Isher Singh Jasrotia
The most controversial issues and challenging considerations before the society is the education. Since the independence, education has taken a new dimension through Government agencies i.e various Commissions, role played by the educationists, authors, thinkers, philosophers and similar allies personalities associated with the education.
It is unfortunate that education in the real sense has not achieved the purpose. It is also miserable that there are no sincere efforts taken by the Government so far to upkeep the standard of education especially at the elementary level. Equally the educationists, philosophers and those related with the education are not sincere towards education due to one or other reasons.
In the present context of developing economy, it is a matter of pride that India is emerging as developing country and is on the verge of developed country in the International forum. There is requirement of due attention and accountability at all levels-parents being the guardian, educational institutions being the guidelines and the bureaucrats being the directing and enforcing authorities for the modernization of education especially at the primary level.
The framers of our constitution incorporated education as fundamental right of the children. It is also mentioned in the directive principles of state policy that children below the age of 14 should not be forced to be engaged as labour in any organization/factory and recently a law has also been enacted in this respect and persons responsible for such whimsical acts are liable to be punished.
The need of special education The children of the new generation need special education so as to be taught in the open environment. In any school, if there is good teaching-learning process in healthy environment, it benefits all children irrespective of their needs as well as it improves the standard of the school/institution.
It is a matter of concern that since there is a change taking place in every walk of human life i.e advancement of science and technology; change is also required in our education system- the new methods of teaching and learning processes. Gone are the days when we had to take big bag on our back, walking 15 to 30 minutes to reach the school, mug up the prescribed syllabus to take high score in the examination. Now most of the children cannot learn what they want despite their parents willing to pay for it in any institution/school. When the child reaches at 10+2 level, his perturbation starts as to where he/she should go for higher education or where he/she should take admission to make his/her career. Even the educated and financially sound parentage cannot decide the destiny of their ward in view of the education. They need admission in recognized institution to be able to learn something new which could make their career and future prospects. If they do not get the admission as per their choice, their attention is diverted elsewhere. The reason for all this is faulty system of our education at the elementary level.
It is submitted that teaching and learning are two different processes, which have great relevance to each other. Most of the institutions/centers of learning are designed according to the convenience of the teaching faculty and not the learners.
There are prescribed syllabus to which the children mug up and besides that the children are given assignments and home tasks, which accordingly add to their score in their final examination. The fact is that teachers of a particular institution have the opportunities to add the numbers in the grading of the children whom they are giving tuition which ultimately goes to their credit in terms of their promotion or financial implication.
Some of the schools/institutions which are prescribing the NCERT/CBSE syllabus are not adhering to such practice resulting in the children emerging out of such institutions/schools do not excel in examinations.
As already mentioned above, the Government has to be sincere in the education system.
If we talk of Education in J&K, the then Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Gulam Nabi Azad in the year 2007 was appreciated for encouraging the educational institutions by combining the modern education with our rich heritage, cultures, values and traditions. He focused on modern education by imbibing rich Indian value, our culture and traditions and ethos.
If we have to stride with the modern society in context of changing technology, extra co-curricular activities are of paramount importance to develop the over all personality of the children. Only the indoor classroom activities cannot broaden the child outlook in the perspective of innovation of education system.
To make it more liberal, valuable, spiritual, cooperative and above all a disciplined society, change in the education system is a must.
In the prevailing circumstances, the educational institutions should encourage their students to participate in the activities like games and sports, cultural and debate competitions, picnic and tours of historical places so that vision of the children could be broaden and confidence building measures could be explored so that they could participate in national and international level competitions.
Similarly, the schem of scholarship should be introduced in the educational institutions, which could arrest the drop out ratio and encourage the students to exhibit their potentials and energies.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel