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The Indian Education System has been stagnant and outdated for quite some time to say the least and is in desperate need of being redefined.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 🙂
Humans for Change 