Was watching “We The People´ on NDTV yesterday and the hot topic was Mr. Sibal’s proposed efforts towards a potential paradigm shift in the way our educational system would be run. Changes over the past 60 decades have been restricted to a few and the hordes of students who have passed/failed the system which had deep structural flaws had not yet complained. Now suddenly with Mr. Sibal’s announcement gave them a reason to do away with the whole system. No more board exams blues, no more parents haranguing about the fact that the next door neighbors kid is putting in more hours of study, no more reading those stupid guide books, nothing to do with all of what comes packaged as “The Class X Board’s”.
While expected the students to be cheering on Mr. Sibal what did come out was quite shocking. Most of them actually thought the Xth Boards was necessary. There were 2 ways out of this
1. The fact of what we call “Mogoj Dholai” in Bengali. Any kid in India would probably learn at a very early age (thanks to his parents) that a point in life would come when he would have to face a year without games, fun and play to endure on to a journey much harder than that taken by Frodo in LOTR. The journey being the dreaded Xth Boards. Dad would not do tours; Mom would cut down on kitty parties. After being told about this “Journey” all his/her life how else would you want a kid to act when asked whether he would want the Xth Boards.
2. Second would be the fact that kids today are much smarter than we would have been at that age, are thus in a better position to gauge their strengths via the Boards which then help them in choosing their stream. This would ensure that they would be studying what they like and not what “Mummy Daddy” likes.
But seriously the point would be much more than the above reasons. Here’s a man trying to make amends to a system which has been crying out from the very time it was set, for CHANGE. Lets face it the Class X board examinations an arcane make or break point in the system which at best “Chokes” students. Barrack Obama might praise the fact of our students getting higher grades than those in the western countries. But little does he know about this so called “Mug & Vomit” system. Mug the guide books and reproduce them with such high precision that would put a photocopier to shame. This sadly is the way the Xth boards are going on. I would have thought that the change cited by Mr. Sibal would be welcome.
But why is there such a clamor to do so well that nowadays getting even 80% is not enough. Back in times when I did my boards only a handful got above 90% marks (Back only till 2001 I aint that old). These days only a handful would get below 80%. No doubt kids these days are much smarter but the objective type questions coupled with the “Mugging & Vomiting” does help too. It’s a crime to get less than 80% these days. People would act as if India yet again lost to Bangladesh in a World Cup. But this time the students or the parents are not to blame. With the cut off percentages in the top colleges across the country beginning from 85 what would you expect?
The problem thus now it seems is not about the “Mugging & Vomiting” (never was I guess, we were quite content doing so, even I did). The problem is purely a demand and supply gap. While we have successfully rolled of the campaign to educate every Indian by having schools created we have failed to see that enough colleges are there to provide for the thousands of students who pass out of various schools across India. The seats offered by some of the top colleges in India are still in the same numbers which were offered in times of our Mum & Dad’s. There still are not good enough colleges which are being churned out. Colleges which were top 50 years back are still the top. Yes they do have the credibility to remain there but not being challenged enough too is a reason for them to be there. An India Today article published on the top colleges for India there hasn’t been a new entry in the list for the past 10 years. We are closing our eyes when it comes to this problem. Increase in seats and good colleges would do a great deal in improving this so called trauma called the “Boards”. Widening doors in trains does not mean it can take more people. We need more bogies newer trains too.
But I guess the system of having the optional exams is one which has not been tested yet and it would take time for people to come to terms with an idea which they probably would not have lived with in so many years past. The proposal to set up accreditation bodies for schools and higher educational institutions has merit in them too. We do need to improve the educational system and lifting the restrictions on private capital to be invested is a move in good stead as well. But the Demand & Supply gap must be plugged to ensure the trauma is kept at a minimum.
Hopefully Mr. Sibal has the agenda and the space to do so in his proposal.
No comments:
Post a Comment