Why do we need STEM education in India?
The Indian education system is a competitive sector that flushes out millions of students every year and yet a large proportion of that number are not ready to hold down proper jobs. This is because of the inherently theoretical discourse used in Indian schools. Our education system is still trailing behind in respect of producing employable individuals because more often than not, the education received through the conventional schooling systems is just not enough to keep in pace with the high industry demand.
This is where a country like ours could use the STEM education system. It is a curriculum that is based on the ideas of educating students on four indispensable disciplines. This modern approach to education consists of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM education is being used as part of the core curriculums of many countries, owing to its global competence and relevance.
There are multiple reasons to believe that even India ought to adopt the STEM approach to education. This course focuses on improving the scientific temperament of students so that they can keep up with the exponential development and diversifications of the scientific world.
The STEM approach to education provides students with an opportunity to branch out to other disciplines, irrespective of their own streams to engage with a cohesive learning program. This program enables them to apply theoretical concepts to solve real-world problems, thereby educating students to be active learners and innovators.
There is a very fine distinction between the science-based courses offered by our traditional education system as opposed to STEM, as STEM incorporates the basic principles of blended learning. This approach uses a hybrid of classroom teaching and E-learning to ensure that students are able to make better associations with theoretical concepts by making knowledge and its application exciting.
STEM can be deployed into the traditional school system in three stages:
- Elementary school: This stage marks the first step to the formal introduction of STEM for primary school-going children. In this step, students are made aware of the different career options available for all the four subjects that are a part of STEM. The goal here is to spread awareness about this unique course structure and encourage the student to pursue this as a potential career option. It orients students to develop curiosity by structuring the program to include inquiry and application-based learning.
- Middle School: The STEM course available for middle school students is more challenging and requires extensive training in fostering habits of scientific inquiry in children. Students are taught the fundamental aspects of all the four disciplines so that they can use the theoretical knowledge with practical applications.
- High school: the final stage of STEM education involves making students future-ready by engaging them in the four disciplines in an immersive way, wherein students are made to combat challenging issues concerned with all the subjects that come within the gambit of STEM.
STEM education promotes children to direct their studies in a systematic, scientific and most importantly, a logical manner. The students are continuously made to explore and engage with their surroundings with the help of digital media solutions to make learning more immersive. This method is essential in retaining the shelf life of fundamental concepts in the mind of students. STEM enables students to get acquainted with the dynamic nature of the world that they find themselves in by embracing innovation. In this day and age, being able to adapt to change in an effective manner is of crucial importance and in this respect, STEM allows students to learn and continually update themselves to the changes in the world. The inherent theoretical framework of our education system sometimes cripples the real-life problem-solving skills of students.
The Indian education system is still struggling to bridge the gap between skills required by the industry and the skillset provided by them. For developing economies like ours, it is imperative that the education system is in tandem with the industry requirements so that each and every individual within the economy can be productive and contribute to the development of the country in a proactive way. Making a provision for the adoption of STEM in the Skill India program will be a useful strategy to blend in the benefits of the sophisticated curriculum of STEM along with traditional classroom teaching. STEM strengthens the basic practical applications of core concepts to novel situations that require creative problem-solving. It enriches students by training them to think logically and boosts their confidence to deal with basic scientific processes.
Written by, Kalyani Nair, TEGS
