Yes, At last I am also a blogger.
It took me a long time to get started on this journey but I am happy to have boarded the bus at last.
And to begin my blog , I wish to write on topic which is very close to my heart – Education.
Recent movie Three Idiots has shown to the whole world many lacunae of Indian education system. Yet, all of us are missing one important lacuna (i.e) accountability.
We see year after year that pass percentage in 10th, 12th and graduation is below 60%. We also notice that more than 50% of students who join school drop out before they complete their 10th standard yet we never make schools accountable for these things.
In our education system, neither school nor teacher is held responsible for the failure of the pupil. It is always the student or the parents’ who are blamed for the failure. It is always student who is blamed for being lazy, idiot, dumb, useless, etc.. etc..Yet nobody asks him/her as why is s/he is not able to do well in studies. In fact these constant blaming and punishment makes him lose his self confidence, so much so that he starts to believe he is good for nothing and would never be able to do anything worthwhile with his/her life. In due course, he starts hating studies and parents unable to bear the load of huge fee decide to stop his/her further education.
In spite of all the talk of private education bringing in better results, we still see that the percentage of employable graduates remain low at less than 5%
It’s high time that we change this system and start fixing accountability on the school/college for students’ success. This in turn will force them to be start searching for reasons for failure of students. They would be forced to customize their teaching methods to suit the needs of the students. They would also invest in training their teachers and start innovate practice to explain complex subjects like maths and science.
One way to do so this to create a grading system for schools (ex: Grade A. B, C) and fix the maximum fee chargeable based on the grade obtained by the school. In addition these schools should be eligible for grants and aid from government based on the grade.
Another action can be issuing education coupons like ration coupon to children below poverty line and reimbursing these coupons at amount higher than face value based on the grade of the school. For Ex: coupon of Rs. 100 will be reimbursed at Rs.200 by Grade ‘A’ school and Rs. 150 by Grade ‘B’ School.
Third action can be permission for new schools. Only schools which have achieved certain grade should be allowed to open new branches or eligible for Govt. land for opening of new schools.
These points may be criticized saying India already has very low school – student ratio and these measures would de-motivate people who wish to open new schools. However, we need to realize it’s not quantity but quality which matters most.
Today an average Indian family earns about Rs.10000/- a month and spends Rs. 3000-4000 on the education of their children and they have a right to demand for accountability from the schools.
Let's make a new beginning this New Year.
Right everybody has the right to demand accountability from the education system. But we ourself have to come ahead and take initiatives to improve it. In that way Times of India has done a good job by launching Teach India and proved its responsibility towards the Country.
ReplyDeleteWell written! 3 idiots has become so famous not by its pun but the way that pun was used for the benefit of students. Everyone in college/school must run for excellence than marks and it should be the duty of teacher to let a person know the definition of excellence. Parents can be a moral support! Accountability is to be there for teachers also. No more they can should say that "other guy passed with flying colors, why s/he failed".
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