School Education And Competitive Examination- part 2

 The previous article drew mixed responses from my readers. Mixed in the sense that some were really in agreement with the concern raised and wanted some solution but others were a bit disappointed due to the lack of light through the tunnel. Some wanted to focus more on other factors responsible for the present state of education and craze of tuition/coaching culture. I would like to refer first to the last one. The learned Guru (name avoided this time deliberately) writes that the importance given to the vocations/professions which fetch more salary and perks, is the root cause and we must first tackle the same. Completing engineering from IIT, Law from NLUs, MBBS/MD from AIIMS, and government medical colleges are considered a sure shot for a handsome salary. It is not that all those who try for all these are really interested in that type of job or work. There are cases where the person got into any of these but either during or after completion changed the field completely because the passion was in something else but due to peer pressure or family expectations sacrificed schooling and real learning while preparing for the entrance exams. I tend to agree with this and it takes me back to my observation/endorsed by Ms Grinder`s paper, that liberalisation/privatisation have contributed significantly to changing the mindset of the parents and the students. I wrote it a few years back also that educational institutions are the places for learning and not necessarily finding jobs/helping to find jobs. But nowadays the focus is more on placement than real learning. If 100 per cent placement is done, then nobody talks about the quality of human resources. Similar is the task of coaching centres also, more selections get the maximum attention/mileage. In this process, all tend to ignore the hardships and long-lasting impact on the students’ physical and emotional state of mind.

In the meantime, I happened to read a book written by Dr Vivek Vijay titled” Mai Vidyalaya bol raha hoon.” This talks about the four pillars, Vidyalaya (Self), Vidyarathi (Student), Adhyapak (Teacher) and Abhibhavak (Parent). Personification is done so beautifully that you start visualising the school. At one place Dr Vijay mentions that Vidyalaya is also experiencing the change and its impact on itself. In one sentence where he writes that knowledge (Gyan) comes from within and the teachers act as a catalyst in the life of the students. The information which students receive comes from outside but the processing of the same will churn out the Amrit in the form of knowledge. Teachers are required to nurture every child and not the so-called brighter ones only. In one of the chapters, Ms Gurinder quotes the statement of a coaching centre owner who boasts that the coaching centres have changed the mindset in a particular way that the students who are labelled ‘weak’ go for tuition/coaching but now due to coaching centres the bright students come for the same. While writing this line, I remembered a statement which says that the roles of schools and coaching centres are entirely different. On one side the schools are meant for the overall development of students and on the other hand, coaching centres are meant for preparing students in a specific skill to crack a competitive exam. So the two should not be intermingled and that is precisely my concern and point of discussion. If the two are meant for entirely different purposes, then why one should surge into the other`s territory. Meaning thereby, first the children should be allowed to complete their schooling and then they can join any coaching centre if need be. The students are not to be considered as commodities but to be treated with empathy and given opportunity to hone their skills too instead of entire focus only on the academics. Empathy, emotions and care for humanity are so common words which are heard by students but not seen in reality. In another chapter, Ms Kaur writes about the statement of another coaching centre owner in which he says the parents are to blame for forcing their children to join coaching centres and putting pressure on them. My concern has been that all take credit for the success of a student but who would own if the child has not succeeded? (This is not the problem in coaching centres only but even in schools also). I would like to quote another example from the book of Dr Vivek. As an activity to teach the students the importance of saving the environment and the role played by trees, the students and parents are invited and collect one plant and then plant it at a designated place and then look after the same till it grows as a tree. The children picked up one plant each when as per their turn. The first child took the best of the plant with the flower and the process followed. The parents were happy with the choice of their wards. Then a girl picked a plant which was almost dead and handed it over to her mother. The mother was a little disheartened and thought that probably she did not teach her child properly (because she also expected her daughter to have picked up a healthy plant). She asked her daughter the reason for not choosing a healthy one. The answer of the daughter was an eye-opener not only for her mother but all of us. She said, “Anybody can take care and grow a healthy plant because not much effort would be required, but I know that you can only take care of a weak plant and ensure its growth into a strong tree”. This is the real objective of education and educational institutions. One solution given by a reader is that the syllabus and topics of the school and competitive examination should be the same. But at the same time in our country education is in the jurisdiction of State and there are as many educational boards (mainly for the conduct of classes X and XII exams and issuing the students the certificates) as the number of states in the country. So is it possible in our country to have a common syllabus of at least science and commerce subjects? In History and Geography state`s specific component should be added and the students may be given choice in those topics or they can in advance opt for specific topic/topics as is done in some quiz competitions.

