My friend has just started blogging and one of his latest posts is about what is visibly an important topic to him:
Independent Learning.
To me it brings a lot of unexpressed thoughts to the fore: The education system and its obvious lacks!
The education system in India primarily focuses on rote learning and doesn't teach children how to learn! Whats the outcome? Lack of motivation in students and high dropout rates. For those of us who were lucky to be in good schools and receive the best of education, it might not be apparent, but you know, we are a minority, those of us lucky enough to get quality education.
A obvious cause underlying this problem is lack of well educated motivated teachers. If you've had even one teacher like some transformational ones I've had, you'll know hte impact a great teacher can have on the lives of students (Ok! Now I am really really thankful to Allis miss, Lily miss, Tauro miss, Lathika Nair miss, Ruby Ma'am, Shefali ma'am, Asha ma'am, Sawant miss....wow! I have been really lucky man!).
You can't really blame these teachers also. Part of the fault lies in the system: see what they pay teachers? What are their chances of advancements? And what kind of training do they provide to teacher to update their knowledge or skills? And their workload in terms of class size and exam?? My mom has been a teacher for 17 years now and this is from first hand experience! No wonder the government is losing its teaching talent to the private sector like tuition and coaching classes; where teachers do feel valued. In India, getting into a teaching profession at primary and secondary school level is considered a really bad career choice.
Of course there are improvements like Teach India and Teach for India or making primary education a right; but we need to think of strategies to sustain these on a long term basis.
So hoping for more awareness leading to a better educational future for the next generation!
