Education: Bangalore, India

My experience with education during my study abroad is probably much different from other students going to Europe, Australia or South America. I am currently taking classes through Minnesota Studies in International Development at a Non-governmental organization called the Environmental Support Group. Along with eleven other students I am taking classes in international development, Kannada (the local language), research and methodology, India country analysis and individual track courses, mine being education. My typical school day starts at 9:30 and ends around 4:00 where I have an assorted variance of these classes each day. Our days are so long because we are cramming a semester worth of classes into two months.

            While all of these classes are extremely interesting and informative I have learned the most on weekly two-day trips that we take into the field in order to get a more hands on learning experience. I have visited a rural elementary and high school as well as a dairy farm, coffee plantation and silk cocoon market among other sites.

            Even though I am not attending a traditional university or college in Bangalore I have learned an extensive amount about the Indian education system in India through my education course. One aspect of high education here that stuck out to me in particular is that students in India experience some of the same problems as American students. For example, the cost of high education has risen dramatically in the past decade and continues to do so. This has created a large problem for the emerging middle class and other lower economic classes; no matter how they well they do in school they still may be barred from acquiring a higher education because they cannot afford it.

            Another similarity is the implementation of the reservation system; this program acts much like the United States’ affirmative action program. The non-caste and historically marginalized peoples of India, namely the Dalits, religious groups (other than Hindus) and women, are reserved 25% of the seats in any educational institute public or private. Recently, this has caused something of a backlash. It has created a divide between them and upper-castes who see them as receiving an education they didn’t have to work for and thus don’t deserve. Unfortunately I have also heard this in the US in regards to the affirmative action program. What these people don’t understand because of their blind privilege is that these students have earned their way there, however, due to their socio-economic status they are unable to pay for the education that they need in order to pull them selves out of poverty making this one of the most important programs in the country.