Rich Donors Have Caused More Harm Than Good to India's Education

> When it came to light that governments were segregating children in the same age group in school, making them sit in separate classrooms, and even teaching them from different textbooks – said to be based on their ability, [...] its disastrous impact on children and the way they perceived each other,[...]. They began calling their classmates not by their names but by the group name, and even refused to play with the group perceived as weak in ability

This is really sad. I remember even my school in the UK had 'sets', where students would be split into different classes based on ability in core subjects like English, Maths, etc. It always felt really ugly to me as a concept. I get how some students are 'pulled down' by others, especially if teachers' time is spent on the less adept or naughty ones, but it seems to instil a broken social model. I would much rather education fosters a "rising tide lifts all boats" philosophy where students are able to help each other. Otherwise a new axis of prejudice is created: a kind of knowledge-based-classism.

Reading books about the formation of India as a nation, there is a theme about poor quality schools. Much blame then was on teachers that did not teach who blamed incapable students for poor outcomes. Seems the same charge as now - but not just India. The USA, UK and other western countries all seem to be saying the same thing. But teachers and their advocates push back that they are under resourced. In this article significant money is being invested but it appears to be to circumvent the teachers.

So how do we address this? Move beyond restating “the problem” and start helping children?