Reforming India's Education
Aswin Nandakumar
A prominent school in Kochi took their students of 6th grade to a village which was suffering from acute water shortage. The science teacher made the local representative speak to the children about the sad plight of the village. Later, they were shown a dry well in the village which otherwise used to have plenty of water throughout the year. Followed by this, a documentary was shown about the depleting groundwater crisis in India due to a careless lifestyle of urban dwellers.
Students were moved by it. Some vowed never to wastewater, while some pledged to plant more trees. The group decided to take action. Learning happened instantaneously. A few weeks later various groups came did research and brought out a presentation chart which caused depleting water tables.
An automobile engineering college students once had a guest faculty. He was the head of a local auto workshop in the city. At the lab, he broke down each part of a vehicle, and in vernacular language spoke of the functions of each of these parts. The HOD too attended in breaking apart an old automobile. The students watched and asked questions. They were split into groups and were told to reassemble the car again. A full day engagement turned out to be the most memorable experience for them. Very few colleges in India have opted to revolutionise the system of learning in the higher education sector. Very few institutes like Indian Institutes of Technology, top National Institute of Technologies and few private institutions have brought in radical changes to the curriculum. Studies find that most graduates are rarely found to be employable and lack cognitive abilities acquired by the undergraduates of countries like Russia and China. A study by Stanford University in association with the World Bank concludes that Engineering students in India make a significant stride in technical ability but their performance is extremely poor in higher-order thinking tasks.
However, teachers feel, even with good technology and facilities available for the current generation makes them too distracted. Melissa M Goveas, Head of the department of English at SAC College feels that technology is largely used by students to satiate their entertainment need. Also, the teacher-student relationship is on thin ice as students feel all the answers can be found on Google. Though technology can be used to develop a fast learning process, students lack seriousness, social commitment, and inclination towards learning. “Student-teacher relationship is no longer sacred,” points Melissa.
“Education is undergoing a rapid transformation and the world has become one village because of the rapid advancement of technology. Youngsters in the country are well connected to the world through their devices. Yet, when they enroll for graduate courses, many of them are appalled to see the subjects that are being taught are outdated. Young India is hungry for more,” says Ema Fatima, who works as a researcher in environmental conservation. Ema believes that subjects such as global warming, its implication on progress are hardly being updated in the curriculum.
India's higher education system is the third-largest in the world -- next only to the US and China. The aspirations of India’s youth are high. In line with this, to improve standards in higher education, the present ruling dispensation introduced new regulations that Ph.D degree has been made mandatory for promotion to assistant professor (selection grade) in colleges from July 1, 2021. The doctoral degree is being made mandatory for direct recruitment to assistant professor. This step is seen as a way to improve the quality of teaching staff.
Asha Kishore, a chartered accountant by profession feels that education needs a revamp. Asha, also a serious acrylic artist says that creativity is missing from academics. “Many colleges and universities are still stuck to the utopian idea that ‘improving creativity’ of students is equal to creating opportunities in the campus for cultural programs as well as inter-college and intra-collegiate festivals. What they fail to realise is creativity needs to spread its diverse form in every aspect of education. Teaching methodology needs to be creative. Classroom ambience must be jovial, teaching tools must be catchy. Sports based learning, learning using board games, field trips, peer to peer teaching and many such methodologies need to be adopted,” she says. “The campus facilities need a visual appeal. It should cater to the expansive lifestyle of the student. Even if it is for non-professional courses, the campus must upgrade itself from teaching art to being creative,” she adds.
Added to this, the social construct of India makes it tougher. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, data presented in Parliament, over 26,000 school and University level students have committed suicide in India between 2014-2016 and the figures are on an upward swing.
To put it the other way, one student commits suicide in the country every hour. In 2014, 8,068 students ended their lives while this number rose to 8,934 in 2015, marking a rise of over 10 per cent. In 2016, the total number of students who took the extreme step stood at 9,474 — about 6 per cent more than the previous year. About 7,500 of these students did so because of failure in exams, while the rest had other academic or non-academic issues. Innovation is essential to create a higher standard of education. In 2018, the Karnataka government started a pilot study where they gave a yoga-based intervention to 200 students who failed the SSLC exam. The 3 hour Prajna Yoga session claims to increase the intuitive ability of students. “This is an experiment supported by Union Bank as part of its CSR. The aim is to make these students pass in their examinations”, says Mala, Prajna yoga faculty of Vyakti Vikas Kendra India.
With a dynamic and fast policy, enough fund allocation, a private-public partnership in education seems like the key to improving the education standard of the country.
