Submitted by: Submitted by shwetark
Views: 454
Words: 472
Pages: 2
Category: Societal Issues
Date Submitted: 08/16/2010 09:32 AM
Starting from the ABCs
The HRD ministry’s 100-day plan has provoked the academic community out of its stupor. Many of the proposals — on infrastructure, upgrading curriculum, independent regulation, etc — are unexceptionable. But will the basic flaws of the Indian education system be addressed by the measures suggested? Right to education for all has long been overdue. But like most reforms in the system, this too focuses on the primary level of education. Although primary education forms the foundation for children, it is not necessarily where basic loopholes in the system are. Focus on primary levels leads to increase in literacy, but what is required is rise in education.
The number of students from primary to secondary to higher education witnesses an exponential decline and this problem is most difficult to tackle. The onus of motivating students to continue studying is also on the HRD ministry. Fostering creativity and talents in non-academic fields have never been our system’s fortes. Importance of other activities needs to be stressed upon in the curriculum; this would lead to a rounded development. After all, the goal is not just imparting a quality education, but making a quality individual. And the attitude towards how successful life skill evaluation would be remains skeptical.
The debate generated over pedagogy and exams is long overdue and concern for students’ trauma is commendable. But is this trauma primarily because of 10th standard exams? Its reason is that in a competitive system every marginal mark matters. And it is competition that is the root source of trauma. Neither grading nor abolition of class 10 can refute that. The whole purpose of the Class 10 examination was that it gives a comparative benchmark on general skills and aptitudes. It is revolutionary over-zeal to promise a system without these benchmarks. In fact, one of the reasons for little accountability at lower levels of schooling is because there are no comparative quality...