In the Indian society, education is given primary importance and the school forms the basis of the education system. Schools are in fact detrimental in laying a strong foundation for the children by enabling children to learn and gain knowledge. The school in every sense of the word must prepare the children for the future. But is it really so? Are our schools developed and advanced enough to enable children to learn for the future?
The truth is that the world is facing a learning crisis. Most of the children who go to school are unable to develop the basic skills that go a long way in helping the children prepare for the future. A survey conducted by the World Bank Research suggests that the productivity of the children across the globe is very low and can be twice as much if the schools put in efforts to provide children with complete education. Education when delivered well can benefit the society as well as the children. For children, education raises self-esteem and opens opportunities for them to earn and live well in their future. For society, education helps to strengthen the economy, reduce poverty and spurs innovation.
One of the main reasons for the learning crisis in India is the education system itself. The Indian Education System was designed to focus on teaching children how to retain information and manipulate what was learnt instead of applying the concepts in a practical manner. This means that the children are prepared to work more like
robots where they are fed with a specific piece of information, made to learn it and then out pour the information when needed. This implies the fact that the children do not know what exactly do with the learned concepts and fail to apply these to real-life experiences and events.
The schools in the country prepare children in a manner that enables them to secure jobs that cater to the needs of the industrial era and not the technological and digital era that they are living in. The education and learning needs of this digital age are completely different where the children will need to develop a wide range of skills. These skills are taught not only by giving lessons and making children learn but by exposing the children to social and emotional experiences. The skills needed by children in this day and age are collaborative, communication and problem-solving skills in addition to the traditional skills taught in schools.
However, the schools focus on helping children develop cognitive skills by repeatedly drilling the same concepts. The children are prepared to sit in exams and write what they have learned from books and from their teachers with the sole aim of scoring good marks in the exams. But the fact is that marks in exams are not a real test of knowledge. The children are taught to develop a mind-set wherein they need to mug up what is taught and develop speed and precision in answering the question papers. In other words, the children are not made to develop creative and thought-provoking skills.
At the core of this learning crisis in India, also lies the teaching crisis. Children can learn when they have good teachers. However, our schools pay little attention to what teachers know and what they do in the classroom. In most cases, teachers also do not show up in the class because they are under-paid and not acknowledged or rewarded in any manner for teaching the children. Underlying this teaching crisis is the fact that in schools teachers are made to handle a large number of students and also given a lot of extra work which distracts them from their sole aim of teaching. The teachers in schools are often seen overburdened and overtired because of the work they need to handle.
Above all this is the pressure to complete the curriculum in class and also ensure that the students score well in their exams. The teachers also adopt a boring teaching approach asking students to open their books, read the lesson and then explain the same things over and over again. This leads to ineffective learning on the part of the children who have no curiosity left to learn in an unproductive manner.
It is therefore essential that schools think beyond just academics if they want to prepare the children for the future. It is essential to have an open and flexible curriculum so that the children can overcome the process of rote learning. Interdisciplinary learning and exploration is in fact the need of the hour so that the children can be prepared to face a challenging future. It is essential that the education system in schools focuses on helping children develop the following skills for their future:
Analysing and understanding: Schools must focus on enabling children to develop analysis and understanding skills so that they can work with the vast amount of information available these days. Schools must encourage children to research, analyse the findings and draw conclusions so that they understand the information rather than memorizing it. This would allow the children to get hands-on experience about information and they would be able to apply it when needed.
Critical thinking: Schools must focus on helping children develop critical thinking skills. This allows children to question the several concepts they are being taught and makes them curious to learn all the time. This in turn helps children to be greatly aware of the paradigms and aspects that affect them.
Problem solving: The education system must make it essential for students to solve problems in real time. In essence, the children must be made to learn application based concepts so that they can innovate what they have learned according to the situation they face. This goes a long way in preparing children for their future critical situations as well.
Technology skills: School must teach students the basic technology skills like coding, PowerPoint, Excel and website design etc. which are much demanded skills when it comes to the future careers of the children.
Communication skills: Communication skills are in fact the most important skills that children need in the future. The schools must make sure that children develop verbal as well as oral communication skills in an efficient and coherent manner. The schools must expose children to a variety of elocution, theater, presentation skills as well as other activities that enhance the communication skills of the children.
Collaborative skills: Schools need to prepare the children for the future by making them aware of the fact that they need to live as global citizens. The students must be made aware of the geographical, cultural as well as communal differences and interests and must be taught to respect the same. The children must be taught to collaborate with other students and teachers from different communities and cultures. This will help children develop empathy and compassion and put in collective efforts at home, schools as well as the society.
Schools must adapt teaching and learning practices to make the students feel empowered and energised and always stay motivated to learn. Ziyyara Edutech is putting in efforts to prepare the children for the future. By allowing children and teachers to use interactive learning materials and using adaptive technologies to generate the interests of the children, Ziyyara is supporting the learning and teaching of children to prepare them for their future.