Why Our Education System Need To Change?

India has historically been a country of great scholars like Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Zakir Hussain and many more. India has produced many more gems in the field of education. What made them achieve their goal wasn't because of our education system but their ability to think independently and think freely. They were not spoon-fed with texts and contents of books. They were made to think rationally, imply their logic and reasoning to what they studied. Fast forward to 21st century and you get an education system where ranks, grades and percentage are of prime importance, and learning and skills take a back seat. Education in India is seen as a means to climb the social and economic ladder and be identified as a SUCCESSFUL individual. Education is seen as a duty than a necessity.

Today we have hundreds of thousands of schools and colleges and almost around 300-400 Universities across the country that churns out thousands of Graduates and Post Graduates every year. How many of them actually get a job that justifies their skills, ability and knowledge? I would say very few. The reason behind such a sorry state of affairs is that our education system focuses more on reciting and learning the text than identifying and developing the skills of students. The brilliance and intelligence of a student is measured in terms of percentage and grades and very little emphasis is given on the interest, skills and learning ability of a student.

We believe in "one size fits all" logic which is not true at all. There is a need to personalise education. Some students are quick learners while others are comparatively slow learners. Some are visual learners; some are auditory learners, while others learn from their experience. You can't just apply same yardstick to teach and evaluate each of them and hence a need to personalise education to cater to each and every student's process and demand of learning. Establishing more schools and colleges is not going to help. An overhaul is seriously needed to the education system.

A couple of years ago a NEW SYSTEM OF EVALUATION called grading system was implemented at high school levels across India. The idea was to give students a belief that all of them are almost equal and no one is superior to other in terms of marks or percentage. While the idea appeared to be noble, it's implementation is a failure of a kind. While the CBSE board shunned away the percentage system but admission to senior secondary classes are held on the basis of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) scored in High School Exams which in no way is different from the idea of percentage and ranks. So what is the point of this whole grading and CGPA system? Where are we heading with such flawed ideas and implementation?

The other area of concern is the system and procedure followed by colleges and universities for admission to higher studies. Most of the top tier colleges comes up with cut off lists with percentages as high as 100%. I mean is this real? 100% marks in all subjects? Is it practically possible to score cent percent marks? And where do these leave students with say 70% or 75% marks? Are they mediocre? Or do they just don't deserve to be in a premium college of the country? There are whole lots of question that need to be looked into and be answered. The very idea of admission into a college on the basis of percentage doesn't seem to be logical. I am of the view that academic records alone are not the true measure of your potential and ability. Let there be a uniform system of entrance exam for admission to higher studies across all institutes in the country. That will give a fair chance to each and every student, and only those with a basic understanding of the subject along with sound logical and reasoning aptitude would get selected.

The other aspect of education should be to make students adept at life skills. Free thinking, creativity and innovating ideas should be encouraged. They should be molded on the foundation of these skills, creative thinking and innovative ideas that will serve them in the longer run. They should be taught to be socially aware of their duties and responsibilities as a citizen of the country. There is no point being educated if one doesn't know his duties and rights and is not socially aware. It's only through a sound education system that we can emerge as a strong and developed nation.