By Sushil Chandekar:
Knowledge and India have been going hand in hand for longer than time. Right from inventing the ‘Zero’ to possessing the most desirable software professionals all over the world, we are proud that it’s us. Youth in the country is passionate. Thriving to give the world the best they can. Even gravity is said to be discovered by our very own Bhaskaracharya. Sorry, Mr Newton. Toppers are what the whole country is aiming to become. Be it the workplace or class 1 in school. But is this what everyone really wants?
Every country has flaws. Ours has an exceptionally large number of them. One of the biggest flaws is the Indian Education System. If there was one word to describe it, it would be passable. Children are taught things in school from the job point of view. Everyone needs jobs, yes, but why can’t that job be in something they like or are good at? Students don’t have knowledge. They have notes. Hundreds and thousands of pages of notes. Mug this up and we’re sure to get a job. When has mugging-up ever brought happiness? They don’t learn squat.
To start with basics, the government should take the extra step in providing an education to every possible child. Spreading literacy and imparting knowledge are two different things. The former is mostly used for helping people to vote for the right person. Knowledge helps a person spread his wings. The government schools should be free to all children and the quality of education should be kept in mind since that too is a major factor.
Children these days are under more work pressure than the parents themselves. There’s school in the morning, tuitions all evening and then loads and loads of homework. The teaching techniques are anything but student friendly. Reading and putting down on paper is the primary focus. Exposure to real-time projects, interactive sessions and talent nurturing are lacking. The choice of a career is either Engineering or Medicine-based. More creative subjects like arts and social studies are neglected very often. Even if the child wants to do something different, the society discourages him from doing so. The system need to encourage new dimensions of career making options.
Why can’t children choose the subjects they want? If some boy is good with machines, that talent should be nurtured and not curbed. Even in school the scene is out of control. Children are studying stuff they are never going to use EVER in their life. Study and forget. All we need are the marks. Absolutely useless marks. No hobby classes either. All this stops the thought process of the child and make him study.
Another big flaw is the examination system. The future of the child depends on how much useless and irrelevant stuff he can remember in a period of three hours. His report card, his college, his stream of choice, his wife, his house, his car, and his entire life depends on those three fateful hours. And what if he can’t come up with enough to get good marks in the exam? What if he doesn’t want to? He’s looked down upon. He’s a failure. Everywhere.
Money has become such a big factor in people’s lives these days that it controls a man’s train of thought. What he likes doing is no more important. He has to do what the world wants him to do and not what gives him pleasure.
Even if you were destined to become an engineer, the imparting is done with least experience. Come. No hands-on experience is available. Not a minuscule of exposure. When will they understand that you can’t make bread until you learn how to knead the dough? A man becomes a professional only when he knows what he’s doing and not because some piece of paper rolled up like parchment says so.
When you are faced with the decision of doing something for the rest of your life, you should be faced with options you would like to choose and not the ones the neighbour’s son took.
Anger RANT off. Peace.