The Great Indian EDUCATION “SYSTEM”

We have been hearing a lot about the curre

nt Indian education system which is marred by indifferences arising due to the demographic diversity of the Indian state. Being a student myself let me write some core facts and the standard operating procedures of most of the elite and non-elite schools and colleges in India.The education system in India, both elementary as well as higher, is different fordifferent classes, groups, religions ,rich andthe poor . This difference does not always arise due to the flawed education system. Religious fundamentalists also play a significant role in determining the effectiveness of the education system. With the kind of religious diversity India has it becomes almost impossible for the state to make sure that equal education is provided to all without the assistance of these fundamentalists. Also, the policy of the Indian government to not interfere has meant liberty for the religious fundamentalists to spread their evil and threatening ideas through education.

Now I don’t want to go deep into the modus operandi of the Indian government towards education. Let me go through some of the more elementary problems. The idea of

corporal punishment and its use by most

of the teachers of the non-elite schools is very well known. As a child, I also experienced such inflictions. As

a matter of fact most of us have, in one way or the other, faced it. The development of favoritism by teachers can very well make or break the career of a student. This fondness, admiration and fascination for a particular student by the teacher give birth to feelings of dislike, disgust and hatred among students who are not gifted and exce

ptional in studies. Tho

ugh the very essence of quality education is the forma

tion of ideas and thoughts without fear the current flawed system does not guarantee that. Also, this is one of the reasons why we don’t see too many ugly ducklings in the Indian society. Academic excellence is considered social excellence which is only partly true. One thing which the teachers find difficult to understand is the state of mind of its students.

Some students are bestowed with incredible quality of learning facts at a glance but what about those who can’t? The sheer differentiation

of students on the basis of marks obtained in the examination is illogical and absur

d. The current education system is heterogeneous or has variations which are not sustainable in a country of over a billion people. This heterogeneity is based on caste, class, religion, area, lingual differences and last but not th

e least socio-economic reasons. What the common mass fails to understand is that by learning vast sections of the society away from education, we are not only making India less just but also less secure. H.G.Wells once wrote human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

A student must recognize that he is not competing to win a race against someone infact he is competing with himself to see how far he can stretch himself in order to survive. But the development and transition to this ideology will take some time. Also, the kind of competitive atmosphere we have around us today this tra

nsition could very well rest on papers. The failure on the part of the schools

to recognize and promote creativity is a very serious agenda. Even teachers with vast experience tend to overlook this aspect.

Let me throw some light on the lesser privileged sc

hools: the biggest problem these schools face are the financial resources. The less privileged schools tend to be more conservative than their big brothers due to the deficiency of the quality staff as well as the teaching resources. Take for instance Dehradun, arguably the school capital of India. Despite the fact that it has many of the best schools of the country such as the Doon School, St. Joseph academy, Welham and the like, the inequality in other schools of

the valley is evident from their results. Many of the schools lack even the basic infrastructure, connectivity and teaching staff. One more problem is the endeavor put up by these schools to climb to the elite group of schools through good results. The efforts of the school to achieve this are hampered by non-rote learning students who rarely get top marks in the current Indian education system. These students are then forced to leave their creativity and start rote learning to give better results to the school. This Unnecessary burden by the teachers as well as the peers puts them into severe mental pressure thus by hampering their ability to think freely.

To get a clear picture of where India stands in the world from the education point

of view, let’s see some interesting facts. Out of an estimated 100 million children without primary education 20 million are in India. Also, the percentage of dropouts is very high. The fact that India produces 2.5 million graduates per year is a bit soothing to the ears but it is not the quantity but the quality which is the worrying point for us.

In the end, to try to achieve an inclusive growth India must try to bring masses under the education umbrella. The cultural diversity marked by communal riots, caste clashes and lingual differences is like a ticking time bomb if we don’t try and diffuse it, it will explode sooner or later. The only long term solution of this problem is to introduce a uniform education system especially in primary education. This requires elite schools with surplus funds and corporates to form a collaborative partnership with the government so that a better understanding and connectivity is formed to support the masses. Elite educational institutions should make sure that they provide a good exposure to the teachers and follow a poli

cy of transfer of its teachers for a brief period to non-elite educational institutions. The “mid day meal” and “Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan(SSA)” schemes are praiseworthy. Also, the initiative by the government to advance minority schemes and cover more Muslim students in SSA is admirable. But given the depth of corruption, their implementation remains a matter of grave concern. Without a good evaluative mechanism and a good strategy to monitor these programmes it is highly unlikely if they will reach their intended target. Also, on administrative level a series of personnel changes and streamlining the administration will lead to the most significant changes in the Indian education history.

-Sunny Gusain

* The views are personal.