Dedicated to Pate Tai.......The Teacher who taught me the meaning of 'TEACHER'.................." Abe wo Patel ko kuch aata nahi hai... Kya pata kya soch ke usko maths padhane ke liye rakha hai?" One boy screamed.
"Aur wo Tiwari, bhaisaahab pehle apni language to sudhar lein...phir padhana....Gaaowala!!" Another replied.
" Bhaiya... Wo Awasthi to masha allah hai.... usko thukne se fursat mile to woh padhaye..." Third one cracked a joke and all ended laughing their heart out.
This was a scene, when I was standing in one of the Indore's most reputed schools.
Teacher's day has just gone by. It always does. Once in a year. What's new about that? We always purchase gifts for the teachers, greet them, touch their feet, take their blessings, come back home, and start our regular routine, filled with criticism, right from the very next day. A question which knocks at the thinking window of my head is; what is the cause of this drastic change in the situation?? Is this situation pointing towards the so called generation gap in the 21st century kids and our granpa's "Hamara Samay" time?? Or, have we, ourselves created the dominant loopholes in the education system of our country rendering to this "Student-Teacher" divide, producing, in turn, a defunct method of overall teaching and training of the next generation scholars?
Date with the data:
Inspite of India having 817 thousand primary and upper schools, 42 million children(6-14 yrs.) do not attend school. Only 47% children enrolled in class one, reach class eight. And only about seven children complete high school for every hundred in class one. For all categories of schools, India has over 60 lac teachers, for about 12 lac educational institutions. Close to 70% of these teachers, work with the elementary years of schooling, then too, 19% primary schools are single teacher schools. Nearly 300 million people are illiterate, 1 lac inhabited villages do not have facilities for primary schooling. Despite of this situation, we are creating talent which threatens the American monopoly of international (Human Brain) market.
Teaching Methodologies employed:
Right from the old days, many teachers have formed this misconception of "Laaton ke bhoot baaton se nahi maante." They believe in threatening the kids with the traditional 30 cm wooden scale for every work to be accomplished. This kind of teachers need to realize the fact, that their primary operational practice, doesnt deserve to be opted even for secondary or tertiary options. Kids are just like the wet soil, as the old people used to say, you can give whatever shape you want; to this bunch of soil. Only you need to have the correct mould. So, instead of focussing on the final shape, teachers should concentrate on the mould. One of the schools in Indore, has adopted a superb method called, LBF, i.e. Learn By Fun. Through this method, they train the kids, using fun as the centre-cherry of the cake of learning. Kids look for cherry, and in the process, learn what teachers desire for. It is one of the excellent methods, which will definitely lead to modern age students.
Innovation and Role of the Media :
Innovative thinking is one of the most important footsteps on the path of educative reforms. Media can play very crucial role in this complete procedure. Films like, "Taare Zameen Par" will surely help us, in having a hitherto unnoticed part to be observed, interpreted and implemented in the correct direction. We need to provide a wide acceptance and appraisals to the methods like LBF and others which introduce innovation, in our orthodox system of teaching.
Government and National Organizations :
The most vital role in this complete overhaul of the system would be played by our government. In countries like China, UK, Canada, including smaller ones like Singapore and Scandinavia, educationists regularly visit national goals, in education to establish leading institutions that nurture schools, as learning organizations. In many states of India, Including M.P., Bihar and Rajasthan, new teachers are not recruited and nor are we looking towards creating the positions. Presently, we follow three standards in our country- State board, C.B.S.E., & I.C.S.E. The situation in many states has got so bad, that people are ashamed of getting enrolled their kids in the state board recognised institutes. For the same reason, the schools are competing each other for CBSE affiliations. In the bull run for getting the affiliation certificate, the focus of the school administration regarding teaching practices takes a downturn. Both the state and central govts. should look in this matter seriously, and make the necessary amendments. Indian govt has been involved in various measures, in past too. The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched in India in 1975 by ISRO and NASA using the satellite ATS-6. The project was supported by international organizations like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and telecasted educational programs through 400 villages. SITE had a significant and substantial impact. In the similar fashion, on 21st September 2004, ISRO launched EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated to education. EDUSAT covers the entire country providing connectivity to schools, colleges, institutions of higher learning and supports non-formal education. This is a way Govt. of India is providing resistance to the problems in education system. But only one solution to so many problems will not be sufficient. True, EDUSAT will help and resolve many of our problems, but the problems on ground still stand tall.
Internet has emerged as the boon for our system. Users among teachers and student communities are increasing gradually. World wide web and internet related services, can be used to their best possible extent by our Govt. Last but not the least, we need to stop brain-drain, from the profession of the teaching.
Profession of Teaching :
One of our teachers, Mr. Vishal Mehta, once asked, in a class of 110 students, about their aims. And, to his surprise, he found one in 110 guys, who desired to opt for teaching as a profession. He told us, the circumstances have worsened from 50% at his time to less than one percent today. The students of India, infact bright students, have removed teaching from their preferred list of options for a career. Lower wages, lesser glamour, decreasing social status, lesser exposure and entangled boundaries are several reasons of students getting away from the profession of teaching. This told, one can easily understand the reasons for increasing divide among the student fraternity and decreasing quality of the students.
Education System- In a need of reforms :
Indian Educational System, presently, is in an urgent need of complete structural reformation. We should immediately stop the blame game from one part of our governance to another. Good education, or infact, proper education is not one-man or one-organization's task. A deep attachment will be needed and unending dedication demanded, to bring this ever important objective to the door of accomplishment. Everyone, starting from the Ministry of Education to officials involved to principals and lastly to the most important- teachers, a devotion for change will be required to put in place the corrective measures. We have a lot of tasks from improving the administration, management, to providing "The Teacher" a respectable social status, which will,in turn, attract the attention of our talented youngsters and bring revolutionary changes in the teaching pattern with their arrival.
According to me, education is the birth right of every child. Let us see, how much time we take to lift our younger ones from tea stalls and carpentry shops to some of the better places to work in this world
