Fault Lines: A Research Report on the Quality of Education in Delhi Schools
Fault Lines
Education in Delhi Schools
Rhetoric vs. Reality
A Research Report on the Quality of Education
in
Delhi Government Schools
Update
RMN Foundation – which is a humanitarian organization – is working extensively in the education sector, particularly to improve the school education systems.
As part of its ongoing education awareness campaign in Delhi, RMN Foundation has started presenting a street play– चमेली की पढ़ाई – which highlights the issues in the current education ecosystem. The slogan of the campaign is:
स्कूल और कॉलेज की पढ़ाई है बेकार
इसीलिए तो पढ़े-लिखे भी हैं बेरोज़गार
You can click here to watch the video of the street play.
By Rakesh Raman
Report Summary
While the local politicians and top bureaucrats in Delhi Government are going gaga over the hyped quality of education in Delhi schools, there is a marked difference between the rhetoric and reality.
In fact, the quality of school education has been going from bad to worse. But the corrupt government forces are disseminating false propaganda around the education quality just to hide their administrative failures and woo gullible voters.
This report has been prepared by RMN Foundation – a humanitarian organization – which also runs a free school for deserving children in New Delhi. The report has been prepared after almost 3 years of extensive research which includes door-to-door surveys, interactions with hundreds of Delhi school students, parents, and teachers, and a number of other educational outreach programs.
The author of this research report – Rakesh Raman – runs a free school single-handedly (without any support) to provide modern education to deserving children in a poor colony of Delhi. He has interacted with hundreds of students and parents to understand the current education system in Delhi schools.
Under his NGO RMN Foundation, he is running multiple field campaigns and educational outreach programs with the help of student volunteers who study at RMN Foundation school.
He also has written academic as well as supplementary education books to provide modern education to children. He has developed a “Constructive Education Framework” for school students to help them compete in the modern knowledge-driven world.
Earlier, he was associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert.
The report highlights numerous pitfalls in the current state of school education including irrelevant syllabuses, poor content quality of books, defective pedagogical methods, incompetence of teachers, disturbing teacher-student ratios, and overall lack of administration in local schools.
[ 50 Volunteers Wanted for New Education Campaign in Delhi ]
The report observes that the government schools are being run in a totally free-wheeling manner mainly because the school teachers, bureaucrats in education department, politicians in government, and top officers in Delhi administration are clueless about the modern education concepts. They never tried to save the decaying education standards.
The report finds that since there is no connection between the education being imparted in schools and a student’s employability, the joblessness has been spreading like a dreaded disease. While the government has failed miserably to bring even an iota of positive change in the education system, it is squandering huge public money in the name of education.
Finally, the report offers a number of remedial measures that the government must take to improve the quality of education in Delhi schools in order to save the lives and careers of millions of students.
Although the report is focused on Delhi schools, its findings can be applied to all the schools in India.
Real Horror Stories
All the following incidents are real and have been shared with me by Delhi school students and parents. These are only some of the many incidents.
1. A student of 9th class was given an English test paper in a January 2018 exam. As the student was never taught the English language, she could not complete the paper. One question in the paper was about writing a diary account of a planned excursion.
A couple of days after the exam, the student asked the English teacher to teach her how to write that diary account. The teacher said she does not have time to teach. When the student insisted, the teacher shouted angrily and silenced the student.
The student could never learn the English language that she was asked to write in the exam. The student inferred that the school teacher herself did not know the English subject that she is supposed to teach in the school.
2. Another student of class 8th asked her Math school teacher to solve a simple sum involving only addition and subtraction. The student showed me the answer which was wrong. In order to convince the student that her teacher was not teaching her properly, I solved the sum for the student on the calculator of my digital tablet.
The student was shocked to learn that her teacher did not understand even the basic arithmetic. When the student told about her perplexity to the teacher, the teacher was embarrassed but refused to accept her mistake.
3. A student of 9th class asked her teacher why he is being taught Sanskrit language while Sanskrit is not required in any contemporary job. The teacher failed to handle this sudden query and said he has to follow government orders.
4. A commerce student of 11th class asked his teacher to teach him in English language because it will never be useful to study commerce in Hindi. The teacher said she will teach only in Hindi but if the student wants he can learn commerce in English on his own. The student was stunned to take this weird reply from his teacher. I could see the signs of nervousness on his face when the student narrated this experience to me.
5. A school does not open the computer lab because there is no teacher who can operate the computer in order to teach the subject to students.
6. When a 9th class student was not able to perform well in the class, the teacher called her poor father and suggested that he should send his daughter to attend private tuitions. The father was obviously shocked and wondered if he has to pay for private education, then why are the government teachers being paid their salaries?
7. The mother of a primary school student was painfully worried to know from her son that instead of teaching in the class, the school teacher is always busy on her mobile phone. The mother concluded that the teacher, who is being paid with public money, mostly relishes Hindi film songs with the mobile phone wire in her ears. However, the mother was so scared of the teacher that she could not complain.
8. I met the principal of a government school and asked him why he is not able to stop the students who cross barbed wires to regularly abscond from the school. The principal told me that he is too scared to stop the students as the belligerent students can attack him.
9. When I asked the principal of another school to change the syllabus and teaching methodology in order to make the students employable, the principal told me that she cannot do it because this is the responsibility of her bosses in the education department.
10. In a meeting with government school students and teachers, an MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) in Delhi told poor students that the education quality in their school is so good that soon the students of a popular private school (which is in front of the government school) will come to take admission in that government school. It did not happen even after 2 years because the politician was telling a lie in order to cheat innocent school children.
And the troubling stories continue…
Education Dilemma
The worsening situation of school education in Delhi is also reflected in India’s deplorable Human Development Index (HDI) that totters at a poor rank of 131 in the world. In the Draft National Education Policy (NEP) also, the Government of India has admitted that there are many flaws in the Indian education system.
Instead of learning from the HDI indicator or the findings of NEP, and improving the education system in local schools, Delhi Government has become a part of the worrisome national trend. Worse, the government is creating a huge hype around school education to hoodwink the ignorant students and parents.
The government schools of Delhi are mostly crowded with students from economically weaker sections of society. The parents of these students are so illiterate that they do not understand the meaning of education.
When students go to schools, parents assume that their children are gaining education in the school buildings; but that is not true. This is a misconception which is being exploited by Delhi’s politicians and bureaucrats in the education department. In order to hide the facts about deteriorating education standards, they have not created any empirical models to measure the learning outcomes in schools.
After spending 12 years in school, the students realize that they have not learnt anything that can help them grow in their career. Their knowledge level after schooling is negligibly low. As they are not suitable for higher education, they end up loitering in streets. But at that time they do not have any channel to register their complaint to hold the school and school teachers accountable. Thus, the government is spoiling the lives and careers of millions of students.
