By Veronica Pala
Complaints about the quality of education surface every now and then but nothing is being done about it. I would like to highlight a few points in this regard. First and foremost, the amount of homework that students have to complete everyday is far too burdensome. If there are eight periods in a typical day and a student spends a minimum of half an hour in each subject (in most cases it is more than half an hour), then at least four hours are spent in doing homework every day. After long hours of sitting and writing in school, the student spends the entire evening also doing homework. This leads to mental and physical strain and fatigue. When does a growing child play and relax? I agree that homework is necessary and students need to study. However, the type of most homework that is given is actually detrimental to learning. Class KG students are asked to learn addition tables because these are printed in the Table Book. How boring and how tragic for the four or five year olds! Most of the homework is merely copying questions and answers. Sometimes, they have to copy what is there in the book from the beginning till the end. This leaves no time for the students to read and understand the lesson; it hinders their ability to think and frame their own answers; it sucks away their creativity and curiosity and takes away the joy of learning. Article 31 of the UN Child Rights Convention to which India is a party says that the child has a right to rest and leisure. In my opinion, if a child has no time to play and rest then it clearly is a violation of this particular right and the right to health (health defined in a broader sense). Further, one of the principles of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights is that any violation of child rights should be treated with urgency. Therefore, this matter should be looked into with a sense of urgency that it demands. The said Commission has several guidelines related to child labour, corporal punishment, etc. Perhaps a guideline regarding homework can be framed along similar lines.
Secondly, the way education is being imparted now puts the poor and the first generation learners in serious disadvantages. Students now need the help of someone at home to cope with their studies. Illiterate and uneducated parents find it extremely difficult to meet the demands of the modern education system. Children of such parents do not feel that they are equal to other students and this has a telling effect on their performance. In many instances, students are asked to consult the internet for ideas. It appears that internet connection, a coloured printer and obviously a computer are a necessity for every home. Further, emphasis is given to certain things that are not remotely connected to the quality of education. For instance, there are good branded shoes that cost about Rs. 299/- a pair but some schools insist on certain shoes that cost upwards of Rs.799/-. Further, textbooks in lower classes keep changing every year. The change is arbitrary and not done with the intention to use improved textbooks. Education is the most effective tool for a household to overcome poverty and improve the standard of living. It has been a tool for reducing social and economic inequalities. However, the way things are, it seems that it has become an instrument for increasing the inequalities instead. Children of uneducated parents will drop out and remain uneducated and the cycle will continue. Another issue is the use of English as the medium of instruction. Earlier, Lower Primary schools in rural areas used to impart education in the vernacular language, then slowly progressed to English in higher classes. The trend now is that many schools have become English medium schools. For a child with educated parents, this is not a problem and it is not uncommon to find parents and children converse in English even at home. But a child of uneducated parents does not understand a single word of what is there in the books. The curiosity and joy of learning is killed at the instant when the child is sent to the school. Early years are very important and this is the time when basic skills of the three R’s are acquired. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) half of all rural children in Class V have not yet learned basic skills that they should have learned by Class II. Without basic skills in place, it is difficult for children to cope with grade level content.
Thirdly, many students continue to move from one class to the next as the latest ASER states that large numbers of children without foundational skills in mathematics and language move smoothly ‘upward’ through the school system. At the end of their schooling, no skill is learnt, their creativity is stifled and they are fit for almost nothing. In the North Eastern Region of India according to the Census of 2011, unemployment rates are the highest for those who are matriculates but not graduates. We know that everybody cannot get a job in the formal sector and thus formal education cannot give employment to all. Not all students will be able to complete their formal education successfully and become skilled professionals. Our education system in general trains people to take up white collar jobs. But, the economy is sustained by various trades at different levels. Further, it is difficult for students to acquire skills of various kinds of work that require manual labour after completion of say Class IX or Class X. After becoming habituated to an easy and cocooned lifestyle for 15-16 years as students, they are ill prepared to take up hard labour to earn their livelihood. They dislike going back to farming or other traditional occupations. This kind of system creates a vacuum in the labour market and breeds miscreants and delinquents.
It is necessary to inculcate in the young minds the value of hard work and train them to acquire the skills of various trades. This should be part of formal curriculum at an early age of perhaps 11 – 12 years. They should be encouraged to spend their summer and winter vacations in gainful occupations. At present, most of the workers in the economy like carpenters, masons, farmers, etc. are those who have been working since childhood and they pick up the skills through working. Formal training in such trades is yet to reach the masses. We need a major overhauling of the education system to include vocational skills as part of formal curriculum at an early age. It also requires widespread establishment of sufficient number of institutions or training centres for various trades as the present Industrial Training Institutes and vocational institutes are very few and much too inadequate to cater to the needs of the economy. At the same time, the education system should nurture and produce skilled professionals. It should be emphasised that the economy requires skilled professionals of different levels in different fields. Therefore, the education system should be tuned to suit the capability and aptitude of each child keeping in view the requirement of the economy because ultimately this will lead to gainful employment for the future adults.
I request the concerned authorities to be more proactive and take the matter of education seriously. Perhaps as a first step, a brainstorming session can be organized involving the Government, MBoSE, the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and prominent educationists of the state.
(The writer teaches Economics at NEHU)