Improve Indian Education System in 4 #Simple Steps
Today is India’s 12th National Education Day, celebrated in memory of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of Independent India. And I can confidently say that Maulana Abul Kalam Azad would not be happy with the way our education system has progressed in the last 70 years.
For one, he was a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity and a flagbearer of secularism, a word that did not find a place in the National Education Policy Draft published earlier this year. He envisioned an India where every child has access to quality primary education, something that is a distant dream for our country as of today - 3 out of 4 children in grade 3 cannot read a grade 2 textbook.
However, all hope is not lost. Bright spots have emerged from across the length and breadth of the country, what needs to be done is the implementation of the principles (not practices) that guide these practices across the country.
The following 4 key focus areas are my pick for sustainable transformation of the education system:
Autonomy and Accountability
Increasing accountability and autonomy at all levels of the education system will create massive shifts in the way the education system operates today. This includes giving autonomy to our teachers, principals, block officers and others.
Education is not a bag of chips that can be sold in the same way across the country. Education needs to be rooted in the context of the area and that can only happen when our educators have the autonomy to innovate and adapt to the context they are working in.
Decisions pertaining to local challenges need to rest with the principal and not with the state, district or block authorities who have fairly less knowledge of the ground realities. The framework of autonomy and accountability might be a difficult nut to crack but is a key-lever in the path of transforming our education system.
Focus on Professional Development for Educators
Our teachers and principals need specialised and individualised training to deal with the diverse set of students inside their classrooms and schools respectively. In the current system, our principals do not get trained beyond administrative duties and our teachers are doled out decade-old professional development material. This needs to change and focus on their learning and development has to be prioritised.
This will not only enable better teaching, learning and leading inside the classroom and school, but also ensure a better social outlook towards our educators. Today, no one aspires to be a government school teacher despite the fairly decent salary and government employee benefits, that needs to change and can only happen when we ensure we are equipping our educators with cutting edge skills to guide their own classrooms and schools. The outcomes inside the classroom and school will strengthen their image as educators and nation builders.
At Simple Education Foundation, we have made customised and individualised educator development our cornerstone of school transformation and it is giving us outsized dividends.
Value-Driven Curriculum and Pedagogy
Values can not be ignored anymore, it cannot be treated as a part of the educational structure, it has to be weaved into the fundamental fibre of our curriculum. Our pedagogy also needs to encourage the practice and understanding of values, through an intensive accommodation of pedagogical tools that enable value-driven education.
The country and our children are staring at a society with a large value deficit. The society cannot afford to raise a generation which understands values through a skewed political lens and has not been given the opportunity to understand and making meaning for themselves.
An intensive value-driven curriculum and pedagogy will not only ensure Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s idea of a secular country but also uphold the constitutional principles of this country.
Inclusion of learning abilities and choices
Our current education system is a one-size-fits-all structure, which is at the root of problems ranging from a large unskilled labour force in India to a systemic apathy towards children with disabilities.
Our education system needs to provide customised programs for students who are unable to learn the way the system is designed. The purpose of education is to enable everyone to live a fulfilling life and not to enable only the ones who can navigate through the current structures of education.
Vocational education, special education, support programs for children with learning challenges, etc should be a part of regular school. A strong idea of choice and ownership should be embedded in the idea of education in our country and hence in all recipients of that education.
I am sure if we are able to accommodate these 4 major focus areas of education into the system, the country will witness a positive shift in its human capital. The youngest country in the world has a lot to offer and we have to actively engage with the system to ensure that our students get what they deserve, every single day, in every single classroom.
To our children!
