Time and again we are reminded how plagued Indian Education system is. Mere rote learning and emphasis on scores rather than understanding the concept. People are trained on how to crack exams instead of being educated. These words got a shriek-er tone when echoed by a young American.Working with an educational organisation, give you insights into your own and other educational systems.
I met this Young fellow who has come to India to teach English in a government school. He is on a Fulbright scholarship here.To be more technical and sound so, he is an ETA-English teaching Assistant. It has been quite sometime since he has landed on this multicultural land. On outward appearance (as per Indian standards) he would seem to be a full grown man with a spotless complexion and a certain repose on his face but he is just out of school. You can guess the color (colour). He joined us(me and few friends I made at work) for lunch after his normal day at school. We got chatting and he told us how school was. What he did. And every time we (Indians) get acquainted with an American,we are more interested in knowing if they have picked up Hindi. Like EVERYTIME. But they never ask why we haven't picked much of English even after speaking it since so long. The poor chap did come up with some words he managed to learn from the kids in school like "Muje Hindi nahi samaj aata", "Boht acha".
Supposedly he was an invigilator today for an exam. He told us how excruciating it was to stand for so long. Not just that he was puzzled why students required two hours to write a 50 marks paper.(I just thought to myself he meant it was not enough!!). He said it was too much. He was disappointed with the question paper how most of the questions were straight out of the book. (How happy I would have been!). Most of the students even after repeatedly telling would write the entire question on their answer sheets wasting a lot of the time, drawing figures again. They write the whole sentences in their answer sheet in case of fill in the blanks which can be done in the question paper and should be submitted along with the answer scripts.(Little did he know that if WE submit question paper how can we DISCUSS it and make others feel WORSE !!)
More interestingly for me than for him, he gave us a very fine example how students in India answer their paper. "There are 50 students in my class. I asked them "why is the tree green?". To my surprise not one had an answer dissimilar to his fellow classmate. All of them had the SAME exact answers and most of them begun from BECAUSE. The students in America would have tried coming up with absolutely bizarre reasons but there is a thinking process behind it which is missing here". The usage of BECAUSE is inevitable for Indian kids which they think can save them even during the walk through the valley of the shadow of death.Indian kids really struggle framing sentences on their own and they solely depend on their book line by line. Even marks are awarded for book accuracy than your own sentences.
It is not just the fault of the kids. Our education system from the very beginning has never focused on transforming us to thinking individuals. Our grades reflect how well we have crammed.Bookish knowledge can definitely help us to be a part of the race but how long can we remain in there will depend on what we have Learnt. Creative individuals researchers and innovators are never rewarded. We need to bring in lot of changes imparting skill based education rather than rewarding the best crammers. Get smarter people to teach.It's time we to get superstar Teachers who are from different fields like leaders, entrepreneurs, corporate gurus. Embrace technology and internet for greater good than creating communal tensions. We need to use new tools and innovate instead of using outdated models of brick and mortar.Personalize education-instead of making it centralized. If it is good for me it doesn't mean it is the same for the other.There should be availability of choices to choose.
It is not a surprise that this time too none of the Indian universities figured in the top universities. But we need to LEARN from it. Our education system needs to come out from the clutches of the colonial education system which was geared towards generating babus and pen-pushers and still is. May be then few years down the line , when this America Friend of mine comes visiting again, the kids he taught might just surprise him.
I met this Young fellow who has come to India to teach English in a government school. He is on a Fulbright scholarship here.To be more technical and sound so, he is an ETA-English teaching Assistant. It has been quite sometime since he has landed on this multicultural land. On outward appearance (as per Indian standards) he would seem to be a full grown man with a spotless complexion and a certain repose on his face but he is just out of school. You can guess the color (colour). He joined us(me and few friends I made at work) for lunch after his normal day at school. We got chatting and he told us how school was. What he did. And every time we (Indians) get acquainted with an American,we are more interested in knowing if they have picked up Hindi. Like EVERYTIME. But they never ask why we haven't picked much of English even after speaking it since so long. The poor chap did come up with some words he managed to learn from the kids in school like "Muje Hindi nahi samaj aata", "Boht acha".
Supposedly he was an invigilator today for an exam. He told us how excruciating it was to stand for so long. Not just that he was puzzled why students required two hours to write a 50 marks paper.(I just thought to myself he meant it was not enough!!). He said it was too much. He was disappointed with the question paper how most of the questions were straight out of the book. (How happy I would have been!). Most of the students even after repeatedly telling would write the entire question on their answer sheets wasting a lot of the time, drawing figures again. They write the whole sentences in their answer sheet in case of fill in the blanks which can be done in the question paper and should be submitted along with the answer scripts.(Little did he know that if WE submit question paper how can we DISCUSS it and make others feel WORSE !!)
More interestingly for me than for him, he gave us a very fine example how students in India answer their paper. "There are 50 students in my class. I asked them "why is the tree green?". To my surprise not one had an answer dissimilar to his fellow classmate. All of them had the SAME exact answers and most of them begun from BECAUSE. The students in America would have tried coming up with absolutely bizarre reasons but there is a thinking process behind it which is missing here". The usage of BECAUSE is inevitable for Indian kids which they think can save them even during the walk through the valley of the shadow of death.Indian kids really struggle framing sentences on their own and they solely depend on their book line by line. Even marks are awarded for book accuracy than your own sentences.
It is not just the fault of the kids. Our education system from the very beginning has never focused on transforming us to thinking individuals. Our grades reflect how well we have crammed.Bookish knowledge can definitely help us to be a part of the race but how long can we remain in there will depend on what we have Learnt. Creative individuals researchers and innovators are never rewarded. We need to bring in lot of changes imparting skill based education rather than rewarding the best crammers. Get smarter people to teach.It's time we to get superstar Teachers who are from different fields like leaders, entrepreneurs, corporate gurus. Embrace technology and internet for greater good than creating communal tensions. We need to use new tools and innovate instead of using outdated models of brick and mortar.Personalize education-instead of making it centralized. If it is good for me it doesn't mean it is the same for the other.There should be availability of choices to choose.
It is not a surprise that this time too none of the Indian universities figured in the top universities. But we need to LEARN from it. Our education system needs to come out from the clutches of the colonial education system which was geared towards generating babus and pen-pushers and still is. May be then few years down the line , when this America Friend of mine comes visiting again, the kids he taught might just surprise him.
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