The Fate of Education in India

Last few weeks have been controversial for the Indian education sector. Narayan Murthi stated that most of the IITians are not industry worthy and the reason for this, according to him, is the mindless mugging and innumerable tricks learnt at the coaching centres. IITD director came with a thought that there was a need to rethink over the entrance tests. Concerned to this an article of Chetan Bhagat appeared. He says that it’s so difficult to run education without profit. And when profit takes the upper hand, education downslides. He hence concluded that there was need of private players like Infosys to launch themselves into the education sector. And lastly, Maharashtra government launched a state wide search and fact finding mission in the schools and junior colleges to find out how many students had been inflated by schools to siphon out government money. The analysis is still awaited.

I being a teacher am a part of this sector as well. And every day after each lecture, a thought always crosses my mind that whether I’m helping my students to become engineers or just graduates with degrees which would fail to serve them in their life.

Ours being a new college, we certainly have not received the cream of the students but reading Mr. Murthy’s comments about majority of IITians being in the same league gives me little solace and a lot to wonder. I wonder what exactly has gone wrong with our education system. I’m no expert but I’d like to make some observations of my own.

What I’ve observed in my students that they have lost inquisitiveness. They accept everything on face value and never question nor argue over anything I teach! Experts are talking about lack of quality research in India. How will that be possible if the questions have dried in the school days? Kids who are not interested in anything from Akbar to Atom cannot be expected to research on Strings when they grow up! It’s not that they are dumbos or fools but they are really not interested in knowing how anything happens. They are happy with what is going on. They neither want to be part of something new nor want to effect a start themselves. And it’s sadly everywhere! Observation + inference gives knowledge. When the first two are fast depreciating how can the third exist?

I strongly admire the government’s wish to get all kids to have compulsory education upto middle school (class 8^th). But can anybody explain how that can be achieved and justified by never failing them upto class 8^th and that also by assisting them with having no examinations at all. As far as I know, if I’m told at the beginning of any race that I won’t lose and I would get a bag of goodies if I just participate, I would cease to take enough efforts to win. So will be the story of maximum students. How can this goodie bag not bring complacency and help to lose concentration and eventually the interest to know. Education is no privilege which can be enjoyed. It’s a right which has to be earned. Yes, help may be provided in earning the right but to serve it on the platter and spoon feeding will spoil the menu!

Next is the idea of free higher education. Free education in government schools can be understood as it aims at students from under-privileged families to get a foothold in the disparaging society. But providing technical education at a sum as paltry as Rs 1000 is not digestible. Even if the government wants to help the students from underprivileged social and economic background, they shouldn’t give it for a sum like this. When the money factor is detached from education, students stop valuing it. A commodity (education) which is available for the price of a pair of jeans is certainly going to be valued in the same manner    . Charge them Rs. 10000 and see how many more students start valuing their education!

In India across the rural and urban framework what stands as a symbol of unity in the education sector are the coaching or tuition classes. Yes, the same which Mr. Murthy so dislikes. The whole town of Kota is dedicated to this cause as are few whole nagars in Delhi and Chennai. It is very hard to say that apathy of teachers towards teaching brought the success of tuitions or the tuitions brought the lack of interest in the teachers. Whatever be the cause it’s the ultimate truth that students cannot dare to think about succeeding in any exam without tuitions! And tuitions being a business where survival depends on the success rate of the students, the tuitionwallahs are forced to resort to methods which will teach shortcuts to answer quickly and efficiently. And this really takes a toll on the overall knowledge of the student. Personal attention should be showed to weaker students. But all that should be done by the teachers of their respective schools and colleges in the institution’s premises free of cost.

Whosoever has given any exam knows that it is more a memory test than a test of one’s knowledge. When I was in X^th, there used to be questions where we had to apply our analytical reasoning to at least 30% of the questions. But it’s all gone now. Everyone is hell bent to find more and more ways to shower marks on the students for what they haven’t exactly done. These freebies weaken the entire moral fabric of the students and the zeal to work hard to achieve success is decreasing rapidly. I’ll again say make them think. Life is not as easy as the examinations nor will the career they would undertake. As Aamir Khan said in 3 Idiots that one would be able to scrap through the examinations and get a degree but will be raped for his entire life.

Another problem with the students is that they are becoming aimless. Their lack of thinking has made them like a flock of sheep. They are following just the trend. Engineering has almost done away with basic sciences, arts and commerce as educational options. Who are unfortunate not to get into engineering (40% in PCM being the criteria it’s not that hard), take BBA, BCA or some other professional course. Medicine is the only course which still has a large pool of quality students who love their studies. In most other courses, majority of the students are just pushing through. They neither understand nor enjoy their studies. In the name of providing higher and technical education we are not creating intelligent horses but drab and unworthy white-collar mules. This reminds me of one encounter I had with a boy from Bihar at IUCAA, Pune.

The guy was a brilliant physicist. We just got into talking and I asked him in passing that even though Bihar produces a large number of IAS and IPS officers and has a major share in the applicants clearing various competitive entrance examinations from Banking to Railways, how it has such a miserable literacy rate. He replied that the Biharis are indeed an intelligent set of people. They find out right in the school that whether they have the potential to be an IAS or a cowherd. He also added that whatever profession they choose, they excel in it and try to be right at the top. He also lamented at the condition of other states’ students who because of lucrative educational facilities, fall prey to them and become the white collar mules I mentioned before. They are too proud to do a job below their belt and ill-equipped to perform the tasks which their degrees mention they will be able to perform!

I’m right now a novice and may not be able to rectify the system as a whole but would surely try to instill my views and thoughts into my students. Even if one in 300 wakes from their deep slumber, it will render a change. I learnt it quite late but I hope my students understand it early (Alas! They are fast losing this faculty)!