Compulsory Education Service

Most of the Countries have a compulsory military service. It is mandatory for all adult male (why not female also, I cannot understand) to serve in the military for a minimum of two years and people who evade this are hauled up before a court of law and punished. Remember Mohammad Ali, the famous boxer, refusing to join the US Army draft protesting the Vietnam war and having to serve a jail term at the peak of his prowess. I have always felt this to be a good idea since couple of years of military service will strengthen the nationalistic feeling and will give a dose of much needed discipline to the youngsters. It will also give the nation an opportunity to fall back on trained men in case of an emergency like natural calamity.

With our military expenses already quite high, I do not think this is feasible. But the Government can definitely do an out of the box thinking and use the vast pool of educated people in India.

One of the major problem faced by India today is lack of teachers in rural areas. Teaching profession has lost its lustre. Even in urban areas and top schools, the children are being taught by men and women who have limited passion for teaching (there are exceptions of course) and are not qualified enough. Also, the teachers at the school and college level (why, even at the professional level) possess limited industrial experience. This hampers the efficiency of teaching. The dictum, that a great teacher produces good students, a good teacher creates average students and an average teacher churns out bad students, is quite true.

My recommendation is for the Government to introduce a Compulsory Educational Service for all Graduates who have completed 10 years of service in various organizations. They should be asked to work in various educational institutions across India, preferably in the rural area. The organizations which employ them can be asked to pay their salary for which tax exemptions can be given. Thus, there is no direct cost to the government, employees interests are protected and the organizations also do not lose anything. The students across the country will get the benefit of people who have the knowledge and the working experience. The working professionals will be definitely better people for the experience, will be more socially conscious and will bring them down to reality from their ivory towers.