Crisis in the Present System of Education
We can witness the signs of cracks with our present system of education. Unless these problems are tackled properly and in time, there is no doubt that they will lead to many complications and cause a lot of grievous sufferings to many.
Primary Education
Our constitution lays down that there should be free and compulsory primary education for all children falling in the 6-14 age groups.
Though India has crossed sixty-five years of independence, this cherished goal has not yet been reached. We are yet to build many schools and provide minimum facilities for the school children of the primary stage.
Drop Outs
Another glaring problem in Indian Education System is the case of the drop-outs. Many students leave schools before the completion of their courses since they are required to earn something for their families. It is no wonder that such students forget what little they had learnt at schools within a short time. Another problem is that of mass literacy.
Adult Illiteracy
Many men and women above the age of 30 can neither read nor write. Naturally they are fit for only such work as needs sheer manual labor. Though crores of rupees have been spent on adult education, its achievements are not worth mentioning. The apprehension of India becoming the world’s largest illiterate country is not something unreal.
More demand for vocational courses
The Indian Education System depends too much on bookish knowledge and lays less emphasis on practical or laboratory-based learning. This frequently proves boring and burdensome to students. This also helps them little in their real-life situations. Such education gives them degrees but offers little help in getting employment.
Naturally this results, on the one hand, in students taking French leave from schools and colleges, and showing defiance and disrespect to teachers, and, on the other, raising demands for vocational and newer types of job-oriented courses.
New courses in computer, heath-care and nursing, banking and insurance, advertising, tourism, and hotel-based industries are now luring many students from general studies and taking advantage of them. It is, however, undeniable that these new courses stand as competitors to the traditional system of education and take away much of their attraction.
Existing Examination system needs change
Another crisis has developed round the existing system of examination. Some still consider it essential for differentiating the meritorious from the less meritorious.
But there are many who are vociferous against it. They say that it is not helpful in selecting those who are really meritorious.
The answer scripts are not properly examined and in most cases average marks are given.
Sometimes the scripts are lost and sometimes questions are leaked.
This system, they say, encourages the mushroom growth of tutorial homes and proliferation of test papers, note books, made easies, and suggestions.
This also fosters tuition, cramming and mass copying. Some suggest that the gradation system and year-long internal marking are better than the traditional system of examination but this has not received wide acceptance. Indeed so tricky is this problem that some even advocate of scrapping the examination system altogether.
Syllabus should be modernized
Lastly, we should mention the load of the syllabus on Indian students. In many cases those topics are included in them which have lost all relevance with the present situation. Again, many things that have relevance and importance at present are simply omitted. A drastic change, therefore, in the sphere of curricula is also necessary.