Flaws in education.

 The current education system of India was developed by the British. The Imperialists had a goal in mind – i.e., to create a population of educated clerks and coolies so that they serve the British Empire better.  Though, India got its independence in 1947, yet the successive government did not do anything to change the education system. In fact, they made it worse over the next few decades.

Here is the list of some detectable flaws in the Indian education system, which must be removed if the country is actually serious about its development.

1. Serious lack of functional literacy: Many Asian countries, including China, have invested heavily in primary education. Their fundamental goal is to increase the functional literacy so that every citizen is capable of reading manuals or any other documentation, and performs various tasks at work. The Indian education system, on the other hand, fails to impart the much-needed functional literacy to millions of students. Except Information Technology and IT-enabled services, India’s performance in the services sector is abysmal and these, too, include repetitive work lacking any creativity.

2. Chalk and talk system of teaching: The system of education in India is stuck with old and traditional system of chalk and talk. Technology plays a very little or no role, and fails to find a mention in the policies laid out by the various boards of  school education – MHRD, NCERT and others. Decision-makers in the Indian education system, on state and central level, have made fewer attempts to modernize student assessment processes, teaching methods, etc.

3. Too many examinations: Among the flaws in Indian education system, one major drawback is too many examinations. Students have to appear for dozen of qualifying, selection, entrance and periodical exams in a short span of 4-5 years after leaving school, in the quest to be at the top. Students get busy in  educating themselves with bookish knowledge, and lose interest in sports, creative pursuits and everything else that could be important.

The need of the hour demands that the Indian education system adopt a more creative approach, which helps all students become better human beings. Also, the majority of Indian parents need to understand that students who do not look up to engineering, medicine, law and management must be allowed to follow their passion in the areas they wish to be.

 Education is the very key to success. While less developed countries are struggling to deliver education to all of their people, developed countries still have a problem - a flaw in the system itself.

What’s this flaw, you may ask?  Have you ever asked yourself “Why am I learning Hamlet when I want to become a scientist?” or “Why am I taking algebra and do all of these complicated math problems when I want to become an artist?”

Well, most would answer that it is to meet the requirement for graduation. This is the reason why the education system is flawed: students are forced to learn things that are not in any way helpful in their future career. The current education system is unable to bring out the fullest potential in the student. School is basically wasting student time and efforts with all these unnecessary classes, when that time could go to strengthening their strongest points. Schools aren’t made to waste people’s time, they were created to teach students what is essential to their lives and how to be successful.

So, my suggestion would be to rework the education system. To allow you to choose whatever classes you want and still pass for graduation; to customize your class selection. I know that there are students who have a hard time deciding what their future career is going to be. We can make a recommendation based on these students’ interests, their likes and dislikes. Each individual is different, so there must be something that they like. It will take some time for these students to find out what their future career is, but that’s ok. Finding your own purpose in life is no easy task, it can make a sudden turn or there’s a big obstacle that suddenly pop up. What matters is for them to keep on moving forward, so it’s also a good idea to help and encourage these students to do so.

As for the students who have already found their future careers, make it so that they can have access to more advanced education of the particular career early. Some may find that their supposed future career is not what they really want, maybe because they just want to try it or it’s because of the pressure of everyone expecting them to be in that career. For whatever reason, the education system should also make a smooth and easy transition for students who want to switch careers.

It will surely take time to makes these changes, but taking steps one by one will help our future generation to realize the potential that they have at an early age. It’s also very costly to implement these changes, but the benefit will surely outweigh the cost. Education will lead you to success and humanity to its best, but it has to be done right in order to do so, and we can’t stop improving it.