Posts Tagged ‘Indian education system’


September 22nd, 2009

Education reforms – adding to or reducing anxiety?

For most people “change” is an alarming concept. It signifies the end of continuity or familiarity, the start of a journey into the unknown. If change is difficult for adults then it probably has a magnified impact on children who carry the baggage of their own expectations, in addition to the baggage of expectations and insecurities of their elders – so unreasonably thrust upon their tender shoulders. I can see how changes to the education system can result in feelings of fear and anxiety in children and in everyone who are stakeholders in their journey into the real world. After all, India’s education system has virtually not changed for decades and students have mastered the “Art of Performance” through rote learning and teachers the “Art of Delivery” through chalk and talk. Marks in high 90’s are common practice and is symptomatic of how the system has been mastered. Thus, there is bound to be resistance towards any significant changes to this system.

Over the last few weeks, I have been reading with keen interest the various aspects of Mr. Kapil Sibal’s proposed reforms to the Indian education system, including the abolition of the Class X external exam, assessment & grading system,  and his proposal to introduce an all India exam for admission into the science stream; amongst other things. While most of us would agree that the system needs review and revamp and it is high time a well thought-out action plan was implemented to weed out the malaise that infects the K-10/K-12 system, there is significant resistance to the changes from almost all quarters. I have also had the opportunity of speaking with a number of principals, who too, are not enthusiastic about the changes proposed by Mr. Sibal. Why is it that we are resisting? Some of the objections that I have read or heard are akin to clutching to the last straws and do not withstand any degree of scrutiny.

Evaluating the arguments, it seems to me that the resistance is not against the changes, but against the lack of insight into how the proposed reforms will be implemented and more importantly, how the system will work post reforms. Change, in any context, needs to be undertaken with great sensitivity; and in most successful implementations significant time, effort and money is expended to educate the affected stakeholders on their standing and understanding of the new system. Buy-in from the main stakeholders is a prerequisite for achieving any significant degree of success.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kapil Sibal’s has not articulated his vision of what the system will look like once he has implemented his full range of proposals/ initiatives. Nor has he provided an insight into how the individual components of reforms fit into this vision. To assuage the fears of the parents, teachers, administrators and students, Mr. Sibal should start communicating with the nation on what his proposed changes will mean for them, instead of their receiving piecemeal information in the form of selected passages provided by the media.

Mr. Sibal and his band of Merry Men in the education ministry, should also reach out to as many principals and education professionals by holding discussions and by articulating the many benefits they see from the reforms and by addressing common concerns.

It seems to me, that the changes proposed by Mr. Sibal are well intentioned and if implemented well, could result in a significant improvement in the teaching learning practices adopted in our schools. However, I am concerned that the implementation process is not robust and significant areas still need to be addressed before we can be made comfortable with Mr. Sibal’s vision. At the moment, Mr. Sibal is adding more stress to the lives of the children and parents instead of his claim of trying to reduce it. My suggestion to him would be to defer the implementation of making 10th class exams optional from academic year 2010-11 to say academic year 2014-15. This would give schools, administrators and regulators adequate opportunity to implement a holistic model and to cater to the needs of the new reality and to address its shortcomings.

Change cannot merely be brought about by a mere sound bite or stroke of a pen; it needs to be understood before it can be embraced.

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June 19th, 2009

Knowledge creation – a hostage of our education system

A few days ago I was reading an article by an eminent Indian educationist and came across a reference to a 1991 report “Learning without Burden” and its conclusion that “the problem of curricular load is rooted in the system’s inability to distinguish between information and knowledge”.

An analysis of this statement reveals its various components (Note that the analysis is based on the above statement alone, and not on the original document. I can barely wait to lay my hands on the report and read it cover-to-cover

The malaise: Curricular load of the Indian student is high

The source: Inability to distinguish between information and knowledge

The breadth: System-wide

What intrigued me about the statement was the insinuation that the nearly the entire population of India (constituents of this system – policy makers, the schools, teachers, curriculum designers, examiners, parents and students; past and present) has failed to do something (in this case distinguish between information and knowledge). Quite a LARGE problem, I would say!!

The other issue that struck me was the source of the problem itself – our inability to distinguish between information and knowledge. This is a life skill that we practice every day if not at every conscious moment, and therefore should be the one skill that we are most proficient in. What troubles me more is that this deficiency is aggravated at the very institutions which should be responsible for honing a child’s skill to master this competency. If we are not teaching our children to gather and organise and analyse data into information and skills to make informed and competent decisions (knowledge), then what exactly are we teaching our children?

While acknowledging the fact that a considerable proportion of us (including people in the workforce) do give more weightage to the data and information rather than the conclusions / interpretations that can be drawn from the information, I do not think that this is the main cause of the problem being faced by Indian education. At best, it is a manifestation of other more severe issues that should be addressed on an urgent basis.

