Primary and secondary education reform should be India's top priority
jayanta chatterjee
Monday, 03 November 2008 18:11 UTC
There were only 20 universities and 500 colleges in the Indian subcontinent (including Bangladesh and Pakistan) in 1947, the year of Indian independence. Now there are about 376 universities and 17,700 colleges in India only, many with world class physical infrastructure. Many private research institutes are also coming up on a regular basis. The only Nobel prize for India (Indian citizen at the time of the award) in science for C. V. Raman (1930, University of Calcutta) also came in that era. We also had many world class scientists during that time (e.g Satyen Bose, J. C. Bose, Homi Bhaba etc). Now India is the second fastest growing in the world and third largest economy in Asia with huge budget in so-called education and research. But we do not have any world class scientist (who has a slightest chance to get Nobel Prize in science) in India or abroad (as per a survey published in a reputed Bengali magazine, “Desh”, sometime ago).
We see huge uproar when previous government wanted to “introduce accountability” in some elite institutes like IIM or IITs but we never see a fraction of that excitement among educated middle class people or our political masters to reform primary and secondary education although our primary and secondary education system, the backbone of our country, is in a pathetic shape. Our middle class people, who can not afford to send their kids abroad (like our socio-political “elites”) but dream to have a better, more powerful and comfortable life for their kids (and to them through their kids) do not allow any meaningful reform of primary and secondary education since independence.
Our current education system selectively discards talented students with inquisitiveness, ability to ask questions and dream to do something challenging, something better for the society. Now we only produce private tuition and coaching enabled, mugging-up grade technicians who are great to do routine jobs (as in IT or BT) or imitating others (mainly true for Indian R&D sector in any branch of science and in any industry), but not capable of doing original research, despite of having many world class physical infrastructure, huge budget and some so-called “elite” institutes. My recent experience with many graduate students form some high profile Indian institutes/universities indicate that the trend to emphasize on database type knowledge, quiz type information and fascination with techniques (not science as such) are still highly prevalent. No wonder India is among the least innovative nations in the world. Quality of Indian science education and research is going down at an alarming rate since independence, despite of huge increase in funding (1, 2, 3 and Balaram, P. (2002). Science in India: Signs of Stagnation. Current Science 82, 193-194.).
We need to invest much more and have an intensive and proper supervision of primary and high school education than wrongly focusing on higher education and research at the top level, at this time. Recently passed Right to education bill is a step towards the right direction. But here again we need to remember that many such great policies hardly achieve anything in reality and only limited within government files and the money ends up in the pockets of few selected people.
Whatever money we spend on higher education and research is not going to give us any novel knowledge or technological edge unless we have right candidate behind the costly machines we buy. Now we produce mainly technicians, not scientists or technocrats and feel proud to export such raw materials to manpower-starved developed countries (be it IT or BT, the two main pillars of Indian economy today). This might lead to some degree of prosperity in the short term but we are going to loose in a big way in the long run unless we totally overhaul our basic education system at primary and high school level. It’s useless to cut the roots and then water on the top.
I expressed my personal views but like to know your views, what you think.
Updated 03 November 2008 21:33 UTC
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Alamrming condition of basic education and teachers involved with such education in India can be judged from several reports published in media.
The study of 188 government-run primary schools in central and northern India revealed that 59% of the schools had no drinking water facility and 89% no toilets; and, most alarmingly, a large number of teachers were found to be absent at the time of the survey. With a literacy rate (percentage of adults who can read and write) of 65%, India compares poorly to not just industrialised nations but also several much-poorer economies, such as Vietnam (90% literacy), Zambia (80%), Tanzania (77%), and Cambodia.Only 21% of the teachers in Bihar are class X pass. In one of the most prosperous states in India, Gujarat, over 55% of the teachers have not got beyond the secondary stage of schooling. The only state which comes near Gujarat in terms of the low quality of teachers is Karnataka, another highly prosperous state in India, with about three-fourths of its teachers having studied only up to the higher secondary level. Such data also implied that prosperity of few people (that inflate the macro level data like GDP) does not necessarily mean prosperity is available to majority of the people in form of education and social well being.
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Good morning -
This is a sincere observation. please allow us to learn something about your comparative analysis at par developed countries and probable follow up action in line of the respective govt. machineries.
Regards
Dr. R. Dayal Yadav
Director – Research
Study Group DIM. IUI -
Thank you for your message.
