By Aristotle Lyngdoh
The idea that children should be engaged in the learning process right from an early age was first developed in Europe in the sixteenth century and it was only until the nineteenth century that England passed the law related to child labour. Similarly, during ancient periods there were learning institutions but history was not specific as to whether children were part of these entities. But it seems that ancient processes of learning were mainly restricted to grown-ups and for philosophical or spiritual insights where priests or monks were commonly the prominent teachers.
But coming back to our regional context, we have inherited a colonial system of education and also their learning objectives. The primary objective of learning was to finally serve and assist the colonial administrators at that time. And that was the reason a high school candidate or below was offered a job in the colonial government and was even promoted to the rank of Extra-Asst. Commissioner. For the missionary, the primary objective was that the local Christians should be able to read the Bible in their mother tongue in order to strengthen and sustain the mission work which for them was very vital. Despite the overwhelming response towards education, there was no sincere thought or attempt to establish higher studies of any sort. Setting up schools was primarily to teach the basic concepts reading, writing and simple calculations which ultimately made them the befitting servants and assistants. In this way, even if there were talented local citizens who could be like Mahatma Gandhi or Ambedkar and others they were limited by the educational standard and ended up serving the colonial administrators. But thank God for those who could pursue higher education outside their place of origin in those days.
After seven decades of free India, the number of institutions has undoubtedly gone up exponentially and most of them are motivated by the net profit out of the growing numbers of students who desire to pursue higher studies in order to get better and preferential job opportunities with higher returns to sustain oneself and the family. If the driving force behind every aspiration is for employment security, then this will also shatter the greater potential of creating opportunities. Our education system has created a situation that makes people pursue only white color jobs. And for this reason when opportunities become scarce and limited, many people will be forced to practice trickery and deceit in order to get employment.
On the one hand our agriculture and cultivation system is on the verge of dying because those who have left their villages and towns for studies can no longer engage themselves in the livelihoods of their parents – agriculture. Whereas, the situation is completely opposite in the advanced states and countries of the world where agricultural activities and farming are being handled by the educated who can add value to the agriculture and improve production and also connect their products with global buyers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to upscale opportunities in order to mitigate this huge unemployment problem. If the country or state can achieve this then it can become a self-reliant economy because the human resources produced are utilized within the country for production of other resources.
Meaningful education should be dynamic as well comprehensive. Dynamic refers to the energy that a person has derived from the education system that will further stimulate changes and progress in the society. Comprehensive on the other hand refers to the different varieties of learning that encompass all aspects of human development. As I said, we have inherited a colonial education which is selective in nature, but the fact is that from 1960 onwards the British have themselves shifted to a comprehensive system that corresponds to the public schools of the USA, Canada and Germany. It is because of this reason perhaps that most of the innovative ideas and inventions in any field of studies or social development were commonly found to have originated from western countries.
Education should shape the future of a student and bring out the innate potential in him or her as an individual person. But in our case the opposite is happening and students are made to strive for one goal only and that is to pass the final examination with high percentage. And out of this, the idea of establishing schools or colleges is just a business venture either to commemorate or honour some person. The end journey of the student today is to serve someone rather than generating new ideas that will last forever and yield maximum benefit. The status of our education system today is similar to an orphanage that does not have either the provision or facility to take care of them as adults. It is very common for orphans to be given good care while they are at a young and tender age but there is no nurturing for them when they become adults.
Dynamic and comprehensive education should be multi-disciplinary and able to address the issues and problems that confront the very existence of the society and how to resolve these issues. Students should be allowed to explore in the education field right from early age with reality, facts and figures so that they can process those in their minds and reproduce them one day in a wonderful way. It is indeed difficult to change or reform to a new system because we have adapted to this old system for too long a time. But this is not the only system of education!
Karen Kindrick Cox in one of her blog post said, “Not all learning is equal. Covering the material does not mean understanding, finishing a textbook does not indicate mastery. No real learning takes place until it moves from surface knowledge to dynamic knowledge; to not only “know about” the information, but to be able to apply the skill or concept to real life accomplishment.” Dynamic knowledge steps beyond just “know about” and steps into performance. It is actually doing something with the information, working with it, building skills and understanding at a deeper level. Dynamic knowledge is to gain a feel for
something, to internalize information and have it become real and active in the learner’s world. Students gain dynamic knowledge by experience. It takes more effort, but it reaps greater rewards. Surface knowledge on the other hand diminishes the probability for long-term retention to occur. Yet this is the model that permeates modern education.
Howard Gardner, in his book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences write of “intelligence as a problem-solving, product-producing capability.” According to him every individual possesses eight or more relatively autonomous intelligences. Individuals draw on these intelligences, individually and corporately, to create products and solve problems that are relevant to the societies in which they live. And these are linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, naturalistic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. When these intelligences are properly nurtured and guided they can make a person productive and wealthy.
Dynamic knowledge should be a big part of children’s learning experiences and will lead to long-term retention and a passion to learn as well as the ability to apply what they learn to their lives and for the society as a whole. The state is a major stakeholder in bringing about such changes that will affect the future of its citizens and to avoid the chances that may induce burden and other problems such as unemployment challenge and limited resources and opportunities.