It's teacher's day today. A day dedicated to the teachers in India for their contribution in nation building. This, however, should be used as an opportunity to look at our archaic, maligned and uninspiring education system. Our current education system is the product of the British Raj. Their intent was to produce slaves, capable of doing their work and understanding their language of communication. Hence, our current system is dominated by English, theoretical knowledge and discipline. Being innovative or creative is indiscipline in our system.
Our education system is such that it doesn't let you apply your brains but forces you to apply your memory. A free mind with an opportunity to explore myriad different avenues is strangled into the classroom by books and exams. How do we expect to bring diversity in this nation of 1 billion when each individual is treated with same syllabus and subjects? Giving basic education about every subject is necessary, but the student must be empowered to make his own decisions, early in life. The real learning is when a student learns to do it himself. Spoon-feeding the answers makes them parasitic.
The goal of education should be to make individuals capable enough to explore more than what is already available. A new symphony, a new equation, a new dance move, a new sports record or a new planet. Our system teaches us the symphony and asks us to produce the same over and over again.
The whole pedagogical community is now commercialized, with vested interests everywhere. Education is now a "sector" and a means to make huge profits. The institutes have grown in number without a proportional increase in the number of qualified teachers. The result is that our nations future is now in unqualified hands.
India ranks 147th in the world Education Index ; below countries like Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Samoa and almost every country that you can think of. If this isn't alarming enough for us to be proactive in taking steps towards revamping our Education system, then maybe we have reached the Dooms Day of Indian Education.
Even the proposed Right to Education Act aims to do nothing about the quality of education imparted by our institutes. Providing education which is below standards is futile and solves no purpose. For an improved education structure we need trained educators. Teachers who are well trained and are passionate about what they do. Teachers also need to realize the importance of the job that they do.
During my entire school and college life there were just a few teachers who had the love for their job. For most of them, the job was a compromise. They suffered from guilt complex and forced respect out of students rather than getting genuine respect out of them. There were however, some real gems. The one's that could change the shape of your lives and with age this type of teachers became rarer.
With Right to Education we are making steps towards a better and more universal education. But we need to improve the quality of the education provided as well. The teacher's should also get what they deserve. We need to train our teachers if the future of India has to Shine.
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." ~ Albert Einstein
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