Vol. 58 No. 20 • December 6, 2016

One of the India’s biggest challenges today is literacy. It’s an irony that in a country which has made a place for itself as one of the world’s fastest growing economies, only one state – Kerala boasts of 100% literacy. Attendance in municipal schools is poor and teachers are often missing despite the mid day meal scheme of the government being in
operation. Attendance and enrolment of students in South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) schools in 2015-16 are the lowest in the past four years. Mumbai is no different. According to a report last year, a four-storey BMC school building in Dadar was functioning with just five students and two teachers.

Redefining our approach to education is imperative if we want a quantum change in the reults. This was brilliantly explained by our very own member Dr. Indu Shahani at the last meeting. Taking ‘board rooms’ to ‘class rooms’ is certainly out-of-the-box thinking. This will make education interesting and meaningful. More than education, we need skill development, so that we may provide skillful workforce for the many jobs that will be created in the coming
decades.

RCB is certainly on the right track with all our Bhavishya Yaan schools turning to E-learning and our focus on the night study centres. It was heartening to see so many students doing exceptionally well academically because of the opportunity that Rotary provided them. Thank You fellow Rotarians for upholding our motto of ‘Serving humanity’.