A Dream Indian Education

                                        

   A dream educational system would be devoid of any kind of special chance given to anybody in the system other than equality. Equality will be that special chance.  Reservation is but only a part of this debate and of what has to be done. Sure, it has to be removed off the equation, but not right away. The ground on which the system will stand on has to be absolutely fair. What this means is that one also has to look for the changes that has to be made before leaping for such a  step.

What is current go-and-flow of Indian education?

   India is home to 230 million enrolled students in its 1.4 million schools. A kid is born. The kid is assured of the access to education by SSA but not given the equal standard of learning opportunity (quantitatively-universal; qualitatively-exclusive #IndianLogic) and hence not given the sense of living in an egalitarian society. Different people from different economic classes get to go to schools of different quality standards (no standards are however near to the essential learning anyway). Neither the child is taught to learn the principles of coexistence and acceptance of multi-cultures (this is commonly the case for all!) apart from not teaching and measuring learning outcomes. But basically there are two major places of studying: Government-run and Private-run institutions (thanks to government efforts, since 1991!--practically speaking, private players are necessary in the field of education to share the load of educating the heavy population). Then comes the 'cut-off’ phase in the kid's life and the test to testify ‘skills’ needed to get into higher educational institutions of different standards. Here is a lifeline in the name of reservation for some of those kids who didn't get to be educated in the so-called high standards and in this process gets lost the chance for a deserving individual. Also lost here is the purpose of doing all this--the uplifting of downtrodden--has the expected result of harmonious, equal-in-all-aspects society born? After all these years of this continued system? No, because the presence of classes (classes here doesn't mean economic classes) has already been given the official recognition and reservation, by the government run by all of the people together. It has become something a person has to carry with him throughout one's life and pass on to the next generation. Even worse, the sense of community gets more ground with time as the consolidated blocks of communities oppose one another for various demands. So the one-line conclusion is: Ups and Downs in educational standards directly translate into Ups and Downs in the society. We are continuing what the British had started with the intention of disrupting India: the recognition of caste in census and other governmental processes in the 19th century. This has been the detrimental factor hindering the building of a modern society on civil lines instead of caste lines.

Local, fuzzy, indistinct caste identities

Given sharply marked, distinct line of separation

Attempt to give it official recognition and reservation

Strong communal sense

New solidarity, new consolidated bloc's against one another

Caste politics

Difficulty in nation making, development, building modern society of civil lines.

What are wrong and what are the reasons for the wrong?

   The first reason is government leaving the responsibility of educating the people which, in turn, is due to the lack of basic understanding about it. Education has to mean something fundamental and more than just prestige or a qualification. Education is more a right and it has to be felt as a right just as voting for elections is, which is very basic, universal and non-discriminatory. Private institutions are let unchecked and the result is education having become a commercial product available in different qualities given by different competitors and hence the deterioration of the standard. Don't just recite “Indians are top at NASA, CEOs in MNCs...blah.. blah..” please; A country isn't represented by some small fraction of its population. India is low at 131 out of 188 countries in HRI. Social improvement ranking is 101 out of 133. Common School System was proposed by Kothari Commission a long ago but has not been given the slightest consideration till now, despite the stats are solid to prove the failure of current system. Another thing commonly uncared is primary education, which is the foundation for all that is built over it. Look at the specified outcomes of pre-primary and primary education:

• Learn how to learn. Creativity.
• Knowing history.
• Awareness and acceptance of multi-cultures.
• Learn languages, science and arts.
• Learn coexistence irrespective of background.

• If this happened, then how come the communal identities almost always relate to economic statuses till now? What are we gonna become? (Sure we'll become what our parents now are)

 Look at a Tamil poet quoting. What this shows is that our ancestors were open to learning languages (but not to imposition) only after which will the sweetness of the mother tongue be realized.

