Towards a Healthy Society
For the best learning to happen in a classroom what is needed? Is it the infrastructure like the Buildings? The Library? Or the Black board? If you think this paraphernalia is the most important in an institution then you are wrong. Mere buildings never impart knowledge. Learning, always, is the outcome of an effort undertaken by the teacher. Learning is an experience. It is a wonderful happening. Even in institutions where there is no adequate infrastructure, if a teacher intends to, he can create a great learning environment and ensure world-class teaching-learning. Therefore for teaching-learning to happen the only essentials are the teacher and the learner and everything else just supplements the focal point of learning.
Is the current educational environment in our nation healthy enough to attain our learning goals? If we try to seek answer to this question, it will be a big disappointment to us. Once considered as a noble profession, as a boon,as a service, teaching, now, is considered as a lucrative career. After being embraced by those whose seek a career with the main focus on monetary benefits, teaching has lost all its glory and sheen, and teachers, their respect. Once, teachers used to know about each and every student in their class. They would be aware of their students' families, and their habits and this will enable them to direct and guide them in their studies as well as career. But with the commercialization of education, teachers seldom spend time with their students and they have become mere aggregators and dispensers of information. Today's teachers consider teaching as a profession and do not consider it as an effort towards social transformation.
When I read and hear about discrimination in institutions in terms of caste, rich-poor divide, separate seating arrangement for boys and girls, restrictions on interactions between boys and girls, regional biases etc., I fear serious ramifications that is certain to harm this society in the future. Today's teachers turn a blind eye to these dangerous divides and seldom seek to resolve these issues.
The recently published Annual Status on the Education Report (2014) by Pratham Education Foundation claims better enrolment in schools due to the Right to Education Act and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with 96.7 percent children registered in schools, but there is little to cheer about the learning outcomes. It is very disappointing to learn that only 48.1 percent of Class 5 students can read a Class 2 text (2014). This was 47 percent last year. If this is the case with English, the situation is no different with mathematics. If we have to reap the so called demographic dividends, schools are the place where we need to focus and the situation is appalling.
In a healthy society, free of biases, institutions should spearhead and spread and practice the highest values of equality, democracy, secularism etc. among students. But, in our present educational landscape, institutions have become coaching centers for competitive examinations and they have completely ignored the spreading of doctrines of equality, democracy and other ideals. Whether it is school or college, I see them as competition oriented. Parents too, when they admit their wards in a school or college, are only worried about the cut-off marks of their wards and other eligibility criteria and never bother about the quality of faculty in the institution or about the opportunities for holistic development of their wards in that institution.
In some premier institutions in our country, students are completely away from the social realities of this world that their learning takes place in a secluded manner where there is no exposure to social pressures. Once out of the portals of the institution they find it difficult to face this fiercely competitive world and its challenges. Since 2008, at least 33 students across IITs have killed themselves and many suicide attempts have been reported. According to the National Crime Records Bureau 2013 reports, 2471 people have committed suicide due to failure in examinations and out of this 2048 belong to the age group of 15-29 years; for 4495 people who lost their lives the reason was love affair, and out of this 3230 belonged to the 15-29 years age group; Unemployment was the reason for 2090 people who committed suicide and 935 belonged to the 15-29 years age group. As seen from the above data, institutions have conveniently ignored the support system that needs to be provided to these students in their formative years. Neglecting their need for the much needed social skills will lead to many more suicides, distorted families, divorces and mental patients.
How can institutions that encourage the trend of a student considering his classmate as a competitor create a healthy society? A student who cannot love and respect his classmate, a student who considers his classmate as a competitor will only pass out from an institution as a mere knowledge worker who is frail and weak and without the ability to face challenges and handle failure. This is a great matter of concern and the solution is in the hands of teachers. Though as teachers, we can't change the education system, by making suitable refinements in learning, changing the pedagogy and by ensuring that students imbibe values and by exposing them to facets of life, we can equip them with social skills. Let us do this.
Prof. Kalyanasundaram P.
He is currently the Vice Principal and Director Placement at Garden City College, Bangalore. He has earned a B.E, MBA and an M.Phil (Entrepreneurship). While he has about 19 years of teaching experiences, he has undergone six sigma yellow belt training and has published 27 papers. His other interests include Eastern Philosophy and History.
