Why the Indian education system may need a radical overhaul in the twenty-first century

 

Why the Indian education system may need a radical overhaul in the twenty-first century  

Sujay Rao Mandavilli

While the roots of India’s education system date back to ancient India, let us begin our review of India’s education system from the times of British India for convenience sake. The formalized education system in British India dates back to the early part of the nineteenth century, and was primarily designed to produce a class of English proficient Indians to assist the British government in its administration. In other words, it aimed to produce a new class of Indians who were Indian in blood, but British in intellect and taste. This essentially began India’s transition from traditional, indigenous education systems to more contemporary and westernized education systems. This process was essentially and effectively set in motion by Thomas Babbington Macaulay’s Minute of 1835 and Wood’s Despatch of 1854. The latter is sometimes called the Magna Carta of India. Not only were English schools set up, but major universities such as universities at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were set up during the course of the second half of the nineteenth century. This approach was exemplified by the downward filtration theory, according to which a small class of elite Indians had to be created. Soon, many Indians such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Jyothiba Phule supported the British government in their cause, and traditional Patashalas and Madrassas began to decline and wither away in due course. Later, the British established commissions such as the Sadler Commission, and the Sargent Plan to develop the Indian education system further. However, these British endeavours were marked by a disdain and contempt for Indian traditions, and were primarily aimed at consolidating British power in India. By 1947, there were huge gaps in educational attainments of Indians, and the overall literacy rate was abysmally low.

While literacy rates languished somewhat in the early years after India’s independence, there have indeed been very impressive strides since the 1980’s and the 1990’s. The number of schools has also demonstrated an impressive increase from 140,000 schools at the time of independence in 1947, to over one and a half million by the year 2020-21. Likewise, the number of colleges has increased spectacularly from under six hundred to over 42,000. The number of universities has increased impressively too, and of later many private universities are being established, including several eminent foreign ones. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, prioritized education as the basic foundation of nation-building, focusing on scientific, technical, and higher education to modernize India, and build a scientific temper among its denizens. Nehru is credited with establishing elite institutions such as the Indian Institutes of technology, and he set up the University Grants Commission as well. In spite of all this, primary education sector was not universalized, and the sector saw extremely slow growth in the early decades of India’s independence. In the mid 1960’s, the Kothari Commission also known as the National Education Commission, was set up by the Government of India to advance India’s educational sector, and it was chaired by Dr. Daulat Singh Kothari, who was the chairman of the University Grants Commission. Its recommendations led to India’s first national policy on education in 1968. This policy aimed to provide free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of fourteen, as mandated by the Indian constitution. There was also some emphasis on science, technology and research, though not much.

Later, in 1986, another education policy was introduced, and this aimed to reduce social and cultural disparities in education.  Navodaya Vidyalayas were launched, and the Operation Blackboard was launched to upgrade India’s infrastructure. A major revision to this policy was attempted by the PV Narasimha Rao government in 1992. Later, performance assessment of education systems and educational outcomes was also emphasized. The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan was launched in 2001 under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and it aimed for the universalization of elementary Education. The Right to education act, was enacted in 2009, and it recognized education as a fundamental right for every citizen. Later, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan unified three previous schemes: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, and Teacher Education into a cogent and coherent framework . In spite of all this, there is plenty of scope for progress and improvement. In 2018, the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak stated that Indians lacked creativity, arguing that the Indian education system prioritized rote learning over innovative and creative thinking. He may have been right in a way. In spite of enormous progress made over the years, significant challenges remain such as the improvement in the overall quality of the education system.

There are still wide variations in quality of education between socioeconomic groups and sociocultural groups. There is uneven progress among Indian states, and some states still lag behind in education. There are differences in quality of education between government schools and private schools, and the infrastructure in government schools in India leaves a lot to be desired despite some improvement in recent decades. There is still a wide difference between level of education for men and women, and gender disparities in education still need to addressed by most states, including the problem of school drop outs. There is still too much emphasis or rote learning and memorization. Rote learning may not longer be required in this age of internet and artificial intelligence apart from foundational knowledge, and more innovative and creative thinking would certainly be required, which many Indian students lack. Likewise, critical thinking skills, out of the box thinking skills, and lateral thinking skills would also be required, along with adaptive intelligence and creative intelligence. While proficiency in STEM subjects is important, there has to be an emphasis on scientific method, and the philosophy of science itself must improve. Students must develop the ability to distinguish science form pseudoscience, and logic and reasoning are also extremely important along with problem solving skills.

There has to be a process for the continuous mainstreaming of knowledge, and syllabuses must be updated from time to time. Educational researchers and planners must therefore be up-to-date with the latest developments in different parts of the world, not only in different subjects, but in the field of education and pedagogy itself. Artificial intelligence is being increasingly used in different parts of the world in education, and India’s education planners must be well-versed and fully aware of the latest developments in the field. Full automation of education may be some way off, but this is bound to happen at some point beginning with higher education. Again, there will be challenges involved such as infrastructure gaps, but the government must sort them out proactively. We must also shift from a follower mindset to a leader mindset, and India and other developing countries can be trendsetters in the field of education. This may be required because there may be several vested interests in western countries. In addition to quantity, we must also emphasize quality of education, and aim to produce high quality human resources. Data driven planning is of paramount importance, and ethnography driven approaches and techniques are extremely important, with data drawn from many subgroups of the population. This has largely not been followed till date, and we would like to see a change in this department over the next couple of years and decades.

We also need functionalism in education, and what is taught to students must be relevant for the purpose and fully justified. Therefore, medieval poetry for example, can be left off completely from the menu, and even in the case of English, mostly functional and technical English would be required. No one size fits all bill is possible in the realm of the medium of education, and a flexible approach would be required here. Many students learn best in their mother tongue, and many teachers are ill-trained for teaching in English too. We had also argued for the lexical development of Indian languages particularly in the arena of technical vocabulary, and we have also proposed several guidelines in this regard. Along with proficiency in the mother tongue, a strong foundation in English would be required, along with knowledge of another Indian or foreign language if possible. Along with a strong emphasis on STEM - science, technology, mathematics, and language students need to be strong in numerical skills. Students must be made technologically savvy, and students hunger and thirst for knowledge must be kindled. We need market aligned skills, and practical and useful language must be taught, along with essential life skills and interpersonal skills. Foundational concepts and foundational competencies must be taught along with practical application of knowledge

Developing countries can take the lead in pedagogical theory, and developing countries can learn from each other more. Developing countries can help each other more, through what we may call horizontal collaboration. NITI Aayog can act as a facilitator, and it must prepare and examine case studies continuously, not only from India, but also abroad.  Indian states can take the lead in design of education systems, and everything need not be left to the centre; this will foster a spirit of competitive federalism. We also need concepts of educational psychology and learner psychology to be applied in the practical domain, and this can be allowed to drive and determine learner outcomes. We need to bridge social, cultural and economic gaps, as this remains a major area of concern. Scaffolding and support for weak students can be provided, teacher training can be provided based on raw data as well. We have completed the first stage of our education journey as most Indians now possess basic literacy. It is now time to move education to the next level, and focus on the quality of education and higher order education in due course.