Perfect education system needed
A country can become rich and developed only when education is given the importance that is due to it. It is very essential for education revolution to take place if the country has to become advanced.
We in India are only boasting about our economic growth rates. But what about education? Even today India has many people who are illiterate, ignorant and backward. This is due to education not being available to this section of the society. The state of our education system has undoubtedly improved considerably and it is much better than what it was at the time of independence. But yet our education system appears pathetic to those who belong to advanced countries.
There are many pseudo-educated people who claim that Indian education is unique and is not geared to foreign tests and that Indians are "essentially" clever. They will boast that India has its own way, its own genius and its own time horizons. They will not accept any truthful person's claim that India is backward in terms of global comparisons. Perhaps this is all correct. Or perhaps we just don`t want to face reality.
Let`s face it. Our school system, vocational education (such as it is), colleges and universities are in a shambles. At the time of Independence, India would have ranked much higher in Asia. One has to agree that the population of India at that time was much less than today. Today, much more Indians are educated. But the population also has risen to such an extent that the number of uneducated people are much more than the elite group. That's the reason why our education system appears to have fallen massively behind. Our universities certainly were at the top of the pile in Asia in 1950. Today, not a single Indian university ranks in the top hundred institutions of the world while there are over a dozen Asian universities on that list. Even amongst Asian IT and engineering universities, India has only half a dozen out of the top 50 institutions - when India is the second most populous country in Asia and, on a purchasing power parity basis, the third biggest economy after China and Japan.
The reason for this mess is that the central government spends very little on education. Then there is the quality of teachers. Most literate countries recruit their teachers from the top 10% of their graduates (yet do not pay them exorbitantly); In India we choose our teachers from among those who are average. The government recruits teachers, pays their salaries, and cannot get them to perform. The government teachers are paid twice the salary of private school teachers. There is no accountability because the teachers` unions are too strong, legal protections for teachers seem unassailable and the government just does not care enough to challenge either.
Some say that the government interference in education matters creates a large part of the problem. An ordinary Indian is also to be blamed, especially those who are educated and well off. They don't wish to face the fact that our education system needs overhauling. Until we insist on high quality education for all Indians, little will change.
A country can become rich and developed only when education is given the importance that is due to it. It is very essential for education revolution to take place if the country has to become advanced.
We in India are only boasting about our economic growth rates. But what about education? Even today India has many people who are illiterate, ignorant and backward. This is due to education not being available to this section of the society. The state of our education system has undoubtedly improved considerably and it is much better than what it was at the time of independence. But yet our education system appears pathetic to those who belong to advanced countries.
There are many pseudo-educated people who claim that Indian education is unique and is not geared to foreign tests and that Indians are "essentially" clever. They will boast that India has its own way, its own genius and its own time horizons. They will not accept any truthful person's claim that India is backward in terms of global comparisons. Perhaps this is all correct. Or perhaps we just don`t want to face reality.
Let`s face it. Our school system, vocational education (such as it is), colleges and universities are in a shambles. At the time of Independence, India would have ranked much higher in Asia. One has to agree that the population of India at that time was much less than today. Today, much more Indians are educated. But the population also has risen to such an extent that the number of uneducated people are much more than the elite group. That's the reason why our education system appears to have fallen massively behind. Our universities certainly were at the top of the pile in Asia in 1950. Today, not a single Indian university ranks in the top hundred institutions of the world while there are over a dozen Asian universities on that list. Even amongst Asian IT and engineering universities, India has only half a dozen out of the top 50 institutions - when India is the second most populous country in Asia and, on a purchasing power parity basis, the third biggest economy after China and Japan.
The reason for this mess is that the central government spends very little on education. Then there is the quality of teachers. Most literate countries recruit their teachers from the top 10% of their graduates (yet do not pay them exorbitantly); In India we choose our teachers from among those who are average. The government recruits teachers, pays their salaries, and cannot get them to perform. The government teachers are paid twice the salary of private school teachers. There is no accountability because the teachers` unions are too strong, legal protections for teachers seem unassailable and the government just does not care enough to challenge either.
Some say that the government interference in education matters creates a large part of the problem. An ordinary Indian is also to be blamed, especially those who are educated and well off. They don't wish to face the fact that our education system needs overhauling. Until we insist on high quality education for all Indians, little will change.
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