrial economy pollutes the greying sky, the billionaire entrepreneurs outnumbered by those who roam the streets without a roof over their head. In almost every step that India takes, they are anchored down by something.
Taking a step back, India remains an icon in the world of economics, entrepreneurship and general smarts. With leading icons like the Ambanis, the richest family in India, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, alongside 3 of the top 10 chess players in the world and Satya Nadella the CEO of Microsoft. India seems to be an almost picture perfect and dominant example of harnessing the ability of its people. Yet in all this glory, as mentioned earlier there is something anchoring India down, limiting its true abilities.
This ‘something’ is a combination of factors. One may deem these factors as socio-economic political factors, including concepts such as pre-existing gender norms, deep roots of colonization, political values, generational poverty, etc.
Personal Perspective
Now, as done by many across the world I could further analyze the so-called socio-economic political factors that influence India. The quote on quote, ‘something’ that holds India back for every step it takes, but what would that prove? Instead, I want to bring you closer to an aspect of this ‘something’. An aspect which I believe I as an individual am able to make a difference, not on a large scale worldwide problem solver, but one that benefits my community, something achievable. In this case, I have chosen children's education, something that I have been deeply rooted to through my educational years. A recurring theme that I feel close to, and impelled to explore.
The National Public School Panna:
So to set the scene here and give you as the reader some context, I visited my family home town of Panna, located south east of Khajuraho. Panna is a small town known for not much really. With its specialty in diamond minds, a tiger reserve and heritage temples, the rest remains as an agricultural area and small home businesses. As of late there have been some attempts to modernize and innovate the town, bringing some commercial brands like Cantobil and a single large scale supermarket. But overall, the town remains rather simple in nature. As a result, so is education. It's not lacking in any way but it is limited, opportunities are scarce and the education is enough to keep students well in India but not really beyond such borders.
Zooming in even further, we landed upon my grandfather's school, National Public School Panna (NPSP). My visit was short lived but immersive enough to capture a sense of the school, its progress and its improvements. Originally, I had planned to write more about the education system itself. The school is top within the region and I wanted to learn more, understanding how a small school can achieve such feats. Yet as we discussed with the heads of the school, a more interesting topic was brought to my attention. The school stated that they themselves deal with a recurring problem, that being the fees and drop out rates.
What's going on?
So we decided to deep dive a little bit, the heads of the school informed us that as the school advances fees are changed and payments are altered. They must increase the payment in order to keep the school going. Yet, it's important to remember that for a lot of families especially in a place like Panna, it's not an economic sanctuary and not everyone has a lot of money. According to the school, government funding were to be cut by $350 then in just grade 8 alone, 10-20 girls would expectedly drop out.
I want this to settle in for a second, a price of $350 is barely anything, this is like the average expense for my weeks worth of food at school for me and my friends or to provide a class with stationery. Yet, for these very students it is the literal choice between having education or not.
This is not the worst of it though, earlier when I was setting down the base for this article I mentioned socio-economic political factors that influence India and its progress, one of those though minimally addressed was pre-existing gender norms. The school informed us that women’s dropout rates are viewed as exponentially higher than men's. You will have noticed this from the mentioning of girls being the ones to drop out. Sadly, this is as a result of social views and expectations towards women. Indian culture has a scattered history of gender disequality from the time of its independence as a nation and before. Before I get to political, essentially if there is a rationalization of money to education, it would be to pay for men’s education in preference to women in a majority of households.
Before I continue, I want to emphasize that this is not putting a label on India, it is not some ‘men before women’ country. Though a very present ideology especially in rural areas, across the nation social attitudes towards women have shifted immensely. From corporations to politics, women have been able to take a leap forward for the betterment of their futures. It’s just that the issue still exists in many domains. I simply want to help, not label, not accuse and not point out any mistakes.
The numbers themselves are noticeable, drop rates so easily fluctuating with a small change in prices. Having said that, NPSP is more of an above average school, it provides education of high standards for such minimal payment. Many schools deal with this issue, with greater dropout rates and lower quality education. Think, in a country of over 2 billion people, what could the large scale implications of this be.
Right to Education:
So you might be wondering, what’s India doing about overall dropout rates, are they even aware? The answer to that is yes, but it's not that simple. India provides a service called ‘Right to Education’. The program is simple, it provides free education, unpaid for the child being enrolled till completion of elementary schooling years. After this the program is cut short and depending on the parents (which likely don’t have the money) they can continue till graduation funded by themselves or drop out.
Hands down, the project is an amazing initiative, it tackles one of India’s largest issues being lack of education. By providing children with at least a basic means of education (till 14 years old) it ensures that they’ll be able to at least earn some sort of a job and hopefully keep income steady.
Though here’s where I believe we could help, the issue doesn’t tackle three things all as a result of not paying till full educational years. One, if a family is able to afford one kid to continue it will likely be the boy, due to preexisting social expectations. Two, if they cannot afford to continue there is untapped potential. By ending their school year abruptly like that it means that they will never have those opportunities. Their ability to grow in this world is cutshort. Finally, oftentimes the scholarship will provide them schooling in local schools. The National Public School Panna (NPSP) has let students go to this program before, only to end up in schools worse off than theirs. Sadly, the school itself can’t really do much about them, raise the prices, drop out kids dropout, keep prices the same, and lose talented kids. It's a bit of a paradox, and the harsh reality of places like Panna.
The Initiative
The idea is simple, but it can truly have an impact. My parents and I will continue to fundraise and donate money to this school. Each dollar to be donated to these very kids and help continue their education. Over time I’m hoping to continue my documentation of this problem and to shed more light and the issue and how you can help. It's not a lot, but overtime and with strong initiative me and my family can continue to keep these girls at school.
A Student and Education:
As I explained earlier, I could rattle on and on about implications and economic weak points, but I want to make a true difference. It hurts me to see how students and children around the world are so limited and held back by basic amounts that students like me use up on a regular basis.
To see the life I live and contrast them with the stories and on the ground life that I have witnessed breaks my heart. It’s been a motivating factor behind writing this piece and it's one of the reasons that I continue to write so heavily on child poverty.
So it brings me to my concluding point, I alongside my family will continue to support these children through funding. Allowing women to complete their education to the fullest, it may not be something that revolutionises the world but it gives the opportunity for young women in my village to grow and prosper in the academic life that I have been so fortunate to experience. I hope this article has touched your heart. Remember, your home could be suffering from similar cases like this, and small choices can truly have the largest impact.
Bibliography
District Panna, Government of Madhya Pradesh. (n.d.). History. Retrieved July 16, 2025, from District Panna, Government of Madhya Pradesh: panna.nic.in/en/history/
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