Cost and Worth

Given the state of the economy and the earning capacity of people in rural regions, one of the main grounds that any decision is taken on revolves around cost of services. And once the costs are computed, worth comes into play.

It is a common sight for people to be bargaining at roadside stalls for any kind of merchandise — be it food items, clothing or even household goods, everyone is seen haggling over the prices. While some may say that no one seems to mind paying an extra few hundred Rupees for costly items, everyone tries to reduce the prices of items of daily consumption by a small margin. What one must realize that it is ingrained in our minds to compute the worth of an item keeping its quoted price in mind.

This entire build-up is targeted towards the cost and worth of what a person in every rural area across the country pays for education. For affluent families, cost of education in the best institutes does not necessarily carve a dent in their pockets as they have the means to shell out the funds required. However, when it comes to the middle-class or the underprivileged, good education is a scarce commodity owing to its high costs.

While government schools cost little, the quality of education leaves much to be desired. It is due to this that private educational institutes thrive and charge for whatever facilities they can provide. The more the facilities, the higher the fees go. Both the middle-class and underprivileged then make their budgets accordingly and send their wards to institutions they can afford. This is where worth comes into play for such families because they start comparing the final outcome with the amount of funds that would be pumped in to educate a child.

It is a bleak scenario when it comes to educating a child between Classes I and XII as there can be no parity when two different schools are compared. In such a situation, organisations like JND Charitable Trust can play a huge role in bringing about some kind of parity or middle ground. If teachers cannot be provided, then at least reference books would help in enhancing the knowledge of children. For this, proper libraries are required. And good libraries can only be built with books that cannot otherwise be bought by people of middle-class and underprivileged strata.

When donations are received as part of any corporate social responsibility, it has an indirect effect on the future workforce. A better educated workforce definitely ends in better productivity for a company. This is why all companies must play an active role in promoting social organisations like NGOs and Trusts. The final benefit is not only to such companies, individuals or organisations alone, but to the entire country as it grows beyond what is planned otherwise. With such efforts, development takes a different meaning altogether resulting in better lives and livelihoods.