Education in India - Does it promise progress?

"Education is the path to progress" so believes mankind. Illiteracy is believed to be a curse to our nation. The reasoning behind this is illiterates lack awareness. Awareness is the key to make use of available resources to uplift oneself, make best use of one's abilities and to protect oneself from exploitation.

True awareness is the wisdom to understand one's priorities, define success as per one's priorities and pursue it with minimal exploitation of others, but by making best use of one's abilities without bringing harm to the society.

Education in modern India does not bring about this awareness. Subjects taught at school are necessary for the material progress of mankind. But these subjects do not contribute to the mental and psychological development of mankind.

A well educated person can rise his family's standard of living and make his family more presentable to the eyes of the world. But within the family and in workplace, lack of self respect, bias, attitude problems still persist unchanged.

Personality and attitude of individuals need nourishment and a conducive environment for growth from childhood. Along with academic subjects, practical lessons in teamwork and co-existence need to be integrated into school syllabus. Working efficiently has proved advantages over inefficient hard work. Sincerity and dedication provide better results in the long run when compared to corruption and bias. Healthy competition is a must, but team work has better results than individuals in a blind competition against each other.

These can be imbibed into a child's personality by changing the primary education system. The beginning years of education has to be more interactive between students and teachers. A child must be given an environment where he can learn that securing top grades will bring him honour, but contributing to the overall performance of his class by sharing his knowledge with fellow classmates will improve his understanding and earn him the trust of his classmates. Exposure to sports and arts at an early age are a must. Rather than having strict schedules at primary schools, allowing children to learn at their own pace with individual attention to every child is the best way to start educating a child.

Changes to the primary education system to ensure all round development of children will lead to a cascade effect, affecting all levels of education. This will finally lead to character development and academic development happening synchronously. Chances for this kind of a change happening in the near future is still remote in India. But the emerging alternate education systems are a glimpse of hope in the right direction. May it revolutionise education in India and lead to a better future for our children and for the country as a whole.