“Newton was sitting under a tree. An apple fell on him & he thought that why didn’t it go up & hence discovered gravity.But if a hungry stomach is sitting under a tree, he will only think to get all apples down”.
That is what our education system does. It hardly provides opportunities & when it provides it never let us grab them. Education in India is restricted to attending school, mugging up the things & vomiting them in exams. If you can learn, hurrah you are brilliant but if you are good in music, dance, art or writing, then you have a hard way to cross. Further, education should not make one just a xerox machine of the books he has studied, while it must impel him to research everything and find something new every day.
Yes we have got a right, right to education which offers free education but still millions do not go to school because their parents see them as another source of income because anyways the education system doesn’t ensure them a better life.
Our education system has developed many loopholes. From school onwards, children are bound to get into the cob web of percentage which literally defines their status in society. Colleges’ cut-offs have over-whelmed to 100% and even a 98% kid is shamelessly shown the gate. But does that make him any lesser then the 99% holder? Thanks to our education system, that disparity has also made way. It is our education system that’s lacking. Yes it has produced gems but 2 or 3 out of a class of 40. The rest that couldn’t find the way willingly or unwillingly step in corrupt affairs and these 2-3 success stories, when they find these corrupt people fetching a better life, then they too begin craving for more.
What we are taught is far apart from what companies demand. Industries demand wide practical knowledge but our syllabus sprays focus mostly on theoretical aspect. Educational institutes are becoming money making organisations. There is an urgent need of the hour to curb this ‘keep that going’ attitude. Syllabuses should be prepared looking at the vision of students including sports and other extra-curricular besides studies. Above everything else one must do away with the idea that the degree he would secure would fetch him employment potential. He must forget it. He must endeavour landing on his own enterprise however humble it might be at the inception.
The general education system is focused only on examinations rather than training students for the future and really testing their knowledge. Because of this, students are forced to take tests that show only their retention powers, not their actual capacity or knowledge. So engineers today cannot do actual work in technology and doctors do not go to people who need their services.
Today, students are completely professionally-oriented and they take examinations for the same rather than to gain knowledge, or do research in the subject. In our colleges, we have infrastructure and good faculty, but there is no motivation to do research. Even in the field of medicine, no one is motivated to do research because everything is so examination and job-oriented.
Those regulating and those making policies are equally responsible. If the system has deteriorated to this level where learning has been substituted by a race to clear an examination, regulators and policymakers are to blame for not acting on time to correct this anomaly. It’s also not enough to have rules and regulations, it is important how they are implemented. Government bodies are not controlling institutions. That should become a priority. Also, for good institutions that are promoting real learning, there should be no interference.
Most educational engineering and medical colleges owned by the government are not equipped in terms of infrastructure and faculty and their quality has been suffering. The better government institutions cannot accommodate the vast number of students who are seeking to get into them. So the need for the private sector comes in. They are filling the gap.
Yes, many of the private institutions take advantage of the situation and charge high fees. There are very good students in rural areas but they can’t afford good education today. Students must remember that college education is the basic foundation. It’s the only place they will get to learn. Once they are outside, they will have to practise what they learnt here. They will not get a chance to learn outside. So they should seize the opportunity, make the most of it.
India is already on its way to becoming a developed country. However, education has become one of the important things to survive in today’s world. And unfortunately India is lagging behind in education. After 60 years of independence, still we are not able to find a perfect education system in India. India’s education system is ranked 74th in the entire world. Even though there is change every year, why are we lagging behind? This is due to choosing wrong ways every New Year. YA we appreciate that there are highly meritorious students in India. But who thinks about the so-called ‘educationally backward people’?
Today due to bad governance these people have become more backward. They are not able to come out of darkness. This is all because of corrupt people who take away the money that is invested for these people. Government gives money to build schools, but who cares where this money is going. Today government school’s teachers are taking teaching as a headache or they think how they will get more money in less work. But they are not thinking that these children are the future of our country. Educating them will shape our country. No one would believe that today there are places in India where money is given to build schools, even teachers are given salary, but there is no school, just teachers are paid. Government should look over such cases.
India needs to develop a lot. Today we are culturally strong and we need to be educationally strong. People in India have the capacity to do this but the support of good governance is highly needed. Hope so we can see India in a very few years as what we see in our dreams.