 Team Reports |
India, it's a changin'Warren Wagstaff — North Vancouver, BC
India is a country of contrasts: old colonial buildings surrounded by new construction; weather-stained lowrise apartments are now in the shadows of rising modern towers; planned cities arise on the outskirts of old established cities. The new competes with the old. Indians are fiercely proud of their country and know that many challenges are ahead for a country of 1.2 billion people. The demographics of India has been explained to me as such: "It’s a pyramid, but not really a pyramid … more like an Eiffel tower, skinny at top and then fat at the bottom. With half the population under the age of thirty-five and 65% of the population in rural settings, modern India has not caught up with the masses.
With 10,000 children born in India each hour, the need is great. Nearly half of all newborn children do not make it to the age of five — 30% of newborns passing in the first year of life. Each hour of each day, twenty new schools, three new hospitals, and two new universities need to be built just to satisfy the "new" need for future services of today's newborn. With 30% of the population illiterate, education is key. As government policies adapt to a new India, it is wonderful to hear about the emphasis on education. If parents have only one child and it is a girl, then her education is fully-funded until grade twelve. Schools of all types are offered: engineering, IT, or medicine.
Each day we see children of all ages heading for school. But sadly, we also see the children who cannot go to school, working on the side of the road, hauling goods, selling tea or washing clothes, those who by necessity must eke out a living on the streets. The contrast is brutally apparent, the struggle huge. How do you provide for all? How do you educate the masses, the poor? It is a big question being solved by the government and private citizens together. The government sponsors district boarding schools that accept children based solely on academics with all costs covered. Private citizens build schools with their own capital, giving back to India. They may have been blessed with success and are giving back to their communities. India is like a huge supertanker — it will take a while for it to change direction, but it will get to its destination. India is rich and poor, chaotic and serene, bright and dark, old and new, and proud. Fiercely proud. What a country! |
