Break the poverty cycle

This is with reference to ‘Child labour derails the youth advantage’ by Uday Balakrishnan (August 11). The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 should be enforced strictly to eliminate child labour. The first step is to clearly enunciate a policy that no child must work and every child must attend full-time formal school up to 18 years of age. India should invest at least 10 per cent of its GDP in education. There must also be a provision for adequate hostels to enable first-generation learners to continue their education in mainstream schools. Provision should be made to bring back the huge backlog of children who have missed out on schooling. Children should be educated to develop confidence and break the inter-generational cycle of poverty and ignorance.

S Muthulakshmi

Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu

I doubt that high quality education can keep children away from working. Education does not pay off in the short-term yet it is an important investment for life. There are families in which specialised skills are imparted from one generation to the next through early induction into the family trade and craft. In innumerable families in the grip of penury, children are pushed to get supplementary incomes to make both ends meet.

The government could, in partnership with NGOs, run awareness campaigns about the benefits of education. Offering meals at school has helped keep some of them enrolled. The Act by itself may deter some from using child labour but not necessarily encourage parents to choose education. This will call for a gradual change of mindset through imagination and reinforcement of values.

Anand Srinivasan

Bengaluru

Equal opportunities

This refers to your edit, ‘Netting the best’ (August 11). A common entrance test is the way forward and it is the duty of State governments to up their educational standards so that students across the board can be successful.

As the edit points out, these tests should be conducted online and multiple times a year. Let’s abolish the quota enjoyed by private institutions to fill a certain number of seats as they wish.

CR Arun

Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu

The Government has done a very sensible thing by introducing a common entrance test for admissions to medical colleges.

The prevailing system is flawed and susceptible to malpractice. As the edit suggests, all the examinations for professional courses in the country should be common; this would prevent ‘leakage’ of papers and bring relief to students in terms of logistics and expense.

K Ashok Kumar

Kolkata

This annual affair of stressful tests and the plethora of forms to fill and pay for must be regulated for the sake of students and their parents. Also, the Government may want to facilitate capture of biographical and academic data centrally and once to be used by institutions for their own purposes.

Every institution charges a fee for the brochure and admission form which must be capped to cover just the administrative expenses. These institutions earn a sizeable revenue from sale of these forms. With just one exam to appear for, the proliferation of courses at training institutes that supposedly prepare them for different formats should stop.

Prakash H Subbaraya

Leicester, UK

An eye on the Valley

This refers to ‘How Pakistani is our Kashmir Valley’ by G Parthasarathy (August 11). This informative and objective discussion points correctly to the fact that the atmosphere resulting from the tension between the people, the government and the military is not good for the region.

The suggestion that a “carefully calibrated process of engagement with a cross-section of society in Jammu and Kashmir is imperative” is valid. Attention should be focussed on involving the youth in more responsibilities, and having stronger and wider interactions with them.

The Centre must keep a steady eye on the situation. The visit of the home minister to the State was a step in the right direction but such visits should be frequent and focussed.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

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