SCENE 1- “The protagonist takes up the stage, the audience gets settled and becomes quiet. The protagonist assumes his position and starts delivering monologue facing the audience. The audience believes what they watch, agree to what they hear, and learn from whatever perception the protagonist holds. The scene ends, the protagonist leaves the stage for the next to come and the audience imbibes all the preachings of the protagonist’s monologue without stirring their comprehension level and standards.”
This is not an opening scene of Shakespeare’s play, rather it is a scene from every classroom in most of our educational institutions where a teacher like a protagonist comes and inculcates his concepts and perspectives into the minds of the audience, his students, who absorb all the lecture without trying to comprehend or analyze it. Our curriculum is designed only as exam-oriented ignoring the fundamental aims of education.
The basic purpose of education is to make students learn, and not only teaching them how to learn but it also includes the desire to learn. Along with being information-oriented, education should also be value-based, training the minds and intellects of self-reliance and self-learning. But the normal practice in our education system is to just impart instruction. Students are only trained to excel in the skill of getting more and more marks ignoring the ability to learn knowledge.
Ironically we are producing the students equipped with great scores but ignorant of knowledge. The teachers only resort to the memorization formula and try to cover the syllabus as soon as possible. The students then pass through the drill of tests and exams that don’t actually evaluate their knowledge, rather how well have they crammed and how long the answer is attempted. This has also made the students unable to stir their imagination. They are now used to this exam-oriented practice and cannot understand the different methods. They are unable to produce a single paragraph of their own on any topic. They are equipped with bulky notes, guides which have made them dull. Whatever is fed into their minds, they reproduce it as it is.
The educational institutions have now switched towards attracting the parents with the unbelievable marks of their outstanding students, and the parents; like their customers are attracted to them and are willing to pay a huge sum of money for the sake of their children’s bright future. But they don’t know whether a student who has got so many marks is capable of self-learning as well. I don’t intend to negate the importance of marks but I believe if this is amalgamated with deep concepts and learning, then the outcome can be long-lasting and productive. The only person is not responsible for it, the curriculum should be designed as per the swiftly changing needs and teachers should also be trained. The institutions should understand the true essence of education rather than jumping on the bandwagon of the marks myth. The students should be able to gauge the things and understand whatever they study and apply that practically in their lives.
Therefore there is a need and the urgency for revitalizing our education system. The teaching-learning process should not only be based upon instruction but on the learning process as well. The students should be trained to observe, analyze, synthesize and apply concepts of whatever they have been taught or learned to new and unfamiliar situations. It should make the students open-minded with regard to new ideas. Its aim should be character formation, moral and spiritual development, personality development and training in good individual and good citizenship.
No doubt our education system is mired in a plethora of diseases but they are not impossible to be cured. The concerned authorities should understand the gravity of the situation and come forward to revolutionize the education system as per the modern needs and with an aim to make the student learned and groomed person.
Hope is still there…