Indian CEOs are prominent worldwide and are appreciated everywhere. From CEO of Google, Mr. Sundar Pichai to CFO of World Bank, Mrs. Anshula Kant, it is evident that Indians have set international standards for their knowledge and skillset. Indian Education has played a huge part in moulding such persons. The best part about it is that it strengthens ones memorizing powers. The curriculum is usually lengthy and requires students to remember their chapters by heart. Many topics are covered widely and in a detailed manner however, the more important and relevant topics are absent in the curriculum. These include general awareness, basic knowledge about contemporary topics such as securities markets, law, gender neutrality, gender diversity, sex education, secularism, mental and physical health etc.
The expectations of the board are that topics should be learnt, revised and written in the exams. Very few questions are asked in the papers which involves practical application of the course material. Even if these questions are application-based, they involve applying the course concepts and do not include a mixture of course concept and real life problems. The purpose of education should be to make life easy and to help students understand their interest area by exploring various fields. However, the courses are designed in such a manner that they require hours of study. The advantage is that children learn to focus for long hours which inculcates patience and self-control within them. However, the disadvantage is that it costs their health, promotes unhealthy competition, significantly reduces the leisure time and discourages students to pursue other activities of their interest.
The subjects such as history, sciences, language have also become more about grasping rather than understanding and critically analysing. The aim of imparting education must be to help students develop a strong character and aptitude. They must be taught to think beyond the course and build their own understanding about subjects. They must be asked to give their own opinions and perceptions about topics rather than feeding them a single view point. These features are not present in the system because teachers and the boards are not very encouraging about it. My personal experience of class 12th CBSE boards has been that my teachers have avoided me from writing points that are out of the course. This is because the paper correctors in board examination have an answer key and they would deduct marks, if my answer does not comply with the answer key. Hence, I never thought out of the box or critically analysed topics.
Another issue with the education is that the courses are not updated. With the changing time, students need to be taught subjects that are productive, progressive and help them build a good personality and image in the society. Education should be made more fun and student-oriented. They must be designed in a manner that students show interest in it rather than looking at it as a pressure. Curriculum must be freed from courses that promote narrow minded approach, for example: patriarchy, inequality etc. One such incident which still highlights the narrow mindedness of people occurred this year in CBSE board examination. One of the passages in the paper said that the reason for more problems in the society is the freedom and independence of women. The question basically asked that why women’s freedom has created issues in the society. Such questions only reify the patriarchy. Students in their 10th are at a stage of forming their opinions about various topics. At this point, encouraging a patriarchal and one-sided view can only add to the sexism in the society. Papers must also be designed in a cautious manner.
There is a strong need to reformulate and reorganize the education system to make it student friendly. The Indian Education system is not at a terrible state but yet has a huge scope for improvement. The lacuna can be filled with the collective efforts of government, ministry, education boards, parents and citizens of the country. Education must add to the overall personality development and not just focus on few facets of development.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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In the year 2021, we wrote about 1000 Inspirational Women In India, in the year 2022, we would be featuring 5000 Start Up Stories