India, has a demographic advantage over the fast ageing societies of Europe, North America and Japan with half of its population below 25 years of age. It is the youth who need to sustain the economic growth of this country.
Do you think the present education system, terribly infrastructure, low literacy rate and inadequacy of opportunities in higher education, will be able to shoulder this responsibility to sustain the economic growth? If not, what are the measures needed to be taken by policy makers to sustain the economic growth.
On another note, I would also want to know your views regarding the major showstoppers in the present policies of Ministry of Human Resource Department.
Education Reforms- I |
As we all know, India is soon going to be the only country with the maximum number of young people in the world. In this context, education takes on a special significance. The following reforms are desirable
1. More emphasis on vocational education. The purpose of education isnt just knowledge acquisition and growth, but also preparation for future life, evryone should be capable of earning their own bread, that is the basic key to empowerment of any section or calss of society
2. Child-centric and contextualised education at the pre-primary level- We realize how de-contextualisted our education has become. Eg. we teach rhymes like "polly put the kettle on" to rural children, they have never heard of a name called polly, they have no idea what a kettle is, and so on. Instead, nursery level and lower primary level education should be a very light,enjoyable and most importantly, undertsandable experience.
Also, teachers at that level are most important, there is provision for nursery teacher training, but its more of theory than actual practice. A special course in child psychology and in-service training for nursery teachers is most essential.
3. At the primary level, most important is reducing the workload. It's all right if they don't know all the world's history and geography and science and math by class 5 !!
Classes 6,7 and 8 are again repitive in nature. Curriculum needs to be streamlined some more. It gets very boring when kids learn the same things over and over again, and it is also a huge waste of time and resources.
Counselling should begin at this age itself, in the pre-adolescent-and-going-to-adolescence stage to prepare them for the future changes.
At a more general level, there needs to be more fund allocation at the primary level. Drinking water facilities, sanitation, mid-day meals etc. Mid-day meal system could do with a lot of improvement, instead of cooking in schools ( it is dangerous in one-room schools and even otheriwse with very small children around) nutritious, pre-packed food or fruit or eggs can be given. Regular inspection is needed about hygiene and working conditions while prepaption of mid-day meals.
1. More emphasis on vocational education. The purpose of education isnt just knowledge acquisition and growth, but also preparation for future life, evryone should be capable of earning their own bread, that is the basic key to empowerment of any section or calss of society
2. Child-centric and contextualised education at the pre-primary level- We realize how de-contextualisted our education has become. Eg. we teach rhymes like "polly put the kettle on" to rural children, they have never heard of a name called polly, they have no idea what a kettle is, and so on. Instead, nursery level and lower primary level education should be a very light,enjoyable and most importantly, undertsandable experience.
Also, teachers at that level are most important, there is provision for nursery teacher training, but its more of theory than actual practice. A special course in child psychology and in-service training for nursery teachers is most essential.
3. At the primary level, most important is reducing the workload. It's all right if they don't know all the world's history and geography and science and math by class 5 !!
Classes 6,7 and 8 are again repitive in nature. Curriculum needs to be streamlined some more. It gets very boring when kids learn the same things over and over again, and it is also a huge waste of time and resources.
Counselling should begin at this age itself, in the pre-adolescent-and-going-to-adolescence stage to prepare them for the future changes.
At a more general level, there needs to be more fund allocation at the primary level. Drinking water facilities, sanitation, mid-day meals etc. Mid-day meal system could do with a lot of improvement, instead of cooking in schools ( it is dangerous in one-room schools and even otheriwse with very small children around) nutritious, pre-packed food or fruit or eggs can be given. Regular inspection is needed about hygiene and working conditions while prepaption of mid-day meals.
At the secondary level, there should be separate vocational streams to choose from. CBSE has introduced a course in finance at class 11 level, it would another stream just like humanities, science and commerce. It a step in the right direction.
Ganesh Sir, i agree it is a healthy trend that teachers are offered jobs in rural areas, but the situation is still very dismal. There was a scheme, i dont know if it still exists, when a postman was made the temorray teacher for the viallges where there was no other option, and it seems to have worked. Teacher training needs some great overhaul, it has become outdated..In urban schools where compuetrs have made a foray for study of every subjects, students find it very funny when even the best-trained teachers (read coming from the best teacher-training colleges) try to teach them with a chart or roller blackboard, which i feel is one of the most outdated teaching aids for public schools, but the most uselful one for govt schools. A better trained tecaher should be able to use all kinds of teaching aids.
Most teachers posts are lying vacant in govt schools because of lack of funds. Govt schools in urban areas have computer rooms, but they are locked because computer teachers haven't been recruited. On the other hand, there are so many 'qualified' teachers, who have no real knowledge or training of their subjects, they are there just because a B.Ed degree is so easily available ..There has to be a stop on the number of private B.Ed colleges that are coming up...schools offer measly salaries to such teachers and the better trained may be left out because they refuse to accept anything lower than a govt scale..this is a kind of unhelthy competition that severely affects the quality of education.
