DR. MOHAMMAD AIJAZ analyses the factors posing challenges to the quality of education and suggests solutions thereto.
India has the second largest higher education system in the world. The expansion of primary education in India over the last decade has been phenomenal. But the expansion of the Indian education system has led to deterioration in the quality of education. Recent studies have shown that even when students are retained in schools, they do not learn what they are supposed to.
Several recent surveys on learning have revealed appalling facts. From the 20 crore children in the age group of 6-14 years, only 17 crore are enrolled. While three crore remain totally out of the system and 8.5 crore out of the enrolled 17 crore drop out. This means more than half of the eligible population remains uncovered. Going further only half of the 2.2 crore who reach the secondary level complete the + 2 stage. This is the progress rate, even when the right of children to free and compulsory education act (RTE) is in force which guarantees free and compulsory quality education to every child of the age of six to fourteen years till completion of elementary education.
Statistics reveals that half of the students in class five could not read even at the level of class two and two-thirds could not even solve division problems meant for the second grade. Just one out of nine children finishing school joins a college. India has one of the lowest higher education enrolment ratio of 11 per cent and in the USA it is 83%.
In higher education institutions the quality of education provided is a matter of grave concern. The national assessment and accreditation council (NAAC) accredited the 140 universities and graded only 32% as A grade. Among the 2,780 colleges accredited by the NAAC, only 9% are rated as A grade. Among the accredited institutions, 68 per cent of the universities and 91 per cent of the colleges are rated average or below average in terms of the quality parameters specified by the NAAC. The overall scenario of primary and higher education in India does not match with the global quality standards. As per the ASER 2011 on all India level 12.7% of the primary schools had only one teacher while another 39.1% had only two teachers.
This means that an overwhelming 51.8% or more than half the primary schools in the country had two teachers or less. Hence, there is enough justification for an increased assessment of the quality of the country’s educational institutions. A weak foundation in primary education can derail the lives, careers and productivity of tens of millions of its citizens.
School atmosphere, Infrastructure, academic emphasis, school leadership, teacher-students ratio, absenteeism (teachers and students), students’ performance assessment, inspection and accountability are the main factors which have direct impact on quality of education. Here we tried to discuss the few challenges and their solutions related with the quality of education.
CHALLENGES
1. Teacher as a clerk: Primary school teachers employed by the government, particularly in rural India are required to perform a wide range of duties completely unrelated to imparting education. Students suffer when teachers spend time on administrative work or go for collection of salaries or for other official meetings with higher authorities. The problems are further amplified by the time the teachers are forced to spend on non-teaching activities like ensuring mid-day meals or for conducting census or election duty as frequently called upon by the government.
2. Flawed Teaching Methodology: Primary school teachers in rural India often try to educate students by making them repeat sections of text over and over again. Often they do not explain the meaning of the text, which results in stunted reading comprehension skills over the course of the children’s education. For example, many students in grades two and three in one particular school struggle to read individual words but can neatly copy entire paragraphs from their textbooks into their notebooks as though they were drawing pictures.
3. Quality of Education: It was found in survey that reading and writing abilities of school children are dipping to alarming levels. The credibility of these national surveys received a further boost when an OECD-PISA international survey ranked the quality of education in India 72 among 73 countries. The two states which represented India in the survey, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh were ranked almost at the bottom just above Kyrgyzstan in case of reading and mathematics. In science Himachal Pradesh came last while Tamil Nadu retained the 72nd position.
4. Poor Infrastructure: Schools especially in rural and remote tribal areas have poor classrooms, no compounds, no playground, no latrines and even no drinking water facilities.
5. Attendance: Even if the child does get enrolled in a school, there is no guarantee that he/she will attend the class. Attendance is a major drawback in road of quality education. School and teachers have to find out new tools to attract the students towards classes. Few children need to work at home or in the family enterprise like farming, trading, etc.
6. Attainment: This is the most serious aspect. The Indian education system was designed by the British rulers to create clerks to help the few thousand British administrators to run a country of 40 million people. It was not designed to promote thought and encourage a culture of curiosity. As a result, in most Indian schools, at least in the public schools system, the kids do not really attain knowledge and skills commensurate with their age. Hence, the education system in our country demands a drastic change.
7. Score is All That Matters: Marks have been given the prime importance in the educational system. Marks are considered the best metric to judge the person’s knowledge on the subject. Everybody wants good marks and they can do whatever it takes to get them. A lot of books or guides are available in the market for all subjects and standards which help you score good marks. They don’t impart knowledge, they just provide you with the minimum information required to pass the test. Hence, people are demanding to change the outdated method of exam.
