Random Rant

Next week will be the craziest, most hectic and chaotic week in my training period and it is the last week, of course. I am really looking forward to it, as are fellow new recruits.

Last week, we had the chance to have dinner with the chairman of the company. It was really great talking to him about all kind of things- politics, society and religion. The restaurant where we had dinner was nice, and the food was great.

During one of the sessions last week, we had this interesting discussion about the state of education in India. In fact, it was a spin-off from another discussion we were having. One of my colleagues said that although people are provided with opportunities for education, they don't want to take it, because they are not aware of the need for education. I don't agree with that view, and I said it is unfair for people like us, with all kind of facilities, sitting in an air conditioned room, making a verdict on people who are not given enough opportunities to get education. It was pointed out to me that one of my colleagues had worked for an NGO, and when they went to slums as part of their work, they found that people were keener to send their kids to work, rather than to the school.

If we really look at the scenario, there does not exist a real opportunity for those kids in the slums. Would one call it an opportunity for education, if the family needs its ten or twelve year olds to work so that the family can survive, and there is a school nearby? That is not a real opportunity, it is more of a pseudo-opportunity, one could say that there are schools, and people just don't want to grab the opportunity. One could also come up with the conclusion that until these people have the chance to survive without their kids having to work, it is not an opportunity