Where are we failing?
Where are we failing?
Does getting grade A+ certify success in life?
Does an exam failure indicate failure in life? Does higher education is a surety for getting job?
Answer
to the above mentioned questions, is an absolute No. One out of every three
graduates is unemployed in India [1]. Thus, higher education can never be
considered as a surety for jobs in India. School/college dropouts would never
have been able to reach the zenith of success if passing an exam is considered
as a pre-requisite for passing in life.
Success
stories of Subhash Chandra, an Indian conglomerate; Kailash Katkar (founder
Quickheal technologies Pvt Ltd.); Ritesh Agarwal (founder, OYO Rooms); Kunal
Shah (founder, Freecharge) and many more would never be celebrated by world on
the merit scale of education system. Increasing suicidal tendencies amongst
students germinates seeds of skepticism against the purpose of education.
India
is often named as the youngest nation with 50% of its population below the age
of 25 years. Youth in itself is a symbol of freshness and rejuvenation. Thus, it
comes as a paradox that this young country is still subscribing to colonial era
education system.
This youth of India will surely hunt for jobs
after graduating and clearing all the parameters set out by mighty system. That’s
what, our education institutes are supposed to do and they are doing it
exceptionally well. They are building chains of service providers to serve in
various services sectors. In simple terms, these educational institutes are
aiming, aimed and will always aim to launch the army of job seekers and not the
creators.
Scenario will surely become troubling with
high rate of unemployment. Various government initiatives for promoting skill
development and encouraging entrepreneurship beautifully highlight the
requirements for a developed India. Obsession with information is precisely the
major drawback of our system. Commercialization of education is flourishing a
new kind of business in the name of coaching centers or tutorials, extra
courses and so on.
Existing
education system is promoting a useless competition that will benefit none but
the stakeholders. Students are made to run after marks as their ultimate goal.
Out of box thinking is rarely cultivated in these excessively academic
institutions. Spirit of questioning is not installed in their operating system.
Students often accept things as such without even questioning and analyzing. In
simple English, this process is known as cramming. They are made habitual of constant
pressure that is being projected on them by regular tests, exams where their
brilliancy is graded and advertised.
Education
is surely a fundamental necessity in the formative years of an individual. But,
the wrong kind of education poses a serious threat against a promise for
developed India. Where one’s future is predicted on the basis of his report
card and creativity is suppressed before it blossoms, it becomes critical to
evaluate the system. After introspection, one major question acquires the
center stage i.e. Where are we failing and who is failing us? Inability to
pursue one’s dreams; increasing suicide rates; high unemployment rate; lack of
innovators, discoverers and entrepreneurs are regular answers to this major
question. We are failing to properly harness and channelize our country’s
talent. Hence, our children are not failing;
it is the system itself that is failing our children.
“Education is not the amount of information that is put into
your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have
life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have
assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more
education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.”
Swami Vivekanand [2]
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