Incompetent School Teachers
In the continuously falling Delhi school education standards, the biggest losers are students and their parents – most of whom belong to the disadvantaged section of the society. The primary culprits for this persisting problem are school teachers because they are supposed to take care of the students’ careers.
Now it is an open secret that the teachers – guest as well as regular – are so incompetent that they do not deserve any job in schools. They never tried to revamp the archaic syllabuses and obsolete pedagogy in order to make students employable in the contemporary job market.
As a result, joblessness is spreading like a pandemic disease and teachers are responsible for this ugly plight. Students taught by these good-for-nothing teachers cannot be called educated and they never get ready for any work that can give them proper employment.
Moreover, the teachers never tried to acquire new skills that students need to earn their livelihoods in the current cutthroat world. Let alone subject proficiency, most teachers do not know how to properly use English language which is the cornerstone for every modern job in India and abroad today.
If government stops protecting them, these government school teachers – who are surviving on public money – will not be able to get any job in the open market because they do not possess domain knowledge of any subject. Most of these teachers are so raw that they are not even trainable.
If they are asked to appear in a proper test in the subjects they are supposed to teach, 9 out of every 10 teachers will fail. Then why do Delhi politicians want to protect them? Answer: Politics – rather dirty politics.
Delhi Schools and Dirty Politics
It has been observed that politicians of all political parties that ruled in Delhi during the past few decades could never improve school education standards. But the quality of education has particularly deteriorated during the past about 3 years.
While the politicians in Delhi Government headed by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal are playing dirty politics, they want to use teachers as their political agents in schools. The politicians protect all incompetent teachers because they want political favors in return from teachers as they can influence millions of voters – such as parents of local students.
Today, there are nearly 6,000 government or aided schools in which nearly 5 million students are enrolled. A conservative estimate suggests that the number of parents of these students is more than 3 million. This is a massive vote bank.
Obviously, all political parties would like to woo these parents in all types of Delhi elections. At present in Delhi’s population of 20 million, there are around 13 million voters. Normally, on average, 60% voters vote in an election. So, it will be safe to assume that roughly 8 million voters vote in an election. The parties that win elections get somewhere between 30% to 50% votes; other votes get divided among defeated parties.
Going by this formula, the political party that gets about 4 million votes can hope to win an election in Delhi. Now the vote bank of 3 million parents of school teachers looks very big. Almost all of these 3 million voters are poor and uneducated who usually vote in elections. The percentage of educated voters is very low in all Indian elections.
It is extremely easy for Delhi politicians to deceive these uneducated parents of school students by repeatedly telling lies and saying that education quality is very good in schools. But actually the education quality is bad and false education publicity has become a big scandal in Delhi. Poor parents are not aware of this ongoing political fraud.
Violation of Child Rights
As a journalist and social activist, I have been running major education reformation campaigns in Delhi and I also have been running a free school for poor children single-handedly (without any support) for the past about 3 years.
While politicians in Delhi Government are patting on their own backs for the school education standards, I regularly meet hundreds of students and parents who tell me that the quality of education in Delhi schools is going from bad to worse.
In order to thwart my efforts, the school teachers are intimidating students and parents who participate in the campaigns that I run to get the quality of education improved in schools. My public campaigns tend to expose the nefarious designs of teachers and politicians.
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Factors That Impede Student Education |
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Poverty |
As parents have limited financial resources, they force their children to do undignified jobs. |
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Social Evil |
Parents force girl students to discontinue education and they are pushed into early marriage. |
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Uneducated Parents |
Since most parents are uneducated, they fail to create an academic culture in their homes. |
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Poor Communications |
Although teachers hold perfunctory meetings with students’ parents, they fail to leverage the communications for the improvement of learning outcomes. |
Recently, I sent a representation to Lt. Governor of Delhi, the Education Secretary / Director of Delhi Government, the Chief Minister of Delhi, and other concerned departments asking them to work seriously toward improving the education atmosphere in schools.
The Law Department of Delhi Government had forwarded my representation (Subject: Poor Quality of Education in Delhi Schools) to the Director (Education) of Delhi Government. I had given 8 specific recommendations to improve the quality of education in schools.
Similarly, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) of the Government of India took cognizance of my representation under Section 13 (1) (j) of CPCR Act, 2005 regarding deprivation and violation of child rights.
In December 2017, NCPCR informed the Director (Education) of Delhi Government about the findings of a survey that I had done under my NGO RMN Foundation. The survey revealed the problems in the current education system in Delhi schools and found that students and parents are extremely disturbed with the school education system.
But it is shocking to note that the Director (Education) of Delhi Government simply ignored the letters of the Law Department as well as NCPCR, and did not bother to communicate with me.
The arrogance as well as carelessness of teachers, bureaucrats, and politicians in Delhi is spoiling the lives of millions of children and it is clearly an abuse of child rights.
In order to protect the education rights of children, I am working to help students and parents raise their voice against the injustice being done to them. I had sent the following representation to the government. It is based on a signature campaign in which harmed students and parents participated.
