With change of Government comes change in education thinking.
Two successive Governments tinkered with the lives of students. So who gains ?
The UPA Government decided to do away with class X Board Exams for CBSE students in 2012. Students studying in this stream ,woke up to find out that post class X , the number of seats
available to pursue subjects and streams
of their choice were not available . Intentionally , some schools were
indulging in weeding out average students and creating opportunities for bright students from other
boards who aspired to pursue engineering
courses in future. This was attractive
for bright students from other boards, as the Joint Entrance Examination for
IIT’s or other engineering colleges is mapped to CBSE syllabus. The School could brag and market it’s academic
performance to gullible parents and earn higher tuition fees by
doing nothing extra and students had a syllabus closer to their success
requirement.
The CBSE students who opted out of CBSE stream,
post class X had to overcome hurdles such as marks and grade parity with other
boards , domicile status and all of this added to a students nightmare for
getting admission in a Junior college of choice, just to complete high school. Of
course each of these students and their parents had to pay a price to seek back channel favours for admission.
In the recent past, there has been a rethink in this and the
system is likely to roll back to earlier system of conducting board exams for class X and Class XII. So this is likely strategic change once more, but
how has all of this worked on ground so far ?
The adequacy of delivery platform
Teaching
The syllabus by design had appraisal system based on formative and summative evaluation system, with weightage built in.
The formative system was based on classroom interaction, some quizzes, project
work, periodic assessment while
normative system was examination based on syllabus completion over a term. Much
of the formative evaluation assumed teachers skills and randomness of
assessment . Biased grading became a reality. Students started taking private tuitions
– sometimes from their underpaid subject teachers at school , who saw additional
earning opportunity for extra tax free
cash.
Syllabus change
The syllabus changed it’s pattern. Some higher order
thinking skills were built in each subject. Most teachers follow broadcast
lecture based methodology - read aloud,
preach or write on the blackboard. Class interaction is limited to confirmatory
questions. So how was higher order thinking going to be triggered when
instruction methodology is on paper only and class teachers are ill equipped in
these skills ? So here was one more business opportunity – emergence of Publishing
industry that published model questions and answers guide books.
The chaotic Class XII Board examination 2015
The CBSE XII examinations this year is mired with
controversy. Newspapers have carried
reports that this year the exams were held with a difference. Most question papers were difficult , lengthy and
pattern shift. More of higher order thinking questions . As a system, most of
the students have prepared based on pattern of past 10 years examinations. All
of them have been caught with a shock and surprise. Shock because of their
inadequate performance and surprise because of sudden change. Even the board
website has indicative question papers
based on past pattern. Are the
teachers equipped to correct these answers with lateral thoughts and unscripted answers. What happens to the score
parity issue for low scoring board performance overall ? A class CBSE girl school student committed suicide in apprehension of
a bleak future. Many students are on the edge. Why does change get initiated
without systemic execution in ground ?
So the students lose once more
Now a new direction is brewing.
With the new Government , lots of thoughts about making
Sanskrit a preferred language and underplaying foreign languages is doing the rounds. As it stands , the principal
vote bank of the ruling largest party is Hindi heartland with Hindu heart,
saffronisation of CBSE is a real possibility. That is future and
is definitely visible. Such contrarian view on education has potential to send
students in a vortex of doom.
Results on Ground
- Mass copying during exams . An eco system has got developed in which copying to clear exams is the rule. Even the lawmakers see the futility in changing this.
- No Indian university in Top 200 listing.
- More than 80% of Indian graduates are not employable after they pass colleges. This number has not changed since the last 10 years.
- Education Industry – of private tuitions, prepatory coaching classes, online tutors, is valued at more than Rs 600000 crores. So you know, who is gaining at whose cost.
- Most private education institutions operate under minority trusts or not for profit trusts. Majority of not for profit trusts have leading politicians and their family members as trustees.
How is this being viewed by others
Singaporean Thomas Ong, a director at a local private equity
firm, recently got invited as a guest lecturer at a private college in Jaipur,
India. "I had heard stories about India's young people with 'excellent
academic and English speaking skills' but what I encountered was the complete
opposite," he said.Not one student in a class of 100 has ever heard of
Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. Most students could not understand, let alone
speak fluent English. "The only question they had at the end the lecture
was how to find a job at home or abroad," Ong said.
Frequent changes , reluctance to build systemic education, and high political
interference, senile and regressive educationists are leading India to a
doom and a visible demographic Tsunami
of unemployed youth. In a sense, this is paradoxically in line with Gandhi’s
thinking of minimal living in rural environment.
