The changing facets of education

There is a need for improving our educational standards at all levels and upgradation of values

Recently I had occasion to value the answer sheets of in-service personal in a Government organisation for promotion to higher cadre. As I read sentences like “Mr. Kandukuri Viresalingam Panthulu is a human being mam;” “He write Kanyasulkam poems for child marriage opposition,” “He marriaged widowing;” “New Delhi was capital of Roman Empire.”

“Mahatma Gandhi is a great nuclear physicist;” “Bertrand Russell compiled Hamlet;” “Five days long I return back ago when rain fell down,” and the like, I expected that the minimum qualification prescribed to take the examination was tenth standard.

But it was a terrible shock for the author when he learnt that the examinees were double Post Graduates with an addition at degree in Law and they were working for over a decade and the test was meant for promotion to Gazetted posts.

States of India and their capitals are generally taught in fourth standard and countries and capitals are taught during secondary schooling. A keen observation of the papers prompted this author to look into our past, present and future, which gives us a glimpse into the deteriorating educational standards and the efforts need to be done to improve the situation.

Then (1969-70)
At the instance of the Collector and District Magistrate the cooperative wing of a district had taken up preparation of a manual for the department in 1969-70, by incorporating latest amendments in the act in order to streamline the functioning of the cooperative bodies.

The Collector was highly impressed with the flowery English language, beautiful expression, crystal clear clarity in the explanation of the rules and procedures. When, on enquiry, the Collector came to know that the entire work was being done by a Cooperative Sub-Registrar, a non-gazetted officer who, in those days, had no direct access to the head of the district administration, who was a senior IAS officer, he was happy and surprised at the knowledge and calibre of a non-gazetted officer.

And he was more surprised at the inaugural function of the manual that the author didn’t enter the premises of a college, and joined service after receiving his Secondary School Leaving Certificate. All that he studied was only one English text book for his SSLC containing seven poems and eight prose lessons, all selected from great classics in English literature.

He possessed equal knowledge in Telugu language and literature and would extensively quote from Manucharitra, Aamukta Maalyada, etc, classics in Telugu literature as much as from Shakespeare, Milton, Radhakrishnan, Bertrand Russell, Will Durant et al.

Later
The syllabus prescribed for this author’s English language study in graduation consisted of two dramas of William Shakespeare for detailed study and one drama of George Bernard Shaw for non-detailed study; selections from old poetry and modern poetry, all from classical literature (John Keats, PB Shelly et al) for detailed study and one long poem of John Milton for non-detailed study.

In respect of prose there were several selections from eminent authors for detailed study, besides two biographies for non-detailed study (GM Trevelyan’s Life of Lord Macaulay and James Boswell’s Life of Johnson).

Having studied so much, it took three years’ efforts to see his first article published in the Indian Express (May 1981) and another two years’ genuine efforts to see his first short story published in Caravan (March 1, 1983) which clearly indicated the change of educational standards inversely proportional to the increase of syllabus.

Still later (2007)
On the very first day of this author’s taking charge as the second level head of the department (October, 2007) he was irritated with the letter addressed to government drafted by a superintendent of his office, who was a post graduate besides holding an M Phil degree and a degree in law, and he was shocked and surprised to find no single sentence in the small letter without at least one grammatical mistake and one or two spelling mistakes and practically conveying no meaning.

Now
My sister and brother-in-law wake up very early in the morning to prepare their six-year-old daughter to attend the convent sharply, only to ensure her shoes are brightly polished, socks are cleanly washed and dress is not crippled, no matter to speak about the heavy load of books the little child has to carry on her back, which weigh thrice her weight, and which raises a doubt whether the convents are training their minds with good education or training their bodies to carry heavy loads on their backs to make them porters in bus stands and railway stations after they have grown up.

The exorbitant fee collecting educational institutions are expected to lay stress upon purely intellectual progress which means training the minds of the pupils in intellectual pursuits. Pursuit of education must be a pleasant and happy experience, not a torment.

Education should cultivate in the pupils intellectual virtues like curiosity, open-mindedness and belief that knowledge is possible, though difficult, through patience, industry, concentration and exactness. How far the institutions that train pupils to carry heavy loads of books on their backs are able to achieve this end?

The load of books and syllabus increased from generation to generation, but will it help increase the power of reasoning and depth of intellectual understanding of the pupil? The leaders of education have to answer.

Bertrand Russell, the greatest philosopher, thinker, statesman and logician of the twentieth century Britain opines that many parents...are anxious to educate their children but are “reluctant to expose them to the evils of most existing educational institutions.

One of these evils is the way school children from the age of three or four are trained to carry heavy load of books on their back without totally bothering about their mental receptivity to absorb and assimilate what is contained in the books they carry on their back with difficulty.

The future
We must design such a system of education that creates in the pupils an interest in acquiring knowledge and encourages inquisitiveness; inculcate a habit of rigid intellectual questioning into the truth and falsity of things, ask relevant questions and seek correct answers.

Why the well educated people and highly paid software engineers commit suicide, while the poor butcher and the grocer are spending a life of contentment? They are taught how to earn currency but not how to earn happiness and contentment. They are not taught during their studies life skills and values.

The purpose of education is to create good citizens apart from good individuals. Life skills are the ability to grasp the subject and convey it to others; honesty, positive thinking, a desire to help others or serve the society, good communication with civilised society, confidence, commitment and dedication, empathy and sensitivity towards others, the ability to work in an international atmosphere and to derive pleasure and happiness from serving the society.

The need for improving our educational standards at all levels and upgradation of values need no elaboration. The bright future of the nation lay in the hands of well-educated and well-informed people. The future is shaped in the schools which are the birth places of new ideas and new knowledge. The leaders of education must realise this point.

By: Dr Chaganti Nagaraja Rao
The writer is an author and Senior Faculty, CUDS,Dr MCR HRD Institute.