Why India must improve its Education System

The building blocks of any country are its future citizens. If a country fails to provide quality education to its children and youth, then it’s only jeopardizing its future because progress in education is the foundation to build a skilled and strong nation. And India is no exception.

Though, in the recent years, India’s education sector has grown to enormous proportions, the quality of education being imparted to the students has been a major cause of concern. With a one-dimensional system the lays emphasis only on scoring marks and not acquiring skills – required for the job, the Indian Education system is plagued with many serious problems and shortcomings that are a major hurdle in cementing India’s place as ‘Vishwa Guru’.

Though the Government and the policymakers have been trying to make headway with educational reforms and get basic education at the top of their agenda, questions on whether the children are really learning, go unanswered.The dismal reality is that we are still a far cry from countries like Canada and Finland that have an excellent school system and are continuously trying to improve. Even after many landmark education reforms by the government like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Right to Education (RTE), there is much to be accomplished in order to put India into a leading place among the global champions of education.

Let’s examine some solutions and reforms that are critical for the betterment of the educational system in India.

• Public Schools for all – No one can deny the fact that education in India has metamorphosed into a big business. The absence of quality education in Government Schools has resulted in the mushrooming of Private schools that are the preserve of the elite. The sorry state of the public schools makes parents think twice before enrolling their kids and they prefer to take their child to a private school even if it means spending a large chunk of their income on their child’s education. Right from infrastructure to competent staff to facilities, the government needs to pay attention to the same and assure quality education for all.
• Ensure Excellent Teachers – In a country where illiteracy and unemployment have a fairly dominant position in the society, the role of a teacher is of utmost importance. The teacher is central to the education system and is important in raising the quality of education in any school. It’s a sad reality that India is facing an acute shortage of teachers. The government should take effective measures to incentivize teaching as a job that attracts better people to take it up as a lucrative career option.
• Rote learning must be discouraged – It is a well-acknowledged fact that Indian learning system is based a great deal on rote learning. It’s important for everyone to realize that rote learning is not the way forward. The syllabus needs to emphasize on gaining practical knowledge and rote learning must be discouraged if we want to nurture a breed of original thinkers and scholars. The Government, as well as institutes, must give impetus to practical studies and employable skills as this will make students corporate ready.
• Increase the Education Budget – India made headway between 2011 and 2015 to increase the amount of its budget allocated for education. However, in recent years, this trend has suffered a setback. For the 2016-2017 year, only 3.65 percent of the country’s total GDP was spent on education. This is a lot less when compared to other countries like Mexico, New Zealand and Brazil, which spend more than 12 percent of all the spending on education.

John Dewey very wisely said, “Education is, and forever will be, in the hands of ordinary men and women.” And as a fast developing country, quality education for all is the need of the hour as India still has to make big changes to provide the education that its people deserve.