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!
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!
Hey Disha, thanks a lot for giving my post a reference in your blog. I agree with your view that the education system in India at the moment is not at all conducive to teaching children to 'learn' and rather focuses on rote learning.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I believe it is important to keep in mind the broader context. The development of any sector over the long term is heavily dependent on the policies framed and adopted.
At the beginning of reforms in 1991, over 70% of the population were in the rural areas and illiterate. As such the policies focused on bringing this large segment of the population into the education system and imparting them with basic literacy.
We must remember that focusing on both quality of education as well as inclusiveness would have been on the one hand an extremely difficult task and also on the other hand resource intensive and draining. It would have resulted in allocative inefficiencies towards other sectors, in which case, India would not have achieved the growth it has today.
I do, however, agree that, with greater inclusion achieved now, it is time for policies to be framed to move into the second phase of improving the quality of education. I am quite certain that once this is done, India will move into a completely different orbit and growth trajectory which we all can be a part of and be proud of!
P.S.: Sorry for the really long post but I just felt I should express my opinion on this subject since it is once again close to my heart.