What are you more likely to believe in: universal education is necessary to eradicate all the social evils like child labour, child violence, domestic violence etc., or education is only a by-pass to achieve the developmental goals like eradicate extreme poverty, empowerment of women, gender equality etc. I presume that most of us are more likely to go ahead with the first choice, i.e. universalising education is the only important thing needed at this hour because that’s how we have been programmed to believe as propagated by media, and policymakers. However, not much has been discussed about the ‘actual’ role of education in the developmental field. Does education lead to the empowerment of women and men? Does education lead to better job opportunities? Does education lead to the abolition of domestic violence, child labour, or child violence? Does education make us a better human being? However, this opinion is not about the hues and the cries of education, but about how the Indian education system needs a reform-based strategy to improvise itself.
The quality of education in India
More often than not, ‘education’ is over-rated. I believe that education is a quick fix for growth – it simply papers over the cracks without actually repairing it. Formal education only adds to our resumes and helps us build a career. But, is that all we ask for? The Indian education system is deeply rooted with the kind of education, where we get to ‘learn’ things by memorising them, and forgetting them as we continue spilling it over to our answer sheets in the examinations.
‘Strong roots give birth to strong trees’- this is a well-known fact. The problem lies not merely in the design of the curriculum, but in the manner of how it is delivered to the students. Since education is believed as an ‘end’ to achieve our respective career goals, the way of teaching is given the least importance. There is a dearth of good teaching faculty, and therefore, hiring teachers solely based on vacancies in their respective category quotas to fulfil the political obligations do little benefit. Year on year learning deficit has been rising, with Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER) reports quoting that class V students are unable to read/write problems of Class II/III.
These figures are indicative of our failed education system, failure in the sense of good teachers, decent infrastructural facilities, and an excellent curriculum which promotes rote learning. Creating one or two highly advanced schools does no good to the public in whole, but states the mere dominance of wealthy classes over others. I believe that it is not the type of school (public or private) that matters, but the learning they inculcate.
Undoubtedly, some of the schools in urban areas might be performing well, but what we need is a holistic curriculum which incorporates practical learning. We all are aware of the knowledge promoted by schools, be it catholic schools, or other well-performing schools. A focus on sex education, regular group discussions on the topics around the world, and multidisciplinary courses must be taken into account. It will not only help students learn beyond classroom teaching, but also will make them better equipped with skills and knowledge to face the realities of the world. Community learning is not only a mere step towards a better education system but helps to build an inclusive society, with better mannerisms. It is high time to look beyond the rose-tinted glasses and keep an eye on primary and secondary educational institutions’ performances, for this is the prime time of their lives to teach functional learning abilities.
Need for reforms in higher education
Now moving on to the next arena where our educational system demands reforms are – higher education. This section of the article goes beyond whims and fancies of post-graduate courses, in particular, and discusses the importance of how the entry-level system is itself at default in all the rungs of the ladder of higher education. The first thing that comes to my mind while writing about this section is a small talk about reservations. No, I am neither against them nor would like to downplay their capabilities and credibility. It is about how some institutions believe in lowering their quality of teaching based on an analysis of how the students from the reserved categories would perform in the subject. It is not the fault of the students from these categories, but the failure of their state educational institutions.
In subjects like Economics, Mathematics, and other applied subjects, it is mostly seen that students from the either the University of Delhi, or Calcutta University have stellar performances, while students from other universities have difficulty understanding the mathematical notions, and have to intrigue themselves with greater hard-work to achieve the same level of knowledge. Do we blame the students here who are not able to make their way into the ‘prestigious DU or CU colleges, where they merely have 10,000 seats for over 1,00,000 applicants or the governments’ sub-standard and transient grading of institutions? Should we have only the merit system of scoring 95% or above to get into a right college, or should we promote the ideologies of interviewing the shortlisted students at least? Do we plan to create rote learners who can score 99% in XIIth std, but fail to get a job or a good post-graduate college for that matter?
It signifies the importance of looking into the entry-level systems for getting admissions into good colleges and simultaneously improvising the curriculum and infrastructural based facilities for all other colleges too, be it autonomous or government-aided. Moreover, this problem of improper quality of education, coupled with a higher number of jobless students graduating threatens the credibility of India’s education system on the whole.
Conclusion
Nonetheless, every year, India produces millions of graduates, millions of engineers, lakhs of research students. It cannot be solely attributed to the demand-supply gaps, but skill-gaps also has a role to play. Therefore, a focus on skill development, practical learning in multidisciplinary courses is the need of the hour. Education is not merely an end to achieve development but requires much more behind the scenes work to make institutions credible and efficient. Providing universal education cannot be a sole objective of the government; instead of a focus on the all-round development of children, and making them employable should be a focus.