Stressful Education, Dreadful HRD

Unlike the West, Indian education had a slightly different pursuit in its history. The purpose of education was not to merely methodically gather facts, concepts and processes for being knowledgeable or for a job. The pursuit of knowledge used to be to discover, it had a sprinkling of spiritualism and to understand our universe and cosmos better. Indian educational-history was driven primarily by science and math. Unfortunately, much of the great contributions to education by ancient Indians has been wiped out from school text books by the Commies. Instead, it is shocking to hear that under Congress, Kapil Sibal had hired scamsters like Teesta Setalvad to write topics for Class 4 kids. Some topics in Social Studies books had content on Barkha Dutt, Rahul Gandhi as if these scamtards are icons for kids to emulate. But the shock doesn’t end there. CBSE tests Class-12 students in Indian dances like Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi and so on.

How in hell do you test someone’s dancing skills in a written test paper? And how in hell are these subjects, which are of private pursuit under a Guru, part of the regular school curriculum? There are many such stupidities and that will make this blog a mile long. The Indian schooling system has degenerated into a huge cesspit of money, greed, political mechanism and an assembly-line production facility. One is now primed and brain-hammered to believe that schools exist only to pass some exams and then go on to the next exam and then another and then another. While the process as a qualifying mark is inevitable, making it the sole hurdle to cross is nothing short of demeaning education itself. Therefore, when PM Narendra Modi published “Exam Warriors” in early 2018 it seemed quite odd to me:

Why would the PM of a large country be writing on how to pass exams of all things? We have millions of coaching classes, in addition to schools, doing that job. However, I am sure Modi’s book was well-intentioned, good-humored and aimed at easing exam pressures. A PM must have that much luxury to counsel students about the dreadful exams. It is also a good PR exercise that portrays the PM as caring for students and their problems. But that book wasn’t a one-off thing. It has now become a regular feature of Modi counselling students on exams. This started with a “Pariksha pe charcha” in January 2019:

 

I think by this day and age, most parents have realised children should have the freedom to pursue their dreams and ambitions. Parents also realise that not all kids are scholastic geniuses and there are many other avenues for careers now. I thought the PM’s interactions were a one-off event (with the book earlier) to encourage students to be positive and not be “tensioned” over exams. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. He has become a regular “counsellor” and wants to do another “PPC” this month:

 

Naturally, this makes me ask the question – Can you treat someone like a patient forever and keep treating him over and over again for the same symptoms? If that is the case, then the person would have to be in the hospital permanently or in a care-centre. As the PM with enormous powers and a huge mandate, Modi has been given absolute powers to change anything that causes stress for children – be it exams or other social evils. For six years now, his HRD ministry has done absolutely NOTHING to address the serious problem of school education rotting and depreciating like a stinking cabbage:

 

You cannot play a psychologist to school kids every year. It is time Modi asked his HRD minister what exactly he is doing about reducing stress in schools. Why should schooling be a painful exercise for children. Most children, especially when they get to early teens, don’t like going to school. It’s more or less like a jail for them. And the previous HRD Minister, Prakash Javdekar, shamelessly claimed he had changed nothing in the five years he was the minister. If you are incapable of any positive change, why are you a minister in the first place? The current minister, RP Nishank, is equally a moron even if he has good qualifications and background. It is shocking what the HRD ministry is busy with – and that is moronic quizzes like these:

Malala and Bollywood Othello? And these guys are charged with changing the course of education positively? I don’t think these HRD guys have a clue on what to do with education. All it takes to reduce stress of exams is to dramatically change what is being taught in schools and what should be tested. I have written earlier too, that subjects like History, Geography, Civics etc should be taught but NOT tested so stringently that the student and the parent coaching her don’t have to burn midnight oil to prepare for a lousy memory test. What sense does it make in this age of information at your fingertips to memorise ordinary facts? If a student wants to specialize in any of these subjects then she can do so towards her college end years or even later. Specialisation in history is a matter of research and not memorizing facts for an exam. This, coupled with good writing and investigative skills are called for such research work.

