Affordability, Creativity, And Innovation: The Three Pillars Of Sound Education
· Free Press Journal
The equilibrium, which had shifted towards the right, seems to be moving towards the centre. But don’t be impatient. It will not happen overnight. The empire will fight back, the ideology will retaliate, and revenge will be sought. The democratic pushback, which has forced the system to take a step back, is still awaiting a positive agenda for educational reform as demanded by students. Rather, the questions are being asked why CJP leaders are not visiting Ranchi to join the student protest against the Hemant Soren government. This is a narrative-building exercise; it is a diversionary tactic to shift focus from the demand raised by students at Jantar Mantar that the country needs serious educational reform.
There is absolutely no doubt that the entire education system is outdated and urgently needs reform. It is in the ICU, after having been ignored far too long. It needs serious surgery, but the political class has attempted to use just a band-aid. For the first time in independent India, agitation has been ushered in for quality change in education. This indicates that students are highly frustrated because the education system has failed to provide them with a good life, a good career, and a respectable job after they leave universities or colleges. The world has moved on; an earth-shaking transformation is happening due to massive technological developments. AI is leading the age of technology, but in India, students in remote areas are still struggling to get a computer, a teacher or a guide who can help them make peace with the changing world.
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Governments have been oblivious to the rot, and no effort has been made to course-correct. In the past decade, the situation has gone from bad to worse. Now the focus is not on how to make education affordable and improve quality but on fighting the past. The attempt is not to make students world-beaters but to make them subservient to history, seeking revenge for the past. This is creating a system that is more guided by the impulse of venom than redemption; instead of making them better human beings, the effort is to convert them into dumb followers. This system is designing a society at an industrial level, and its repercussions will be felt for many decades. Irreparable damage is already done. Students have alerted us that it's time to stop this nonsense and amend our ways.
Three major reforms must be initiated, focusing on affordability, creativity, and innovation.
Affordability: The Indian education system has tended to exclude a large section of the population. This was a structural problem woven around the caste system. The Constitution had broken that system, but over time, due to rampant privatisation of very expensive primary and higher education, poor students are being automatically excluded from quality education. The mushrooming of private schools and universities should be rationalised, and the focus should shift towards government schools. In my school days, government schools were very good and provided good education, but not anymore. Teaching in government schools should be incentivised. Their salaries should be on par with those of private schools and universities. And coaching institutes and private tuitions should be stopped immediately. They are the biggest stumbling block to inclusion.
Creativity: In today’s system, the students’ talent is judged by competitive exams. Their life is decided by what they write in three hours, not by what they do over the year. Anyone who passes these exams is considered talented and worthy of a good career and life. This 3-hour system has to go if the system is to produce world leaders. The system should be such that the student is able to identify his or her talent in a particular domain or field and pursue that, instead of wasting his or her talent in a field that might frustrate him or her in the long run. The system should search for creative talents; it should not turn students into exam warriors.
Innovation: It is surprising that the RSS chief is advocating that the education budget should be 6% of the total GDP. Over the years, the education budget has shrunk from 4.7% in 2013-14 to 2.5% in 2025-26. The argument being that the budget volume has increased over the years, which is absurd. Most of the education budget is spent on salaries and physical infrastructure. There is an abysmal focus on research and development. The budget for R&D is only .84% of the GDP. There is no insistence on innovation. Even our industry is more profit-orientated. The USA became the world's leading power because its university system is robust and research-orientated, with strong support from private investment. When Deng Xiaoping became the supreme leader of China, he took two departments—education and science and technology—under his wings. Today, China has emerged as a new technology leader, and its universities are as good as any in the world. Compare these universities with ours, and we know why we lag behind in innovation worldwide.
Last, but not least, India is on the brink of the collapse of its knowledge system today, that is, the university system. The kind of appointments that are taking place there are frightening. Talented youths of differing ideologies are being thrown out, and those below mediocre are being placed in every department. Ideology, not talent, is preferred; if this continues, only God can save the country.
Students have given a clarion call; political leaders should take it forward, and governments of all hues should think out-of-the-box to change the system. Otherwise, as a country, we are doomed.
The writer is Co-Founder, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B