Learning Reforms — The “Developing Country” Context
Education has come a long way in the past decade — and rightfully so. The sector was overdue for a good shakeup, and the COVID years provided a much-needed push to reform the way we learn, and what we learn. From the widespread adoption of e-learning across platforms, to government and NGO learning initiatives trying to reach even the most isolated pockets, education in countries such as India has seen a renewed effort from all stakeholders.
My time in school/university was drastically different compared to those of my brother, nearly 9 years younger. There was a lot of emphasis on “in-person” for my peers and I — this saw a purposeful shift in 2019–21, even pre-COVID. There has been an increased emphasis on self-directed learning now, with NPTEL and MOOC certificates finally gaining acceptance among traditional educators. I’m sure that things will be even more fluid and responsive by the time my son, now aged 1, enters the undergrad sphere.
India definitely has a long way to go in terms of industry accepting non-traditional degrees. The demand is still overwhelmingly high for engineering/management graduates, especially those from the “Indian Ivy League”. Abrupt career shifts are generally frowned upon from a recruiter standpoint — ironically, if you’re evincing interest in something, you’re expected to show some full-time work experience for it to count. I think this can be squarely tagged to the absence of any concept changing/adding on to your graduation major based on something you genuinely want to pursue. No major institutes offer deferrals if you want to be an entrepreneur. As a policy, you cannot move to another college with a credit transfer. This results in years of accumulated learning going for a toss when a student needs to start from Ground Zero if they have a change of heart — if I’ve already done electives in humanities in my first year of engineering that meet the levels needed for a corresponding year in journalism school, I should not need to do them again when I could be learning something new!
I’ll give you an example — suppose you want to be an English literature teacher in India. You’ve already done your MA in English Literature. You got into these programs regardless of your specialization in your bachelor’s degree. BUT. BUT. BUT. All the schools that are willing to hire you, require a B.Ed. And maybe even a B.A. Distance education not accepted. Why? Archaic hiring rules framed by the powers-that-be, that have not been revised to keep up with changes elsewhere!
Although the recent National Education Policy proposes widespread reform in the way subjects are structured for school and beyond (diluting the rigid brackets like Science, Arts, Commerce to open up more interdisciplinary choices), we are yet to see changes on ground. I guess this is a relentless circle with a longer wait time to see who blinks first.
A change of thinking is needed here, in families that traditionally look down upon non-tag degrees, in academia, and in the industry. They are not parallel tracks in any way — each is dependent on the other in an economy such as ours. With an increased emphasis on learning, instead of being fixated on tags (brand, perceived value, etc.) associated with a degree, I’m sure we as a learner’s nation will scale greater heights.
