'Evils' of Indian Education-II
Originally posted on http://blog.arcanemind.com/uncategorized/evils-indian-education-2/ -- Please visit: www.arcanemind.com
'Evils' of Indian Education-II
So we are back with the second installation of ‘Evils’ of Indian Education. To kick off this topic let’s start off with: How this pyramidal structure came to be?
Education is of quality only when the teacher is ‘vidvaan’. If professors who are experts in their domain and carry out a lot of research in addition to teaching the students, teaches at any Indian institute then:- 1) A very dynamic, ever changing, open syllabus is created 2) Passionate professors, teachers can answer most questions 3) Focus on research increases 4) Encouragement of critical thinking
So how do you get these great thinkers to teach? You pay them handsomely which their talent/knowledge deserves. But what does that do? It increases the cost of Education. But our people are poor. Can they pay a tuition to the tune of even Rs. 10-15 lakh for college education? Of course not. So the state does what it thinks best – State-Sponsored education. But now we need more state-sponsored schools because we are such a big country. What does the state do? It opens new schools but doesn’t revise teacher salaries. Now a very talented and knowledgeable teacher who teaches at the state-sponsored college suddenly finds his salary stays stagnant while the salaries in Industry keep rocketing. He doesn’t get his research grants anymore. He takes the right decision and goes to work in the industry or teach at a college abroad.
As the ratio of industry salary/teacher salary keeps increasing, the quality of people teaching at the colleges gets worse and all the problems advantages listed above start becoming problems. However, the state does one thing – it keeps funding and revising salaries/grants for some of its best institutes also called IITs/IIMs. Hello affordable good education at IIMs(not so much!).
ATTENDANCE:THE OLDER WE GROW THE LESS WE LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Even if the child does get enrolled in a school, there is no guarantee that (s)he will attend. There are number of factors that keep the child away
Teachers are held accountable for enrollment, seldom for attendance; they don’t see the need to push.
The child needs to work, at home or in the family enterprise (farming, trading etc) or in another enterprise to bring in money to help feed the family.
The pedagogy is so boring and the subjects so irrelevant that no self-respecting child will be lured to stay on.
Marks/Score is all that matters: Marks have been given the prime importance in the educational system, they can make or break your career and are considered the best metric to judge the person’s knowledge on the subject. Everybody wants good marks and they can do whatever it takes to get them. A lot of books or guides are available in the market for all subjects and standards which help you score good marks. They don’t impart knowledge, they just provide you with the minimum information required to pass the test. They will help you get through, so what more should you ask for ? more marks with less effort, perfect combination for a lazy student.
Teachers are often uninterested in teaching. Their knowledge is limited. Delhi University is offering students options of quitting a 4 year diploma course in 2 years, if they want to be primary school teachers. What message are we sending? That it is all right for poorly qualified people to be primary school teachers. Teachers are often used for all sorts of extension work by government. They are often ‘returning officers’ in elections and that makes them powerful. They are feared by the students and why would they not?
Teacher truancy – if the teacher skips classes with impunity all the time, why would the kid want to go?