Adil Meraj is the CEO & Founder at Gurucool, an educational networking platform based out of Delhi. Self-proclaimed ‘Canva Expert’. Creator of a not yet finished comic. Polyglot wannabe (10 languages before 25). Infamous for puns. Love to make Origami. Clumsy and carefree.
When we discuss education the idea that first gets instilled in our mind is that it gives you value. However, we often tend to forget that it’s not just one way. Education does provide us with some value but this in turn requires us to pay a huge amount of investment in return that doesn’t always guarantee success. And this investment that we put in for education is not just in terms of money but also encompasses other resources like mental, physical, and emotional presence. Especially when it comes to the Indian education system and the kind of benefit we are receiving in the long run. This often leads to a spiral of intellectual thought process being initiated and a question pops up, is it worth it?
The value we are getting out of education is so little. There is so much going wrong in the education system that is the root cause of making education less valuable. And that’s not how it should be, right? We just don’t want to be literate but rather educated individuals. Wondering, what are those shortcomings?
Here are a few problems in the Indian education system that need to be mended:
- Less hands-on experience.
- Less focus on practicality, usability, and the applicability of things and more emphasis on rote learning, assignments, etc.
- Less focus on creativity and innovations and more focus on rigidity which includes following that same conventional syllabus.
- Less focus on nurturing the individual talents and appreciating the efforts and more focus on results and rat race.
- Less focus on personalization and empathetic learning.
- Less encouragement of asking questions and more focus on giving the answers even if the answers are wrong.
- Less focus on creating a syllabus that doesn’t only take the academics into consideration
- Less focus on creating academic interests that would involve value-based, skill-based, and interest-based learning.
The journey of an Indian student is way too different in school, college, and even after college from the journey of a Finland or any other European country student. Indian schools require the individual to put in work and effort while the toxic environment looms over every scenario.
And the sad reality is that even after working so hard, from cracking entrances and cut-offs to working day and night on assignments and then, boom! you are thrown into the real world. And then are we able to face the real world? Does our education prepare us to face failures and rejections? After all this rigorous hard work, do we get a job? Does that mean we didn’t work enough or something was lacking behind? The fact that we do not do less work but rather we just waste work is the worst part of the Indian education system.
Nevertheless, certainly, even if there are wrong things, we can always come up with different solutions and can revolutionize the Indian education system. Change for the better, as they say. After pinpointing issues, suggesting a few solutions is always a better approach to go by.
Classes can be fun, smart, personalized, and empathetic at the same time. That’s something that is sort of redefining education. One must acknowledge the fact that education is not just about academics but also knowledge, innovations, creativity, awareness, and growth. Personalization of education is real! Each student gets the required attention and a safe and supportive space to learn, grow and thrive.
With personalized learning, learners are being treated as individuals with their skills, creativity, and their imaginations. They can further be nurtured into something great if that level of empathy is maintained between a learner and an educator. Moreover, this empathy is not just for learners but also educators. One should not blame the educator for everything that is going wrong. They too need to be sympathized with and should be supported. Not educators, but the education system is to be blamed.
Also, the democratization of education is something we need to give more priority to. In a country like India where education is a privilege despite being a fundamental right, we need to make sure that it reaches everybody and is accessible to all regardless of the differences.
Education is the biggest tool for any nation, and nobody should be devoid of it. With the help of education, even the biggest issues in the world can be resolved. Be it poverty, starvation, or climate change, an educated nation can bring out solutions and can make this world a better place. Contributions in the education sector should not be competitive but rather collaborative. We all are responsible to make this vision for education possible. You, me, and us together!