Expansion,
Excellence and Inclusion
– Challenges of Indian Education System.
‘My idea of Education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects’ ~ Robert Maynard Hutchins.
‘Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ ~ William Butler Yeats.
An Abstract: - A fire that kindles other fires….
Every great pioneer or protagonist of innovation whose worthy and noble accomplishment engraved in the letters of gold in the pages of history, depicting human civilization and progress was, in the first instance just a spark of knowledge in their mind. When nourished with hope and confidence and encouraged by ambition and aspiration that single spark turned out to be the fire that enkindled other fires which led towards the paradigm shift for the generations to come. For instance, our forefathers who fought for the liberation from the clutches of Englishmen were intellectuals and scholarly men of their times. For example: - Mahatma Gandhi, Dr.B. R Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Vallhabhai Patel. These and a few more were the catalysts for change in whom the spark of knowledge was lit in their early ages which later became the roaring fire that set India as a free democratic nation. If it was not for their knowledge and proficiency or outstanding qualification and education; surely India would not have been the same as it is today. Thus education is the movement from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge and from slavery to freedom. Truly the flames of Education ignite and liberate!
Introduction: - The World on Fire….
The world is on an alarming pace of development understood strictly in a globalized sense. The world is no longer called the same as it was used to be rather at present its defined as a ‘global village’ where meeting international demands and standards is the sole criterion for existence. Today there is a professional educational craze in medicals, engineering, law, management, hospitality fields, information technology, bioinformatics, commerce, microbiology and biotechnology. The large-scale privatization and commercialization of education has resulted in the hiking of the educational costs and expertise and thus has increased the pressure on the Indian Students to meet the global demands with the right aptitude. The challenge lies here in planning a strategy that would meet these global demands so as to perk up the future potential of the nation. The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) with its new strategy of making education a movement by Expansion, Excellence and Inclusion of all has hit the bull’s eye to have a future that would be greater than the nation’s past.
The Initial sparks of Expansion: -
The eagle-eye view on the history, growth and challenge of the Indian education System in the last 60 years.
India in the ancient times with its two great universities especially Taxila and Nalanda invited numerous students from all over the globe. Later with the establishment of the British Raj the western education became ingrained into the Indian society and thus the guru Kula system was overtaken. When Maulana Azad became the first education minister after the independence in 1947, he envisaged strong control of the central government over the education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system. In 1986, the central government of India formulated the National policy in education (NPE). This policy gave importance to the setting up of Navodaya Vidyalaya selective schools in every district, advances in female education, inter-disciplinary research and establishment of open universities. Later the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) was set up to implement new educational policies.
According to the government statistics the literacy rate has augmented from around 3% in 1880 to 65.38% in 2008. The male literacy rate at current is 75.85% and female literacy rate at 54.16%. In 2001, the government Statistics holds the national literacy to be around 64.84%. The credit for the state having the highest literacy rate goes to Kerala with 90.20% in contrast to Bihar which is having the literacy rate lower than 50%. The 2001, statistics also specify that the total number of ‘absolute illiterates’ in the country was about 304 million. In addition 2006-07 reports estimated 93% of children in the age group of 6-14 were enrolled in school. This is a positive sign of development and by the launch of the ‘Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan’ at the exact time is a plus point to boost the number to 100%.
The challenge for the expansion still haunts the Indian Education System. Not to embellish the fact that only the elite class are receiving quality education while 90% of the estimated 112 million children who enroll in the primary school annually in India have horrendous learning environment. For example- one-room schoolhouse, one teacher covering multiple grades or even lack of crucial facilities like electricity, infrastructure, library, water, sanitation etc. The need of the hour is to lend a helping hand for the underprivileged people to rise up as they encompass the majority of the nation. The task that is set ahead of the nation is to facilitate every child to come out with ones uppermost potential so that this may bring about revolution in the very unjust structure of the society.
The blazing fire of excellence:-
The success, failures and the radical call for transformation in the existing Indian education System.
Excellence can be rightly described as ‘doing the little things well, doing a thousand things one percent better rather doing one thing a thousand percent better.’ In the present scenario where education once was for ‘building the nation’ has recently become a ‘profit-making’ business. This emerging new trend in the global era has questioned the very nature and structure of imparting education to the students. Some universities have maintained the status-quo while few others to excell in the field of education have broken the monotony of the old traditional ‘chalk and talk’ method of learning. These have added the fourth ‘R’ namely computer to the traditional three ‘R’s’ of education namely reading, writing and arithmetic. Today the hour has arrived where we need to scan our education system thoroughly and see where we are and where we need to be? The situation of the schools in rural areas, the escalating drop-out rate, wide-spread inequality, concrete steps taken to rectify the situations, budget for the education and so on must be questioned to put the priority straight for a vibrant future.
