Everything wrong with Indian Education System

"In India, you can be 3 things... A doctor, An engineer, or a failure" bysaid a friend of mine and I couldn't agree more , this is and has been the sad reality of India ever since. A child in our country is seen as some product judged and labelled by the education system. If s/he fails in our education system they are not only considered but also made to believe they that they are a failure. “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.”

Every year we have bigger , better improvised versions of phones,cars, bike etc but the one thing that hasn't changed ever since it's inception is school and it's system. A school was designed to train children to sit for long hours , organised , having limited lunch time and movement during breaks so that they can be prepared to work in factories. In India the Britishers came and implemented their methodology so that they could get the best Indians for their own use. It's been 75 years since independence and this has still not been changed. China and India are the world's most heavily populated Nations but as seen in Olympics India was happy celebrating one gold while China fell short of one medal and in spite of leading throughout the 2020 Olympics finished second on the final day. It's not that China has more talent and India doesn't. Talent is anywhere and everywhere equally throughout the globe. Talent doesn't discriminate you on any basis of caste , religion, nationality etc. It's how the talent is harvested and made to blossom into a complete final product. Our Education system robs those talents of their worth and make them feel completely worthless.

In India about 1.2 million students appear for JEE exams but only a percent of them get into big reputed institutes like IIT. Entrance exams and boards exams in India are like all or nothing for the students. Certain students are ransacked of their childhood , they go to Kota at an early age for preparation of JEE and by the time they realise they've missed out on their childhood it's already too late. We are so busy talking about and interviewing board and entrance exams toppers that we forget about the once who didn't clear. What about them? Where do they go? What do they do?

Have they been ever taught to handle failures?  Unfortunate truth is that some of them can't handle it so they decide to end their lives. In India when a celebrity commits suicide it's everywhere on the TV , Newspaper , Social Media - just everywhere. On the contrary when a student ends his/her life no one talks about it or cares about it , no one holds the mirror to reflect upon the education system and the stress the child had been through. Every hour one student commits suicide in India, with about 28 such suicides reported every day, according to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The NCRB data shows that 10,159 students committed suicide in 2018, an increase from 9,905 in 2017, and 9,478 in 2016. This is bound to get worse if necessary actions and changes aren't implemented.

"Baccha kabil bano kabil.. Kamyabi to sali jhak maar ke peeche ayegi" goes a dialogue in the famous movie 3 Idiots by the protagonist Rancho. He is right but most of the Indians fail to identify talent and ability of a child over his report card and marks. In a country full of Chatur Ramlingams and stereotype like Viruses we need not one but many Ranchos. 

In our country we focus only on rote learning and is a rat race. Knowledge is important but not the type of knowledge which is hogged before exams and vomited during exams and which the students despise. According to The Business Insider "A staggering 80% of engineers in India are unemployable" this just showcases how much rote learning is prioritised with little to no practical skills and knowledge taught to us throughout the course of our education. Since a child is 3 years old and joins school, he doesn't know he isn't joining a school, but a rat race. All through two decades of education in a child's life when he steps out into the real world, does he realise that all that he has are degrees with no practical skills at all at his disposal.

The short comings of the education system are well known not only across India but throughout the whole globe. Marks should not be defining aspect of one's potential and capabilities , especially marks which are earned through rot learning. The mental stress students have to go through is enormous which often leads to unfortunate suicides. The focus should be on reducing stress and pressure on the children and to create a positive and fun atmosphere. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" , was one of the idioms taught to us in our junior years but indeed how much play is their in that of an Indian student?  The idea of not being 'good enough' is planted into the kids head due to their grade which stays with them forever and doesn't let them to grow into happy and satisfied adults. Saying you'll become nothing subconsciously makes the child think that he is indeed good for nothing and will never be successful.

 It's not only the system which requires change but the mentality and outlook to grades and marks too.

The New Education Policy of 2020 looks to be a promising change much required for years but it remains to be seen how long will it take to implement it. Changing mentality is a key element for moving forward from the age old system and it is a gradual process too. Mentality won't change until 'marks is everything' attitude is eradicated from the system. Changes in both and policy and mentality will go hand in hand with each other to make the future of the country brighter and to let the young buds of sports or tech or any field blossom. We should strive for the much needed change as the father of our Nation rightly said "Be the change you want to be".