Editor’s note – A very inspiring article from a student who conveys his findings on what is wrong with the system and what needs to be done. A bunch of lively illustrations of his argument have been provided by the author as well.
Author’s note - What is it that plagues our education system? Politicians? Lawmakers? or simply us? What needs to be done to cure it of the virus? Make new laws? Change the syllabus? Or simply, CHANGE OURSELVES? Share your views with me...
COLUMNISTS, SCHOLARS and STUDENTS have been cutting their teeth by wailing over the pathetic education system of our country. They say it’s an exam system, rather than an education system; they say it’s only ‘mugg’ucation; only ‘science’ucation; weird and many have also gone to the extent of terming it as catastrophic! But has anyone tried, really endeavored to reason out as to who should be held accountable for this wonted education system? Anyone? Yes, many have, and they have held the lawmakers and the designers of our education system culpable; following the ritual of making the politicians’ scapegoats for whatever is wrong. But what we fail to fathom is that, it’s not the administrators but our society, we, with our thought processes are the creators of this education system and we are equally culpable, if not more, for its severe state.
WHEN A CHILD in India comes back home from school, he faces questions from bloodshot eyes and through gritted teeth,” Why didn’t you get the 1st rank?”, “Did you even get a rank?”, and taunting remarks of being stupid enough to not to secure the 1st rank. The child, therefore, develops a sense that it is only the rank which matters, the 1st rank, for his parents’ happiness. Thus, the child grows up naturally with a feeling of competition instilled in him and focuses all his concentration in his exams to achieve that 1st rank. And in this way, we get our much criticized exam system. And, when a child doesn’t savor or doesn’t relate to what he is studying, he starts mugging up concepts because what matters to him is only securing marks in his exams and thus we get our ‘mugg’ucation. Instead of bursting the child with scathing remarks over his marks in a silly exam, if the parent asks him, ‘What did you learn today?’; very soon we would be cherishing our society in which, learning to gain knowledge would be more appreciated than securing the 1st position in the competition.
Now, let me take you to the living room of Raj’s family, which belongs to the typical middle class of India.
They sat across from him, his parents and his uncle, at a dark brown table. Between them, in the centre of the table, was his marks sheet of 10th Std., board exams.
“So, what have you decided, Bangalore or Kota?” said the calm, controlled and polite voice of his mother but he could feel her hard, accusing glare at him for being stupid enough to get ‘just’ 85% in his board exams.
“I…want...to be a writer...study…literature,” words fumbled out from his shivering lips. Next moment, the strong fist of his father struck down on the table and the wind due to it blew his 85% to the ground.
“STOP THAT NONSENSE! Those writers wearing kurtas and sandals are of no worth. They write, and they keep walking from here to there, but they can’t even feed their own stomachs.”
“Gupta ji’s son took coaching from Kota?” his father said as he turned to his uncle for that valuable information.
“Yes”, his uncle nodded.
“Then it’s done, you are going to Kota for coaching for IIT; just look at Gupta ji’s son, earns lakhs every month.”
Raj drooped his face down, overwhelmed by an adult’s unassailable logic.
“BUT TELL US, whether you want to do engineering or medical?” his father thundered.
“Bhai saab, there is only engineering course in IIT”, his more knowledgeable uncle chipped in.
” Oh! Very good then, my son will also do engineering from IIT” his face beamed with pride and all Raj could do was to nod his head up and down. Up, Down.
Command passed.
Command accepted.
The malaise that renders our education of the term ‘science’ucation is the belief that education is just a medium of getting a good job that can offer good brass. And science being the field that comparatively offers more number of people, more money; it becomes the most preferred; winning all the concentration of the people and leaving the other fields of study gasping for good brains.
Recently, I read an article by a student from an American University, giving the lack of infrastructure in India as his reason for taking up his studies abroad. Although I agree to the fact that, infrastructure in Indian Universities is in dismal condition, I would say, his reason sounds more like an excuse to feed his hunger for earning money. India has few excellent universities concentrating only on constructive research, (IISc, IIST, IISER etc.,) but these lack students and teachers who really yearn for science, as the research and the development sector doesn’t offer that hard cash that the IT and the BPO sectors offer. Thus, there is very little research taking place in INDIAN UNIVERSITIES.
There are millions more of worse cases than what happens to a Raj. There are Rams’ and Laksmis’ in the towns and the villages of India who don’t even know what they want to become as they don’t have a dream because they are not taught how to dream or are forced not to dream, rather, their parents force a dream into them. Engineering or Medical or MBA. Engineering Medical MBA.
You are a fool if you don’t study any one of these three. You see, you are of no worth.
I hear people saying that creativity is not being fostered by our education system; wrong; novices are not taught to be creative at home only. What they are taught is
Get good marks,
good marks good rank,
good rank better college,
better college better salary,
better salary better wife.
How much did I learn?
Doesn’t matter if its zero.
It is not the education system that should be at fault for not fostering creativity or encouraging learning. It is the thought inherited by our mind, which before a chapter begins, thinks, how many marks will the exams have from this chapter, rather than what will we learn from this chapter.
Then, the bigger question arises, WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? Apart from improving the infrastructure, many have suggested that students be given the freedom to choose what subjects they want to study in primary level but with this impractical suggestion, commerce and arts teachers would have to go back home jobless as all the Raj, the Ram and the Laksmi would opt for science and very soon we would have a brigade of youth who won’t know Mahatma Gandhi or the capital of India;) Many have also suggested reducing the no. of exams but this will in fact put more stress on the Raj and the Ram as they will only have fewer chances to content their parents with good marks. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE is, the complete curriculum be converted from a formula based, focused only on problem solving to a more conceptual and logical one so that a student enjoys learning. Also the entrance exams should be made aptitude based rather than exams concentrating only on problem solving. Seminars should be conducted or every child should be made to read newspapers so that they are enlightened about the various career options available and are inspired from the success stories of individuals from the middle class. Awareness should be spread through student exchange programs between rural and urban schools about the importance of quality education or what education is really about. The mindset of the people should be changed through innovative campaigns by telling them to broaden their horizon of thinking leaving behind money and science, by telling them to teach their child to dream, to teach their child to be creative and most importantly to ask their child everyday ‘What did you learn today?”.
And for all the Raj and the Ram reading this article, I would want to know from you on what more should be done, also I would love to hear your views on this topic but finally I would want all of you to-
FOLLOW YOUR HEART,
DO ONLY WHAT YOUR HEART TELLS YOU TO DO,
FOR YOUR HEART CAN NEVER BE WRONG.
DREAM, my friend, DREAM,
AND ONLY WHEN YOU FULFILL YOUR DREAM, YOU WILL KNOW YOUR WORTH ON THIS EARTH.
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