Importance of Primary Education
Right to Primary Education (also elementary education) is a fundamental right in India. It is the duty of the Government to provide free-education to every boy and every girl up to the primary stage.
Primary Education will enable a child to learn to read and write. It will enable him to follow a story in his own vernacular language. The student will learn the simple rules of arithmetic. These he must learn, with or without the help of books.
In addition to this, he may be interested in hand-work or gardening or he may not be interested in such “activities”. Although much importance is given to these activities, it must not be forgotten that the real aim of primary education is to teach the elements of language and arithmetic.
It is best to take a simple view of things. A boy in a primary school is not expected to be a vastly learned man. So it is bad to burden his mind with too much of book learning. One does not know whether he will have a taste for technical attainment or for theoretical study. So it will not be proper to fix him down to a technical line early in life.
The parents and guardians should understand the value of education and send their children to primary schools. A cultivator or a laborer would think that his son should help him in his work rather than go to school and waste his time over books that would not enable him to earn more. He thinks that education is a luxury which the ‘gentleman’ can alone afford. Such parents should be made aware of the benefits of education.
Every child should get quality education. The future of our country depends upon the children of today. We must remember that the little child depends more on his teacher than the advanced student does on his professor. A teacher plays an important role in shaping the future of a student. We should have competent teachers who are interested in the education process. Unfortunately, in India, there is shortage of quality teacher at primary schools. The job of a primary teacher should be made more attractive. If we are prepared to pay a little higher salary, we shall be able to attract competent men, and if they can work contentedly they will be able to make a good job of it.