दिल्ली के स्कूलों में बढ़ते अत्याचार के ख़िलाफ़ लोगों ने उठाई आवाज़
शुरू किया हस्ताक्षर अभियान
गुरु गोविंद दोनों खड़े, काके लागूं पाँय ।
बलिहारी गुरु आपनो, गोविंद दियो मिलाय ।
यह कह कर संत कबीर ने गुरु यानि अध्यापक को भगवान से भी ऊपर का स्थान दिया था। लेकिन आज का अध्यापक भगवान नहीं बल्कि शैतान बन कर रह गया है।
आप सब को यह पता होगा कि आज देश–विदेश में यह कह कर भारत की शिक्षा प्रणाली पर सवाल उठाए जा रहे हैं कि यदि भारत में शिक्षा का स्तर इतना ख़राब है तो माता–पिता अपने बच्चों को स्कूल या कॉलेज क्यों भेजते हैं।
जबकि शिक्षा का एक बडा उद्देश्य स्टूडेंट को अच्छी नौकरी के लिए तैयार करना है, भारत में शिक्षा का नौकरी से कोई सम्बन्ध नहीं है। अपनी शिक्षा पूरी करने के बाद जब अधिकतर लोगों को नौकरी नहीं मिलती, तब जाकर उन्हें पता चलता है कि उन्होंने अपनी जिंदगी के कई साल शिक्षा लेने में बर्बाद कर दिये।
यहाँ तक कि भारत सरकार ने अपनी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति के प्रारूप 2016 (Draft National Education Policy, 2016) में भारत की शिक्षा व्यवस्था में इतनी कमियां बताई हैं कि कुछ लोग तो अपने बच्चों को स्कूल या कॉलेज में भेजना ही बंद कर देंगे। इसमें यह भी कहा गया है कि भारत के स्कूलों में अधिकतर शिक्षक पढ़ाने के योग्य नहीं हैं।
भारत की शिक्षा के गिरते हुए स्तर की बात अब सिर्फ भारत में ही नहीं बल्कि पूरी दुनिया में की जा रही है। उदाहरण के लिए वैश्विक मानव विकास सूचकांक (एच.डी.आई.) – Global Human Development Index (HDI) – में भारत का स्थान विशव में बहुत नीचे यानि 131 नंबर पर आता है – जो एक चिंता का विषय है। बहुत से छोटे और गरीब देशों में भी शिक्षा व्यवस्था भारत से बहुत अच्छी है।
दिल्ली के स्कूलों में शिक्षा का गिरता हुआ स्तर
इस शिक्षा प्रणाली में गिरते हुए स्तर का सबसे बड़ा उदाहरण हमें दिल्ली के स्कूलों में मिलता है जहाँ शिक्षा के निरंतर बिगड़ते हालात को सुधारने की बजाय स्कूलों में अध्यापक एक तरह से बच्चों और उनके माता-पिता पर अत्याचार कर रहे हैं।
हालाँकि राजनीतिक चालबाज़ी करनेवाले नेता दिल्ली की शिक्षा के बारे में झूठे दावे कर रहे हैं, सच्चाई यह है कि स्कूल की बिल्डिंग और स्कूल के कमरों को शिक्षा में सुधार कह कर बताया जा रहा है जबकि इन कमरों में शिक्षा का नामों-निशान तक नहीं। टीचरों का तो इतना बुरा हाल है कि सीधे-सीधे शब्दों में कहना कठिन है।
जब स्टूडेंट्स और उनके माता-पिता शिक्षा में सुधार की बात करते हैं तो स्कूल टीचर उन्हें डराते और धमकाते हैं या फिर स्कूल में अच्छी तरह पढ़ाने की बजाय उन्हें प्राइवेट ट्यूशन पढ़ने के लिए मजबूर करते हैं। लोग पूछ रहे हैं कि यदि बच्चों ने प्राइवेट ट्यूशन से पढ़ना है तो सरकार अध्यापकों को किस बात के पैसे देती है। यह तो सरकारी धन का दुरूपयोग है।
लोगों का यह भी मानना है कि अध्यापकों का ऐसा चाल-चलन एक सामाजिक बुराई ही नहीं बल्कि एक अपराध है जिसे सिर्फ कानूनी रूप से हल किया जा सकता है और दिल्ली सरकार को कार्रवाई करके ऐसे सभी अध्यापकों को नौकरी से तुरंत निकाल देना चाहिए।
बेईमान अध्यापक
तो क्यों है दिल्ली की शिक्षा का बुरा हाल? वैसे तो हम इसके कई कारण गिन सकते हैं। लेकिन दिल्ली की शिक्षा के सर्वनाश में सब से बड़ा हाथ है स्कूल टीचरों या अध्यापकों का जो भ्रष्टाचार और बेईमानी की एक जिन्दा मिसाल हैं।
जब विद्यार्थियों की स्कूल की शिक्षा ख़राब होगी तो उनकी कॉलेज की या आगे की पढ़ाई कभी ठीक नहीं हो सकती। सरकारी और प्राइवेट स्कूलों में टीचरों का एक सा ही बुरा हाल है। आज दिल्ली के स्कूल – स्कूल नहीं बल्कि भ्रष्टाचार के ट्रेनिंग सेंटर की तरह चल रहे हैं। टीचर (अध्यापक) क्लास में आते नहीं, जो आते हैं वो पढ़ाते नहीं। बहुत से टीचर पढ़ा सकते नहीं क्योंकि उन्हें पढ़ाना आता नहीं। परीक्षा में टीचर स्टूडेंट्स को नक़ल खुद करवाते हैं।
और क्लास में पढ़ाने की बजाय टीचर बच्चों को प्राइवेट ट्यूशन पढ़ने के लिए कहते हैं जो एक अपराध ही नहीं बल्कि एक समाजिक बुराई भी है। अगर स्टूडेंट्स ने प्राइवेट ट्यूशन ही पढ़नी है तो स्कूल टीचरों को किस बात के पैसे मिल रहे हैं? यह टीचरों का भ्रष्टाचार नहीं तो और क्या है? जो टीचर स्टूडेंट्स को नक़ल करके पास करवाते हैं वह चोरी नहीं तो और क्या है?
बहुत से स्कूल टीचरों का तो इतना बुरा हाल है कि उन्हें कुछ सिखाया भी नहीं जा सकता। ऐसे लगता है कि वे पाषाण युग (Stone Age) से सीधे आधुनिक युग (modern world) में आ गए हैं। उनको यह भी पता नहीं है कि स्कूलों में पाठ्यक्रम (syllabus) और किताबें इतनी पुरानी और दिशाहीन हैं कि वह विद्यार्थी को नौकरी लेने में काम नहीं आएंगे।
हालाँकि सरकार स्कूल टीचरों के प्रशिक्षण पर करोड़ों रुपया खर्च करती है, लेकिन यह सब सरकारी पैसे की बर्बादी है। ऐसा समझ लीजिए कि एक गधे को गीत गाना तो सिखाया जा सकता है, लेकिन एक स्कूल टीचर को आधुनिक शिक्षा नहीं दी जा सकती। कृपया इस गधे वाली बात का कोई गल्त मतलब न निकालिएगा, यह सिर्फ एक उदहारण है।
बहुत से सरकारी स्कूल टीचरों को पता है कि उनके स्कूल की पढ़ाई और माहौल बिल्कुल ख़राब है। लेकिन वे इतने बेईमान हैं कि वे अपनी नौकरी के पैसे तो सरकार से लेते हैं परन्तु अपने बच्चों को प्राइवेट स्कूलों में पढ़ाते हैं – हालाँकि प्राइवेट स्कूलों की हालत भी ख़राब है।
टीचरों की क्रूरता
टीचरों की क्रूरता और आतंक का कहर उस वक़्त और भी बढ़ जाता है जब वे क्लास में सवाल पूछने पर बेचारे बच्चों या विद्यार्थियों को या तो ऊँची आवाज़ में डराते और धमकाते हैं या उन्हें मारते–पीटते हैं। उसके बाद बच्चा इतना डर जाता है कि क्लास में कभी सवाल नहीं पूछता। ऐसा डरा हुआ बच्चा मानसिक रोगों का शिकार हो जाता है और अपनी पूरी जिंदगी में न तो कुछ सीख पाता है और न ही कुछ अच्छा काम कर पाता है।
यहाँ यह बताना आवश्यक है कि भारत के कानून के मुताबिक, स्कूल में टीचर बच्चों को ऐसी कोई सज़ा नहीं दे सकते जिससे बच्चों को कोई शारीरिक या मानसिक पीड़ा हो। यदि टीचर ऐसा करते हैं तो वह एक कानूनन अपराध माना जाता है जिससे टीचरों की नौकरी भी जा सकती है।
लेकिन स्कूल के बच्चों और उनके माता–पिता को टीचरों ने इस तरह डराया हुआ है कि वे इन टीचरों के आतंक और स्कूल में और कमियों के बारे में कहीं शिकायत नहीं कर पाते। एक तरह से टीचरों ने बच्चों और उनके माता–पिता की आवाज़ को दबा दिया है जो एक मानव अधिकारों का उल्लंघन (human rights violation) माना जाएगा।
