Education Reforms

With the announcement of education reforms, Mr. Kapil Sibbal has tried to usher a new era in the education system of India just like the economic reforms by Mr. Manmohan Singh changed the economic perspective of the country. Though the education reforms comprise of many aspects such as primary school education, compulsory education, higher level education, examination reforms and proper regulatory bodies, Mr. Sibbal took the right step by proposing to bring changes in the school education which perhaps forms the crux of other problems as well.

The 10th board examinations conducted under the CBSE board shall be optional from the next year and the students shall be judged on a grading system. The question we all have been asking ourselves for so many years is that do the high school examinations serve any purpose apart from forcing children into mad race for marks, neglecting their health and creating a nervous atmosphere in the family. The answer doesn’t come in the affirmative. Yes, the exams do motivate and stir the students to work hard, but a 15 or 16 year old student can otherwise be instilled to study regularly with the imparting of good values and importance of education.

The other aspect which has its share of critics is the grading system which cannot differentiate between students acquiring 95% and 97% marks. This concern has been raised vociferously by parents, students and teachers. The fact however remains that the purpose of grading system is to remove this very inherent fallacy of our school education. Life is all about tough competition, but there is an age and time for it. Surely a 16 year old student should not be expected to imbibe the negative values of envy and unfair competition of stealing one or two marks by hook or crook. Another fact to ponder upon is, does the student who scores 97% marks always fares better in life than the student scoring little less. Well any rational person has the same answer, a big ‘NO’.

Now comes the very genuine concern of the implementation of this system. Due to lack of infrastructure, proper classes, laboratories, qualified teachers, this task seems difficult. But then should we adopt a wrong policy in principle just to cater to the implementation needs. Or should we adopt the right approach and then work upon the implementation details. The latter option seems to be more logical.

Another aspect on which I would like to shed some light is the mentality to resist change by people. Inspite of knowing the drawbacks of our education, the resistance to change shown by many parents is not very encouraging. Though their concern for children in a country with no social security and unprecedented competition is appreciable but unless we try to change this education system of ‘British Raj’ era how will the youngsters face the future challenges.

Before every class 10th and 12th examinations, we see many counselors and educationists advising students and parents to remain calm and not get nervous. But in a practical world these advices cannot be implemented unless we decide to alter our system to meet those ideal situations. We do hear a lot about corruption in our country, but it is not as if our countrymen have lower moral standards as compared to people of other countries, it the faulty and obsolete system which breeds this menace. To address all such fundamental problems it not the people whose characters can be changed but the system which over a period of time make the people adjust to it.

This is the first step towards education reforms and a welcome one. But to substantiate it and achieve the vision of a better education system further efforts are required in changing the examination patterns and higher education system of India.