India’s Education System (from 90s to 00s) -Why it needs to change ASAP?
It’s been a decade that I passed out of school and since then many course books and syllabus have changed to a great extent, for, of course, the betterment of students. However, one thing that hasn’t changed in most Indian schools yet despite heavy fees structure and other co-curricular activities is the way students are being taught. Why I am saying this so confidently is what you now need to read on here.
Although I am a 90s pass-out and have a full-time career right now, I was not so sure about my choice of a career back when I gave my senior secondary school exams, so were not most of my classmates. Even though we were pursuing our individual choices of courses back then we were not sure of our career-choices. Surprised! Well, it was because the courses were limited to Arts, Commerce, and Science, and being cantonment kids we were not aware of too many career - options available out there. Unlike private school students, we were mostly misled by some of our teachers to pick quickly out of a very few options that were ‘supposedly’ available for us, like doctor…engineer…CA/CS or just “waste” our lives by opting for Arts. Really! one would say.
Well, what we actually adopted from such statements was only “lack of confidence” due to their partial approach to the 3 famous options during +1, +2. While Science students were considered the genius most, Commerce was weighed on scales of average rank holders’ option and Arts being for those who at last, land themselves ‘nowhere’. Derogatory, I know totally!
For reality check by the way, on the contrary, most of my ‘Arts’ co-students are today doing really good with their lives or at least turned out much better than what some teachers predicted for them 10 years back. On the other hand, half of “Science” students who opted for the subject under mere pressure are totally wasted and only half could actually make it to what “our academics” prepared them for, “Make Money”. Commerce only gives away a handful of CAs for that matter, that’s too students with sharp Mathematics or the MBAs obviously.
Although thankfully, today we don’t have to see tiny kids weighing down under heavy bags, there is a lot more scope of improvement that we need to bring in to change our education system in India. There must be a reason why we lag behind other developed countries in this field, “books” and “syllabus” are surely given due weightage and some top careers are considered as good as they are but it is not everything that shapes up a child’s future, right! Also, not everything that we studied during our schooling we utilized in later years. Did we?
Kendriya Vidyalayas, for example, where I have been a student myself, too lacked efficiency in providing teachers who could constructively shape a child’s brain, and only that. Not that one could question KV’s education system, because there was nothing to point out at all. Teachers did their job, extra co-curricular activities took place, music class, labs, playgrounds, exhibitions, debate & speech competitions, dance & music competitions, interschool activities everything involved, what it only lacked was “the normalcy of all such activities”. Since I had been a regular participant of all such events in and out of school, apart from being good in studies as well what I today feel needed amendment was, “the constant race of proving oneself extraordinary”.
“Trophies for the best and lectures to the rest?”
Why? Doesn’t it create never-filling bridges amongst the students and pulls down their self-esteem?
How calling it a competitive spirit is justified?
Just for the record, I was labeled a bright student myself, and have had many such trophies on my shelves, and yet I question this norm that still persists in a number of schools because of the only fact, that it is not “healthy” for budding minds.
What we choose to do out of free mind and what we are driven towards after being forcibly fed like a computer, in order to only present a class, school or group makes all the difference. Instead of such a channelized -machinery - conduct, one develops a sharp mind out of practice, observance, options, open-mindedness, freedom, confidence, and practical skills… etc., Yes, right!
And it's a strong reason in itself why I said that Indian schools for decades have not only passed out a bunch of unprepared, unconfident, non-skillful minds only good for questioning their caliber (once out of school )but such schools have also been responsible for not equipping the students with proper skills and learning that actually shall help them to construct a better future and earn their bread & butter. Today, regardless of how advanced schooling and grade system has become owing to its modernization from being just a “school” to a full-fledged “business”, what these five-star buildings still lack is the real “schooling”.
Not every parent is lucky enough to fulfill the criteria to have their kid admitted to such an expensive school and not every school fulfills the parameters of a good education, overall development of a kid.
To finish with, why feed the students’ mind with the ‘pressure of competition’ and ‘urge of money-making’, and why not just build up their “power of knowledge and individuality”. Each one of them is gifted with one or the other talent.
It’s really unfortunate, how recently in one of the government placement proposals in UP, thousands of students who had to apply for the job of a sweeper were graduates, holding certified degrees. It only exposes our educational system in India, which is weak, not changed for years, and stands too behind comparing to international standards.
After all, I won’t want my kid to only pass with good grades, jump the classes after classes and be a dummy, or worse, collapse to the set ‘standard’ norms, the extremely ‘unhealthy’ competitive structure present in our society. A child should surely be able to earn himself bread & butter, but at what cost! He/she should learn ‘manually’ and not be fed ‘automatically’ the art of living and surviving thereby. And ‘self-confidence’ is the key to it.
Sail through, keep pedaling but maintain a good balance throughout the ride, and “own” your pace is the Mantra. Let them pursue what they are good at, academically or otherwise, and set them free. Whether they choose to fly or not, they should earn ‘mastery’ in not giving-up to any ‘build-up’ pressure of proving oneself constantly.
Reminds me, although ‘home-schooling’ too is a good option and is proving ‘healthier’ for those who’re adopting it, it is challenging for the parents to get it approved by our ‘societal headmasters’. Not everyone understands that it’s the ‘grasping of smartness’ that builds an independent strong mind and not merely the ‘perfection’ in academics that decides one’s future. As the average students who for the record, faced rejection numerous times from their teachers in early life to the employers later, are proven entrepreneurs today.
While good grades may be the only goal for many students/parents even today, employers have proved how they strive for more skillful set of minds, than just degree-holders or graduates.
Keep in mind kids!