It is important to be considerate towards students` future but instilling proper values is also an equally important and essential component of school education. But in the last few years, the educational boards have been very lenient while setting the question paper and evaluation. The result of the same has been - students scoring more than 90% and are still not able to get admission to so-called reputed colleges or universities. The parents also focus on marks than the real learning of the children. Many parents would not approach teachers about any problem faced by the student if the marks scored are good. It is metaphorically like cricket or hockey match. If the team wins nobody talks of certain shortcomings in players/coach or the team but if they lose the match, then listen to the expert comments finding faults in everyone. So if we shift our focus from scoring marks to learning and issue is tackled during the learning process, then marks would not pressurise our students. The students should be awarded what they deserve but in the name of normalisation or passing everyone, is not right. My worry about coaching centres is that at a very tender age students are indirectly made to realise that even their best friend is a competitor, so learning should not be shared otherwise he/she will grab the seat. So the very concept of ‘share and care’ gets lost. Though not many people may see it coming today, but if in future our children become absolutely selfish then they should not be blamed. While I was to focus more on finding the solution to the problem, I was getting hammered by the examples and statements which made my task more difficult. The fact is not that there are no solutions but when all have been blinded by the revenue collection and GDP then it certainly becomes difficult. For example, everybody knows the consumption of alcohol is injurious to health yet the excise department of states desire more sales to get more revenue so that health facilities could be improved. What an irony this is! The farmers want to use more chemicals and fertilizer to have better yields resulting in more income. But at what cost? Whenever I try to reason it out with some of them the question asked is how to survive otherwise. What a pity it is that for your survival, you are putting somebody`s else life in danger. The same is the case in regard to the topic under discussion. There are many parents who consider it absolutely unethical and want their children to attend proper school, but the lies and cunning projections by the industry people deceive them. Even the educated masses and people in responsible positions (from whom we expect some action) fall prey to such allurements. The sad part is that all listen to the false promises and open encouragement to break the law (the parents when called for so-called counselling which I call a sales strategy) are told that they should not send their children to regular schools but their favourite dummy schools only, otherwise the child may not qualify the entrance exams (as otherwise, the child will surely make it). Despite all these hurdles and negatives, there are hopes and ways in which the childhood and future of the school-going children can be improvised.

After going through the comments of my readers and the suggestions of the parents and educators published in a newspaper, I would like to suggest the following:

1.    The standard of the school education must be brought up.

2.    The number of quality educational institutions in higher education should be increased at a very fast pace.

3.    The vocational courses and skill education should be given more emphasis.

4.    A common syllabus of all the boards (with some emphasis on local issues) should be prepared.

5.    The difficulty level of the competitive examination and school board exams should be almost similar.

6.     Most parents suggested regular inspection of the schools by the Department of Education.

7.    Some percentage of classes X and XII marks be added while preparing the merit.

8.    Educators and parents feel that coaching as such may not be the problem but dummy schools are a serious problem, so they suggest biometric attendance and regular reporting by the schools.

9.    The school teachers must improve their standards also so that the students get benefited for the competitive examination in addition to the skill and personality enhancement (which is the primary task of the schools).

10.                        Parents should also realise the potential of their children and should not put them through unwanted pressure and routine which might hamper their growth in the field they are good at.

11.                       Children should be counselled by Parents and Teachers alike to be aware of peer pressure tactics, reminding them of the consequences which most likely may prove undesirable.

12.                       Also, some realistic result insights can be shared with the students in order to remove the fantasy of mass selections.

13.                        Coaching centres should be regulated. The honourable Supreme Court had asked the government for the same 4-5 years back.

14.                        Most educators and parents want the government to act tough on dummy schools and coaching centres working against the norms/law.

15.                       The question here arises about the two genres of learning – theoretical and practical. Aren’t practical’s an integral part of training especially in Science Stream when we talk about hands- on- experience/ experiment? So, are the coaching centres focusing on some such skill set? NO…not at all, they are simply functioning on the concept of rote learning.

16.                        The press also needs to be careful while reporting on the so called success of the students in entrance exams because many feel that the numbers of successful candidates given by the CCs are inflated.

17.                        All must come together and find ways so that our children do not need to sacrifice one thing to gain the other.

 

These are a few suggestions and there may be many more. That is why I mentioned in point 17 that the issue should be discussed in public and if most people find coaching and schooling cannot go together then the government must take a call that schools will cater only up to class X or VIII or the coaching centres are converted into schools or schools be allowed to run coaching classes. To me, this is not a good idea but to continue with proper schooling and then prepare for any competitive exams the children want to appear in. My only worry is that due to this mess the real objective of education has been lost somewhere in the rat race and so much discussed (hyped if I may say) NEP remains a lion on paper. Our children are the treasure of the future and let us try to shape them into the best possible individual by letting them fly the way they want.