English 113B
Professor Bieber
27 September 2012
Survival Above Education
We all have the chance for education in the United States of America, no matter where we go public education is provided. In One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Banerjee Divankaruni, she shows us the hardships of being admitted into universities in other countries. Through these hardships many tend to come to the United States in order to get an education past the limits of other countries such as in India. Although education is highly encouraged in the United States, it is considered insignificant, and useless in some countries. For example, India’s survival is primarily dependant on labor rather than education. People in countries like India are not enforced nor privileged to receive a higher education due to their economic standing and therefore remain illiterate and reliant on effort. By escaping the laborious lifestyle in India many were able to receive a higher education and live a more pleasant and less exertive life
Education is a necessity for a nation to develop, most importantly, rid itself of poverty. Sadly in India, one of the countries with greatest amount of poverty, it also has the greatest amount of illiterate people in the world. One third of males and one half of females are illiterate in India (Himanshu). This is due to the fact that India has the second greatest population at 1.2 billion in 2010, as China in number one(Himanshu). This great amount of people creates a larger portion of people that are illiterate in percent. The literacy problem is due to a great portion of people in India have greater necessities than education. A great example is of taking care of ones family at a young age, one must give up studies and education in order to supply for his family. Two thirds of the world's illiterate people are girls, one third of those come from India, that number is significantly large(PTI). Although India may not have the largest percent of illiterate people in the world it does have the greatest amount of people who are illiterate. Niger has the greatest illiterate percent worldwide, but the population is only a fraction of India. Niger has a population 84.3% illiterate, but with a total amount of sixteen million people(Aneki). While India has 35% illiteracy rate,, with over a billion people this number is over three hundred eighty million(Varma). 774 million illiterate adults in the world, India still has the highest number(PTI). Although they may not have the highest percent of illiterate people, they do have the greatest amount. About one half of the world illiteracy rate is from India(PTI). Greatest amount of people and the greatest amount of illiterate people, this is truly a horrific tragedy.
Its seems it is very hard to go to school in India, and it is even harder to go to a University. Below one percent of Indians go to a University due to the harsh conditions of very few support from families and very low acceptance rate within India. There is excessive amount that are attempting to get into college, the acceptance to denial ratio is excessively swayed towards the denial side, with only about one million graduating University out of 1.2 billion each year. Most jobs are given through knowing people and experience and not from education. In the book One Amazing Thing Naina talks about the life in college when she made it too America,“I Began my college career by studying assiduously and ranking high in exams, but I quickly realized that academic achievements were not enough to open the door to true success. The offices of the city were filled with brilliant me rotting in Mediocre positions”(Divakaruni 161). This shows that even though it is hard to go to school, and get an education, after getting the education it is hard to do something with it.
Education in India is not a priority, it is more of a luxury. Schools are opening each day in India and many are attempting to go, but for some it is too much of a burden when more important factors come into the life. Schools have opened in notorious numbers due to the government attempting to fix society. Since 2010 and an increase of school enrolment has risen to 96%, at the same time drop outs have become excessively high, especially for girls(Gwalani). This is because the situation in India is quite dreadful, with an astonishing 53% of houses do not have toilets. Poverty is very large in India and can cause doubts to go to school. Families in India have greater priorities than to deal with that they put above education. The situation is very hard, you have to choose between living education hoping it will get you a living. About 177 Universities in India for over one billion people, education does not seem like the right choice to the people. Jobs are given with much to none reference too if one went to college or not, it is more of connections than documentation. To demonstrate this about 75% of technical graduates and more than 85% of general graduates are unemployed. This is due to India’s high growth global industries(Anand).Education is not needed in todays society when living in India. This is because many jobs can be achieved without the requirement of education even ones many would expect to be very educational dependent.
Throughout the lands of India there is vast and unstable corruption. As Mr. Sharma said in an article “I feel almost 99% certain that if I didn’t pay the money, I would have failed the exam again”(Anand). We see here even in education system there is corruption, in order to achieve a higher score connections are important to have in the exam, you can pass with ease with connections, and fail without. Illiterate people are in all of India, and it is fairly common to find them everywhere you go, and many people make a fair living tricking these people(Varma). Although some jobs in India are created by the government, many are created by the people. An example of this are readers, people that read for others for a very small amount of rupees. Many businesses are created by people as well, these businesses lead to a greater amount of jobs, but also hardly ever look at credentials and hire people based off connections.
As read in One Amazing Thing we notice that she shows us how this is a problem in India, and that some people went to school in the United States in order to receive an education. As we read we notice that many people are attempting to come to the United States in order to get an education, “ Farah almost had not made it to America”(Divankaruni 30). Everyone wants to make it to America, in this book it is because of chances and opportunities it gives people, an opportunity that they do not have in India. We notice the desperation in the characters to make it to America, and this is because of the opportunities it gives. School is worth something in the United States, and jobs are fair, one of the many reasons why many of the characters in this book came to this country.
The government is not to blame, although many do. “Education in India is a matter of prime concern for the government of India”(MOI). The government is not ignoring the problems are are slowly attempting to fix them. Many people blame the government but since 1998 they have increased rapidly in education and seem to be doing a great job for the Indian people. As Varma states in 1961, a small amount of about 28% of Indians were literate. In 2006, estimates put literacy rate at about 66%(Varma). That is almost an impressive full amount of 40% in 40 years. India has a long way to go to improve the literacy rate, but with hard work, dedication and determination from the government and people all is possible to achieve. 
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