There is more to the entire destruction of education system in India. Education is not something govts can cater to a large population. It needs private enterprise and dedication. The anti-Hindu Congress brought in the RTE which discriminates against Hindu schools and management. Schools run by Hindus will be subject to quotas, fee regulation and what not while none of the RTE nonsense applies to “minority” schools. What exactly is the cause for discrimination in something like education? ModiSarkar has so far shown no willingness to act on repealing or modifying the CRIMINAL RTE. Such Hindu-haters are also filing PILs in SC over prayers being recited in KV schools:

The prayer just happens to be in Sanskrit. A line like “Take me from darkness to light” has nothing to do with religion. It simply means the quest for truth and knowledge. Our history books have completely negated the contributions of Hindu scholars and sages of centuries who have enlightened the world. Instead, they have barbarians like Babar, Aurangzeb or Akbar being glorified.

Although history books are a different matter, you have to wonder what idiotic ideology guides someone like Prakash Javdekar when he considers a mass-murderer, serial women-exploiter like Fidel Castro a revolutionary. Cubans have suffered badly under his regime. And worse, this “Lump of Maida” Javdekar considers a mercenary, killer-for-hire thug like Che Guevara also a revolutionary. With such filth inside a person in a “Hindutva” govt, it is not surprising that this guy was such a terrible horror as HRD minister. Why Modi still persists with him can have only one explanation – A diktat by the Marathi-dominated RSS.

I have been in the school-education domain for nearly two decades to know what ails our schools and what stupidities and absurdities our schools indulge in or are FORCED to indulge in. Very frequently, Principals would ask if I knew a good Math or Biology or Physics teacher they can recruit. It seems around 2003-2004 CBSE introduced a subject called “Thinking Skills”. A Principal once asked me if I knew any teacher to teach “Thinking Skills”. I was a bit amused. There are, of course, specialists like Edward De Bono who have written tomes on the topic. I asked the Principal “Don’t your teachers possess thinking skills”? She was indeed taken aback.

How can you be a teacher without thinking skills? And even if teachers weren’t conscious about it, they can surely all be trained on it. It does not need a specialist. Thinking is a skill, not a talent and can definitely be taught and transferred. In absence of such a skill, you get a moronic tweet like the one on the left where the person is unable to tell the difference between Partition and the forced exodus of KPs. That’s the rotten problem with our schools that have little teaching of skills. The other problem is, unlike 2-3 decades ago, today’s Principal faces a huge set of tasks and challenges – students, teachers, parents, public, society, police, politicians, media and what not. She is not trained for all this. There is no specific Principal-certification course for Principals. The senior most teachers either get promoted or become a Vice-Principal or Principal by changing schools. It is only experience and not a certified training that makes one a school Principal currently. No one is even talking about this serious issue.

PM Modi cannot play a psychologist or counsellor to school kids forever. Much as he has good intentions at heart, this is not the role he should be playing. I strongly believe that school-education can be dramatically changed to be positive, without taking away any learning-goals and making it stress-free and enjoyable for students, teachers, parents and society in general. All we have seen from his dreadful HRD ministers are lipstick nonsense like turning schools into “Anger-free zones”. I am also absolutely sure such a change can be planned and proposed in a single year for implementation in the next academic year. You cannot permanently treat children as “victims of stress” like SC cases that go on for years. And Modi has the absolute power to change it all. If not, the next PM may not be a student-counsellor. Think about that.

Follow the blog on Twitter.

 CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

 

Daytime Prisons

A young 7-year old student was brutally murdered in a school in Gurugram. So far, reports suggest it was the school-bus conductor or driver who tried to sexually molest him that did it. This is hard to believe but time will tell and it’s best to let the police bring out the facts. In another incident in Noida, a boy slaps another for camera. The principal calls it “Peer slap bet”. Fancy term indeed. In another incident in Lucknow, a Class-3 student was slapped 40 times by the teacher for not responding to the roll-call. Elsewhere, a kid was detained in school for long for non-payment of fees. Another young girl was also detained in another school for dress code. I’m sure it makes us all wonder what our schools and teachers have come to. Of course, these are hopefully stray incidents and one hopes these aren’t that common across the country.

