The education system
Zainab
Education means to inculcate moral values, positive thinking, attitude of helping others, positive thinking, etc. After learning for himself or herself and then giving back something to society is education. Education is the weapon of strong. It makes a society truly civilized. But in the present times, these traits have lost into oblivion. Today, education is all about getting a job, becoming rich by hook or crook, having a settled life with every kind of extravaganza, well-settled children after marriage, etc.
This doesn’t happen in a day or two. Indeed, it is the malaise that takes a lot of time to fix its roots. In the following lines, some causes are discussed that have made it possible to reach such a situation.
The first is rote learning. Today education is all about rote learning. Without understanding what the students are cramming up, the students appear in the exams. The question papers are also set according to rote learning. In this way, the creative students lose the during the pious game of education.
The second is cut-throat competition. At any rate, a student is asked to clear this and that examination. However, that is secondary thing, if he or she is willing to do it or not. In our society, getting more than 90 percent in the matriculation examination and clearing the NEET or a JEE, have become trends. Any student who fails in this illogical competition, is deemed unfit for living.
The third is neglecting creativity. Our same line of thinking doesn’t allow us to look above things. Recently, the BBC came up with a video, telling us that there are speculations about the fallacy of the Theory of Relativity. Questioning about this before some years would have proved quite difficult for the student’s life. This is the big disadvantage of our educational system.
The fourth and last is outdated syllabi. In the age of robots, we are still debating about the origin of early men. It is a disastrous situation for us. Elon Musk is preparing to go to the Mars. However, we are not in a position to adjust ourselves on this planet. He is talking about the Aliens. For us, the Aliens are above our heads.
Our so-called professors and Molvis will laugh at this concept. They cannot believe that there is another world where organisms live. The NASA’S recent mission to Mars is a recent example. The Business Standard published a story about this, where they wrote that how oxygen is extracted from the Red Soil there. It is our irony that we don’t have enough oxygen to fight against the COVID-19. So, outdated syllabi prove the last nail in the coffin of the stagnation of education.
In short, there is an urgent need to bring back the educational system on track. The NEP 2020 is a welcome step in this direction. We need Happy Curriculum, Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, etc, to grow in this society.
Moreover, there is a misconception in our society that English is necessary for a good life. However, this is not fully true. English language in case of India is both a sign of colonialism and development.
In 1835, Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced the Western education in India to communicate with those people who mostly were superstitious and did not know the English language. In case of development, Indians came across William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, Homer, etc. to enlighten themselves.
Furthermore, teachers should be taught how to be good teachers. Francis Bacon, an essayist, told that the best teacher is a practical teacher. He or she teaches in the most sophisticated manner, doing away with boredom.
Before wrapping up, some days back our Social Science teacher put us to test. It was objective type paper. But the standard of the paper was low. It was set according to a particular mindset that doesn’t allow critical thinking. I was amazed at this gesture. I was reminded of Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. They both being international authors, are true teachers and care for the society. Where do we stand? Will our educational system remain as it is? When shall we find educational system as a fun? Is education a source of tension? I need answers.
(The author is a class tenth student at the Army GoodWill School, Hanjik)
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