“There is no substitute for hard work”. This profound statement is attributed alternately to Thomas Alva Edison and James J. Hill. If this statement was uttered by the British mathematician and astronomer Fred Hoyle (of Fred Hoyle-Jayant Narlikar theory of Gravity fame), he would have modified it like this: “There is no substitute for hard work put in for the furtherance of the intelligence”.
Well, this is my conjecture. Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) was a firm believer in the Intelligent Universe. To put it loosely, he believed, as outlined in his book, “The Intelligent Universe”, that the purpose of life is not to procreate. But to preserve and expand the intelligence of every individual and that of the universe as a whole.
In that sense, we, the humans, are the chosen ones. Every indicator tells us that humans have profoundly contributed towards the sustenance and expansion of intelligence. And to continue to do this, Higher Education is an important requirement. This brings us to the topic of the day: Laying the right foundation for higher education. In my view, the hidden part in this title is the second half, which says, “for the furtherance of global intelligence”.
Higher education is the third level of education which one starts acquiring after successfully completing the secondary (and obviously also the Primary) education in the schools. Universities impart this higher education because, the higher education gained from the universities has potential to make you universally knowledgeable (read intelligent) and competitive.
Individuals and nations, both are striving to improve the performance and quality of higher education. At an individual level, the higher education prepares the student for the better job market dynamics at the base level. But that is not all. Higher education aids in personal development, one can go much deeper into a subject of one’s liking and discover something new, thinking skills are developed, social status is enhanced and there are many more such benefits.
Nations put much emphasis on higher education for the all-round development of the society. India is no exception. In the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), some of the points outlined in higher education are:
“Quality higher education must aim to develop good, thoughtful, well-rounded, and creative individuals. It must enable an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, ethical and Constitutional values, intellectual curiosity, scientific temper, creativity, spirit of service, and 21st century capabilities across a range of disciplines including sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, languages, as well as professional, technical, and vocational subjects...”
All these can be summarised as “pursuit of intelligence’. The term ‘foundation’ indicates the period before the start of the higher education. Notably, secondary education. We have seen and experienced the quantum jump in complexity a student faces while transitioning from primary to secondary education classes. May times, a student who has secured 80% marks in 10th grade barely manages to pass through the 12th grade. This is not uncommon. Why such things happen? What is wrong? Let’s try to analyse and arrive at the answers.
The languages (the grammar part), science and mathematics are the foundation courses in the school years. Giving the correct emphasis on these subjects without over-burdening the students and maintaining their interest is a Herculean task, if not impossible. “Learning by doing” which is also called ‘interactive, experiential learning’ in the EdTech jargon, is one such proven method. For many years, Indian education system was reduced to the level of a “clerk producing factory”, but things are looking up now.
“An enlightened community of students is an asset for any country. This community has the power to change the destiny of a nation and a group of nations, called the universe”
The flattening of the world, which happened with the advent of the internet and affordable computers, provided a level playing field for all those who wanted to ‘play and compete’ with the best in the world. India, with its demo-graphic, has to catch up. Number of students far exceed the seats available in the universities- both local and on foreign lands. The result is the fierce competition for admissions.
The academic institutions devised various types of entrance tests to screen the applicants. This resulted in the explosion of coaching classes where memorising a concept was more important than its understanding. The other problem was the language. With most competitive exams conducted in English, a large portion of the students missed this opportunity. Knowledge is nobody’s privilege. One cannot keep a majority of students out of the entrance tests just for the language reason. So, necessary amends were made. And to take care of the memorising issue, more objective questions and MCQs were introduced. This gave a somewhat level playing field to the students.
But the wider question is, why only those who want to pursue higher education in certain Centre of Excellence colleges have to have their concepts clear? Why not all students study the way things are to be studied? Once this is achieved, the other will automatically follow.
Laying of proper foundation to kindle and sustain the interest of the students is of utmost importance. In this endeavour of foundation laying, more the number of senses involved during the study, the easier it becomes to under-stand the concept. To achieve this, the classroom teaching is augmented by the incorporation of laboratory practices wherever possible. But in a wide and diverse country like India, both the classrooms and laboratories are in a perpetual short supply. If both are available, the appropriate faculty may not be available. One of the ways to overcome these shortcomings is to go for the blended teaching. Here, the normal classroom and lab practices are aided by inter-active, 3D stereoscopic content. In fact, this not only augments the classroom and laboratory sessions, but opens up new vistas hitherto unavailable or unthinkable. When one interacts with a complex system using one’s own hands, in cyberspace, the results are striking.
The New Education Policy (NEP) lays much importance on Experiential learning. And what could be better, quicker and cheaper than doing that in the cyberspace?
Several pilot projects are initiated by various State Governments to achieve this goal. The pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns gave ample proof for off the school campus teaching. Now it is time to solidify formally in a regular school curriculum.
An enlightened community of students is an asset for any country. This community has the power to change the destiny of a nation and a group of nations, called the universe. This may also indirectly prove the belief of Fred Hoyle on the Intelligent Universe.
To prepare the future generations for higher and higher level of learning, right foundations should be laid in the formative years of secondary schooling when a student’s curiosity and awareness has just begun to rise.
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