      “Of all the languages I know, nowhere is found a language as sweet as Tamil is”

• Learning many languages, arts and sports, all extra-curricular things have become something that must be bought with extra money and the tendency of being open to languages like our ancestors has vanished.

   Only 29% of the children from age 6 to 14 are educated in private schools and the remaining are in government schools where there is 2 times lesser number of teachers than in private institutions. It means that vast number of government schools are under-staffed and the teacher-student ratio is 1:40. Fests and extra-curricular activities are not properly conducted in public schools and so parents don't feel inclusive in the academics of their wards. All these had rendered an inferiority complex about joining in the state-run schools. People are desperate for a government job and contrarily do not want their folks grow in a government-run place. Freebies of crores and crores rupees are given to government school students and still the number of students in government side are dropping steadily i.e. freebies only serve as an advertisement to the political parties and nothing more.

What should be done to improvise this current abysmal situation?

To immediately repair as far as possible

   Often comparing with western countries, the politicians and administrators refuse to look at the free and equity education system offered by them throughout a student's life despite great difficulties. They are indeed capitalistic nations not believing in social equality and yet they recognize the need for providing equal opportunities in learning stage.

On an immediate basis:

1. Standardizing existing government schools up to what private players offer now is the only way after the situation is out of immediate repair. Initially a very low fee can be collected to meet with newly incurred expenses and then reduced gradually to a completely free system.

a. Cancel freebies and route it to one-time infrastructure upgrade.

b. Teacher-Student ratio of 1:40 has to be reduced and official running of one-teacher and two-teacher schools must be stopped.

c. School Administrative Committee consisting of parents and local people must be formed and run efficiently as stated in SSA act.

d. Multi-language teaching with the student's mother language as basis must be enacted.

e. Arts and Sports training be given equal priority.

2. Making existing private schools comply with the rules and regulations regarding fees structure and facilities. Every school must meet a full-fledged criterion. These two measures would greatly reduce the gap between private and public schools for now.

3. It is also possible to think of running schools in PPP (Public PrivatePartnership). It is a much larger topic and debate in itself and involves a lot of economics.

4. Abolishing cut-off system in higher secondary exams and introducing entrance examinations

a. To prevent schools from competing with each other for producing marks off their students and hence not caring for learning outcomes.

b. To prevent skipping of higher secondary 1st year syllabus which is the basis for engineering sciences.

c. So, overall, the commercialization of education is made meaningless.

5.At higher education level

a. No new private colleges should be given approval.

b. Fee structure of existing colleges must be compulsorily standardized      to a reasonable rate.

 c. Facility standards are to be under stringent rules and regulations.

               d. Presence of premier institutes is inevitable and important too. So it should be                         left as it is.

What should be the go-and-flow of (a dream) Indian education instead?

   Some of major steps:

• Common school system
  • Every student will be reserved a seat in a school that is exactly the same as any other institution in the country and no other reservation other than this.
  • This excludes higher educational institutions but they must be under severe control in terms of fee standards.
  • Entrance exams for all kinds of higher studies
  • Higher secondary board exam results may not be considered at all or be given a factor in entrance eligibility criteria.
  • No reservation for communities but financial support can be offered to students based on economic status.
  • History is separated from formal educational books and introduced as an extra-credit course
  • History should be self-learnt by a student from a book of one's own choice among options written by leading, independent history writers.
  • This will check government's or any particular person's malicious intention of imparting wrong history or religious likes and dislikes maliciously in the minds of youth.
  • Evaluation of this subject may be in the form of asking the student to elaborate on a particular incident and present what he interpreted from that incident as consequence in present world. This system excludes student below the age of 10.
  
  

End note

      This Indian educational system is not something impossible to achieve. It is not excessively desirous either. In our dreams, India will be comprised of students where there is a strong interest in individual goals, brisk effort to invent and innovate and yet a want to be of some use to the people of the world. Speaking against communal reservation mustn't be taken as speech against equality.

Keep visiting...