What is lacking in the Indian Education System?
Swami Vivekanand rightly said, “The present system of education is all wrong. The mind is crammed with facts before it knows how to think ”. The quote aptly explains the current system of education in India. 6 to 8 books on a vast number of subjects are burdened upon the young minds. From learning Sanskrit to practising Algebra, young students have a variety of subjects to study and thus they fail to excel at any particular subject. Hence, somewhere between this quality of manpower is sacrificed. Quality and quantity of manpower are important factors driving economic growth of the country.
With more than 300 million school going students and over 1.5 million schools. We have a literacy rate of almost 74.4 per cent with around 45 lacs graduate pass outs year after year. India surely has the upper hand when it comes to quantity. But on the quality aspect, we are still lagging behind. With increasing per capita income there is now the option for Indian millennials to pursue quality education in foreign universities. But what if such world-class universities were established in India. Keeping this hope alive in my heart I would like to shed some light on certain laxities in our Indian education system.
- The cut-throat competition has given rise to a culture of rat race among the Indian students. Just memorizing the entire textbook or what we also call rot learning does not lead to any sort of understanding. No sort of analytical skills is developed in the students.
- There is no stress on developing critical evaluation skills in the current education system. Students are not able to do a critical analysis of subjects such as history, culture or religion. This ensures a herd mentality in them, that is, they feel at ease by going with the masses.
- To add to the misery, our teachers are also not well trained to impart quality education. With short on training for teaching, the teachers are not able to fulfil their role as that of changemakers for society.
- Now coming to graduation many of our students are not able to secure a job in their desired discipline. The sole reason is the lack of skills that are required in the job market. What a student learns during his entire cycle of education in schools and colleges has become redundant for the job market.
- Getting a job with a high salary is the aim of every young student. They do not have any interest in venturing out for entrepreneurship. Therefore, this lack of ambition makes them looking for a salaried job which in turn proves deterrent for the country as a startup generates employment for the society.
- There is a dearth of world-class research institutes in the Indian education system. Even if some student comes with a great idea and puts into action one of those, he has to align with the academic rules of the university. A slight deviation from the set norms leads to nil funding for the project or no recommendation.
- Social disparity has crept up in the Indian education system as well. For creating divisions in the society education is used as a shameful tool. This is evident from the fact that rich parents are able to afford a good education for their children while poor parents cannot help their children with even basic education.
- Last but not least a global outlook is what our Indian education system lacks. Our children are not equipped with the latest technology that the world has to offer. Rather they become more of a contended frog in a pond.
Coming up with a number of colleges and private universities isn’t going to solve the dilemma faced by the Indian education system. Parents spend their hard earned money on the education of their children and even then the child is not able to secure the job of this liking. This is a very sorry state of affairs for our country. Also, our system rarely compensates exceptionally bright individuals in a relevant manner. This droves them away further for getting higher education to foreign universities.
Indian education needs a complete overhaul and that too sooner. Most of the curriculum is based on the age-old British system and no significant changes have occurred after that. Currently, India should embrace the internet and technology so that education can reach to every nook and corner of the country. Hence, a huge amount of investment needed to be made in this direction.