双语阅读｜印度普及小学教育 前景堪忧
IN 1931 Mahatma Gandhi ridiculed the idea that India might have universal primary education “inside of a century”. He was too pessimistic. Since 1980 the share of Indian teenagers who have had no schooling has fallen from about half to less than one in ten. That is a big, if belated, success for the country with more school-age children, 260m, than any other.
1931年，圣雄甘地曾自嘲道，印度可能“在一百年的时间”里才会普及小学教育。事实证明他过于悲观。自1980年以来，印度没有受过教育的青少年比例从一半下降到不到十分之一。对于拥有任何其他国家都没有的两亿六千万学龄儿童的印度来说，这可谓是一个巨大的，迟来的胜利。
Yet India has failed these children. Many learn precious little at school. India may be famous for its elite doctors and engineers, but half of its nine-year-olds cannot do a sum as simple as eight plus nine. Half of ten-year-old Indians cannot read a paragraph meant for seven-year-olds. At 15, pupils in Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh are five years behind their (better-off) peers in Shanghai. The average 15-year-old from these states would be in the bottom 2% of an American class. With few old people and a falling birth rate, India has a youth bulge: 13% of its inhabitants are teenagers, compared with 8% in China and 7% in Europe. But if its schools remain lousy, that demographic dividend will be wasted.
然而，印度耽搁了这些孩子的发展。一些小学生在学校获得的知识少得可怜。印度可能以精英医生和工程师而闻名，可是，同样在这个国家，几乎一半的孩子，在9岁的年纪仍然无法做出“八加九”计算题，10岁的孩子读不完整应由七岁孩子完成的段落。在印度的泰米尔纳德邦和喜马偕尔邦，15岁学生在知识的积累方面，几乎落后中国上海同龄学生5年时间。这些孩子若在美国与同龄孩子一起上课，可能会是属于垫底的2%的学生。随着印度老年人数量的下降和婴幼儿出生率的降低，青年人口成了整个国家人口的大多数：其中有13%青少年人口，在中国和欧洲仅为8%和7%。 但是，如果印度不改善学校教学状况，提高教学质量，即使有着人口资源上的优势，也只能白白浪费掉。
India has long had a lopsided education system. In colonial times the British set up universities to train civil servants, while neglecting schools. India’s first elected leaders expanded this system, pouring money into top-notch colleges to supply engineers to state-owned industries. By contrast, Asian tigers such as South Korea and Taiwan focused on schools. Of late, India has done more to help those left behind. Spending on schools rose by about 80% in 2011-15. The literacy rate has risen from 52% in 1991 to 74% in 2011. Free school lunches—one of the world’s largest nutrition schemes—help millions of pupils who might otherwise be too hungry to learn.
在印度，教育制度的不均衡性问题由来已久。早在英国殖民时期，英国人就在这里建立了专门培养公务员的高等学府，对基础教育的建设和发展置于不顾。印度第一位民选领导人深化这一教育方针，继续加大对一流大学的资金支持，旨在为国有企业输送高水平的工程人员。相比之下，韩国和台湾等有“亚洲四小龙"国家则专注于基础教育的建设发展。近年来，印度才投入更多来帮助落后的群体。在2011年至2015年间，基础教育建设方面的投入增长了80%。印度的识字人口从1991年的52％上升到2011年的74％。免费的学校午餐——世界上最大的营养计划之一——旨在为数百万学生提供饮食，使他们免于饥饿之苦，有充沛的精力学习。
Pointless pampered pedagogues
毫无作为，养尊处优的教职人员
However, the quality of schools remains a scandal. Many teachers are simply not up to the job. Since 2011, when the government introduced a test for aspiring teachers, as many as 99% of applicants have failed each year. Curriculums are over-ambitious relics of an era when only a select few went to school. Since pupils automatically move up each year, teachers do not bother to ensure that they understand their lessons. Overmighty teachers’ unions—which, in effect, are guaranteed seats in some state legislatures—make matters worse. Teachers’ salaries, already high, have more than doubled over the past two rounds of pay negotiations. Some teachers, having paid bribes to be hired in the first place, treat the job as a sinecure. Shockingly, a quarter play truant each day.
