FYI | Classroom challenges

It all started as an argument, the topic being India’s position in global academics. It stemmed from the QS World University Rankings 2015. According to the survey, there is no Indian university in the Top 100.

We were both surprised and shocked. Unemployment and unemployability represent a rapidly growing twin-crisis today. Our nation was a pioneer in higher education, and students from all over the world came to Nalandha University centuries ago, much before the first European university came up.

Begin with the basics. School is the first organised situation where children can explore themselves and face competition. It is the platform where each of them discovers their individuality and interests. Education is the tool given to a child to cope with growing knowledge.

The biggest problem in our country is that education focusses on cramming. The best crammers are rewarded by the system. In addition, schools are business-oriented and encourage bright students hoping to get centum results. Education has to turn into knowledge. After all, knowledge is power. Nowadays students are virtually like zombies, running after marks irrespective of their own interests.

Probably every one of us at some point wonders why children are more interested in games and music and in watching television rather than studying. To make a child learn, interest in learning should be inculcated. This is where parents, teachers and schools fail today. Coaching has replaced teaching thanks to the education system that is being followed. Motivation has been sacrificed and the fear of losing becomes pervasive. Students are categorised by the marks they score, and this affects the self-esteem of the so-called less-bright students. They are stressed out, and think of themselves not worthy enough.

Our education system has become so muddled that it has lost its essential ability to bring back ethics and morals into academics. Education has to encourage an attitude of enquiry. It is the same reason why some students, after graduating in professional courses, do not feel as professional as they are required to be. This is why India with its humongous youth population is largely helpless in tackling unemployment. We are creating workers, not entrepreneurs.

Source | The Hindu | 6 October 2015