Not just that, a teacher too is overburdened ( contrary to the popular perception that it is a "lighter' job), she has to think of so many new ways n schemes to burden the kids themselves, and that isnt easy! Jokes apart, she is delegated so many extra jobs that she has little time left for the preparation of the subject to be taught the next day, there is a latest thing in teacher recruitment where they almost make us sign a bond that we would not marry if we are unmarried ( atleast for 1-2 yrs), and if one is married, they cannot have a child for 1-2 yrs..if the job is to be taken. The teacher is not even free to teach as she likes, there is the imposed curriculum ( which is also sumtimes full of textual/factual errors) and the sword of finish-thesyllabus-before-its-too-late hanging over the head. All n all, it has to be realized that only a good teacher can bring out the best in students n is very essential to improving the quality of education.
Ganesh Sir, i agree it is a healthy trend that teachers are offered jobs in rural areas, but the situation is still very dismal. There was a scheme, i dont know if it still exists, when a postman was made the temorray teacher for the viallges where there was no other option, and it seems to have worked. Teacher training needs some great overhaul, it has become outdated..In urban schools where compuetrs have made a foray for study of every subjects, students find it very funny when even the best-trained teachers (read coming from the best teacher-training colleges) try to teach them with a chart or roller blackboard
, which i feel is one of the most outdated teaching aids for public schools, but the most uselful one for govt schools. A better trained tecaher should be able to use all kinds of teaching aids.Most teachers posts are lying vacant in govt schools because of lack of funds. Govt schools in urban areas have computer rooms, but they are locked because computer teachers haven't been recruited. On the other hand, there are so many 'qualified' teachers, who have no real knowledge or training of their subjects, they are there just because a B.Ed degree is so easily available ..There has to be a stop on the number of private B.Ed colleges that are coming up...schools offer measly salaries to such teachers and the better trained may be left out because they refuse to accept anything lower than a govt scale..this is a kind of unhelthy competition that severely affects the quality of education.
Not just that, a teacher too is overburdened ( contrary to the popular perception that it is a "lighter' job), she has to think of so many new ways n schemes to burden the kids themselves, and that isnt easy! Jokes apart, she is delegated so many extra jobs that she has little time left for the preparation of the subject to be taught the next day, there is a latest thing in teacher recruitment where they almost make us sign a bond that we would not marry if we are unmarried ( atleast for 1-2 yrs), and if one is married, they cannot have a child for 1-2 yrs..if the job is to be taken. The teacher is not even free to teach as she likes, there is the imposed curriculum ( which is also sumtimes full of textual/factual errors) and the sword of finish-thesyllabus-before-its-too-late hanging over the head. All n all, it has to be realized that only a good teacher can bring out the best in students n is very essential to improving the quality of education.
A different approach; maybe at the macro level!-
In this context, it is apt to mention the infamous "vicious three" circle. Health, Poverty and Illiteracy(Education). Each one leads to the other. It is difficult to address anyone one of these without addressing the other two. If people are poor, they cannot afford good health. When health is bad how can they sit in the class room and get educated? Statistics reveal that an average Indian spends 45% of his income on food only. this means that he has lesser Money( when compared to his counterparts in US & European countries) to spend on entertainment and to pursue his intellectual growth. The same is the case with our government. It has less money to be spent on the "vicious three'.Educational cess is one important step in this direction which can improve the situation.
The educational system in the cities and towns is perfectly okay with private and aided instiutes which fill the lacunae. International degrees and schools have raised to the global standards at the primary level.
This is one aspect.
But, apart from all the problems being discussed, is it not a fact that some institutes have become centers for religious propagation and have a proselyting effect on the students???We reap what we sow. Nationality and community feeling should be instilled in today's children.A common ideology and patriotism is lacking.
As far the government schools in rural areas are concerned the government has come up with School Development and Monitoring committees(SDMCs). It is a very good step. But here again politics has crept in.Recently in Karnataka a Head Mistress committed suicide because she was constantly being harrassed(As being anti-dalit) by an SDMC head. So the problem continues...
And also the system of evaluation of students based on the type of answers they give in an examination has some limitations.The answers would be more or less similar. Why not assess a student by the kind or type of question he asks?...this would increase the scientific temparment.
In this context, it is apt to mention the infamous "vicious three" circle. Health, Poverty and Illiteracy(Education). Each one leads to the other. It is difficult to address anyone one of these without addressing the other two. If people are poor, they cannot afford good health. When health is bad how can they sit in the class room and get educated? Statistics reveal that an average Indian spends 45% of his income on food only. this means that he has lesser Money( when compared to his counterparts in US & European countries) to spend on entertainment and to pursue his intellectual growth. The same is the case with our government. It has less money to be spent on the "vicious three'.Educational cess is one important step in this direction which can improve the situation.
The educational system in the cities and towns is perfectly okay with private and aided instiutes which fill the lacunae. International degrees and schools have raised to the global standards at the primary level.
This is one aspect.
But, apart from all the problems being discussed, is it not a fact that some institutes have become centers for religious propagation and have a proselyting effect on the students???We reap what we sow. Nationality and community feeling should be instilled in today's children.A common ideology and patriotism is lacking.
As far the government schools in rural areas are concerned the government has come up with School Development and Monitoring committees(SDMCs). It is a very good step. But here again politics has crept in.Recently in Karnataka a Head Mistress committed suicide because she was constantly being harrassed(As being anti-dalit) by an SDMC head. So the problem continues...
And also the system of evaluation of students based on the type of answers they give in an examination has some limitations.The answers would be more or less similar. Why not assess a student by the kind or type of question he asks?...this would increase the scientific temparment.
No comments:
Post a Comment