然而，印度学校的质量不时曝出丑闻。许多老师根本无法胜任教学职责。从2011年起，印度想当老师的人设立入职考试，然而，每年的通过率只有1%。学校课程设置是华而不实的老古董，因为它们属于对经过精挑细选之后才能上学的少数人设置的时代。印度的学生不存在留级的问题，老师们根本不需要考虑学生是否能听懂课程的问题。同时，手握大权的教师工会，实际上经在一些邦府议会中有固定的议席，让基础教育的状况愈发恶劣。在经过两轮薪酬谈判之后，已然很高教师薪酬却又不合理地翻了一倍多。有些老师为了最先得到录用而行贿，将这份工作当成闲差。更让人震惊的是，每天有近1/4的教师旷课。
Frustrated by the government system, and keen for their children to learn English, parents have turned to low-cost private schools, many of which are bilingual. In five years their enrolment has increased by 17m, as against a fall of 13m in public schools. These private schools can be as good as or better than public schools despite having much smaller budgets. In Uttar Pradesh the flight to private schools almost emptied some public ones. But when it was suggested that teachers without pupils move to schools that needed them, they staged violent protests and the state backed down.
在对政府制度的失望的情况下，以及热切希望孩子学习英语，印度的一些家长只能转向学费更低的私立学校，因为其中大部分学校采取双语教学。在五年时间里，印度私立学校的招生人数增长了1700万，公立学校的学生人数下降了1300万。尽管预算较少，这些私立学校可能不比公立学校差，甚至可能更好。在北方邦，前往私立学校的学生数量几乎让一些公共学校空无一人。但是，当有人建议无学生可教老师调去师资不足的学校任教时，他们却举行了暴力抗议活动，北方邦政府只能退让。
India spends about 2.7% of GDP on schools, a lower share than many countries. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, once vowed to bump up education spending to 6%. However, extra money will be wasted without reform in three areas. The first is making sure that children are taught at the right level. Curriculums should be simpler. Pupils cannot be left to pass through grades without mastering material. Remedial “learning camps”, such as the ones run by charities like Pratham, can help. So can technology: for example, EkStep, a philanthropic venture, gives children free digital access to teaching materials.
印度对基础教育的投入约占国民经济的2.7%，与其他国家相比，相对较低。印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪曾承诺要将教育支出大幅提升至6％，然而，如果印度在以下三个方面不进行改革的话，投更多的钱只会是浪费。第一，要确保孩子接受合适的教育水平教育。课程要更简单。没有通过相关水平测试的孩子不能直接升级。补课性质的“学习营”，类似由慈善组织Prtham开展的课程，可以为那些留级的孩子提供帮助。科技也能达到同样的目的：例如慈善企业EkStep免费让孩子们获得一些数字教学材料。
The second task is to make the system more meritocratic and accountable. Teachers should be recruited for their talents, not their connections. They should be trained better and rewarded on the basis of what children actually learn. (They should also be sackable if they fail to show up.) The government should use more rigorous measures to find out which of a hotch-potch of bureaucratic and charitable efforts make a difference. And policymakers should do more to help good private providers—the third area of reform. Vouchers and public-private partnerships could help the best operators of low-cost private schools expand.
其次，使教育体系更加精简高效。教师的招聘标准应该建立在他们的专业水平上，而不是靠人际关系。同样，他们应该接受更好的培训，同时根据学生们实际所学加以奖励。（对于不合格的老师，学校可以随时解雇）。政府也应该采取更严格的措施，惩治有官僚主义作风教工人员，同时，大方奖励那些矜矜业业的教师，以此做出区别对待。政策制订者还应该多为那些在经营良好的私立学校提供更多地帮助，这也是第三个改革领域。通过教育券和公私合营等方式，帮助低成本私立学校扩大规模。
Mr Modi’s government has made encouraging noises about toughening accountability and improving curriculums. But, wary of the unions, it remains too cautious. Granted, authority over education is split between the centre and the states, so Mr Modi is not omnipotent. But he could do a lot more. His promise to create a “new India” will be hollow if his country is stuck with schools from the 19th century.
莫迪政府对加强问责制和改进课程的表示了坚定的决心。但是，出对工会的警惕，政府在这些政策的落实方面表现得过于谨慎，确实，教育权力在中央政府和地方邦政府中存在着割裂的现象，因此，莫迪也是有心无力。但是，他仍然可以做出一些改变。如果他领导的国家不能从19世纪的基础教育方面取得实质性的突破，那他立下创造一个“新印度”的豪言壮志将会成为镜中花，水中月。
编译： ShaoQiann
编辑：翻吧君
英文来源：经济学人