Published in The New Indian Express on June 29, 2019, all Kerala edition
Aswin Nandakumar
Students were moved by it. Some vowed never to wastewater, while some pledged to plant more trees. The group decided to take action. Learning happened instantaneously. A few weeks later various groups came did research and brought out a presentation chart which caused depleting water tables.
An automobile engineering college students once had a guest faculty. He was the head of a local auto workshop in the city. At the lab, he broke down each part of a vehicle, and in vernacular language spoke of the functions of each of these parts. The HOD too attended in breaking apart an old automobile. The students watched and asked questions. They were split into groups and were told to reassemble the car again. A full day engagement turned out to be the most memorable experience for them. Very few colleges in India have opted to revolutionise the system of learning in the higher education sector. Very few institutes like Indian Institutes of Technology, top National Institute of Technologies and few private institutions have brought in radical changes to the curriculum. Studies find that most graduates are rarely found to be employable and lack cognitive abilities acquired by the undergraduates of countries like Russia and China. A study by Stanford University in association with the World Bank concludes that Engineering students in India make a significant stride in technical ability but their performance is extremely poor in higher-order thinking tasks.
Don Thomas who is pursuing his medical internship at Father Muller Medical College, Mangaluru says, “ Exam- oriented learning is what we follow in our medical school. This is a bane. The physician in us starts exploring only during our internship unlike in universities abroad where integrated learning with its application is the curriculum. This difference can be seen from the format of questions in NEET-PG of India and USMLE or PLAB exams of the US and UK.”
However, teachers feel, even with good technology and facilities available for the current generation makes them too distracted. Melissa M Goveas, Head of the department of English at SAC College feels that technology is largely used by students to satiate their entertainment need. Also, the teacher-student relationship is on thin ice as students feel all the answers can be found on Google. Though technology can be used to develop a fast learning process, students lack seriousness, social commitment, and inclination towards learning. “Student-teacher relationship is no longer sacred,” points Melissa.
“Education is undergoing a rapid transformation and the world has become one village because of the rapid advancement of technology. Youngsters in the country are well connected to the world through their devices. Yet, when they enroll for graduate courses, many of them are appalled to see the subjects that are being taught are outdated. Young India is hungry for more,” says Ema Fatima, who works as a researcher in environmental conservation. Ema believes that subjects such as global warming, its implication on progress are hardly being updated in the curriculum.
India's higher education system is the third-largest in the world -- next only to the US and China. The aspirations of India’s youth are high. In line with this, to improve standards in higher education, the present ruling dispensation introduced new regulations that Ph.D degree has been made mandatory for promotion to assistant professor (selection grade) in colleges from July 1, 2021. The doctoral degree is being made mandatory for direct recruitment to assistant professor. This step is seen as a way to improve the quality of teaching staff.
Asha Kishore, a chartered accountant by profession feels that education needs a revamp. Asha, also a serious acrylic artist says that creativity is missing from academics. “Many colleges and universities are still stuck to the utopian idea that ‘improving creativity’ of students is equal to creating opportunities in the campus for cultural programs as well as inter-college and intra-collegiate festivals. What they fail to realise is creativity needs to spread its diverse form in every aspect of education. Teaching methodology needs to be creative. Classroom ambience must be jovial, teaching tools must be catchy. Sports based learning, learning using board games, field trips, peer to peer teaching and many such methodologies need to be adopted,” she says. “The campus facilities need a visual appeal. It should cater to the expansive lifestyle of the student. Even if it is for non-professional courses, the campus must upgrade itself from teaching art to being creative,” she adds.
Added to this, the social construct of India makes it tougher. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, data presented in Parliament, over 26,000 school and University level students have committed suicide in India between 2014-2016 and the figures are on an upward swing.
To put it the other way, one student commits suicide in the country every hour. In 2014, 8,068 students ended their lives while this number rose to 8,934 in 2015, marking a rise of over 10 per cent. In 2016, the total number of students who took the extreme step stood at 9,474 — about 6 per cent more than the previous year. About 7,500 of these students did so because of failure in exams, while the rest had other academic or non-academic issues. Innovation is essential to create a higher standard of education. In 2018, the Karnataka government started a pilot study where they gave a yoga-based intervention to 200 students who failed the SSLC exam. The 3 hour Prajna Yoga session claims to increase the intuitive ability of students. “This is an experiment supported by Union Bank as part of its CSR. The aim is to make these students pass in their examinations”, says Mala, Prajna yoga faculty of Vyakti Vikas Kendra India.
With a dynamic and fast policy, enough fund allocation, a private-public partnership in education seems like the key to improving the education standard of the country.
Published in The New Indian Express on June 29, 2019, all Kerala edition
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