8. Education is a Business: Nowadays the cost of education has become very high and education sector has become business due to the entry of corporate players. The competitive pressure on students and parents forces them to opt for private tuitions and trainings to supplement the school education. Most of the kids coming to schools belong to poor families. These people can’t afford for the printed notes and huge tuition fees, even they do not have the atmosphere as well as required infrastructure at home to aid learning. Most under-represented communities face a lack of financial strength to pursue any reasonably high quality of education.
9. Research: The US currently accounts for over a third of the entire world’s output of articles in science and engineering. India, in contrast, accounts for less than 3% of research papers published and in terms of citations barely 1%. In India research atmosphere and facilities are not available in institutions and colleges.
10. Ineffective Monitoring: Higher education requires constant monitoring from the regulatory bodies through periodic inspections and performance measurement methodologies. There are no appropriate parameters to measure performance indexes once teachers are employed and this has given rise to severe inconsistency in the delivery of quality education.
11. Corruption: The quality of education is badly affected due to corruption as poor performing schools and colleges manage their ways through it. The UNESCO’s international institute of educational planning study on corruption in education released recently says that 25% teacher absenteeism in India is among the highest in the world.
12. Mass Copy Exam Centres: Another major problem of Indian education system is the view of students towards the activity of copying in exams. Students say that copying and cheating in exams is their traditional right. In many institutes, colleges and schools cheating is now well established. Schools and colleges situated in rural areas become the mass copy centres in 10th and 12th board exams.
13. Saffronisation of Education: Quality of education is badly affected due to saffronisation of education. The present government is trying its best to manipulate textbooks with wrong information. Smriti Irani (Ex-HRD Minister) openly declared that ancient Hindu text should be included in school curriculum. Rewriting of NCERT textbooks is reportedly almost completed according to the aim and objectives of the Sangh.
SOLUTIONS
1. Competent Teachers: Teachers are the core of any school and thus their role in quality improvement becomes paramount. Competence of teachers and their motivation is crucial for improving the quality of education. Enthusiastic and energetic teachers should be appointed on merit basis. District level awards for teachers should be given, like national and state level teacher award, to motivate the morale of teachers. Participation in training and professional development programmes should be made compulsory for all in-service teachers. Greater attention should be paid to ensuring that the best talent should join teaching profession. Self-evaluation, ethical values and continuous learning with professional development are always expected from the teachers.
2. No Detention Policy: It is high demand of time that the present provisions of no detention policy will need to be amended as it is seriously affecting the academic performance of students.
3. Career Selection: Many times students are in dilemma in making the right academic choices based on their aptitude and interests and hence fail to realise their true potential resulting in poor achievement, disappointment and stress. At school level academic aptitude tests should be conducted at various stages to help students in identifying their true potential and areas of interest.
4. Information Technology: With the advent of internet and ever expanding digital connectivity, we do not even need to visit libraries and information is available at the click of a button. Information technology is a good tool for schools and students to understand the various concepts.
5. Curricular and Examination Reforms: It was strongly felt that curriculum should be renewed at all levels of education with special emphasis on the emerging learning areas. On an average most Indian universities revise their curricula only once in eight to ten years. But when they realise, it becomes too late. Examinations will be designed to test wider awareness, understanding and comprehension and higher order problem solving skills, and not merely ability to reproduce textbook material. Encouragement should be given to critical thinking.
Education is concerned with all-round development of the child (physical, socio-emotional along with cognitive) and therefore all aspects rather than only academic achievement need to be assessed. There is a system-wide focus on holistic development of children by improving learning outcomes and other co-scholastic areas. It is a well-known fact that only a healthy child can learn effectively and good health status leads to better learning. It is a matter of concern that a large number of children are suffering from malnutrition and anaemia which contributes to learning difficulties.
6. Accountability: Formation of a responsive and accountable system for governance of education sector by ensuring that the structures for the governance of the education sector at the national, sub-national and local levels are strengthened.
7. Selection of Principal: Today, unfortunately school system appoints principals based primarily on seniority. We need a process for selecting school principals and heads of institutions based on merit. Further, we need to invest in equipping these institution heads with skills that can enable them to move beyond administrative functions and assume larger leadership roles.
8. Distance Learning: Open schooling facilities will be expanded to enable dropouts and working children to pursue education without attending full time formal schools. Weekly classes, test and two-way discussions will be helpful tools for improving quality of distance learning programme.
9. Friendly Learning: Studies show that the number of students committing suicide because of the pressure to perform well in secondary board exams is rising alarmingly. The concept of friendly learning in healthy environment should be developed to overcome the trend on suicide in students. There is a need to shift from the information-based education system to a value-based education system which cultivates good moral in students. Sports, arts and cultural events should be given due importance in order to enrich holistic development of students.
[DR. MOHAMMAD AIJAZ is doctorate in Pharmacy. He has written many research articles in national and international pharmaceutical journals. [email protected]]