A survey states that more number of students graduate in India than combined number of students in Europe. This figure is quite laudable. But we all know that academic condition in India is neither way comparable to theirs’. Any established system has some criticisms and failures to deal with and it has to constantly work upon it. Same goes for education system in India. So far programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has proved beneficial in boosting the literacy rate to 74%. However, some reforms can be made to make this figure worthy.
Diversify stream after 10th grade – In India, students after 10th grade are compelled to opt from three streams (science, commerce and humanities) with pre-specified set of subjects. Though the subjects in each stream are meanly inter-related yet it leaves student with narrow choice who after +2 are ought to choose from wide range of courses.
Make pedagogical advancements – Indian marking systems is largely focussed on performance of students within the span of three hours. This is a vague and an unacceptable method of judging student’s capability. Students should be rather judged on the basis of assignments, projects, innovations and classroom performance. However implementing this policy in schools is debatable and may lead to schools giving marks to students with their eyes closed.
Alternative ways can be figured out to curb this iniquity. Say for eg. Examination by education board can be conducted four to five times rather than once in a year, each time focussing on different attributes (like lab assessment, project analysis, assignments etc.) to disperse the burden.
Launch Meta-university model- In India student can enrol himself only at one course at one time due to Indian education policy that forbids students from pursuing two courses at the same time. Meta-university model is a web-based platform that encompasses several universities through web network and allows students to pursue professional courses. It also enables students to interact with faculties of other universities of their choice besides imparting several other advantages.
Provide reservations in private schools – Students from downtrodden class do not have access to quality education in premier private institutes despite having zeal for learning because they are very expensive. To ensure money don’t halt education, government should make it
compulsory and reserve some percentage of seats (say 20%) in private institutes for BPL (Below Poverty Line) students providing them fees scholarship.
Centralised education board – To cater to the education demand of high youth population, there are more than 15 education boards in the country. This creates quite a difference in several aspects and often insecurity among students. Say for example, hindi is a teaching medium for +2 in Bihar (BSEB) and UP (BHSIE) while it is English for other education boards. To cut such difference, a central board should be created which sets curriculum for the whole country.
Single entrance test and preference class 12 marks – In India, an engineering aspirant only sits for four joint entrance examinations. Same goes for other streams as well. Thus you can imagine the frequency of entrance tests undertaken in India, with most universities having their own entrance test. Moreover, +2 marks are least considered and students are admitted into any institute solely on the basis of joint examination scores. Thus
a centralised examination should be conducted for each stream. Fortunately developments are in process and Indian govt is likely to implement policy by 2014 according to which admissions will be carried out on the basis of aggregate marks with 20% weightage to entrance test score and rest to +2 marks.
Ajit Kumar