I think that one of the biggest issues facing teaching learning in Indian education is the excessive emphasis on 2 events is a student’s life, to the absolute exclusion of all other events and achievements- the 10th and 12th class board examinations. Schools / parents / teachers and community at large recognise the importance of these two milestones in a child’s life and have developed processes that would maximise the probability of scoring big in these exams.

* Parents are known to discourage all activities that would impinge upon study time which would result in a compromise of even one mark. The period before the board exams are one of the most strenuous for most parents, I personally know of parents who stay awake late at night with their kids administering regular doses of tannins and caffeine to induce insomnia in extend the hours of study.

* Most teachers also are resistant adopting alternative teaching practices. In a fact finding interview, on teaching practices and the development of creative skills in students, some teachers replied that “they have never felt the need to acquire such skill” and that they did “not think that there was any relevance of promoting creativity in a classroom in so far as performance in the examination was concerned”.

My observations, while may be a bit simplistic, provide clear direction on where the problem lies and the vice like grip it has on the choices of the various stakeholders of the Indian education system.

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June 18th, 2009

National Curriculum Framework (2005) – who’s listening?

The National Curriculum framework (2005), a watershed document, provides a basis for radical changes in the Indian education system. The Indian Education Review (Volume 44, No.2, July 2008),the latest published edition as on date of writing this blog, makes some interesting observations, recommending some radical changes from how education is imparted in Indian classrooms. These recommendations include:

i. Linking school knowledge with the child’s out-of-school experiences;

ii. Discouraging rote learning;

iii. Broadening the scope of classroom learning so that it does beyond the prescribed textbook;

iv. Making the examination system flexible and responsive to the child’s overall development; and

v. Developing a participatory [school] identity consistent with democratic governance

Those familiar with the evolution of educational psychology, philosophy and pedagogy know that none of these recommendations are new, but have been endorsed by eminent international (Bruner, Einstein) and national (Gandhi, Tagore) educationalists. It is a pity that, in India, we have at best been paying lip service these theories that have been propounded and effectively practiced around the world since the ancient times.

However, a beginning has been made by NCERT by acknowledging the merits of child centered approach to education and the framers for the NCF 2005 should be commended for vocalising some of the problems rooted in our system. As they say in India Der Aaye Drust Aaye (better late, than never), even though, in this, case we are struggling to reach the start line, while other countries started on their journey a long while ago.

If we were to evaluate the changes that the schools have tried to bring about in their classroom practices in the past three years post the acceptance of the recommendations of NCF-2005, we would get to know the progress we are making towards creating a student centric classroom. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any statistics or research on implementation practices or know of any school that is actively and consciously seeking to implement such a classroom environment. If you have any information related to this I would love to hear from you.

In my assessment, the challenges of moving away from a “prescribed textbook, the traditional methods of teaching which encourages rote learning and the examination system which ignores individual interest and profile of [student] competencies” , cannot be overcome without paying special attention to the needs and mindset of the 3 influential stakeholders of the Indian education system.

The School - The primary consideration for schools in India is performance in 10th and 12th class examinations. The performance of schools is purely judged by how well the students have done in these examinations and the breadth of success achieved. All classroom activities and teaching methodologies are dictated by how much they contribute towards students scoring high in the “boards”. Child centric teaching practices and the development of creativity is not a consideration; nor a priority.

The Parents – The primary criterion for the selection of a school by a parent for his child is the school’s ability to prepare the students for the 10th and 12th class examinations, i.e. if the school has a good track record in producing students who score highly in these examinations; it is considered a good school. This is because these examinations are milestones in a child’s life and have an unduly high weightage on career options of the child and/or the quality of the institution for higher studies that he/she would attend. All other factors like inculcation of values, emphasis on creativity, co-curricular / extracurricular achievements, and social involvement are inconsequential in the selection of a school.

Institutions of higher learning – The majority of higher education institutions in India grant admission on the basis of board examination results and consider performance in these examinations as the summation of student’s accomplishment till date and a proxy indicator of his future potential.

As evident, the common thread between the stakeholders mentioned above is performance in board examinations, which is considered a measure of success by schools, parents, institutions of higher learning and society in general. As a society we know better, but as individuals we fail to take cognisance of the fact that there are many qualities that define a person and his ability to achieve success.

I would think that if we as a community continue to treat board examinations as the holy-grail of education, it would be extremely difficult to change the mindset of schools and parents. For any changes to occur, it is important that reforms be initiated and at the onset be implemented at the level of institutions of higher learning as well. It is crucial to make systemic changes at this level as this group has significant influence on the thought process of the other two significant stakeholders (parents and schools) and has the added advantage of being more independent in its decision making. The institutions of higher learning would also benefit by selecting a diverse-ability group of students on parameters beyond board results.

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