Alka Sharma from Bhavan’s SL School won the CBSE best teacher award. In her view, the Indian education system is rather upside down in the way that it is oriented towards performance. She admits that it is all about ‘completing the curriculum’ and not about actual learning or growing young minds. Sharma is a teacher who believes that kids cannot be force-fed learning. In her view, kids should be made to understand concepts first and should have fun while they do so.
Every Indian student has heard their teacher talk about completing the syllabus. Every Indian parent acknowledges that the syllabus set for their children is more ‘vast’ than it was in their times. Meanwhile, there is much that the syllabus lacks in terms of teaching children how to become autonomous, functioning adults equipped with life skills for the real world.
This may be a colonial relic, but the Indian education system has not seen fit to evolve beyond rote learning. There is still an emphasis on memorising vis-à-vis actual understanding and application of learning. Critical thinking is vital for young minds, however this is actively discouraged in our schools.
A student who has tried to write a creative answer rather than the ‘book’ answer has likely been told by their teacher not to be ‘over smart’. Indian students are taught to keep their heads down, not raise too many questions or rock the boat. Independent thinking isn't encouraged to put it mildly.
Students that don’t do well in exams are assumed to be dull. Those that score high marks are assumed to be intelligent. This first-past-the post methodology is unable to measure actual ability or insight. It can be make or break for students pursuing higher learning, which is deeply problematic.
Teaching is a poorly paid profession in India. It is unable to attract experts in a subject, ambitious professionals or the brightest minds because of this. So we either have dedicated teachers frustrated by a lack of remunerative opportunities or we have teachers who teach because they cannot or don’t want to do any other job.
Teachers have a tough job. They have to make stodgy material come alive. They have a mountainous syllabus to cover. They are restricted by rules of the institution they work in, maintain class discipline and also deal with entitled, demanding parents.
Student suicide is a real problem. Failing to get marks above the cutoff means not being able to get into the more desirable institutions of higher learning. The parental and societal pressure as well as one’s own expectations from oneself may become quite unbearable. For many young students, this is game over!
The desirable or prestigious schools are often out of reach for regular people. Higher education is now prohibitively expensive. In the event, access to education has become highly skewed in favour of the wealthy. Poor and marginalised groups continue to be denied opportunities, perpetuating and even widening the gap between rich and poor. So when dedicated educators such as Alka Sharma say that Indian education is performance oriented rather than student centric, she is quite right.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