Childhood and early teens are the most joyful years in life. Our schools are the ones that make it absolutely miserable for children. Most children hate schools. Cannot blame schools by themselves but also our governments that have made them daytime prisons for kids. Despite a lot of efforts by courts, some govts and other activists, our schools have remained a painful experience for students, teachers, management and parents. Almost every school is a centre of chaos. I am not even going to discuss the discriminatory RTE legislation in this post.

PM Modi talks of a “New India”. Much appreciate, but you certainly cannot build a new India with the dilapidated structure of our school education. Our schools don’t teach for learning outcomes and thinking. They teach to TEST. Period! Every classroom act is designed to pour information into children’s heads to ready them for the next test. I cannot believe there are schools that run “unit tests” for Class-1 children from the second week of the academic year. I know parents who are constantly preparing their kids for the next test. With such backwardness and lack of innovation of any kind, our schools are way behind civilisation and modernisation and not equipped for any New India:

What to teach is an important question. What to test is also an important question. Not everything that is taught needs to be tested. And even the method of testing can be simplified without inflicting pain for some lower level subjects. The three key subjects to be taught and tested are English (Or the medium of instruction), Math and Science. All other subjects are secondary and need not be tested so stringently. What purpose in hell does it serve in memorising nonsense about history, geography or civics? A general reading of these subjects in class followed by Q&A would be enough.

That apart, I sympathise with teachers too. Not much investment is made in them. I have seen the poorest of poor people appearing for B.Ed exams in worn out clothes and slippers just because they cannot find any other work. Teachers are supposed to create geniuses for the country but the investment in them is almost zero and a peon in a private company or an Uber driver earns more than most teachers. Therefore, they too teach to complete a task. They don’t teach to seek learning outcomes.

Trends in International Maths & Science Study (TIMSS) is an international study across countries that is being conducted for many years across the world. These are mostly for Class-4 onward in schools. India has not participated in these studies except a stray exception. Consistently, in these studies, Singapore, Korea and Japan perform dramatically well. Yet, our Delhi minister goes to Finland to discover magic in education. All one has to do is compare text books of Singapore and NCERT to see the dramatic difference and why their students find it more interesting to understand and learn.

Let us also keep in mind that there is not a single course in India that certifies and qualifies someone to be a Principal. There are professional certifications for doctors, lawyers, CAs, architects but none for Principals. ZERO! What stops the GOI from starting prominent institutes across the country to train and certify principals? Our pathetic HRD ministry is concerned only with IITs and IIMs when the roots of our “New India” are formed in schools, not in higher institutes. Therefore, a separate ministry and minister focused on school education is a must. Although education is a state subject, there must be every effort to standardise curriculum and methods of instruction.

Because education is a state matter, our states exploit kids in areas like history. In Bengal the Mughals are gods. In Maharashtra Shivaji becomes most important. In UP again Mughals. In Rajasthan it’s Rana Pratap. And there are moronic SS books that teach RahulG, Barkha or Teesta as heroes? What history is being taught and why even test this subject with so much pain inflicted on children and parents to cram facts and vomit in answer sheets? What is the purpose in this day and age of facts being available at fingertips on mobiles and internet? If we want a “New India” a dramatic change is needed in school education. This means – what we teach, what we test and how we test. When schools are not enjoyable for any stake-holder, students in particular, some of them, turn to deranged behaviour. We get juvenile jerks who form gangs in schools, bully, and get violent. We also get perverted teachers and principals and lower end staff that results in painful incidents like these:

Unless we unburden our students, teachers and principals there is no way we will produce great innovators or thinkers. Our schools are mass-manufacturing units of mediocrity. You cannot build a “New India” with a moth-eaten structure. And the problem is too huge to explain in one single post. Therefore, this series on school education, something I am passionate about, will continue in multiple parts.

To be continued…