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End of Rote Learning Regime in India with the National Education Policy 2020
By Surabhi Sharma
In today’s world where everything is changing at a fast pace, Indian education system is still stuck with the Dump Rote Learning method. It is deeply embedded in the education system which needs to be eliminated. The article thoroughly discusses about the evils of Rote Learning. NEP has been introduced on 29th July, 2020 to the nation. It has introduced many other groundbreaking amendments. The most important one is that it will help in doing away with the rote learning method.
Evils Of Rote Learning
In today’s fast-paced world, the Indian education system is still stuck with the age-old Rote Learning method. It plagues our education system and needs to be eliminated. Students are introduced to this system in their initial school years which they then adopt as a habit of learning.
Students are made to memorize information through the method of regular repetition referred to as the Rote Learning method. They are never introduced to its evils, in fact throughout their life, many do not realize that they have embraced this kind of learning. The broadcast of information from teacher to student that takes place in this method prevents any healthy discussion and that leads to the blockage of creative minds. This is how classrooms function here in India. They shut the door of cognitive capabilities and the product is a human being that fails to do even simple tasks prudently.
Regrettably, intelligence in this country is often linked with the ability to efficiently memorize things. Instead of analytical and reasoning skills, the speed at which a child can commit a topic to memory and produce a copy of it when required is seen as a parameter of intelligence. It has become a common habit among students to depend on learning by rote when they appear for exams. They face difficulty when answering questions that are relatively ambiguous or when critical thinking is required mainly due to a lack of comprehensive understanding of the topic concerned. Meanwhile, the information which was memorized earlier starts fading and a month after the exams it’s completely gone.
The curriculum itself is designed in a way that stunts a student’s ability to learn on their own. They are required to learn from content-heavy textbooks which contain mostly irrelevant things having no practical applications. It has long been the cry of every student that most of the things which one memorizes from these textbooks come out to be of no use later in life as most of it is of no significance while what could have been useful gets mushed-up with the rest and forgotten. Recalling from a textbook is rewarded through tests involving high stakes and not through independent reasoning.
Competition is all about getting the best grades and no one can be directly blamed for the sole reason that entire career prospects of a student’s future depend on these standardized tests.
The system is the one that should be blamed for the hardships that students face. The inferior quality of education is the most cited reason why Indian students study abroad. Despite the plethora of courses offered by several universities across India, we lack reasoning and analytical capabilities that have great significance in the practical world. And this is the reason why students struggle to get jobs after their graduation.
Rote Learning: An Outcome Of British Imperialism
It would be utterly wrong to say that Rote Learning was part of the Indian traditional education system. It was introduced in India during the British period for fulfilling their interests. The reason why they created it was to produce factory workers, as the establishment of factories and industries was taking place at a fast pace in Europe at the time. To maximize their profits, they created such an education system so that they can train Indians to submit to their authority. It was because they never intended to give high posts to Indians. It is highly unfortunate that even after so many years, India still follows that method rather than adopt an application-based model. As a consequence, students struggle in learning a cumbersome and boring syllabus. There is an apparent lack of motivation since there is no real-world application that can make the syllabus appealing.
NEP — A Step Towards Revolutionizing Education System
The National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP) has just been introduced. With its introduction, multiple changes will be brought in the currently suffering system. It is a forward-looking step for revolutionizing the Indian education system. Among other positive aspects of the NEP, its main objective includes transforming the education system into a more holistic and skill-oriented system by doing away with the rote learning method that has been rooted in it.
The most significant of all the changes is the extension of the right to education from age 14 to 18. This will reduce atrocities that children of the said age group face in the form of child labour and child marriage. This will help bring the overall literacy rate of India up.
NEP would make it compulsory for the schools to engage students in active learning through class participation by focusing more on dialogue exchange, case studies, and practical on and off-campus experiences that make learning meaningful and fun. Till now, Indian education has seemed more like a formality excluding arts, music, sports, and theatre from the syllabus emphasizing only academics. Integration of Vocational education, as per NEP, will bid a farewell to the traditional monotonous curriculum. This will eventually make the students creative at learning.
To discourage the idea of one size fits all and to work towards personalizing education, NEP has introduced the Holistic Report Card for students which will not only inform them about the marks obtained by them in subjects but also their skills and other important points. Apart from the teachers, the report card will also be reviewed by students.
For long, the student-teacher ratio in Indian schools has been a stumbling block to personalized education. Introducing more and more digital education and increasing access can remove this hurdle too (including other benefits). NEP is the initiative that will provide standardized education all over India and more importantly, it would focus on bridging the knowledge gap between students from different backgrounds.
It is high time we make the technology like AI and concepts like machine learning a part of the classroom curriculum. It would be of great importance for students in India who lag behind students from other countries in terms of employable skills. Until now, they had failed to match pace with foreign students, having been introduced to such things late. This would be possible now with the introduction of NEP as the coding will become a part of the school curriculum as early as class 6th.
Another significant change that has been introduced is the reduction of the curriculum to core concepts. The present education system demands students to learn a vast syllabus in a short period. The paucity of time deprives them of understanding the concept thoroughly which leaves them with no choice other than to memorize it. Memorizing by repetition is not enough; rather interaction between memory and learning is crucial in all walks of life. Holistic development is achievable upon the successful interplay of both.
Complete End Of Rote Learning — Teacher Is The Key
NEP has introduced many other groundbreaking amendments in the archaic education system. Some of them have been discussed above. However, it requires cooperation for it to be a success. Though every needed change has been explicitly provided in the NEP, implementation of few implied tasks by the teachers would be required for us to witness a total transformation in the education system.
Undoubtedly, teachers have a pivotal role to play. Every student is a genius, what differs is its manifestation. Sometimes one is unable to understand the topic because the learning method does not suit them.
Everybody is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
Not everyone’s comprehension mechanisms are the same. Therefore, students should not be judged on their memorizing capacity only. If a student is not providing sufficient results, they must be motivated to learn using a different method of learning. Provide deep insight into the concepts so that students grasp the information rather than just memorizing it. The target should always be sound understanding.
Conclusion
The current national curriculum tests students on the basis of prescribed high stakes test s. As a result, it turns out as a population with like skills on a tapered spectrum of talents. Reforms in the education policy have been long pending. The policy that has now been introduced is late but it is here at last. There have been several significant changes that will, over the next decade, shape India’s future.
Culture and traditions were not the only ones to flourish in ancient India, the education system has also seen great progress producing great minds like Aryabhata and Brahmagupta. Albert Einstein once said,
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made..
This story has been written by Surabhi Sharma, 3rd Year BA LLB Student at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi. She is a writing enthusiast and generally writes on legal issues.
