Many countries across the globe are reforming their public education systems. There are two reasons for it. First reason being the economy. Countries are working on how to educate their children so that they enhance the country’s economy in the 21st century. However, we can't anticipate what the economy of a given country will look like after a week. The second reason is culture. The country wants their citizens to be aware of and respect their cultural identity so that it can be passed on to the upcoming generations while still being a part of the procedure of globalization.
The present Indian education system was designed and considered in and for a different age altogether. It was conceived in the colonial India under the economic circumstances of the industrial revolution in Britain. Prior to the mid nineteenth century, we did have Sanskrit Gurukuls and Madrassas, but there were no frameworks of public education system.
Indian education system has its own peculiarity. Thomas Babington Macaulay is known as the father of English education in India. He had a feeling of hatred towards vernacular Indian languages and forced English down the throats of Indians. Basically, British presented the education framework in India to make clerks and accountants who only needed to do routine jobs like robots. What's more, that sort of repetition learning required for such employments still torments our school training framework. It was driven by an economic priority of the time, however struggling directly through it were many intellectual model of minds. Ever since our independence in 1947, we have produced zero nobel laureates in science, whereas US has produced more than 100 of them. When it comes to Olympics India has won only 28 medals since 1900s whereas China bagged 100 medals alone in 2008 Olympics.
But there’s something we have produced more than China and US alone, i.e. number of engineers. A vast majority of India’s engineers are still unemployed because they lack proper communication skills which simply means poor English. Anyway, English is not our language, we acquired it. Still some of our engineers manage to struggle and make their way into Europe and America. In today’s world two of the world’s biggest tech giants, Google and Microsoft are being run by Indian engineers. Believe it or not, all of the successful Indian engineers owe their life to a very particular moment of history. That moment was 4th October 1957, when the Soviet Union launched world’s first human satellite in space. The US was startled by the launch of Sputnik, so it changed its immigration policy and invited geniuses from all over the globe to counter the Soviet Space Program. India was a sort of socialist country back then, so we maintained very good relations with USSR. However, most of the engineers ditched USSR and preferred working in NASA. The reason was simple, Macaulay. Since we were comfortable in speaking in English, all our engineers opted for US. Even now some parents and students consider engineering as their ticket to US.
When children are sent to school, they are kept there with a story which is "if they will work hard and do well, and get a college degree, nobody can stop them from having a well paid job. The fact of the matter is that education is not a mechanical framework. It's a human framework. It's about individuals, individuals who either would like to learn or would prefer not to learn. Furthermore, my view is that this model has created chaos in lives of innumerable individuals. It's been extraordinary for a few but there have been individuals who are suffering from it still today.
Schools are still basically organised on lines of a manufacturing plant. We have ringing bells, isolated offices and cabins, and specializations in particular subjects. Regardless students are adjusted in the system of schools and educated according to their age (there are many schools which have age and height limit for students in specific grades). All things considered, we all know many children who are much better than other children at a same age. They have different interests, some are extroverts and some are introverts, some prefer a small friend circle over a large one, or some of the time they need to be all alone. In case someone is keen on reviving the model of education you don't begin from this production line attitude.
Presumably, the greatest blemish in our education framework is that it propagates the concept of memorising over learning. The GPA framework is designed to the point that who so ever has a capacity to mug up the syllabus a night before the exams can without much of a stretch secure decent grades. It is essential to customize Education as per one's interest. Our education depends on the dogma which claims that if a course is fit for one person, it fits for all, this definitely does not bode well. I have had courses like organic chemistry and Botany which had definitely no connection to what I'm doing today. The skills that are given importance to in the Indian classrooms are the abilities that mould the children best for market oriented jobs, for example specialized memory and problem solving techniques.
If someone thinks of an arrangement to change things, society will think of him or her as radicals. They will say the most terrible things in regards to them.
The most educated country in EU, Finland started the reform of its educational framework somewhere 40 years ago. Today, Finland's educational system is best positioned among developed countries, as measured by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The most fascinating part of their framework is that Finland made its success by breaking what is viewed as the standard tenets of education. Finnish kids don't start school until the age of seven and schooling is mandatory only for nine years. School hours are shorter and classes are less. Homework is insignificant. There are no hard and fast rule of forcing standardised tests to kids. There’s no concept of comparison, rankings, or rivalry between students and schools.
A primary school teacher is amongst the most sought after positions in Finland.The best and brightest competitors need to pass a series of interviews, intended to determine their abilities and passion for teaching. In primary school, kids mostly have the same teacher for up to six years of their training. teachers become acquainted with their students, their individual needs and learning styles. Weaker students are caught early and given additional assistance.The Finnish framework emphasises joint effort and encouragement with teachers in doing whatever it takes to help students, instead of stress and control.
In Indian context, Kerala has always indicated enthusiasm for experimenting with methods for enhancing its school education framework. Each time the NCERT thought of new ideas, it was Kerala that gave it a shot first. The state tried different things with the District Primary Education Program (DPEP) with zeal. The state was the first in the nation to move from the conventional behaviourist method for education, to a social constructivist paradigm.
We have to figure out how to convey successful, proficient and excellent higher education frameworks in our nation. There is a ocean of development and opportunity that should be met by energetic and educated people. Likewise, it is vital for everybody to comprehend that a decent education isn't really purchased by spending more cash.
The Finnish point of view not just highlights the significance and probability of spending less and as yet getting a quality training, it gives a model that India ought to figure out to imitate. Things have changed. However not in education. Education isn't business, it's a human right. Framing it as a business is a clever strategy to pace up privatization and profiteering.