अगर कोई शिकायत करने की कोशिश करता है तो स्कूल टीचर उसको अनसुना कर देते हैं और यदि कोई लिख कर शिकायत करने की सोचता है तो स्कूलों में जान–बूझकर ऐसा कोई प्रबंध नहीं किया गया जहाँ शिकायत को औपचारिक रूप से स्वीकार किया जाए। स्कूलों में हर कदम पर धोखा है।
क्योंकिं मैं भारत की राजधानी दिल्ली में ग़रीब बच्चों के लिए एक मुफ़्त शिक्षा का स्कूल (free school for desrving children) चलाता हुँ, मैं ऐसे कई दुखी बच्चों और उनके माता–पिता को रोज़ मिलता हुँ जो अपनी आवाज़ स्कूल या सरकार तक नहीं पहुंचा सकते।
लोगों ने मिलकर उठाई आवाज़
हाल ही में दिल्ली में द्वारका के एक स्कूल के स्टूडेंट्स और माता-पिता ने सामूहिक रूप से पत्र लिख कर प्रिंसिपल को शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार करने की मांग की। लेकिन दुख की बात है कि उनकी बात सुनने की बजाय स्कूल के अध्यापकों ने स्टूडेंट्स और उनके माता-पिता को ऐसी मांग करने के लिए डराना शुरू कर दिया है और उन्हें प्राइवेट ट्यूशन पढ़ने के लिए मजबूर किया जा रहा है।
RMN Foundation – जो स्टूडेंट्स को मुफ्त आधुनिक शिक्षा देने के लिए करीब तीन साल से बिना किसी सहयोग के दिल्ली में एक स्कूल चला रहा है – इस मामले में स्टूडेंट्स को उनका शिक्षा का अधिकार दिलवाने की कोशिश कर रहा है। और अब RMN Foundation ने स्टूडेंट्स और माता-पिता के सहयोग से इस अभियान को दिल्ली के और भी स्कूलों में ले जाना शुरू कर दिया है ताकि सरकार की आँखें खुलें और वह शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार के साथ-साथ बेईमान टीचरों को जल्दी से नौकरी से निकाले।
आप दिल्ली के द्वारका स्कूल का केस नीचे पढ़ सकते हैं।
दिल्ली स्कूल स्टूडेंट्स और माता-पिता का पत्र प्रिंसिपल को – शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार करो
दिल्ली के स्कूलों में पढ़ने वाले लाखों स्टूडेंट्स और उनके माता-पिता स्कूल में पढ़ाई की बिगड़ती हालत से इतने चिंतित हैं कि रात–रात भर सो नहीं सकते। लोगों का मानना है कि दिल्ली सरकार शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार करने की बजाय स्कूलों में कमरे बढ़ाती जा रही है।
पिछले दो साल में RMN Foundation हज़ारों स्टूडेंट्स और उनके माता-पिता से मिलने के बाद इस निष्कर्ष पर पहुंचा है कि दिल्ली के स्कूलों में शिक्षा का स्तर लगातार गिरता जा रहा है और सरकार हाथ पर हाथ रख कर बैठी हुई है। इसलिए स्टूडेंट्स और उनके माता-पिता की चिंता और भी बढ़ गई है।
इसीलिए दिल्ली के एक स्कूल की सैंकड़ों छात्राओं और स्टूडेंट्स के माता-पिता ने एक सिगनेचर कैंपेन करके स्कूल प्रिंसिपल को शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार करने के लिए एक पत्र लिखा जिसे RMN Foundation ने स्पीड पोस्ट से प्रिंसिपल को भेजा। हालाँकि स्कूल प्रिंसिपल को जवाब के लिए 15 दिन का समय दिया गया और November 7, 2017 तक जवाब माँगा गया। लेकिन प्रिंसिपल और टीचरों के लिए शायद यह विषय महत्वपूर्ण नहीं है। प्रिंसिपल ने कोई उचित जवाब नहीं दिया।
आप स्टूडेंट्स और माता-पिता का पत्र और RMN Foundation का पत्र नीचे पढ़ सकते हैं। RMN Foundation इस पत्र के बारे में और दिल्ली के स्कूलों में शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार के बारे में जल्दी ही अपना अगला प्रोग्राम घोषित करेगा। दिल्ली के सब स्कूल स्टूडेंट्स और उनके माता-पिता से अनुरोध है कि वे शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार के लिए RMN Foundation को सहयोग दें। धन्यवाद।
सेवा में,
श्रीमती प्रधानाचार्या जी (The Principal)
राजकिय उच्चतर कन्या वरिष्ठ माध्यमिक विद्यालय
सेक्टर – 3, फेज – 3, द्वारका, नई दिल्ली – 110 078
विष्य: शिक्षा का गिरता हुआ स्तर और उसमें सुधार का सुझाव
अगस्त 8, 2017
महोदया,
हम आपके स्कूल की छात्राएं हैं। इस पत्र के द्वारा हम आपसे स्कूल की शिक्षा प्रणाली में पूरी तरह से सुधार करने का अनुरोध कर रही हैं | जब हम अपने चारों ओर देखती हैं तो स्कूल की शिक्षा के बाद अंधेरा ही अंधेरा दिखाई देता है। स्कूल की पढ़ाई के बाद कॉलेज में दाख़िला बहुत मुश्किल या असंभव है। कॉलेज की पढ़ाई खत्म करने के बाद भी नौकरी नहीं है क्योंकि स्कूल और कॉलेज की पढ़ाई इतनी दिशाहीन है कि यह हमें एक अच्छी नौकरी करने के योग्य नहीं बना सकती।
शिक्षा का गिरता स्तर
स्कूल का पाठ्यक्रम इतना पुराना और घिसा–पिटा है कि उसे पढ़ने के बाद भी स्टूडेंट अनपढ़ ही माना जाता है। इसका सबसे बड़ा कारण यह है कि पिछले 30 साल में भारत में कोई नई राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति नहीं बनी। पिछली राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति 1986 में बनी थी। भारत की शिक्षा के गिरते हुए स्तर की बात अब सिर्फ भारत में ही नहीं बल्कि पूरी दुनिया में की जा रही है। उदाहरण के लिए वैश्विक मानव विकास सूचकांक (एच.डी.आई.) – Global Human Development Index (HDI) – में भारत का स्थान विश्व में बहुत नीचे यानि 130 नंबर पर आता है – जो एक चिंता का विषय है।
यहाँ तक कि भारत सरकार ने अपनी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति के प्रारूप 2016 (Draft National Education Policy, 2016) में भारत की शिक्षा व्यवस्था में इतनी कमियाँ बताई हैं कि कुछ लोग तो अपने बच्चों को स्कूल या कॉलेज में भेजना ही बंद कर देंगे। जो विषय हमें स्कूल में पढ़ाए जाते हैं, वे नौकरी लेने में सहायक नहीं हैं।
सरकारी नौकरियाँ न के बराबर हैं। बढ़ी कंपनियों में नौकरियाँ हैं लेकिन उन नौकरियों के लिए आधुनिक पढ़ाई चाहिए जो आम स्कूल और कॉलेज नहीं दे रहे। आज के आधुनिक युग में नौकरी के लिए डिग्री से ज्यादा कौशल और योग्यता की जरूरत है। लेकिन ऐसा कौशल और योग्यता हमारी पढ़ाई का हिस्सा नहीं है। इसका परिणाम यह है कि जिसके पास डिग्री है, उसके पास नौकरी नहीं और जिसने नौकरी देनी है उसे योग्य लोग नहीं मिल रहे।
टीचर सिर्फ क्लास में आकर और इधर-उधर की बातें कर के अपने घर वापिस चले जाते हैं। उन्होंने न तो कभी इस पुरानी शिक्षा का हमारे कैरियर में महत्व समझाया और न ही इस पुरानी शिक्षा को बदलने की कोशिश की। इसका परिणाम यह है कि आज डिग्री वाले बेरोजगारों की संख्या बढ़ती जा रही है और बेरोज़गारी एक ख़तरनाक बीमारी की तरह फैली हुई है। हालाँकि टीचर की यह ज़िम्मेदारी है की वह स्टूडेंट्स का कैरियर पाथ (career path) बनाए, लेकिन ऐसा किसी भी टीचर ने नहीं किया। इसका कारण यह है कि टीचरों को शायद खुद ही आधुनिक शिक्षा प्रणाली और कैरियर में उसके महत्व का ज्ञान नहीं है। तो कौन बताएगा हमें हमारे कैरियर के बारे में?
शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार
शिक्षा प्रणाली में सुधार के लिए हमारा सुझाव है कि आप पाँचवी कक्षा तक बच्चों को इंग्लिश, हिंदी, गणित, और कंप्यूटर की आधुनिक शिक्षा दें। केवल उन्हीं बच्चों को अगली कक्षा में करें जो परीक्षा पास करें। पाँचवी कक्षा के बाद शिक्षा को तीन भागों में बाँट दें। यह भाग हैं – आर्ट्स (Arts), कॉमर्स (Commerce), और स्टेम (STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
छठी कक्षा से दसवीं कक्षा तक बच्चों को उनकी योग्यता के अनुसार इन तीन में से किसी एक भाग में शिक्षा दें। उसके बाद दो साल इसी शिक्षा को नौकरी में उपयोग के लिए प्रायोगिक ट्रेनिंग दें। केवल उन्हीं बच्चों को अगली कक्षा में करें जो परीक्षा नक़ल से नहीं बल्कि अपनी योग्यता से पास करें। ऐसी नई शिक्षा प्रणाली के लिए नये अध्यापकों की आवश्यकता होगी जो स्टूडेंट्स को आधुनिक शिक्षा दे सकें। पुराने अध्यापकों को बदल कर स्कूल में नये अध्यापक रखने होंगे जिनकी सैलरी (salary) उनकी योग्यता और स्टूडेंट्स के परिणाम पर निर्भर होगी।
इस नई शिक्षा प्रणाली को लागू करने के लिए आप जल्दी से सरकार में भी बात करें। और जब तक यह नई शिक्षा प्रणाली लागू नहीं हो जाती, हमें पुराने पाठ्यक्रम से पढ़ाना बंद करें ताकि हम अपना समय स्कूल के बाहर आधुनिक वैकल्पिक पढ़ाई (modern alternative education) में उपयोग कर सकें।
इस बारे में आप अपना निर्णय सार्वजनिक और औपचारिक रूप से तुरंत स्कूल में घोषित करें। धन्यवाद
आपके स्कूल की छात्राएं – अगस्त 8, 2017
बच्चों के माता-पिता का पत्र
शिक्षा का गिरता हुआ स्तर और उसमें सुधार का सुझाव
जैसा कि स्कूल की छात्राएं अपने अगस्त 8, 2017 के पत्र में कह रही हैं, हम बच्चों के माता-पिता उससे पूरी तरह से सहमत हैं। आज की स्कूल की पढ़ाई हमारे बच्चों के किसी काम नहीं आ रही। इसलिए शिक्षा प्रणाली में पूरी तरह से सुधार करके उसे तुरंत आधुनिक बनाया जाए ताकि नयी शिक्षा हमारे बच्चों को अच्छा इंसान बना सके और उन्हें अपनी जीविका कमाने और अच्छी नौकरी लेने में सहायता कर सके।
बच्चों के माता-पिता अगस्त 8, 2017
Letter from RMN Foundation to Principal
To
The Principal / Vice Principal
Government Girls Senior Secondary School
Site – 1, Sector 3, Phase III, Dwarka
New Delhi 110 078
Kind Attention: Ms. Usha Gupta, Vice Principal
October 23, 2017
Subject: Representation from students and parents to improve the education system in your school
Dear Madam,
I am a journalist and social activist. At present – along with my editorial work – I run a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. This is about the enclosed 8-page representation – signed by hundreds of students and parents – which urges you to improve the quality of education in your school.
In this representation, the complainants have raised a number of critical issues that you need to address immediately. According to the students, the current quality of education is so bad that it is depriving them of their fundamental right to good education. They also complain that teachers in your school are not fully qualified to teach any subject that is required in the contemporary job market. They have urged you to replace all such teachers with properly educated teachers.
Students and their parents observe that in the current system there is no connection between education and students’ employability. And instead of taking steps to overhaul the education paradigm, teachers – who are mostly incompetent – are blindly following obsolete education models. Teachers never tried to set the career paths of students in order to make them employable while the ongoing archaic education is not useful for them.
In their representation, the students also have suggested a few remedial steps that you can take immediately. If you think you are not in a position to improve the education system in your school to the the entire satisfaction of the aggrieved students and parents, you should formally escalate their concerns to the higher authorities in the Education Department or the Delhi Government.
You are requested to take these remedial steps immediately because all your school teachers are being paid with public money. If your services are not acceptable to students and parents, you are not supposed to be holding your jobs.
In response to the enclosed representation, you are expected to:
- Create a new syllabus for your school students in different classes in consultation with the top employers in the contemporary job market.
- Create a suitable test for all the teachers in your school keeping in view the new syllabus and subjects that they are supposed to teach. If the teachers are not able to clear the test, you should recommend the termination of their services.
- Create the career path – along with the employment probability – of each student in different streams of education that you would impart in the new system.
