Tag: 2019

Analysis

Our Outdated Education System

misssharmaa

Introduction

This article intends to outline the basics of the Indian education system.There is an urgent need to point out the sanctity and importance of the education system in any country but there are certainly several loopholes that you can poke in the Indian education system in this day and age as well. The very grave one being that the same curriculum is taught in schools across the country with the same teaching pedagogy passed over since decades by earlier teachers. Therefore,this article’s purpose is to explore and pinpoint what all needs to be changed in Indian Schools focusing especially on the curriculum taught and the role a school plays in the personal development of a child.

The Indian Education System has been stagnant and outdated for quite some time to say the least and is in desperate need of being redefined. It is imperative to look at the curriculum and how  it is taught and,at the same time to take a look at what roles do the teachers play in the daily lives of the kids. Therefore,this article does not intend to delve deep in an analysis of the Education System but intends to draw a wholesome picture of what all needs to be improved.

Curriculum

1)Let’s start with the basics of the Education system in India. There are five education boards in India;

a)CBSE(Central Board of Secondary Education)

b)State Board(Separate board of every state)

c)ICSE/ISC(The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education)

d)IB(International Baccalaureate)

e)Cambridge IGCSE Indian Studies.

While the first three boards provide somewhat the same subjects to be taught and assessed in schools and the curriculum process,the last two boards have been newly introduced for children wanting to pursue higher studies abroad and tend to provide much more flexibility.

The first three boards are the boards which are generally pursued by an Indian child. The curriculum of these boards has not changed much over some time.

The first three boards even though while providing somewhat similar subjects are not assessed in the same manner. Therefore this often leads to marks not being judged on a uniform level and assessment not being made on a generic marking scheme. 

The implementation of the curriculum is often made out to be a practise through rote learning and the ultimate goal for students to score higher marks for the sake of getting into good colleges. 

It is imperative to understand that schools play an important role in the overall growth of children. Children generally spend 6-8 hours in their schools while going from class to class they do tend to develop a habit of being in school for the major part of their day but what needs to be paid attention to is for schools to have a dynamic curriculum which is adopted with changing times. 

Practical and realistic approach to subjects need to be implemented so as to let the children know how to use such skills or information in the real world and not just to write a test so as to make their report cards look good. 

The role of the faculty in the lives of the children 

Often Indian teachers themselves are not equipped to handle the developments and changes that a child goes through while his/her entire school life.  They tend to take their part in the child’s life as a casualty rather than of immense influence that it tends to be. 

To take an example let’s take one of every grumpy teacher that we all have had at least once in our school life and especially in our primary classes. They might shame a child who has not done his/her homework or if they answered a question wrong in front of the whole class rather than to understand why he/she did not do his homework or is not interested in the subject or to try and make him/her understand the subject again. This is a common practise resorted to by teachers which they take lightly and don’t understand the repercussions of. The child,even if had tried to understand the subject harder after being shamed might not try at all and avoid the teacher altogether to face that kind of persecution again. 

Subjects like drug awareness or sex education are considered to be a taboo in the Indian societies till date. While there might be people supporting the cause on social media,there needs to be something done at the very root level to normalize subjects like these or to make children more aware of the harm that drugs can cause them. Since teachers tend to dismiss the children that their moral compass doesn’t agree with they form an opinion and end up sticking to it rather than helping the child through the transition. 

Our Indian society is majorly to blame for it because we have the tendency to shush or judge whatever we think might be morally wrong and teachers are certainly a part of that same Indian society. 

Indian schools lack the very thing which students might need the most when going through a difficult time at home or school which are counsellors. While our teachers might be good at giving professional advice or on how to get into a good college but they certainly lack the sensitivity or the maturity which is needed to be dealt with a couple of teenagers. 

Ps: Stay tuned,a second part to this article will be updated soon 🙂

Acts and Amendments

Motor Vehicles Act, 2019

misssharmaa

The new Motor Vehicles act is finally here and we are all for it. The amended bill which was tabled in 2016 has finally been given assent by the President and was brought in force earlier this month. The amendments to this bill have been well written and are quite progressive in nature.

The policy makers have been diligent to keep in check the amount of penalties in consonance with the current time which was not the case a decade ago, for example, a violation of not wearing a seat belt or of not wearing a helmet on a two wheeler resulted in a penalty of 100 rupees before but now the penalty has been bumped up to a 1000 rupees. Other stricter violations such as driving without a license or driving despite disqualification whose penalty had needed to be amended severely have also been raised to 5,000 and 10,000 rupees  respectively.

The bill has seen to do justice to grave offences under certain  provisions like drinking and driving which now has a penalty of 10,000 rupees and/or imprisonment upto 6 months for first time offenders but for second time offenders the fine goes to 15,000 rupees and/or imprisonment up to 2 years. 

One of the primary areas where the bill is said to concentrate on is for developing stricter laws especially for the underage demographic i.e juvenile offences such as driving or drinking and driving which has held the guardian to be liable for a fine of 25,000 rupees with a 3 year jail time and simultaneously leads to cancellation of the Motor Vehicle’s Registration.

It is seen that new expressions and terms have also been included in the amendment,like,terms such as the “golden hour.” 

Golden hour has been designated as that one hour right after the accident takes place which is said to be very critical for the life of the victim.

The act has also encouraged the citizens to give a helping hand to victims of road accidents by providing for the rules of Good Samaritan in the bill which certainly has helped the bill to be protective about the people who volunteer to get involved in the process.

Another expression which has been and was needed to be incorporated is the “aggregator” which is a digital intermediary or marketplace for a passenger to connect with a driver for the purpose of transportation. The set principles of such intermediaries by which they needed to be governed are also included in the bill.

The bill has tried to draw attention to the hazards of climate change thereby also reducing corruption in the transport department by providing for automated fitness testing of the vehicles.The testing agencies issuing automobile approvals have been brought under the ambit of the Act and standards will be set for motor vehicle testing institutes. 

Therefore,it can be concluded that the bill has been amended with a comprehensive approach and to all its entirety. The significant bumps which  were needed to be made in the penalties/fines are believed to encourage people to become less reckless and rather alert while travelling on the road. 

The new definitions and terms which have been introduced are well put but lack a bit of clarity which might hinder the implementation of the amended act,like,the bill has provided for a National Road Safety Board which has to be created by a notification by the central government but it is yet to clarify its functions and its functioning.

But something which needs to be put under heavy observation is that implementation of such fines come through and should not result in people merely bypassing them by paying a meagre amount to the cops which would impede the growth that has been intended with this bill and would defeat the purpose of the amendment.