Getting it wrong (again)

Once again our benevolent (and clueless) babus have struck. It is a familiar (and depressing) story. Some bureaucrats go to foreign junkets in order to improve standard of Indian education, generally have a good time. When it is time to leave, a report is hastily compiled full of recommendations, the gist of which is to copy the system of visiting country in entirety.

The result is as to be expected, Indian education system remains in mess, hence another junket, another set of recommendation and so on and so forth.

I have no idea where our rulers went this time, but the result is on expected lines. "Too much burden lies on Indian student", the wisdom goes, "so do away with exams".

Now I am not saying that there is no pressure on student in India. There is, and lots of it.
However the powers that be, are looking in the wrong direction and hence the solution they find is also flawed.

The problem with our education system is that it sucks, big time. It is insipid, tedious and uninspiring. The books are abstruse enough to thwart most from reading them and instruction is laboured. Over a period of time a typical Indian school transforms a curious child into ignoramus duly stamped and approved, closed to any further inquiry or instruction. Our educational institutions have become factories churning degrees, with education sporadic and accidental occurrence.

Before he can transform into entirely worthless degree holder, Indian student has to labour for years, learning by the rote a humongous amount of irrelevant and outdated information. So, yes there is undue pressure.

But the solution to this problem is not eliminating exams. If anything it aggravates the problem,
essentially eliminating any possibility that any education will be introduced to student even accidentally. This has certainly been the case when primary promotion to next grade was made mandatory. The result was that student admitted to secondary did not have the required knowledge and it meant all the more toil (mostly fruitless) by secondary teachers.

If the solution is to be found, the syllabus has to be updated as well as trimmed. There is no need to teach a student of grade 6th about what kind of pottery was made in Harappa, or inundate with irrelevant geographical information, or description of all the five year plans since independence.
Instead the efforts should be made to familiarize students with basic concepts behind economics, history and statistics.

One thing must be understood here, pressure on children is a result of competition to get higher education. Now much of present competition is due to the artificial scarcity created by our socialist system. Removing unneccessary barriers will go a long way in easing up this pressure, but as long a society has aspiring and ambitious individuals, competition is inevitable fact of life.
Framing policies under the delusion that pressure can be altogether eliminated is not a good idea, as it will end up setting roadblocks in way of aspirations and mobility.

The purpose of education should be development of informed and thinking person. Failure to do so is denying a child the opportunity to realize his full potential and hence is a disservice to nation.