Indian Education System needs a Reform

National Education Policy: Needs a Change 

Is our education system and Policy Pragmatic? Is our education at par with international Standard? George Bernard Shaw once ironically told about the English language spoken in England and American continent he told: “The two countries are divided by same language” – therefore India is a multilingual, multicultural, and multiracial country that must be divided by several languages. Why students of one state set back in academics and other states Shine? Why is there no Indian University even within the top two hundred Universities in the World? That means Somewhere, Something is Wrong.

The First Education Policy was formulated in 1968, surprisingly after a gap of 21 years of Indian Independence. After that, it was followed by 1986. The last Policy was set under the Chairmanship of K. Kasturiangam. Is a new policy really required? It is true that what has happened so far in the education system is not above interrogation.

However, I would say that two major things happened in during the current millennium. The infrastructure (School building) has certainly shown remarkable improvements, including the Private schools – though there is still a long way to go and thanks to mid-day meal. The number of teachers has gone up substantially. The apathy is that a poor student does not want to be promoted to class IX as he/she will lose his/her mid-day meal. This is the plight of primary and secondary education.

In higher education the translucent system of admission, academia, and research affecting the real flavor of education. Too much political involvement in educational institutes also mars the spirit of education. Proper monitoring is not there to stop malpractices.

Indian Education System needs a Reform

In my view, the Indian Education system is the most rigorous one. India has an 8th position in the world for suicides. In 2016 the number of suicides in India had increased to 230,314. Suicide was the most common cause of death in both the age groups of 15–29 years and 15–39 years. Well, there are various aspects for attempting suicide like Marriage related issues, Dowry related issues, Depression, and most common is Failure in Examination. According to the statistics, every hour one student attempt suicide in India. It happens because our education system is outdated we still following a colonial based education system. Let’s take a dig in origins of the education system in India, We need to go back in the early 1800s back in England when the Industrial Revolution was on his peek and the East India Company had just started their business in India at that point they did not know how to communicate with the Indian.

That time a man called Thomas Babington Macaulay told him to go to India and figure out what’s going on there and create an education system so we can teach Indians. Macaulay comes to India and wrote after that he went and he circulated a memorandum which was called the “Minute to Indian Education system” and in it he wrote, “It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanskrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England”. And then there is a debate about it few people oppose this view but then, in the end, Macaulay win and we had the English Education Act of 1835 this was implemented primarily so that we can bridge the gap between the British and Indian. Education meant to be in English while primary education and it was supposed to facilitate one of Macaulay’s views what he said was Education should be Utilitarian.

So, we can be all altruistic and say we are learning for the sake of learning but that’s not what Macaulay wanted. What he wanted Education to have a purpose and he said it should be Utilitarian and back then the East India Company needed people to sit at a desk do as they’re told without getting too Creative.

This is the History of Education in India and we still following this Colonial method whereas after getting rid of Colonialism. In India, we need to focus on students thinking faculties rather than making them memorization parrot for the developing nation it is very important to make Education to learn something new and Innovate something Creative. We need a huge Change in Education in India for that we all need to take this initiative to improve Education in Indian.