Indian education system

The education system in India suffers from some serious lacunae. These include preference for good marks/grades over being knowledgeable, lack of encouragement for thinking out of the box (asking questions in the class is considered rude and seldom encouraged; almost non-existent practice of extra reading; education restricted to prescribed textbook and help/guide books, and that too limited to 24 hrs. before the examination day!), rigid and outdated syllabi/curriculum, heavily underpaid professors/teachers (bright minds stay away from this career; professors don’t show much zeal for teaching, they just “go through” the motions), only a few colleges with good quality of education where you have to be in the top elite to gain admission besides there being a lack of passion for education in the real sense (most students go for engineering/medicine on the advice of “elders”!).

Now, for some serious facts and stats regarding Indian education system vindicating the aforementioned lacunae (note that these stats are based on those provided by the government of India itself freely on the web):

•In India, just 11% of the children finishing school joins a college whereas in the US, this figure amounts to a whopping 83%. As per the eleventh plan, to increase this enrolment level to 15%, India needs to invest approx. Rs. 22.5 billion but it has allotted only a fourth of the total needed.

•According to a study by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, 90% of the colleges and 70% of the universities that the council graded were of middling or poor quality. The standard of school education has stagnated too. In rural India, there is no teaching activity on about 50% of the working days in the primary schools.

•There is an endemic shortage of teachers with even the IITs reporting a 20% to 30% shortfall in faculty. Indian universities, if one goes by average, revise their curricula only once in 5 to 10 years but by then they get defeated in both letter and spirit.

•Corruption is the by-word in higher education having become rampant and institutionalized due to over-regulation by the government and multiplicity of education agencies leading to what else but stagnation in this very vital sector of education.

•The lack of good institutions has seen cut-off percentages for entry into good colleges soar to almost impossible levels (at Delhi’s SRCC college, this percentage was as high as 98.75). There is an undue pressure to do well in the secondary board exams because of which the suicidal tendency has grown alarmingly.

•Owing to poor quality of education at home, Indian students now spend no less than $7000 million to go abroad and study in foreign universities. Still the government is adamant over its peculiar stance of not permitting foreign universities to set up shop in India.

We have almost done with the bad points of the Indian education system. And, to end on a bright note, almost 50% of the country’s population is below 25 years. Almost 10% of them or 120 million are between the ages of 18 and 23. Let them have both knowledge and skills; they could surely drive India’s competitive and entrepreneurial spirit and transform it into a major global power. Isn’t it a good ending to the bad side of Indian education scenario?