You are also requested to send me your response – including the steps that you have taken to address the above issues – at the address given below within 15 days of receiving this letter. If the students and parents are not satisfied with your response, RMN Foundation will have to seek the right administrative and / or legal remedy to get necessary changes, including replacement of teachers, in your school and for which you will be personally responsible as the head of the school.
Important Note: Some students and parents who are participating in this education reform campaign fear that they may be threatened by you, the teachers, or others in your school for raising their voice against the dwindling education system. You are requested to take full precautions so that students’ and parents’ right to dissent is fully protected and they should not be intimidated or harmed covertly or overtly for participating in this or any future campaign against the flawed education system.
Request you to send me your response within 15 days – latest by November 7, 2017.
Regards
Rakesh Raman
Founder
RMN Foundation
463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4
Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078
Enclosed: 8-page representation signed by students and parents
RMN Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that offers free modern education to deserving children. It is an educational and public charitable Trust registered with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi at New Delhi, India. Website: www.rmnfoundation.org
Although RMN Foundation had sent the above case of Dwarka school to the Education Department of Delhi Government in order to get justice for students and parents, Delhi Government – as it was expected – simply ignored the public concerns.
So, now RMN Foundation has decided to extend this education reformation campaign in more schools of Delhi.
All students, parents, and teachers in Delhi are requested to support this endeavour which is aimed to suitably educate the students in order to help them lead a clean and prosperous life.
As part of the new signature campaign which was launched in November 2017, the following letter is being circulated in different schools and residential areas of Delhi.
Signatures of Students
दिल्ली में शिक्षा का गिरता हुआ स्तर और उसमें सुधार का सुझाव
| ऐसी पढ़ाई का कोई फायदा नहीं जो हमें अच्छी नौकरी न दे सके। |
हम सब दिल्ली के स्टूडेंट स्कूल में पढ़ाई की बिगड़ती हालत से इतने चिंतित हैं कि रात–रात भर सो नहीं सकते। स्कूल की पढ़ाई इतनी बेकार है कि हमारे भविष्य में काम नहीं आएगी। स्कूल का पाठ्यक्रम इतना पुराना और घिसा–पिटा है कि उसे पढ़ने के बाद भी स्टूडेंट अनपढ़ ही माना जाता है।
स्कूल टीचर क्लास में पढ़ाने की बजाए बच्चों को प्राइवेट ट्यूशन के दलदल में धकेल देते हैं। स्कूल और ट्यूशन के बाद भी जो स्टूडेंट दसवीं (10th) या बारहवीं (12th) क्लास भी पास कर लेता है उसे पहली क्लास की पढ़ाई भी नहीं आती। ऐसे दसवीं और बारहवीं तक के स्टूडेंट न तो अच्छी तरह हिंदी भाषा जानते हैं न गणित। और इंग्लिश भाषा में तो बहुत ही बुरा हाल है। कुछ तो ठीक तरह से बोल भी नहीं पाते। क्या यह है पढ़ाई?
स्कूल की पढ़ाई के बाद कॉलेज में दाखिला बहुत मुश्किल या असंभव है। कॉलेज की पढ़ाई खत्म करने के बाद भी नौकरी नहीं है क्योंकि स्कूल और कॉलेज की पढ़ाई इतनी दिशाहीन है कि यह हमें एक अच्छी नौकरी करने के योग्य नहीं बना सकती। इसका परिणाम यह है कि आज डिग्री वाले बेरोजगारों की संख्या बढ़ती जा रही है और बेरोज़गारी एक ख़तरनाक बीमारी की तरह फैली हुई है।
यहाँ तक कि भारत सरकार ने अपनी राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति के प्रारूप 2016 (Draft National Education Policy, 2016) में भारत की शिक्षा व्यवस्था में इतनी कमियाँ बताई हैं कि कुछ लोग तो अपने बच्चों को स्कूल या कॉलेज में भेजना ही बंद कर देंगे। जो विषय हमें स्कूल में पढ़ाए जाते हैं, वे नौकरी लेने में सहायक नहीं हैं। सरकारी नौकरियाँ न के बराबर हैं। बढ़ी कंपनियों में नौकरियाँ हैं लेकिन उन नौकरियों के लिए आधुनिक पढ़ाई चाहिए जो आम स्कूल और कॉलेज नहीं दे रहे।
आज के आधुनिक युग में नौकरी के लिए डिग्री से ज्यादा कौशल और योग्यता की जरूरत है। लेकिन ऐसा कौशल और योग्यता हमारी पढ़ाई का हिस्सा नहीं है। इसका परिणाम यह है कि जिसके पास डिग्री है, उसके पास नौकरी नहीं और जिसने नौकरी देनी है उसे योग्य लोग नहीं मिल रहे।
इसलिए हमारा स्कूल टीचरों और सरकार से अनुरोध है कि वे जल्दी से सारा पाठ्यक्रम और पढ़ाई का तरीका इस तरह से बदलें कि वह हमें नौकरी लेने में सहायक हो। इसी तरह स्कूल में टीचर भी वे रखे जाएं जो आधुनिक शिक्षा के बारे में पूरी तरह से जानते हों और हमें वैसा ही पढ़ाएं जो हमें अच्छी नौकरी लेने या अच्छा काम करने में सहायक हो। धन्यवाद।
( Signature campaign started in November 2017 )
| स्टूडेंट का नाम | स्कूल का नाम और पता | क्लास / रोल नंबर | सिगनेचर |
Signatures of Parents
दिल्ली में शिक्षा का गिरता हुआ स्तर और उसमें सुधार का सुझाव
| ऐसी पढ़ाई का कोई फायदा नहीं जो हमें अच्छी नौकरी न दे सके। |
( Signature campaign started in November 2017 )
आज की स्कूल की पढ़ाई हमारे बच्चों के किसी काम नहीं आ रही। इसलिए शिक्षा प्रणाली में पूरी तरह से सुधार करके उसे तुरंत आधुनिक बनाया जाए ताकि नयी शिक्षा हमारे बच्चों को अच्छा इंसान बना सके और उन्हें अपनी जीविका कमाने और अच्छी नौकरी लेने में सहायता कर सके।
बच्चों के माता-पिता – Parents
| नाम | घर का पता | मोबाइल नंबर | सिगनेचर |
You can click here to download the above forms for signatures.
शिकायतें – Complaints
While running its education awareness campaigns, RMN Foundation receives hundreds of complaints from school students and parents. Some of the common complaints are listed below.
