Me Criticize on Indian Education System

Rote learning

Yes, we do know that many IB schools across India are trying to bring in interactive education and we laud that immensely. But the evil of rote learning is yet to be wiped out from a majority of Indian schools. Owing to the fixated style of question papers that have been doing the rounds in board exams from time immemorial, rote learning has continued.

We’re very sure that most students won’t be clear about many of the basic foundation concepts taught in school even after they’ve graduated. Ever heard of students mugging up balanced equations? This is one fundamental change that needs to come about in our Indian Education System!

Marking System

All the other evils of the Indian education system ultimately come down to the method in which students are marked.

Is it justified that a student is evaluated only on the basis of his/her performance for the duration of three hours of the exam? If the axis of grading and marking is shifted to classroom participation, project work, communication and leadership skills and extracurricular performance, only then will a genuine student shine out.

This might sound like a utopian proposition but the Indian education system badly needs to bring about this change.

Respect for all streams

“Oh has she done a MA in English? She’ll end up becoming a teacher”

“What good is a diploma in hospitality management? It ultimately means doing a job in a hotel as a cook right?”

If you’ve heard these lines time and again from you elders, don’t you think it’s time you stop them?

How long are we going to look down upon vocational streams and look up to medicine, engineering, the IIT’s and the IIM’s? Students at the school level need to be educated through career counseling regarding the kind of streams that exist and what importance each of them plays to make an economy diverse.

Variety in education streams

Why do we always see students being envious of their counterparts in the USA?

It’s because there are just three options that student have after Class 10 – they’re stuck with Science, Arts or Commerce. If they’re not good enough for either of these, they jet set straight into diplomas and certificate courses. Don’t you think the Indian education system needs to introduce combination courses in which students can opt for a major and a minor subject? If students in America can pursue Physiotherapy with Art History and Biological Science with Photography, why not in India?

The system of tuition classes

Commenting on this subject is like plunging one’s hand into a vicious cycle which seems to have no beginning or end. Reasons for tuition classes mushrooming are because students say that the teaching in schools is lax and not good enough for them to clear exams. Whereas teachers say that students jump ahead many chapters in the tuition classes before they are even taught in school.

This makes them loose all motivation and steam to attend school in the first place. Forget all of this, what about the poor parent who’s hard earned money gets drained in school and tuition fees alone?

Although the picture does seem dismal, there is hope because some of these changes are slowly being made by select education providers. But how quickly will these changes percolate down to common man in India, only time will tell.