The education system in India is riddled with a myriad of issues. Many find that the children do not have any conceptual understanding, no creativity, they are stressed and the list goes on. These are just the symptoms. But what is the root cause of all these? What is the fundamental problem with the education system? Every child is unique before they start going to school. They think differently but the education system makes every child think the same. This is the fundamental flaw in the education system.
During the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the education system was designed to make children ready to work in factories. The factories did not want the children to think but to work mechanically like robots. So the education system stripped the children of their freedom to think and destroyed their true potential. The same education system that was prevalent in the US and Europe was adopted worldwide. Although this system evolved in the Western countries over a period of time, the same old system continues to be followed in Asia and subsequently in India even today. After Independence, the thrust was to create more blue collar jobs. India was once an agrarian economy. It was only in the ’90s when liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation started, that India started producing more jobs in the services sector. Only the industries have changed but the education system didn’t. Despite India emerging as one of the fastest growing economies in the world (as per BRICs research), the rote system of learning in India prevailed. Parents seem more worried about the number of hours taught in a classroom rather than the quality of teaching hours. For them, keeping the child occupied in the classroom matters more than what learnings the child has imbibed.
Through the years in school, children lose the power of thinking on their own, whether it is the choice of career, relationship or life situation. They become dependent on others for answers, they completely lose their true nature and their extraordinary potential remains unrealised.
Now we are facing innumerable questions in the world for which we are only awaiting answers. So what is the solution? We need an education system that recognises every child is different and questioning-based approach, so that it brings out the extraordinary human potential in every child. Dream of a child is nationwide movement, which call upon every educator, every policymaker, everyone who has a role to play in the development of a child, to join hands together to reform the education system and bring out the latent potential in every child.
Teaching as a career has to be made more attractive in terms of pay, perks, etc. At the same time, the entry criteria have to be made more robust and fool proof. We have witnessed how competitive exams are able to funnel best of the talent. Students cracking these exams invariably go on to have great careers in life. The same thing should apply for teaching profession as well. This will certainly raise standards of school teachers.
Despite limitations in the infrastructure, teacher-student relationship can flourish provided a right approach for learning is adopted. We know of the Gurukul system of learning. Prof. Anand Kumar’s Super 30 is popular nationwide. But we need this on a larger scale to cater to the mammoth student population of India. Today at our disposal, we have technology as a great facilitator for learning.
A wealth of knowledge and information is at our fingertips. Students should be enabled to sift through an ocean of information and pick up the knowledge that is relevant to them.
For the development of a child, there is a constant fight between the nature versus nurture. If the child is not born to inherently intelligent or genius parents, the lacuna can be certainly bridged by proper nurture by good teachers, who are responsible for shaping up the child’s personality from an early age. It is quite possible that all the teachers can end up being role models in their own subject of expertise be it Mathematics, Sports, Music, Drama, etc. This can only happen when teachers are chosen who are extremely passionate about their subjects.
Prodipta Hore - Program Director, Aditya Birla Education Academy
