‘Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel, spoken by Socrates centuries ago, can give voluminous insights on how our education system should be. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru was of the opinion that education has to enhance one’s social and economic status. India is the world’s most populous country with more than 143 crores of people, but many are unemployed or doing irrelevant jobs. The National Institute of Management and Technology’s survey in 2020 shows that Indian Education System is in the 33rd position in the world.
As per the article, ‘Worthless degrees are creating an unemployable generation in India,’ on 18th April 2023, in Economic Times, more than half of the Indian graduates are unemployed. The education system in India is not making necessary progress in the lives of the lower middle class and poor people. The higher middle-class people get specialized in higher degrees and mostly get settled in foreign nations. The author Parakala Prabhakar in his book, ‘The Crooked Timber of New India,’ critically views the progress of the present government in this regard, he mentions with facts that there is unemployment in India, but the policies made by the government are not helping the people of India. Prabhakar points out that Indian education concentrates on only for 5% of skill developments of young minds whereas in UK about 68%, in Germany about 75%, in US about 52%, in Japan about 80% and in South Korea about 96%. Thus, Indian education makes people unskilled, unemployable, and unemployed.
Arguably, the best education systems are from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Finland, and Norway. What makes them different? In Finland primary school students spend hardly 20 hours a week in class. Unlike any other countries, at the age of 11 they are allowed to do creative business and earn money for their living. Lunch and excursions are free for the students. They are taught to be self-sufficient by washing their own plates, play the games that they like the most. Surprisingly school fees are the same for all, no extra donations are permitted. The result for their exams is not published but given in private to evaluate themselves. Teachers are highly qualified; to be a teacher is a remarkable career in western countries. Parents there have anxiety to find the best schools for their children.
There is trust between teacher and student. Their studies are able to make students go from theory to practical implementations, and to life.
Whereas Indian Education Systems have loads of theory in its syllabus as a result many do not know why they have to study stuff that is not pertinent to them. Indian Education system rigidly places students within the framework of a curriculum; as the result students do not think out of box. The digital and e-learning platforms have been increasing even in smaller cities of India, however, unless the system promotes broader and student centered pedagogy, change in educational system will remain a utopian idea.
Education should ultimately ignite people’s mind, promote peace, acceptance than discrimination and prejudicial rationality. It should form good humans who contribute to the welfare of one’s family and community.
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