I think the main problem with Indian “scientocrates” (“scientists” or academic “leaders” with typical bureaucratic attitude working in high positions in scientific institutes/Universities) is that, they never accept that the present system is not working. The first step to solve any problem is to accept the problem with open mind. They think accepting the problem will imply that those people who are in-charge of the system are not doing their jobs properly, which is true. And that powerful lobby does try their best to stall or derail any effort to reform the system. But lately I am observing a handful of people in higher positions are taking sincere interest towards this direction.
What I find most troubling is that majority of countries in the world are blindly following US system of “corporate” education and research. In that sense, the problem with “education”, mainly basic education is increasingly becoming global. You can see what I mean by this in my blog regarding “Education”.
I was reading a book on child education. There it has been mentioned that a kid should be encouraged to play, ONLY play till at least 7 years. One survey in Europe suggests that British kids learn reading within 7 years of age while the kids from Finland cannot. But during adolescent, those Finish students perform better than their British counterparts. Many European countries has identified the problem and started taking corrective measures. Here is an example on how research grants are funded in UK. Previously it was based in “peer review”, just like USA and many other countries. Now they are thinking to change it (1).
We easily can understand why India produces many child “prodigies” (e.g. math Olympiad, quiz, scientific competitions, even in personal events in international games and sports). But we invariable loose all of them when they grow up.
Lets some more message come up and we can discuss it in detail. -
There is a serious dilemma many parents face while living abroad is whether to go back to India or to continue in western countries. The main concerns are “education” and “culture”. Many of them site those as the main reasons to going back to India and settle there. They think prevailing situation and surrounding conditions in India will enable their kids to get a better “education” and teach them the “Indian culture”.
Sometime ago I wrote a message/blog on Is India a better place to bring up kids?
I think it might shed some light on such issues. -
I just read a nice article by a Harvard University Physics professor on “education”. It’s a very interesting one considering traditional way of teaching in urban India (mainly in affluent schools) and its difference with rural India where availability of text books and other teaching hardware are not so accessible.
One might wonder why successful Indian scientists (in basic science and research) are mainly coming from rural background (while people in technology and business are from urban background).
It also can give us an idea how to reform our teaching, both in school and university levels.“In hindsight, the reason for my students’ poor performance is simple. The traditional approach to teaching reduces education to a transfer of information. Before the industrial revolution, when books were not yet mass commodities, the lecture method was the only way to transfer information from one generation to the next. However, education is so much more than just information transfer, especially in science.
New information needs to be connected to preexisting knowledge in the student’s mind. Students need to develop models to see how science works. Instead, my students were relying on rote memorization. Reflecting on my own education, I believe that I also often relied on rote memorization.”EDUCATION: Farewell, Lecture?
Eric MazurA physics professor describes his evolution from lecturing to dynamically engaging students during class and improving how they learn.
SCIENCE (2009): 323, 50-51 -
There is a nice article by eminent scientist and Editor-in-Chief of SCIENCE (23 January 2009: Vol. 323. p. 437), Bruce Alberts- “Redefining Science Education”
“There is a major mismatch between opportunity and action in most education systems today. It revolves around what is meant by “science education,” a term that is incorrectly defined in current usage. Rather than learning how to think scientifically, students are generally being told about science and asked to remember facts. This disturbing situation must be corrected if science education is to have any hope of taking its proper place as an essential part of the education of students everywhere.”
Without proper “education”, many of us cannot understand what “research” is. Cranking data for data sake and publishing some data which has no relevance to the society or advancement of our knowledge is not research, at least that’s what I think. We need a major change in the system. For majority of third world countries US system is the gold standard they try to follow. US system of education (mainly the higher education) is more like a profit making corporate entity which ignores its social obligation, ignores the negative impact of abolishing affordable, quality education for general students irrespective of their financial strength and long term commitment of the government to the society. There is a nice video, “Declining by Degrees” (by PBS) to highlight the current status of US universities and basic education system. India must not blindly follow US system but should introduce its own, need based system, both for “education” and “research”.
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Although Indian universities churn out three million graduates a year, only 15% of them are suitable employees for blue-chip companies.
This paint a grim picture of our education system.
