The Indian Education System and the Change Needed

By : Dev

The Indian education system needs a total overhauling. We have to quit focusing only on degrees and numbers. There is hardly any focus on merit and quality education. High numbers of enrollment is not a thing to be incredibly proud of. Instead of being focused only on enrollments and giving them (rather fake) degrees and certificates, we must guide them towards knowledge, the love of seeking new information and self-employment.

The Indian teaching structure does not give worldly and practical knowledge. Our system is centered only on giving admissions and taking exams for everybody. In the name of de-stressing the students, now easy ways are adapted to pass them. Students are transformed into senseless robots. They have hardly any insight and understanding. The teaching methodology is just about enrollments and inflated pass marks.

There is a fixed curriculum at every level, which everyone has to stick to. The entire knowledge here is confined to a few hundred pages. Nonetheless, large numbers of learners do not study those few hundred pages. They adopt shortcuts and methods of cheating.

Today, we blindly follow the western models of education. Shouldn't we follow our own pattern according to our needs and our environment? With the implementation of internal assessment, the exam system is diluted radically. This method has even given freedom to students from approved course readings. This is just like a legal cheating process. It is like gulping eatables without chewing. Very few do understand what happens.

There are thousands of careers to pursue but in our context, emphasis is only to get a permanent and white collar job or better - a government job with all the benefits, but no accountability. Such education is essential to parents. They are our first teachers and our home becomes our first learning place. They should contain extensive knowledge of the diverse profession choices that are available in today's world.

Shortage of qualified teachers is a big problem in the country. Educators play the most important role in the life of a student. They are a parental figure and are our the chief fountain of information in the earlier phases of our life. It is in this period that teachers shape our lives, our futures and our morals.

Educational programs are controlled and made by bureaucrats, who scarcely have any knowledge and understanding of the real issues. Only real educators must be appointed as specialists and policymakers. This will attract talent and empower the system to face challenges. However, we do not give an educator's work as much recognition as a bureaucrat's or a specialist's.

The situation in state-funded institutions is now terrible. They have horrifically poor infrastructure. Emphasis on free and compulsory education is not present, nor any on its quality.

Meanwhile, government institutions become a fighting ground for quota warriors. Everybody must get an equal chance to get into the universities according to higher merit. The poor, and thereby vulnerable should also be funded by the state. Special attention should be given to the education of girls, with everyone provided the knowledge necessary for work on the betterment of their rights.

There should not be any competition among schools. The current way forces educational institutions and boards to manipulate or inflate marks and grades. Even the HRD has stopped this practice. Institutions, students and parents must be ready to face the truth, however unattractive it may prove. This is a crucial step in reform. For example, a few years back CBSE strangely gave exactly 95 marks in math to every student who actually got 79 to 95 marks, and illogically inflated the English marks of all its Delhi students by 12 marks. In Uttar Pradesh, there are examples of 100% moderation, with students with 28% marks in chemistry being given 56% marks in their final results.

The grading system also remains faulty - failing to give the real picture to parents and students.To shun manipulation and inflation of grades marks, we will have to create faith in the exam system. The secondary results data hold very valuable information for policymakers and educators. It can be used to identify high and low performing students and data on schools, regions and socio-economic segments for corrective actions.

Satisfaction levels of the students and parents, infrastructure, faculty salary and numbers, environment friendliness, discipline, etc., parameters should be encouraged. Education policymakers and the exam boards need to seriously consider reforms on the actual performance of schools and colleges in examinations, to improve the quality of one's education and one's future.