From a recent New York Times article on India’s public education system, is a public school in Lahtora, which I believe is in the state of Bihar:

Ouch. (Click on the photo to see the original, larger version at the Times.)

Interestingly, the article (again by Somini Sengupta), shows that the problems in the system aren’t necessarily simply created by a lack of funds. Quite a bit of money is being spent by the central and state governments to improve government schools — this particular village had been allotted $15,000 to build a new school. The problem is that the funds often remain unspent, sometimes because of the famously thick and impenetrable Indian government bureaucracy, and sometimes simply because of corruption and nepotism at the local level.

Sengupta does sound some positive notes along the way. The sheer scale of the effort to improve the schools is mind-boggling:

India has lately begun investing in education. Public spending on schools has steadily increased over the last few years, and the government now proposes to triple its financial commitment over the next five years. At present, education spending is about 4 percent of the gross domestic product. Every village with more than 1,000 residents has a primary school. There is money for free lunch every day.

Even in a state like Bihar, which had an estimated population of 83 million in 2001 and where schools are in particularly bad shape, the scale of the effort is staggering. In the last year or so, 100,000 new teachers have been hired. Unemployed villagers are paid to recruit children who have never been to school. A village education committee has been created, in theory to keep the school and its principal accountable to the community. And buckets of money have been thrown at education, to buy swings and benches, to paint classrooms, even to put up fences around the campus to keep children from running away. (link)

It doesn’t always help. The free lunch program in this village, for instance, doesn’t work because the principal says the rice he’s been sent (lying in stacks in the classroom) isn’t “officially reflected in his books.” But the recently released Pratham study finds that free lunch is working in 90% of schools, which is pretty good — again if you consider the scale of the project.

Incidentally, some Indian newspapers have also covered the findings of this year’s Pratham survey, in somewhat rosier terms — and, needless to say, no reporters or photographers going out to see actual village schools. The Economic Times, for instance, is impressed that teacher attendance has improved from 38% in 2005, to 53% in 2007. Improvement is great, but it’s still hard to imagine children learning very much when their teachers only show up every other day!

Finally, the full 2007 Pratham Survey is here (PDF); I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. Overall, Pratham looks like an important NGO; I’m considering donating something to them to support their efforts. Continue reading →

I would think we’re all more than adeqately familiar with the long list of clichés about roads in India — they’re chaotic, people honk a lot, there’s no clear lane structure, there are all these ultracheap, Ipod-sized cars… and yeah, there’s the occasional animal. Just in case you’ve forgotten some of them, here are the clichés again for you:

Amid a cacophony of horns, a blood-red sport utility vehicle weaved between cars, passing Mr. Sharma within a razor’s edge on the right. A school bus snuggled close up on his left. No one seemed to care about traffic lanes. Cars bounced in and out of crater-size potholes.

[…] Sharing the road with him were a bicyclist with three cooking-gas cylinders strapped to the back of his bike, a pushcart vendor plying guavas, a cycle rickshaw loaded with a photocopy machine (rickshaws often being the preferred mode of delivery for modern appliances).

There were also a great many pedestrians, either leaping into traffic in the absence of crosswalks or marching in thick rows on the sides of the road in the absence of sidewalks. At one point, a car careered down the wrong side of the road. Then a three-wheeled scooter-rickshaw came straight at Mr. Sharma, only to duck swiftly down a side street. At least this morning there was no elephant chewing bamboo in the fast lane, as there sometimes is. (link)

I have no problem if a reporter goes to Delhi, notices that the traffic is intense, and writes about it; some clichés, admittedly, are based in truth. (The article, incidentally, is by Somini Sengupta, with contributions from Hari Kumar and Seher Mahmood.) What I do have a problem are silly non-observations, like “At least there was no elephant chewing bamboo in the fast lane, as there sometimes is.” In fact, you didn’t see any elephants, did you? Why report on what you didn’t see?

Though I must admit I am no expert either, I have never seen an elephant on the road in central Delhi… Cows and goats, yes. But an elephant, no — it seems like an exceptional rather than an ordinary occurrence.

I think someone is pulling Somini’s leg. Continue reading →

But first, you have to send him all your cash:

He promised them “light in their lives.”

He laughed with them, danced with them and, most importantly, he prayed for them.

Mohammad Roshan Zameer was the name he gave. Though, with their pockets empty, his alleged victims now wonder if even that was real.

And they may never know.

Because after several members of Peel Region’s Hindu community forked over hundreds of thousands of dollars to the alleged Swami Swindler, he upped and left, leaving nary a coin — or prayer — behind.

On the 540 AM Punjabi Lehran radio show he first spoke on in July, the man became known as Roshan bhai — “Brother Roshan” in Hindi. Roshan means “illumination” or “light.” (link)

It’s an age-old tradition — the God-touting charlatan. I’m always shocked that anyone still falls for it, but I guess there’s a sucker born every minute. In this case, it’s somewhat impressive that “Roshan Bhai” was able to convince members of Toronto’s Hindu community (at least, according to the Toronto Sun) to give money to someone who seemed to be identifying himself as a Muslim holy man. (This point is a bit unclear.)

The Toronto Sun story in particular has one sad-but-funny detail: one of the victims of Roshan Bhai, Paramjit Bhullar, went so far as to actually use a spycam to tape conversations with the charlatan. Despite his suspicions, he still ended up losing $60,000 to Mr. Roshan Bhai.

Are there any Toronto readers who might have heard more about this story? Continue reading →