Thirty-five per cent of Indian population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7% graduate. And if you consider the total population of India (about 1.2 billion), then the total number of illiterate people and those who fail to reach high school are a massive one who are easily exploitable (by industry, business establishment, political parties etc) and prone to become the foot soldiers of various terrorist/extremist organizations, besides many other organized crime syndicates. -
Jayanta – The Blog brings wour several facts and challanges we face in the education system. We should also discuss in our own ways potential solutions.
I see some serious problems not only in primary/secondary education but also in the higher education as well. With a low literacy rate, broadly the challenge seems to be two fold – one to make a greater part of the country complete primary education and to have the secondary + higher education more measurable and metrics based. There should be more creativity and allowance on thinking in additional to knowledge consumption.. Higher education should measure how each individual is able to present his/her own interpretation to existing knowledge base and take it further… Getting the right teachers in a must reform must be there to improve and induct the best teachers.. We need to get the best to stay in research and not move over to more lucrative jobs overseas.. And of course, we need funding as well.. Talking big is great; but we need to do the best we have with a sense of involvement..
All being said,that’s not all gloomy – the success of Chandrayan is indicative and should go a long way in motivating the best to contunue in the right direction.. -
Welcome Debashis.
The challenge in higher education will never be fixed unless we fix our basic education. You can not have a strong house standing on a weak base. In reality, it seems that Indian middle class and so-called “elite” community are the major problems in giving proper emphasis and changing our primary education. If you need detail why I say it, please let me know. If you need, I also can share a nice article in Bengali magazine “Desh” by Tapan Roychowdhari in 2007.
There are many instances of glory for Indian science. Chandrayan may be one of those isolated incidents (although I do not agree with that; particularly thinking from India’s national interest). Such incidents highlights that Indians can deliver. It becomes clearer considering that fact that ISRO or DRDO are not considered attracting best talents in Indian science. In fact public scrutiny of DRDO shows how wasteful and inefficient that organization is (If needed, you can check the Indian Express reports in that). A recent newspaper report in Times of India and Indian Express showed that even the members of Parliamentary Standing Committee think that the level of indigenization among DRDO projects, including the famous “totally indigenously developed” missile projects are inflated (DRDO accepted it to be about 70% while they believe its around 30%). In short, I like to say that only those Indian organizations grabbed news headlines which has something to do with “national image” and which are closely monitored by policy makers, be it atomic power, nuclear research or space activity. Limited successes in those areas do highlight that Indians can and should deliver in other areas of research as well.
Many people do not move overseas in search for financial benefits. After working in many Indian institutes as a student and then as a scientist in a famous biotech company, I can safely say that it’s almost impossible to remain productive in science education and research in current condition in India. It’s a very personal choice whether to bang one’s head in a solid wall or seek other avenues to achieve both personal satisfaction in research and continue efforts to change situation there in India. To me, it seems that it’s almost impossible to oppose “authority” in India even in education-research matters and regarding the way my research is used (by Govt or by a private company). It’s a great achievement for many people to remain honest and straightforward in present Indian society and opposing it, where needed. I am convinced that I can do more by staying away from the system in India as compared to being there. -
The system of education is on the verge of collapse, specially the scientific institutes, people get admission based on cnatacts and buttership, except a fwew elite ones. the condition of a normal middle class person is worse, who studies science for parents wishes, bec even nw if you dont have science, you are considered a duffer, so people do study science even when they are not interested and they end up with a weak base, no interest, and hunt for a job, take up a computer course and start earning. In scientific institutes the heads wont allow your growth, the fundamental issues becaoes , how does the higher up benefit, if you work as per his wishes , fine else you are trashed down. and no one can challenge it bec whole authority vests on the leader. How much can things be suppressed, its not about your intelligence, its about the tricks you learn to deliver goods, by hook or cook
for females much much worse condition is there, all sorts of exploitation, and if they complain, they are one
leave is granted as if the higher ups are paying from their pockets
even if youare sick you have to get permission before being hospitalisd else you wont be refunded,… if you are in good books youll get permission, else suffer for permission too
if you write a paper and your higher us name is not there , your paper is not approved, so the higher ups have many ways of controlling things, which leads to scumbing by all workers, specially academics
different rule for different people……….i want to change this system but how,…. if i am not in good books, my promotion will be late,… and tehn the cumulative effect,,.. no positsion, and no credibility,.. and even if you reach the top position, by then the fungus has infected us so much that we act as puppets
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