Figure 1.--Thhis photograph was taken in one of the many government primary schools in rural Tamil Nadu (southwesrern India) about 2020. We notice some elements. The school maintains a basic uniform standard, almost all the children wear the required uniform wih a few exceptions meaning some flexibility. Two girls aren't wearing the correct jumper color and another girl isn't wearing any uniform at all. None of the children are wearing any footwear It appears that the school provides lunch for the children--look at the large pot in the background. Notice the building colors, the Indian national colors abd school uniform colors.

Compulsory primary education begins at age 6 years with 1st grade. There are are 8 grade leves (age 6-13 years). They are divided into Lower and Upper Primary levels. While children are legally required to be begin school at this age, many children because of poverty do not attend school at all And there is littklev eborcemet of the mandatory requirement. Parents can choose either private or public primary schools. Strangely, one source states, " ... parents typically choose to send their children to public schools, which often have better facilities than private schools do." We think that mostly refers to Muslim private schools. India is a very diverse country, both etnically and linguistically. The language of instruction in most primary school is the local dialect or languages and there are 122 officially recognized dialects. Some like Hindi and Tamil are very widespread. Others have much smaller more regional usage. Hindi is the most important and the official language of the country. Interestingly, English is very important and despite the colonial stigma, also an official language because it is one of the few trans-ethnic ties that binds modern India togther. The instructionn in English as a foreign language begins in the 3rd Grade. The primary curriculum includes math, science, history, physical education, art, and what is called language arts, because India is so diverse linguistically. Language arts is what is called English in American schools and includes both grammar and literature. India is a federal state. And education is a function relegted to each state government. There is no national curriculum. As a result, there are substantial differences from state to state and school to school.

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Created: 1:53 PM 7/28/2024
Last updated: 1:53 PM 7/28/2024