Different Education Trends in India

Education is India is no longer limited to CBSE, ICSE and state board. Gone are the days where children are exposed to nothing but the questions in books. Education has changed drastically right from the way of learning to the assignments and assessment exams. IB education is gaining ground even in the most interior parts of the world. There are a lot of reasons as to why IB education is gaining ground in India. The implementation of the IB educational system in India is the answer to all the failures of the other educational systems.

There are three main departments of education in India.

Home schooling - This is where children are exposed and encouraged to learn a variety of subjects being at home. The internet serves as the biggest source of education materials. Since education is becoming costlier these days, home schooling is preferred. But the disadvantages are that the children will not be able to analyze their potential and where they stand in the society.

Self-Study - This is another way of education which is becoming more popular in the west. The children learn things by themselves either through books or online and implement what they learn in practical life. This mode of education also stands as a major threat to the teachers who once were the only providers of information. But this form of education is not widely accepted in most of the Asian countries.

Traditional schooling - This is considered to be the most standard way of learning. But these days, due to high competition and large availability of resources, even the schools are not able to handle the students effectively. This is mainly because of the education system they follow.

Education in rural India

After India gained independence in 1947, the first Educational Minister had a vision of a country with centralized governmental control over education, and with a uniform educational system available to all children. Today, an estimated 80% of all primary education facilities for pupils up to the age of14 are government run or sponsored. Unfortunately, a shortage of resources and declining enthusiasm from the government mean the system suffers.

The pupil to teacher ratios low in most areas, especially in India’s rural centers. The lack of a solid infrastructure for training teachers leaves 40% of educators untrained. Poor facilities and a general lack of resources make things even worse. Education for children up to 14 is free, and though it is compulsory, attendance is typically low.

In recent years, public expenditure on education has decreased, despite the poor state of the system and the ever-growing need for improvement. During the same period, private expenditure on education in India has grown exponentially. Much of this additional funding is coming from Indians themselves – out of pocket spending by the country’s working class population aimed at bettering the education of their children has increased 1150% during the last decade.External funding sources also contribute to bettering the education system in India. Charitable organizations work hard to build new facilities and to improve old ones.

Present Education System in India

India is the second largest populated country in the world and unfortunately it is nowhere near in number qualitatively. It may be again due to huge population and the type of administrative and political system we have. There is stress on cramming, memory and mugging up. One who mugs up and puts in examination paper is treated as a meritorious candidate. It does not encourage imagination, creativity and originality. There is no effective emphasis on practical aspects of life. It is mostly beset with theoretical aspects and concepts, which any one can read even without going to institutions.

School children are loaded with many books and they find it highly stressful. Education, in fact, should be filled with entertainment and fun so that student can discover the joy of learning, which is missing now. Children find it horrible to go to schools because of too much of study. Even at home children engage themselves so much on school homework. Such things do not promote the relations between parent and child at home. Inadequate infrastructure and inexperienced teaching staff are another bane. Unfortunately, in India, both the primary and secondary level education is still struggling to survive qualitatively. The views and opinions of the students are not being respected. Students are always imposed whatever is there in the textbooks resulting in lack of imagination and innovation. The secret in education lies in respecting the student. Only when students are respected and valued, they will try to think creatively, innovatively and out of the box. Students should be provided with more freedom of thought.

Kerala is the first state in India, which attained cent per cent literacy. It encouraged other states to contribute their best so as to attain total literacy. Rather Kerala has become a model state and ideal state to be emulated by the rest of the country in providing importance to education. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, said Nelson Mandela. It is very obvious that no weapon is superior to education. Apart from education, the influence of technology has brought out significant changes in the society. If technology is used in the right direction and if it is coupled with education, we can expect miracles in the society as a whole.

The growth of society solely depends on the type of educational system adopted. Education makes tremendous impact on the society. The quality of the society depends on the quality of educational system implemented. Right education makes the people build character, values, ethics, and prepares the society and country as a whole to catch up with the rest of the world. Right education is the legacy or the gift, which we pass on to our next generations.