A very likely future for Education in India

I was sitting with some friends the other night and sipping on chai when the conversation steered towards schooling in Bangalore, and more specifically how expensive education has become in the city.

As a child, I was made to believe that education, and more specifically an academic one, was absolutely crucial if I wanted to ‘succeed’ in life. This idea was hammered into me at every opportunity during school, at social engagements and pretty much everywhere else. Funnily, I did not hear this sort of talk at home. When I was 10 or 11, I often wondered what success meant. At the time, all I could think of was cricket, so my idea of success was imagining myself at the non-striker’s end and and having Sachin Tendulkar for company.

As I grew older, this notion reared its head in the form of a mark sheet. It was deemed a matter of pride to be able to show people a mark sheet which averaged over 90%. Family members as far as New Zealand and Canada would send congratulatory notes on hearing I had performed well in my exams. Of course, I began to see this as a game. And I did make it a game. As a result, my ‘studying’ was directed not at acquiring knowledge, expanding my horizons or even following interests, but at coming top of the class.

The biggest irony is that after being an academic high achiever during school, spending time at some of the world’s best universities and acing some of the most competitive professional exams, I still did not know what my interests were, or even what I really enjoyed doing. The side effects of the ‘game’ I had been playing since school turned out to be quite devastating. Can you imagine a 25 year old sitting on the bank of the Thames after a night of heavy partying, waiting for the sun to come up and wondering how he can make his life more worthwhile, more purposeful and more enjoyable?

Interestingly, there are millions of people like erstwhile me, who finish their ‘education’ and don’t know what to do with their lives. They also don’t know what they enjoy doing. I don’t expect young people to spend decades doing the same thing. We are not wired like that any more. But what I do expect is for a young person to know what she enjoys and what she would like to spend time working on. That isn’t too much to ask for.

And that is one of the biggest drawbacks of the education system today. As soon as a child reaches grade 7 or 8, life becomes all about marks, competitive exams and college admissions. Everything becomes an act of proving your worth. While the focus should be on developing talents, exploring avenues of interest and making discoveries, it is all lost until the person exits the education system. By which time the pressure is on to get a good job, start making money and all the other obligations that come with being a young adult.

So there is actually no time for people to follow through on instincts, explore, take risks or make mistakes. But when I look back at my relatively short life, it is so clear to me that the best learning happened when I got curious about something, gave myself an opportunity to dig deeper, learn, experiment, iterate, and change course whenever needed. All this was done without any effort to prove myself, or reach a certain standard or live up to anyone’s expectations. And so it is with my current job. The most fruitful outcomes came about when we had a hunch, acted on it, and saw it through to completion, all the while allowing ourselves to learn from things that didn’t work.

Given that there are a lot of people who see the futility of the way they were ‘educated’, education is also evolving to better suit the needs of students. Change is happening, but it is snail-paced. And seen with much skepticism.

In the next twenty years, futurist Me sees some big changes coming in the education system from an Indian perspective.

First, if you think education is expensive now, I have some bad news. It is only going to get more expensive. I talk for Bangalore, but it is likely to be the case all over India. Real estate isn’t going to get cheaper. Resources aren’t getting cheaper. Teachers aren’t going to magically work for free. And profit hungry builders (who will keep opening new schools) aren’t going to stop their foray into the education sector. Fee caps have been implemented in some instances, to the delight of parents and horror of school owners. If anything, it will only mean that teachers and other school employees will never receive a pay increase. Wouldn’t you love to work in such an industry?! That will ensure that even fewer qualified people take up teaching as a career.

Second, following on from above, debates on whether education is worth the price you pay will have more of an impact on parents’ decisions. Already, a lot of parents feel that schools don’t justify the fees that they charge. Consequently, a lot of parents are exploring home schooling as an option. And rightly so. In the absence of a trusted third party ‘ratings agency’, schools will continue to blow their own trumpet, while failing to deliver on what they promise.

Third, government policies will continue to create an ever widening gap between where we are and where we should be as far as educational policy is concerned. Having seen how things function from the vantage point of a school owner, I cringe at some of the decisions the government takes as far as educational policy is concerned. Historically, governments have never been great during times of change (or at any other time!), and this period of rapid change only serves to reinforce this perception of mine. Just as there is no law on the kind of restaurants one can open, there should be freedom as far as the kinds of schools that are deemed ‘legal’. Nano and micro schools need to be encouraged. If a teacher wants to set up a ‘school’ of ten children and take these children through their education, it should be allowed. Why should she need 1.5 acres of land to get a ‘licence’?

Fourth, we are going to see an awful lot of innovation by (disgruntled) parents who take matters into their own hands. Already, Bangalore has a few schools set up and run by a community of parents, and personally, I can’t wait to see if these institutions can make a difference. It won’t be uncommon for many more children to be part of home schooling cooperatives and clubs, and for parents to spend a few hours a week, taking turns to teach and expose children to many more fields than schools currently do.

Fifth, as home schooling, micro schools and smaller educational institutions become the norm, sharing of infrastructure and resources will become a necessity. It would be great if all these institutions get together to build, share and use facilities with the aim of giving all members lots of opportunity to develop skills. Also, as a resident of Bangalore, I find that we have too few outdoor sports facilities compared to other cities. If we can get together and build facilities in various parts of the city, everyone can benefit.

Sixth, if the government doesn’t allow these ‘alternative’ educational organisations and co-opts to flourish, then there will be a real mismatch between the supply of and demand for quality education. Already, a number of schools take undue advantage of their position. If supply is curtailed due to ineffective policy, the situation is only going to worsen.

Seventh, teacher training and education will have to evolve and improve radically. If you haven’t looked at the curriculum of most B.Ed courses, I definitely urge you to. It is laughable at best. And the government mandates all teachers to have a B.Ed as a qualification to teach. Garbage in, garbage out?

Eighth, curriculum will have to move on from technical skills and number crunching to inculcating values and behaviours which will actually be of use to humans in a world that increasingly is looking to deploy machines for all mundane and logical tasks. If AI pundits are to be believed, being able to convince someone to do something, or being able to show them love will probably be infinitely more valuable in the marketplace than being able to code a computer. And guess what? You can’t have an exam for love!

Ninth, in the next ten years we will see a lot more college age students who choose to learn what they want to using the internet and other resources, as opposed to going to college. Unfortunately, India doesn’t seem to have enough good institutions for higher education to be able to give all its citizens the required skills. A lot of young people will choose to go without a college degree and instead equip themselves with real world skills by studying and gaining certifications on MOOC platforms and the like.

Tenth, and eleventh, and twelfth…I could go on and on, but I shall not.

The only way to prevent yourself from getting trapped in the system is to explore alternatives, as there are many. You just need to be brave enough to walk a path different to the one your parents and grandparents walked. And to never think that you are running out of options.

There are more ways to learn skills today than ever before in the history of humankind. Let’s make use of this privileged position we find ourselves in. What say?

Thanks for reading! I am no futurist, but this is what I think needs to and could very well happen in the next ten or twenty years. What do you think?

I would love it if you give this story a recommend so it can reach many more people. And I would doubly love it if you shared this with people who would enjoy reading this. Thanks so much!