Nevertheless, the Indian Education system has stumbled across many odds but it has not failed yet. There is a vast litany of our nation’s achievements and successes too that have been reaped out through the trail and error method by various discharge of policies. These policies which were enforced by the government may not have been successful but have certainly had an impact to ebb the illiteracy rate which was proliferating by leaps and bounds. For instance, the whole world wonders in approbation to see some great Indian intellects shinning with their outstanding abilities while comparing the abject poverty that is pervasive and thriving in India. The truth is that many Indian youth are devoid of opportunities to unleash their creativity and potential. If this is the case then the very term ‘education’ is a paradox for the term ‘education’ is derived from the Latin word ‘educare’ which means ‘to bring out’ one’s capacities, which is a rare phenomenon in India.
Thus, the radical call for innovation and excellence is accomplished not just in teaching one to read and write but by making the student dynamic, committed, multi-tasker and energetic. And this is feasible not just by helping the students to grow in their IQ (Intellectual Quotient) but also building their SQ and EQ (Social Quotient and Emotional Quotient) thus integrated growth in IQ+SQ+EQ will result in the overall personality development. So the responsibility lies with the government to indoctrinate practical form of education where pupil learn planning and organizing, problem solving, negotiation, decision-making, communications, situational leadership, creativity, musical skill, Information Technology, commercial awareness etc. This would help the student to exceed in his intellectual life, but to be an achiever one has to even learn social skills like- interpersonal communication, team-working, networking, adaptability and flexibility and emotional skills like self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, and relationship management. If this integrated growth is vigilantly planned and effectively executed strategically in the educational system, then surely Indian Education System would stand up to the world for quality education that is acclaimed internationally.
The Inferno of Inclusion:-
The novel motto for action to ‘think globally and act locally’ Vis-à-vis its challenges, short comings and its future orientation.
Looking at the world at large with all its intellectual hegemony, social stratification, intensifying economic disparity, the concept of ‘inclusion’ looks quite confronting. This upswing is due to the present educational scenario of professionalism and marketization of education where in catering to the educational needs of the marginalized and the weaker section of the society is a burning question and the bone of contention.
According to Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, education is a liberative tool and so he avowed this famous quote – ‘educate, organize and agitate.’ This was his raw experience for he was convinced that right education helps one to reflect upon oneself, stimulates the discerning and reasoning capability to see what is right and what is wrong. Despite India’s economic growth over the last decade, approximately 25% of the populace still remains in poverty and 40% still remain illiterate. Thus education of these masses is inevitably imperative because majority of the poor section are still illiterate to this day and are in need of liberation to achieve social and economic freedom which is merely possible through education.
However, knowing about this burning issue the supreme court of India during the 1990’s with its ninety-third amendment bill has suggested three separate amendments to the Constitution and included new articles namely article 21A, article 45, and article 51A. These articles state that the state will provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen and early childhood care and education until they complete the age of sixteen years. The insertion of the Right to Education in the constitution and other policies by the government are important but finally the realization of it is the crux of its effectiveness.
The inclusion of all in the Indian milieu is really a challenge today because a variety of people have been expelled from the mainstream which includes the physically challenged or the so called differently capable, mentally challenged, socially subjugated, economically diffident, gender-biased etc. Therefore, The Indian Educational system should assume responsibility towards these classes excessively, as education is for all and so effectual measures must be taken so as to include these into the mainstream of the society by giving superior education. In addition, the inclusion process should comprise that justice is done to each child so that it may blossom to its full fledged magnificence.
Conclusion:-
The India of my dreams – reignited with knowledge, fortitude and true freedom to face the world.
Mother India has always been a cradle of learning as well as an abode of knowledge for acquiring intellectual acumen and spiritual morale since centuries. It has enthralled scholars from all over the world to study the rich odyssey of the rise of nation when it began from a scratch soon after its independence. However glorious might have been the past but today it calls out to once again to revive and reignite the sparks that are capable of creating beams of revolution in the nation. This is possible only through Education. For this a new definition for education would be – “A call for human excellence to the fullest possible development of all human qualities and talents…..it is a call for critical thinking and disciplined studies, a call to develop the whole person, head and heart, intellect and feelings with ones outlook.” If this takes place at all the learning centers then the nation would experience true freedom by becoming a knowledge society and subsequently for the second time in the history of whole mankind, Indians will rediscover fire for the whole of the human race.
- Bryan Francis Rego.
BILIOBRAPHY.
- Jyotsna Kamat (2009). The ups and downs of the Indian education System, Available:http://www.kamat.com/database/books/kareducation/fluctuations.htm
- Wikipedia (2009). Education in India,
- Friedman Thomas, The world is flat, Great Britain, 2005
Published by Allen lane, penguin Books.