शिकायतें
- टीचर क्लास में नियमित रूप से नहीं आता
- क्लास में पढ़ाने की बजाए टीचर एक दूसरे के साथ गप्पें लगाते हैं
- टीचर क्लास में मोबाइल फ़ोन पर बातें करता है
- टीचर क्लास में मोबाइल फ़ोन की तार कान में लगा कर फ़िल्मी गाने इत्यादि सुनता है
- बच्चे के सवाल पूछने पर टीचर बच्चे को डांडता या मारता है
- टीचर को अच्छी तरह पढ़ाना नहीं आता
- टीचर या खुद प्राइवेट ट्यूशन पढ़ाता है या बच्चों को प्राइवेट ट्यूशन पढ़ने को कहता है
- टीचर अपनी जगह किसी और को पढाने के लिए क्लास में भेजता है
- टीचर कंप्यूटर लैब नहीं खोलता
- टीचर किसी तरह की रिश्वत मांगता है
- टीचर परीक्षा में स्टूडेंट्स को नकल करवाता है
- स्कूल बिना पढ़ाए बच्चे को अगली क्लास में करते जा रहे हैं
- टीचर क्लास में बहुत ज्यादा खाँसी करता है या उसे कोई ऐसी आदत है जो बच्चों के लिए ठीक नहीं
- टीचर शराब या बीड़ी–सिगरेट पीता है
- सरकारी स्कूल टीचर का अपना बच्चा प्राइवेट स्कूल में पढ़ता है
- स्कूल मैनेजमेंट कमेटी (school management committee) ठीक नहीं चलती
Recommendations from the Campaign
- Delhi Government should create new syllabuses for different subjects keeping in view the contemporary job market requirements.
- New books should be developed based on the new syllabuses. Besides covering subjects, these books should also include pedagogical instructions for teachers.
- Delhi Government should immediately launch a new “teacher eligibility program” in order to assess the employed teachers’ suitability in the modern education ecosystem.
- Teachers should be asked to appear in a properly designed test covering different subjects. Only those teachers should be retained who clear the test comprehensively. The services of failed teachers must be terminated.
- The salary of new teachers should be based on the performance of their students in the class and in the job market.
- The services of teachers who ask students to attend private tuitions must be terminated.
- Delhi Government should create a special cell to handle each and every complaint from students or parents. Depending on the complaint, the services of teachers must be suspended before initiating legal proceedings against them.
- Retired teachers – most of whom are clueless about the modern education systems – should never be appointed as teachers.
|
Corrective Actions |
|
|
Action |
Description |
|
Change |
Change the syllabuses of all the classes and link them with potential jobs. |
|
Replace |
Replace all the books with the new books that should have appropriate content quality. |
|
Terminate |
Terminate the services of all incompetent teachers. |
|
Hire |
Hire new teachers who understand the requirements of the contemporary job market. |
|
Create |
Create career path for each school student. |
|
Stop |
Stop all forms of private tuitions. |
National Perspective
Politics plays a major role in violating the right to education of students. No government in India during the past seven decades since the country’s independence has shown any inclination to educate its people.
Indian politics and politicians (most of them are uneducated) have been thriving on voters’ illiteracy, as mostly the uneducated voters vote and they can easily be deceived and bribed during elections.
It is not in the interest of any government in India to carry out education reforms because politicians and bureaucrats are corrupt and they do not want to face the educated people.
They know that educated people protest and pose difficult questions to the administration while dishonest politicians and bureaucrats want to run the country in a totally freewheeling manner. That is why India continues to be a poor, underdeveloped country.
In order to suppress parents’ possible dissent against the poor quality of education, government bribes them with baits such as monthly allowances and midday meals.
And it is shocking to note that the monthly amount of money is decided and distributed to students based on discriminatory parameters such as gender, caste, religion, etc.
Most parents are greedy and send their children to schools only to collect the government dole. Actually, they are not interested in educating their children.
This may be the reason that parents in low-income localities produce many children instead of following the family planning norms and restricting the production to two children per family. Large families and unrestrained population growth in India are among the many worrying factors that impede economic development in the country.
With more school-going children, parents try to collect more monetary benefits from the government’s corrupt education schemes that tend to carelessly squander taxpayers’ money.
While education remains a distant dream, government is leveraging the high enrollment in schools as a deceitful political tool to hoodwink the voters and win elections.
The poor state of education in India manifests this harsh reality. Despite tall claims by the government, the education standards are deteriorating continuously.
Now, the Indian government supported by the morally corrupt parents is hell-bent to destroy the current as well as future generations by depriving children of their right to good education.
Parents who are not raising their voice against the declining education standards in the country are the worst enemies of their own children.
Remedial Steps to Save School Education
Now, what should we do to improve the quality of education particularly in Indian government and private schools which are supposed to build the foundation for higher education of students?
Here is a list of 13 remedial steps that need to be taken to achieve the desired results.
- Primary Curriculum
The curriculum for primary education needs to be serially structured with focus on arithmetic, statistics, computer technology, local language (say, Hindi), and English.
Other subjects such as general science, social studies, and general knowledge should be treated as secondary subjects on which primary schools should not spend more than 20% of the total teaching time.
- Education Streams
The students who clear the primary schooling should be offered to join three different education streams:
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
- Management
- Trade and Commerce
Students should be allowed to choose any of the these streams depending on their aptitude and performance in an admission test after the primary level.
- New Syllabuses and Books
The specially designed courses for each stream stated above will run for seven years (Class 6 – 12). Totally new syllabuses need to be created for these courses.
For example, the STEM courses can be further classified into life sciences, information technology, automobile engineering, or math-based microprocessor design.
Similarly, the Management studies can focus on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Resource Management, Digital Media Management, and so on.
The Trade and Commerce subjects must include the contemporary financial and economic trends in the local and international markets which are increasingly getting interconnected.
These are just a few examples of the new syllabuses that need to be designed. The idea is to encourage students to apply their education in the new environments keeping in view the employment requirements of the modern world.
Accordingly, all the school books need to be changed as the present books are totally irrelevant and carry unstructured content. Supplementary education, moral education, and soft skills should be integrated with the conventional school education.
- New Teachers
It is seen that almost all the teachers in government as well as private schools in India are not competent enough to teach in a modern environment.
The existing teachers in the schools should be asked to appear for a specially created teacher eligibility test to know if they can teach the subjects for the revamped syllabuses of different classes.
Only those teachers who clear the test comprehensively should be retained; others should be asked to take voluntary retirement. New teachers’ appointment should also be based on their academic record and performance in the teacher eligibility test. Plus, domain experts should be appointed as teachers.
- Crackdown on Private Tuitions
Although government rules restrict private tuitions, the business of private tuitions has become a big racket in India. School teachers, who are not supposed to ask students to take private tuitions, are pushing students into this mud.
If teachers cannot teach students properly in the school classes, why are they being paid salaries? And why are the students who can afford private tuitions being paid monetary allowances in government schools with the assumption that they are poor? School teachers and students must submit affidavits that they will stay away from private tuitions.
The government should declare private tuitions as an illegal trade and carry out a widespread crackdown on private tuition shops most of which are being run by semi-literate people.
The services of those school teachers who ask students to take private tuitions should immediately be terminated. Similarly, the students who take private tuitions should be thrown out of the school. The school education systems cannot improve if the students’ education is dependent on private shops.
