Daily Times

Education builds a society. But that is if it is the correct and balanced education, which helps to develop an individual’s body, mind and soul. Such learning requires initiatives on two levels: tangible and intangible. Tangible is about building the infrastructure like schools, colleges and universities, while intangible encompasses dedication, commitment of parents, and teachers at the grassroots level. The good news is that the second level initiatives are free of cost, and can be taken by anyone. Although steps can be several, I propose eleven action-points.

The first is the participatory education. Teachers and students should interact with each other. Teaching should not be a one-way traffic in which children must passively listen. We need to change our teaching methods, and introduce those that focus on children’s involvement in education. We should introduce quarterly seminars in schools.

The second is to raise questions. Our culture and educational institutions discourage posing of a problem. To not ask a question is encouraged in multiple ways, even though inquires are significant sources to interact and develop an understanding of any concept. The current era is the result of serious questions. Therefore, we should encourage children to raise questions. We should cultivate the culture of raising questions.

The third is to discourage rote learning. Our education system encourages memorisation of everything, from a conversation book to mathematical formulas. This rote-fication creates a scripted form of memory but not an analytical mind. Consequently, our students are full of data but not knowledge, whereas in life we need wisdom and not just data. Thus, we should emphasise a comprehensive way of teaching.

The fourth is visual learning. We learn through our five senses. For instance, we learn how to walk and eat visually while looking at our family. We should, thus, have visual methods to impart knowledge. We should show abstract realities through visualisation, such as posters, drawings, and photographs.

The fifth is eliminating the copy culture. This culture of cheating has eaten our entire system like a termite. Students are sure about passing examinations through copying. Cheating-elimination requires a huge teachers’ role; they are the ones who can stop it through real teaching and honest invigilation during examinations.

The sixth is ending physical punishment. We do not need not ‘sachuputur'(stick), but ‘sachu-teacher’ (an honest teacher). Such a penalty creates fear, frustration and deprivation in a child. It cultivates a weakness. We can easily replace it with a culture of rewards. Teachers and parents should give rewards, honest appreciation, or any gift.

The seventh is assigning small targets. We assign massive targets for children’s tiny minds. We should revise it to make weekly and monthly goals. A mammoth objective compels a student to memorise heavy materials, which results in rote-fication, cheating, and no learning.

Our education system encourages memorisation of everything, from a conversation book to mathematical formulas

The eighth is changing examination patterns. Our examinations are too lengthy, and they test a child’s memory, not understanding. Assessments should contain small, comprehensive questions and answers.

The ninth is arranging educational trips. Our students, repetitively, sit in the same classrooms. In Austria, every day, I observe school trips of all age groups. Teachers orient the students on transport. Teachers do sports with children in parks. We, of course, can arrange educational trips according to our resources and limitations. We can at least energise the children during a class of physical training.

The tenth is holding parent-teacher meetings. Such meetings must be once a month. In Austria, I have learnt that teachers invite parents to brief about the progress of a child, and discuss further ways to improve it. The meetings occur in front of the child. During such meetings, the child receives rewards, and also feels a sense of responsibility and surveillance.

The eleventh is inviting experts. We should ask different fields’ experts for lectures to germinate a seed of hope among the attendees, especially children. Experts can be the face of theoretical knowledge or an unforeseen future for children. This interaction would provide a chance for children to idealise education’s worth, and end their frustration and fear about the future.

All these points are significantly interdependent. Through working with them, we can change our educational patterns. The need is of dedication and commitment after dividing and realising our responsibilities. Understanding and performing obligations are equally important as knowing about rights and seeking them. The issues arise when we think about our rights, but not the duties.

Therefore, this realisation is a social responsibility. Parents should realise that producing children and making them capable of socialising them is equally necessary for the survival of a society. The social production is a bigger ask than biological production. Teachers receive the title of next parents after a child’s biological parents. This parent ship demands more than teaching: to be the role model of students.

Through such education, our children will not be consumers, dependents and help-seekers, but contributors, independent, and helpers. They will be a rational and responsible citizen of tomorrow to construct a prosperous and peaceful society. The strategy is simple. We have to preach this thought in our circles of influence-peers, friends, family, relatives, colleagues.

The writer is a PhD Scholar at the University of Vienna, Austria