Miseducation

Miseducation of its youth is the most dangerous problem any country can face. What do I mean by "miseducation"? Basically, schools not imparting the information & skills that a child needs to be a good human being and function in today's world. This seems to be an epidemic in India and across many countries today. In India's government and private schools, children are still being subjected to curriculums and teaching methods that don't encourage any kind of creative thinking or mental agility. In today's knowledge-driven, globalised economy, these skills are completely essential and without them so many are still destined to take up clerical positions and remain in them for the rest of their days. Of course, this was how McCauley's education system was designed and unfortunately, most of the teachers working in schools today are a product of the much maligned, rote-based system of learning which we hear about so often. However, I believe that one of the most significant scourges in the present Indian system is the automatic power held by teachers. The "guru-ji" status, which has been reduced to an empty, honorific utterance with no question for the teacher's background or skills of reason, sensitivity or intelligence, has given teachers such a terrifying ego-boost that they have become a threat to our children and thus society itself. Many teachers, both young and old, seem to think they are somehow superior to their students, and therefore believe they can treat them with the minimum of respect or even disdain.

I am firmly of the belief that learning is an experience which the student and teacher should embark on together. The second a teacher assumes superiority or makes the child feel like he lacks intelligence, this experience ceases to occur. Why, in so many schools are teachers still able to get away with the kind of inhuman behaviour, which simply alienates children and often leaves them terrified of expressing themselves? We should possibly look at what makes a teacher behave in this "I know and you don't" manner in the first place. Mostly, in my experience, it comes from a fear that actually teachers know very little about their subject, and even less about other matters. It may be all too easy for a student to catch a teacher out if he/she is given the freedom to ask questions or be inquisitive in any way. This is natural, when so many teachers have had a poor education themselves and therefore lack the fundamentals of conceptual understanding or possibly a lack of context which to relate their subject matter to. Another reason could be the fear of what could be considered more work. It's obviously less time consuming to be a dictator figure in your classroom and treat all students ad if they are equally non-existent, than to have to deal with each child as an individual and be aware of their needs and problems. I recently heard an interesting story from the principal of a village primary school who was attempting to train her teachers in new methods and more child-centred ways of teaching. She met with a lot of resistance from the older teachers, who had been working at the school for many years and were pillars of the local community. They obviously felt threatened by the idea that they might have to change their style of teaching, which had sustained their salary for many years regardless of how well the students performed or developed. Of course these were also the teachers that the principal found to be the most archaic and ineffective in their teaching, relying on rote-based methods and a stern, unfriendly classroom atmosphere. These teachers, managed to garner the support of the local community and threatened to strike, causing all sorts of problems for the principal who was seen as being the perpetrator of the crimes against them. Maybe you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but if this is the case in a well-managed, forward-thinking private school where parents are beginning to have choices in terms of where they send their children, what hope is there for the children in far-flung village government schools?

Although I come from a country where accountability is major part of the school system, and teachers are constantly observed, monitored and made to feel responsible for the performance of their students, I don't believe this is a system that can be transplanted to Indian schools. The UK government has just announced plans to introduce a "licence to teach" in its recent White Paper on Education, which means that all teachers at State schools will be assessed every five years to judge their competence. If they do not pass this assessment, they will have their licence taken away. In India, teachers are theoretically accountable to several monitoring organisations including the School Management Committee, Block Resource Centre and District Resource Centre. In reality, very little monitoring of teaching practice happens at all, and despite efforts to provide in-service training for teachers in government schools, the level of achievement of students in many Indian states has declined over the past years.

It saddens me that these kind of measures need to be put in place at all in any country. The only answer to these problems clearly lies in better education. If children grow up knowing what it's like to be educated by someone who cares about them and their future, then surely they'll demand the same for their children. Those who become teachers will have good role models to emulate and the cycle will slowly improve. It sounds simplistic and idealistic I know, but why should governments have to constantly monitor a teacher's performance to see if they're doing a good job? The communities have to take responsibility for these things and be able to notice when their child is not growing and flourishing like they should be. Therefore, any project or initiative which raises the bar and offers something better must be supported and the whole community should be constantly made aware of the effects.