- Role of Parents
Most parents know that the school education is not up to the mark. But when they try to raise their voice against it, they are dissuaded or threatened by school teachers.
The statutory school management committees, which are supposed to have some parents of students as members, exist only on papers. As the voice of the parents goes unheard, the government should create an effective channel through which parents could register their complaints against teachers without any fear.
A proper investigation should be conducted to redress the parents’ grievances and strict action should be taken against delinquent teachers.
- Parents’ Awareness
As most Indian parents are uneducated, they do not understand the meaning of education in their children’s lives. A large number of parents discontinue their children’s education and push them into low-wage employment or early marriage shackles. Such parents are cruel and treat their children as slaves.
In the absence of educational culture at their homes and because of utterly abusive education system in the government schools of India, most such students keep loitering in dirty streets and fall victim to bad habits such as drug abuse, theft, eve-teasing, scuffles, and so on.
Schools should arrange special awareness classes for parents so that they could take care of their children’s education. They should also be taught the family-planning norms so that they should not produce more children who become a burden on the entire society.
- Class Promotion
It is perhaps the worst practice in schools to promote students to the next class without assessing their performance in exams. If a student is not able to clear the exams of a particular class with at least 50% marks, they should never be sent to the next class. The rule should apply to all students of all classes.
The government should also stop the monetary allowance of those students who fail to clear their exams. Why should the public money be wasted on the students who are not capable to learn?
- Examination Surveillance
All of us know that the corruption level in all types of exams is increasing in India. The students in Class 10 or Class 12 do not know even the basic arithmetic involving addition, subtraction, etc. They cannot write even in Hindi and their understanding of English is pathetic, as school teachers are not quite competent to teach English.
In other words, the knowledge level of students who clear Class 10 or Class 12 exams is worse than even the primary level. Then how do such students clear Class 10 or Class 12 exams?
This is all because of mass copying in schools allowed by school teachers to show the better performance of schools. If such students are asked to sit again in closely monitored exams, nine out of every ten students will fail.
So, the government should make it mandatory to hold all school examinations under surveillance cameras which could catch the cheating students and corrupt teachers who help students copy and cheat. Special security personnel should also be deployed in examination halls. Then only the deserving students would be able to clear the exams.
- Special Education
An estimated six out of every ten students in government schools are slow learners. Although they may not be physically challenged, but they are mentally and emotionally challenged mainly because of their vulnerable socio-economic conditions.
Teachers can easily identify such students from their behaviour and performance in class. Such students cannot learn even simple topics such as English alphabet, basic arithmetic including addition, subtraction, etc. Moreover, they cannot sit properly in the class and hesitate when asked to speak.
Schools should create separate special education infrastructure for such students and they should not be taught along with normal students, as it will hamper the pace of teaching.
- Job Market
In the increasingly shrinking job market of India, it has become almost impossible even for people with academic degrees to get jobs. It does not mean that there are no jobs at all.
In fact, there are many jobs in the private companies, but most degree holders do not fulfill the job requirements. In other words, the degree holders are not qualified enough to handle modern-day jobs because of the poor quality of education in schools and colleges.
In order to increase the employability of students, the schools must coordinate regularly with companies in different industrial segments such as banking & finance, manufacturing, telecom services, tourism, etc. to make dynamic syllabuses based on the skills required for different modern jobs. The skill-based education should begin at the school level.
- Career Counseling
The schools should have dedicated counseling departments with specially trained counselors who could guide the students at every step of the education lifecycle.
The counselors should be able to tell the difference between a job and education-based career to students and chalk out the complete career path for students.
- Literacy Definition
The prevailing definition of literacy in India is totally false and misleading. A person is considered literate or educated if they can read, write, and do basic arithmetic in day-to-day life.
But this education is of no use. A person should be considered educated if they can get a respectable job with their education and progress in their career with the help of that education.
Among other academic qualities, such an educated person would have a formal certification equivalent to at least the bachelor’s degree or graduation degree.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) “literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.”
That is literacy. So, India should accordingly change its archaic definition of literacy and develop a realistic definition. By the new definition, in all probability, the number of educated persons in India will not be more than 5% of the total population.
While school education should only be treated as a foundation for higher education, the persons who have completed only the school education in the current system must be bracketed with uneducated people.
Today, the Indian government boasts that India is a nation of the young people with more than 54% of its 1.3 billion population below the age of 25 years.
But the government does not realize that in the absence of right education, these young people are like time bombs. They will not be able to achieve the right career without the right education. Then in desperation today’s young people will become tomorrow’s criminals (such as politicians) and bring disaster for India.
It is, therefore, an imperative to immediately revamp the entire school education system of India to save the lives of millions of children by giving them the right education.
Constructive Education Framework
In order to help schools revamp their educational and pedagogical systems, RMN Foundation has developed a curriculum: Constructive Education Framework.
It will help those forward-looking schools and parents who believe that the current education system in India is not quite helpful to ensure the right career for their children in the modern knowledge-driven world.
Objectives of Constructive Education Framework
- To connect education with employability
- To focus on skills development rather than on plain theory
- To teach with the principle of “Learning for Earning”
- To produce morally sound and honest people
- To build a clean and prosperous society
Schools and parents who want to adopt this modern system for the education of their children can contact Rakesh Raman of RMN Foundation.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He also runs a free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
About the Author
Rakesh Raman is a government’s National award-winning journalist and social activist. Besides working at senior editorial positions with India’s leading media companies, he had been writing an edit-page column for The Financial Express, a business newspaper of the Indian Express group.
Nowadays, for the past about 7 years, he has been running his own global news services on different subjects. He also has formed an environment-protection group called Green Group in Delhi. He has created a comprehensive online information service to educate the Indian voters for the upcoming Lok Sabha election scheduled to happen in 2019.
He is also running an exclusive community-driven online editorial section under the banner “Clean House” to help the suffering residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in group housing societies where millions of people live.
Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.
Rakesh Raman’s Work for Children’s Education
Rakesh Raman has written innovative storybooks to educate children in the high-tech area of information and communications technology (ICT) or computers through interesting stories. He also has written a “Multiple Subject Guide for Primary Learning” which teaches different subjects to children who study at the primary level.
He also runs RMN Kids, which is an edutainment (education and entertainment) website for children, their parents, and teachers. It is a global online content property covering diverse topics of contemporary relevance for children of all age groups. He has developed a “Constructive Education Framework” for school students to help them compete in the modern knowledge-driven world.
He also runs a free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
Contact
Rakesh Raman
463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4
Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, INDIA
You may please contact me on my email.
Research Reports by Rakesh Raman
[ Dark Streets: Research Report on Corruption in Delhi’s Housing Societies ] – Download
[ Poisonous Particles + Noise Nuisance = Death for Delhi ] – Research Report on Pollution
[ Download the Consultative Paper: Need to Transform the Political System in India ]
[ Fault Lines: A Research Report on the Quality of Education in Delhi Schools ] – Download
