Zeel Desai
A 13-year-old with 55 tennis titles to her credit, Ahmedabad-based Zeel Desai walks, talks and slogs tennis. Zeel is just back from Mumbai after winning the Under-14 singles on May 18 which comes on the back of a grand double in the previous week — bagging the singles and doubles titles in the ATF Asian U-14 tournament in Pune. “It was a valuable learning experience for me. I am determined to win the Junior Grand Slam 2016 when I will be fully ready,’’ says this young go-getter. A typical day of this class IX student of the HB Kapadia New High School, Ahmedabad, begins at 9 a.m. with a three-hour practice session under the watchful eye of coach Jignesh Raval. Back home for lunch and some rest, she is back at the courts at 3.30 p.m, for another two-hour workout followed by an hour of fitness training. Some rest and leisure moments and it’s early to bed. “School is closed for the summer vacations, otherwise afternoon practice is deferred to the evenings. Plus there’s a lot of travel and playing in tournaments across the country. I am very grateful to my principal Muktak Kapadia and teachers for helping me catch up with the classes missed when I’m on tour,” acknowledges Zeel. Zeel who took to the racquet sport at age six and won her first Under-14 national title when nine, is also fortunate to train at the Ahmedabad Racquets Academy established by her coach in 2011. Raval is an international coach with 14 years experience in 35 countries and also served with the Van de Meer Academy, USA, routinely ranked among the top 25 tennis academies of the world. Currently # 3 among junior (Under-14) girls, Zeel has also attracted the attention of Lakshya, a Pune-based NGO which sponsors advanced training for promising sportspersons. Under the aegis of Lakshya, Zeel has had the benefit of being trained by Vece Paes, father and coach of India’s durable Davis Cup star Leander Paes. Lakshya also subsidises her travel expenses. “With the support of Lakshya, we are confident of obtaining sponsorships for Zeel who now needs to acquire inter-national play experience,’’ says her doting father Mehul, an Ahmedabad-based business executive. Power to your racquet! R.K. Misra (Gandhinagar)
Political will missing link
Despite universal awareness that education — especially quality primary-secondary education — is the foundation block of national development, the tragedy of post-independence India’s national development effort is that in the actual allocation of resources, education never got the priority it deserves. The official mantra has always been that more pressing problems — widespread hunger, poverty alleviation, national security among other issues — needed to be given higher priority. This situation has been exacerbated by squandering of the meagre resources available and Indian education has not remained untouched by this national malaise. Schemes such as Operation Blackboard launched in pursuance of the National Policy on Education, 1986, failed miserably because of inadequate utilisation of resources. Two decades later, this scenario is being re-enacted in implementation of the historic Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Output is far below targeted levels, and grossly incommensurate with resource inputs. The number of young persons below 25 years of age in India is estimated at a massive 560 million. Of them, 225 million are in the 10-19 age group, the most important years during which youth make critically important career and lifestyle decisions. Therefore they must be handled with utmost care and caution. Our education system is insufficiently aware of the importance of these years and 70 percent of children in this age group are recipients of poor quality education which provides no direction, values or life skills. They are uncertain, unsure and confused about the future. This is not to say that no progress has been made in primary-secondary education. Capacity expansion has been achieved and the increase in primary enrolment ratio (98 percent) is impressive. Moreover from less than 20 percent, adult literacy has risen to around 75 percent despite a population increase of over three times — a noteworthy feat for a developing country. There are now around 700 universities and 35,000 colleges countrywide which though still inadequate, reflect considerable investment in higher education. However the greatest disappointment which outweighs all these positives is the continued downward slide of quality in all sectors of the education system. Whatever the other expectations from education, empowering individuals to earn their livelihood through honest work should be the prime objective. Yet post-independence India has faltered badly in imparting vocational education which was forcefully recommended by the Kothari Commission (1966). Consequently the number of unemployed youth has been growing steadily, with even engineers and management graduates unable to take up assignments without additional training inputs. That skill development has not been made compulsory for all, is a major lacuna of Indian education that needs to be addressed with strong policy decisions. A great seer and educator, Mahatma Gandhi understood this and said education should begin with “working with hands’’. The consequences of continuous neglect of VET (vocational education and training) are disastrous: only 2 percent of India’s youth in the age group 15-29 years have received vocational training in the country’s 8,800 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Of the remainder, another 4.7 percent have…