One nation, one education board

Every day I am confronted with a question about the reconstruction of the education system India. While the quality of education a 100 years ago was extremely high, it has degenerated over the years, boiling down the current education pattern to minimal application of fundamentals. India has been home to masterminds like CV Raman, Aryabhatta, Ramanujam, Dr Homi Baba and others, who were a reservoir of knowledge.

Given the current state of  education, we definitely need to discuss and deliberate on what the format really means and how useful it is. What is important for students — climbing the ladder of success with social and economical knowledge, learning a new topic, exploring something new or converting our imagination into reality?  

The current system is limited to knowledge that we derive from books, where little or no emphasis is given to conceptual understanding of subjects. This practice fails in tapping the core potential/intellect of every child. It also suppresses the essence of creative and intuitive minds, limiting the format to mere reading and rote learning. If you are skilled enough to replicate all content from the textbook on to the exam paper, you can sit back, relax and be assured of a good score. 

But, what has it done to the overall mental and creative development of students? That is a question that needs serious thought and subsequent necessary remedial actions, before young Indians become mere textual bugs with no creativity, and no originality. If we look at the system, it has become a market for education. There’s a platter of choices with various boards like SSC, ICSE, CBSE and IB boards, which create disparities in the education system, and among students. As if this was not enough, the huge gap between private schools and government aided ones only makes a further distinction between the class and the mass.  

Great leaders like APJ Abdul Kalam, and our current Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose vision is right to education for all, envisioning a ‘Literate India’ would gain impetus only if every child pan India receives his/her fair share of uniform education. 

It is  every child’s fundamental right, irrespective of his/her economic and social background. This uniformity can put India on a higher pedestal giving birth to more minds and newer ideas in the future. Our education system should aim at reviving India’s vast richness and its abundance of knowledge, which has been long forgotten thanks to evolution.  

Acquiring knowledge is priceless, but what is needed is equality in imparting quality education to every young individual of our country, through ideas, innovative techniques, debates, interactive sessions, presentations, apart from classrooms sessions and textbooks.  

Innovation should be a constant process, and if our country endeavours to upgrade its youth through world-class education nothing can stop India from being a superpower. It is only then that we can produce the Einsteins and Aryabhattas that the world needs to see. 

India can demonstrate the power of one in its educational standards. Let the change begin from here.

(The author, is a Class 10 student in St Mary’s School, Mumbai)