In what context do you ask this?
For instance, from a holistic view, the whole education system is broken (in India and outside) in a sense that it doesn’t prepare students to live a happier and successful life. It doesn’t give any real-life value to us to achieve a prosperous and satisfying life. And to me, this is very important today.
In another context, you could mean how we can change the Indian education system in terms of how we can improve the literacy rate, get more people educated and help them be economically benefitted from the knowledge they learn.
Both these contexts are crucial if you’re looking for the most ideal answer. Education, away from its traditional meaning, must arm people with economical and psychological advantage to live a happier life.
(Courtesy: ketto)
But, of course, getting to this ideal picture is next to impossible. (And I am a very optimistic person by the way.) There are countless political, financial and cultural problems that will hinder us achieve that.
So, when talking about changing the Indian education system, we must think on micro terms. For instance, demanding that education ministry source more money to build schools and colleges is NOT a solution. Neither is setting committees after committees and agendas after agendas to increase literacy rate.
We need to find a minor but optimal solution that impacts the Indian education system from the bottoms-up. We already have enough schools—but the poor infrastructure that no one would want to study in. The government already allots a decent sum in education—but that money never reaches the beneficiaries. So, again, we need to think from the micro term and aim to achieve changes from the bottoms-up and NOT top-down as we’ve been focusing on all along.
(Courtesy: ThingLink)
Now, how do we do this?
For once, the country needs more qualified teachers. “Qualified” is a keyword here. There are thousands of governments schools and colleges in our country where there are lacs of vacancies. The state governments must take immediate steps to fill those positions with the right individuals. This also takes us to the point that those aspiring to be teachers, they must go through intensive training. The government must set up institutes to prepare teachers and school/college staffs.
Second, the government and NGOs must work collectively to help those individuals who want to set-up small institutes for tuition and training. They must be encouraged for their entrepreneurial willingness, both financially and psychologically. These individuals, on a micro level, can literally bring a major impact.
Third, as cliched as it sounds, we need more awareness about education. We, in cities and urban areas, recognize just how important it is to get an education to lead a better life—those in small towns and villages do not know this. Most of them, once their sons reach a certain age, push them to work in some menial job instead of pushing them to education. For short-term gain, they completely overlook the long-term benefits of getting an education—because they don’t know about it in the first place. So, we need to help people understand the true relevance of going to school.
Fourth, and most importantly, we need to focus on improving women literacy. Only 65.46 percent of women are literate in the country as opposed to 82.14 percent of women. People need to focus on educating girls. This is not necessarily to prepare them for jobs but to ensure they have enough knowledge and ideas to strengthen their families for better physical and psychological health.
These are 4 ways how I think we can change the Indian education system. These are minor changes that can really bring bigger rewards if we’re consistent and serious on our efforts. Also, it’s high time that we take self-accountability and ownership of how things are – and take the matter in our own hands – instead of blaming the governments and “system”.
