正文
India needs not only better infrastructure but also better basic education system
I still remember vividly, I was speechless when my Indian colleague told me that in many public schools in India, teachers never or seldom show up. If the same thing happens in any village in China, the irresponsible teachers will be living in contempts of the villagers. And the villagers will keep bugging the authorities until those guys are removed or fired from the teacher's file.
This is partly because most Chinese parents, no matter whether they are living in Shanghai or in an inland village, are adamantly convinced that the only sure way that their children getting better opportunities and lives is to get a solid education. For many peasants, their children are their hope. They can toil hard on the rice field or in the sweat factories, as long as their children get better education. On the other hand, the government is careful in making education policies to make sure that a quality basic education (9 year compulsory education) is available to every child. The results is that the training of mathematics, science and Chinese literature a junior high school graduate gets from a rural village is almost equivalent to the same training his peers in Shanghai can get.
A good basic infrastructure and a good basic education system are two cornerstone of China's success in becoming a global manufacturing center. Every year, millions of humble-looking country boys and girls take the trains from their hometown and go to the coastal areas looking for jobs, usually quickly end up in the manufacturing plants. They fit well in their new places and work well. After a couple of years, many of them convert themselves into technicians, supervisors, sales person, business men and women, entrepreneurs. All these could not have happened without the quality basic education they got from their schools in their villages.
Often times I see people talk about manufacturing with contempt. Many people believe if they gets a plant set up he can pull a couple of peasants from countryside and make the production up running. This is so untrue. Well maybe he can but his company will incur big lost due to poor quality product. Just check out what companies ask when they are hiring production workers in China. High school diploma? Good! Junior high? We will think about it. Elementary school only? No way! Usually a manufacturing job requires basic scientific knowledges, logical thinking and some communication skills. A worker with solid basic education simply works better and has better perspectives.
Many people including myself are amazed how fast China has moved up the value added chain. The products churned out by the Chinese companies are much more sophisticated and of better qualities than they were 10 years ago. One of the major reason is quality control management (QCM) system becomes prevalent practice in China during this time. Everyone who has ever worked with QCM knows it takes great attention and input from the floor workers to make the QCM work.
Sure manufacturing sounds very unsexy in the knowledge based economy. But it is the base of a economy. It provides the products for the society to consume. The workers earn income which can foster the domestic consumption and service industry. Actually many service industries are directly linked to the manufacturing industry. As evidence of that, manufacturing clusters all around the world usually have technical service center, consultation center, commerce center and financial center standby. Many innovations are based on the practice of production. Do not forget US became a world center of industrial innovation only after it became a world center of manufacturing by the turn of 19th century.
People usually talk about the poor infrastructure as the limiting factor for India to become a economic powerhouse. Sure it is. But not the only one. A poor basic education system is less obvious but even more imperative problem needs to be solved. Without a quality basic education system, the industrializtion of India will still falter at certain stage.
I still remember vividly, I was speechless when my Indian colleague told me that in many public schools in India, teachers never or seldom show up. If the same thing happens in any village in China, the irresponsible teachers will be living in contempts of the villagers. And the villagers will keep bugging the authorities until those guys are removed or fired from the teacher's file.
This is partly because most Chinese parents, no matter whether they are living in Shanghai or in an inland village, are adamantly convinced that the only sure way that their children getting better opportunities and lives is to get a solid education. For many peasants, their children are their hope. They can toil hard on the rice field or in the sweat factories, as long as their children get better education. On the other hand, the government is careful in making education policies to make sure that a quality basic education (9 year compulsory education) is available to every child. The results is that the training of mathematics, science and Chinese literature a junior high school graduate gets from a rural village is almost equivalent to the same training his peers in Shanghai can get.
A good basic infrastructure and a good basic education system are two cornerstone of China's success in becoming a global manufacturing center. Every year, millions of humble-looking country boys and girls take the trains from their hometown and go to the coastal areas looking for jobs, usually quickly end up in the manufacturing plants. They fit well in their new places and work well. After a couple of years, many of them convert themselves into technicians, supervisors, sales person, business men and women, entrepreneurs. All these could not have happened without the quality basic education they got from their schools in their villages.
Often times I see people talk about manufacturing with contempt. Many people believe if they gets a plant set up he can pull a couple of peasants from countryside and make the production up running. This is so untrue. Well maybe he can but his company will incur big lost due to poor quality product. Just check out what companies ask when they are hiring production workers in China. High school diploma? Good! Junior high? We will think about it. Elementary school only? No way! Usually a manufacturing job requires basic scientific knowledges, logical thinking and some communication skills. A worker with solid basic education simply works better and has better perspectives.
Many people including myself are amazed how fast China has moved up the value added chain. The products churned out by the Chinese companies are much more sophisticated and of better qualities than they were 10 years ago. One of the major reason is quality control management (QCM) system becomes prevalent practice in China during this time. Everyone who has ever worked with QCM knows it takes great attention and input from the floor workers to make the QCM work.
Sure manufacturing sounds very unsexy in the knowledge based economy. But it is the base of a economy. It provides the products for the society to consume. The workers earn income which can foster the domestic consumption and service industry. Actually many service industries are directly linked to the manufacturing industry. As evidence of that, manufacturing clusters all around the world usually have technical service center, consultation center, commerce center and financial center standby. Many innovations are based on the practice of production. Do not forget US became a world center of industrial innovation only after it became a world center of manufacturing by the turn of 19th century.
People usually talk about the poor infrastructure as the limiting factor for India to become a economic powerhouse. Sure it is. But not the only one. A poor basic education system is less obvious but even more imperative problem needs to be solved. Without a quality basic education system, the industrializtion of India will still falter at certain stage.
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