India is a country where a high value is placed on education as it ensures a stable future. It is seen as a means to upward social mobility, and that is probably why most parents want their wards to attend the best private english schools. The recent trend that has gained increasing recognition over the last few years is of schooling in the West. As soon as the child completes his schooling up to class 9, parents begin comparing from a plethora of options available in India as well as abroad. Before you assume that i am opining that school system in foreign countries is superior to India, allow me to indicate in clear terms that I am not stating that in any way. In fact, the contention of this article is to discuss both the perspectives of a troubling question that looms at large : What exactly are the flaws in our education system and how does the education system in the West differ from the one in India? “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Speaking from personal experience, having studied in India and Australia, the key difference lies in the approach. While Indian schools have a strong focus on academic subjects with hardly any scope for creativity or fostering extra-curricular activities, schools in the West lay emphasis on developing independent and creative thinking. Indian Schools largely practice rote learning and memorisation and strong focus is given to performing well in ‘written examinations’. This methodology does little in developing any research abilities of the students. In the West, “ Thinking out of the box” is strongly encouraged. It wont be wrong to say that while students in India work towards attaining knowledge during their school years, students in the West acquire skills as they graduate. This is one of the crucial shortcomings in our education system, where crammers are rewarded and deviance and originality are discouraged. Even mystics like Osho and Krishnamurthy have stated that through education alone, social transformation is possible and have laid stress on the need for education to fulfil its real purpose - help a child find his vocation in life. I am sharing a few sentences from the article “ As a Parent” by Wipro Chariman Azim Premji where he writes:- The primary purpose of a school is to guide the child’s discovery of herself and her world and to identify and mature the child’s talents. Just as each seed contains the future tree, each child is born with infinite potential. In the article he suggests that many teachers and parents try to be potters instead of Gardners in moulding their children’s future.” Imagine a school in which sees children as seeds to be nurtured-here the teacher is a gardner who tries to bring out the potential already present in the child. This is very different from the current view which sees the child as clay to be moulded where the teachers and parents are potters deciding what shape the clay should take. There is an old Chinese saying ,” Give a seed to a potter and you shall have a bonsai.” J.krishnamurthy has even advocated small schools for the purpose of detecting the childs potential . It is very important that each teacher should also be trained as a vocational psychologist and talent scout so that the student does not choose the wrong profession and suffer for life- The person who has found his vocation is life is a blessed human being. Let him ask for no other blessedness- Thomas Carlyle. It is worth mentioning here that countries like Russia have made it compulsory for the students to play chess so that it becomes a part of their cognitive reserve. Our present education system in India fails to acknowledge that given the technologically sound society we live in, it is now more important than ever to let go of the traditional ways of teaching. Instead of the “prescribed textbooks”, we need research based learning that would help the development of students. With the ever increasing penetration of Internet, this is can be easily accomplished. Not only this, we need teachers who are regularly trained and engaged in continuos research work. For a few schools who have maintained educational excellence, for each of this there are thousands of schools that are plagued with poor quality of education, a weak infrastructure and inadequate pedagogic attention. That being said, it is not a coincidence that indian students routinely perform better in mathematics and science compared to the students of the West. Recently, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google commented that Indian entrepreneurs have the ability to build the next Google given that India “ plays its cards right”. And here I want to highlight another serious problem of the mind numbing competition in the entrance examinations for enrolling in undergraduate degrees. On completion of class 10, students are forced to cut themselves away from regular schooling and opt to instead study at coaching factories that feed them concentrates suited to clearing entrance tests. Meanwhile, students is the West are motivated to pursue the subjects of their interests, develop skills and their implementation in daily life. All of this discussion leads to the fact that there are intrinsic flaws with our Indian education system and we need sensible and enlightened intellectuals who can bring about a much needed change. Quality audits should become a routine practice for all schools. Top priority should be placed on teaching english and communication skills to students. Lack of proficiency in English is a serious concern and we need immediate steps to rectify this problem. The huge gap between the central and state educational boards needs to be bridged. Children should be taught practical management of money and practical psychology, which would prove as an indispensable tool in their future lives. Computer based education should be introduced in schools which is the need of the hour. Take the example of softwares like MOODLE which is not only more convenient but prepares the students to be operative in today’s globalised world. Must add quickly that some personal supervision from a well informed teacher is a must in this case, where the child can be guided and encouraged to discover an answer rather than being instructed. The syllabi of all educational boards should be regulated and updated annually. Now, who will bell this cat?
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 08:45:00 +0000
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