IS THE INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM GOOD ENOUGH?

The Indian Education System has been under scrutiny since the day education in Modern Independent India began to be a subject of importance. The institutions that provide education come under two categories- Public and Private. There has been a lot of debate regarding the efficiency and the benefits of the Indian education system. Many people believe that our education system is very flawed as they do not teach us about the practical problems in life and everything is only about mugging up. Also, there are many facts in our syllabus that are flawed or they do not find a mention at all in our books. (For example- Hockey is NOT the national sport of India, contrary to what we have been taught). The famous writer, Amitav Ghosh whose books can be called a small insight to the Opium War said- “Everything we read in our history book is rubbish.”

For students belonging to backward classes, the security that our education system provides is even lesser Source – www.flickr.com

The only thing that our education system has instilled on us – is to care about marks. This obsession with marks causes so much pressure on children that they either perform badly or commit suicide. The class 12 board results, which is a major life changer for students are sometimes a very wrong indicator of a person’s intelligence. Students who cannot even converse in English score above 80 and the intelligent lot does not even cross 95!

This is exactly how our system is not fair for all Source

“Many a times, the student we expect to do very well performs poorly and the student we expect to do poorly does very well. Nothing can be said for sure when it comes to Boards” says Priyanka, a teacher.

“When you talk about the education system in India, you have to remember that it’s always based on a model of Westernized education. Often, our primary ways of learning are in the English language. There is little attention given to Braille, or making the syllabus friendly for all. I think entrance exams are a good idea. Boards’ marks shouldn’t be the only factor when it comes to getting into a college; it places too much pressure on the child to perform in only one set of exams. We need to create a system where only a number doesn’t decide your future- whilst it is important to perform well academically, it shouldn’t be the sole criteria.” –says Trisha Pande, a reporter of University Express.

Many people believe that the western education is far better than the Indian way as every student is given equal attention and tetaching there is perfect. This is probably the reason why India has so many coaching centres and focuses on extra tuitions classes outside the school and colleges.

“No. I don’t think that it’s good enough. But, then again I can’t say much about the college studies here. But, I can say that the courses I have taken up there are very good and the way we learn is very different from here. We not only focus on textbooks but equal attention is given to visual methods to impart knowledge.”- says Harshita Himatsingka, who is an International student at Syracuse University, New York.

The fact that maximum people think that our Education System is not good enough shows the immediate need of reforms to rectify the problems and build a system that is not only inclusive, but, also focused on overall learning for every student.

Rotator Picture Source – www.flickr.com