Whose responsibility is a child's education?

A couple of months back, I was talking to a friend of my father about the recent problems faced by our village school, where I had my education. Among the many issues he shared, one caught my full attention. An ST student has stopped coming to school, and the headmaster has been visiting the student's house for several days to convince the parents to send the student back.

It is possible that the parents are making the student work or that they have decided to send their child to another school. The headmaster is in the dark, as the parents are either not at home or avoiding him whenever he visits their home.

Why is the headmaster so worried? Because his higher-ups are threatening to take strict action against him if students drop out, particularly those from marginalized communities. Of course, the higher-ups of his higher-ups are pressuring them to stop dropouts, and so on. The attached screenshot helps connect the dots.

That brings us to the question: should the parents or the government be responsible for a child's welfare? In my view, holding a headmaster accountable for a dropout case is absurd. If we accept that the government has the authority to decide the future of every child, bureaucrats will gain the power to harass either the parents or the headmaster.

The vast majority of parents care about a child's future much more than any government. Of course, there are rare instances where parents neglect their children. However, concerned local citizens should come forward to take responsibility and help the parents. I am not saying the government should have no role in education, but it should be the last one to take responsibility in such matters.