POVERTY
"Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom." |
Image source: Microeconomic Insights
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Poverty leads to lack of funding on educational resources, either in facility or HR.
According to UN Report, India has more access to cell phones per person than toilets. The significance of this demonstrates the extent of resource scarcity and lack of governmental prioritization on infrastructures regarding to education, sanitation, etc.
An example of specific and convincing evidence to support the above assertion is the statistics on the left. These reliable statistics from the Indian government demonstrates the prevalence of poverty in contemporary India, leading us to infer the underfunding of education. |
A creatively debated and complex topic it seems, the cause of poverty in India can be attributed to many factors such as:
- Rapid population growth rate creating competition
- Gender inequality
- Lack of employment opportunities
- Imbalanced wealth distribution
- Social prejudices manifested through traditions and customs such as the Caste System, creating marginalisation
The social set up is still backward and is not conducive to faster development. Laws of inheritance, caste system, traditions and customs are putting hindrances in the way of faster development and have aggravated the problem of poverty.
- Supriya Guru
Image source: Quotefancy
Poverty contributes to lack of education in India because it severely limits and impedes opportunities for children to receive education, with the most severely affected regions being the remote, rural, and undeveloped parts of the country. Due to poverty, a very limited amount of the national revenue (a.k.a. GDP) can be used by government to fund the field of education through facilities and human resources. Having insufficient amount of schools and large demand will cause excessively large class sizes. With the stricken effect of unprofessional teachers, the quality of education cannot satisfy the need for children to compete, adapt, and survive in future workforce. Distance from home to school is another reason why families are reluctant to allow their children to school, taking account into the factors inconvenience and risks.
Some may argue that it is rather the social factors that contributed to lack of educational opportunities for girls rather than economic. For example, the expensive dowry culture that increases financial pressure and burden for father. However, marriage, education, and basic living necessities would have all been fully compatible in developed economies, where families do not have to sacrifice one choice for the other and end up in this dilemma.
Some may argue that it is rather the social factors that contributed to lack of educational opportunities for girls rather than economic. For example, the expensive dowry culture that increases financial pressure and burden for father. However, marriage, education, and basic living necessities would have all been fully compatible in developed economies, where families do not have to sacrifice one choice for the other and end up in this dilemma.
According to CEIC Data, average man in rural India makes 3-5 USD per day, thus having a monthly 150 dollar household budget assuming the wife does not work. The center of the bottom of this argumentative poster illustrates a typical example of budget planning in rural India carried out by father due to his financial responsibility, where he prioritized marriage and dowry over education when the daughter is still at school age. Because the dowry culture does not apply to males, this phenomenon leads to a higher chance of education for male children and causes the parents to favor and prioritize sons over daughters, neglecting girls' education.
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As a result of the social practice of trafficking, many young girls are deprived their opportunities from receiving education to work as child labors/slaves to further support their family's living financially. This is a hazardous and severe violation of human rights where children suffer from physical and psychological trauma without having a voice to speak up or speak out. This is one form of the inevitable consequences of poverty - the urgent necessity of money through any means possible including the violation of moral ethics.
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