This article appeared in Powai Tarang, July 2016. (e-Bulletin of Rotary Club of Bombay Powai)
What we don’t teach
-
Vivek Govilkar
I remember an old Marathi story.
A farmer complains to the class teacher that the school does not teach any of
the life skills needed by his son to work with him on his farm. The topper of
the class, in his opinion, would not be able to match his son’s street
smartness. It was a funny read at that time. Recently I read a book, ‘Fallen
Leaves’ by Will Durant, one of the most famous American authors and
philosophers of twentieth century. According to Durant, the purpose of
education should never be to make scholars, so much as to form human beings. If
we look around, we find tens of thousands boys and girls graduating every year
from several colleges. At the same time companies experience a major shortfall
in their recruitment because of a major mismatch between the requirement and
the availability of skills set.
In essence, Durant is echoing the
poor and illiterate farmer’s sentiments when he suggests that all the kids
should be taught to use tools like saw and spanner. That should help them
acquire useful skills like carpentry and plumbing, at least at the basic level.
In India, we are completely pampered and spoiled because of availability of
cheap labour. It has become unthinkable that ‘good’ schools in India would have
classes to teach anything other than what is needed for competitive exams. In
my school days, we were taught basic sewing and embroidery. We were encouraged
to take government exams in elementary and advanced drawing. We had full time,
dedicated music teachers.
Today, the official government
policies make it impossible for the schools receiving government grants to
indulge in any such activities. The schools without grants are almost free to
do what they want. However, their tendency is to pick only those
extracurricular activities which help them market their offering to the elite
parents who can afford to pay their exorbitant fees. There is no point blaming
only the government or the school management. In this context, one of the
principals narrated her experience to me. She had introduced ‘gardening’ as a
subject with the idea that the kids could become familiar with the plants and
flowers from their surroundings. That would help inculcating the green message
early in the lives of citizens of tomorrow. To her frustration, many parents
called this effort ‘a waste of time’. They demanded that this course should be
replaced by something more ‘useful’. The course was eventually scrapped. American
schools make it mandatory for all the kids to participate in some sports. In
absence of grounds, pools, courts, washrooms and other facilities, it is impossible
to make such a rule for kids in India.
In the recent past, introduction
of computers was the main addition to the school curriculum. But major credit
should go to the falling prices and all-encompassing invasion of computers in
our daily lives. There seems to be no effort to encourage the entrepreneurial
instincts of the kids at school or college level. They teach basic physiology
under the ‘science’ umbrella. But the effect of lifestyle (lack of physical
activity, mobiles etc.) needs to be covered in greater details. There is a need
also to do more about awareness on issues like drugs and HIV. Our own
experience suggests that schools are in denial mode.
We are bombarded with a lot of
(mis)information. But the need for objective history (if there is any such
thing) gets ignored. Are we subtly and subconsciously teaching the kids that
corruption is universal and inevitable, therefore ‘OK’? We keep talking about
respect for elders and other Indian values. But are we teaching the kids to
inquire and question? Do we encourage them to be innovative?
American students are required to
have some degree, any degree as a prerequisite for admission to Medical Course.
Many students get a degree in languages, history or philosophy before starting
their medical program. In India, the ‘Kota model’ of IIT JEE has become popular
where kids are given very narrow and focussed training from 6th or 7th
grade with the sole objective of getting through the JEE. These kids will never
get a chance to learn anything else in their life. My own training in IIT
included courses in literature, logic, economics and ethics. We could choose
four electives in the last four semesters from the baskets of philosophy,
sociology, psychology, communications and environmental sciences. With
shortening of the B.Tech. program to four years, many of these options are not
available anymore. Non-IIT colleges did not have many of them anyway.
The education policy in our
country needs a serious overhaul. There are many challenges that we need to
tackle. The problem about the quality of facilities, faculty and
infrastructure, is apparent. But the problem about the philosophy, direction
and content of training is latent. The effects of former are seen in the
present. The effects of later will be felt over long run. We at Rotary can use
our experience, expertise and most importantly contacts to make a difference.
