What prevents Indian School Education System to provide a global leadership?

The last decade has demonstrated the Indian talent, competence, and wisdom to the entire world through its leadership in several areas including technology. The simple fact that many of international corporate companies are being led by the Indians is proof enough to show that Indian minds do not lag any other in the world; as such they have all the vitality to show one upmanship. Many of these leaders, be it in the field of science, technology, management, business or thought architectures have all gone through the Indian school education system though quite a few of them have been polished and shown gateways to possibilities by several of the leading institutions of higher learning worldwide. That, however, cannot undermine the fundamentals that laid the foundation for who they became in later years. 

If India could achieve phenomenal success in different fields where they lacked the foundational literacy of those areas decades ago, there is no reason why Indian education system cannot re-establish its superiority in the global markets. While one must admit that a lot has to be done and could be done to improve the existing scenario, it is important to reflect on some critical issues that act as barriers to growth in this field. 

Over the last fifty years of my association with school education, I have felt and observed that there is a conscious effort to downplay who we are. There has been a terrible assault to the psyche of Indian educators to make them believe that their system is inferior to others. The conscious effort to keep the Indian mind conditioned, compulsive and consumerist has done a lot of damage to the freedom of thinking. The focus of quality on the infrastructure and comfort levels as definers of a better system killed the soul of an engaging mind that penetrated several areas of knowledge systems to which the world was not aware of. The early Indian education system focused on growth mindset rather than survival mindset which was created through a well-articulated fear syndrome and a sense of insecurity. It is time that we believe that we are in no way inferior to any other system and can fill in gaps wherever they exist due to scale, speed, and sensitivities of knowledge dynamics. “Drugs are always not necessary, but belief in recovery is,” said Alexander Dumas. 

Over a century, the profile of the teacher as the icon of wisdom, experience and authority in classrooms has distanced learning from the learners. While there is no denial to the fact that the teacher enjoys a commendable and leadership position in the classroom architecture, the relationship gap has done more damage by preventing the learner seeking knowledge through inquiry, discussion, questioning, and participation. A ‘make-believe’ system of delivered knowledge without consideration of its credibility, authenticity, reliability, and usability made learners passive recipients derailing the intellectual competencies. The marginalization of intuition as a subjective element in conversations on knowledge and language inadequacies as indicators of poverty of knowledge and competence had done enough damage. An infused sense of self-defeat, self-pity, and low self-esteem in a huge population of learners nurtured mediocrity. Increasing numbers in school admissions were claimed as indicators of growth as against the acknowledgement of individual talents and competencies. 

“Men were born to succeed, not to fail” said Henry David Thoreau. Any system of education that would pose a threat to a learner with the possibility of a failure doesn’t serve its purpose. The process of learning never had inherited nor acquired the concept of failure. Learning as a neuro-cognitive function adequately influenced by the hormones in a human body is shaped by several influencers shaping one’s aptitude, attitude, passion, and performance. The diversity of purposes and possibilities in learning cannot and should not be constrained into a capsule inhibiting the compass of growth the learning mind is in working with. The very idea of ‘Minimum Levels of Learning’ as a social objective got applied to a more common convenience for measurement. Even possibilities of growth got comforted with a mythical pass that denied a near sixty-five percent of further improvement. It is time to acknowledge the learning variations and nurture possibilities for identifiable growth in each learner. Hence the system needs to open its minds to let a thousand flowers bloom in the garden of knowledge and start learning to celebrate them.

In the current scenario, acknowledgement of competencies, talents and achievements is poor in the learning systems. Achievements and success are identified, celebrated, and acknowledged only in core areas pre-conceived and sought for by the top echelons of educational administration. Creativity and innovation at the formative levels of human learning and development is conceived as a potential threat to the established wisdom of the chairs that uphold the keys for the imprisoned knowledge. It is time schools should become centres of celebrating happiness of existence, engagement with a vibrant living ecosystem and growing together than in isolation. It is time to think of learning, creativity, and innovation as a social obligation rather than an individual win in a relay race. Schools need to put forth more the concept of a community than an individual unit. 

Any effort of learning should result in navigating to excellence through the corridors of quality. It is important to understand that learning and institutions of learning cannot be moderated on cost, infrastructure, resources, or other materials of window-shopping, though some of them may attribute to its credentials. Though there has been a significant effort to improve the performance profile of the state-run institutions, there is an urgent need to liberate them from the tyranny of rules that clip the wings of growth and freedom of performance. Learning institutions must be able to breathe more fresh air of knowledge and skills as they see rather than what they are told. Acknowledgement of the talents and capabilities of teachers is vital, and individual growth concerns need to be address through praise and encouragement. They cannot continue to be the victims and stockholders of any knowledge what their past generations have left behind. There is little scope for resource centres in educational institutions for demonstrating the teachers’ research and learning possibilities. 

Nurtured by a linear thinking social set up and as those who live in a society which is consumerist, competitive and confused, parents seem to have a fixed mindset about learning – what has to be learnt, how it has to be learnt and why it has to be learnt. While one cannot blame or ridicule them for their mindset as it is a product of the society and its demands that they confront, it is important to expose them to the current and futuristic challenges as well as demands from their times. The obligation of education to prepare futuristic learners who can be confident and competent must be understood, supported, and facilitated by the parents. They need to understand the changing dynamics of school systems where they are expected to synergize informal knowledge with formal knowledge to prepare the students as wealth generators. A conscious effort to prepare the parents to accept the change and be a part of the change dynamics appears necessary. 

The institutional culture needs to be revisited to make it more participative, engaging, purposeful and vibrant. The mindset of the faculty must be contextual, current, and sensitive to global dynamics. The philosophy, the focus, the curricula, the pedagogy, and other instruments of learning should get infused in the culture of learning built by the institution. The learning culture of the institution and the institutional culture should be the nucleus of the shared vision of all the stakeholders. 

With a focused attempt to provide a leadership that would reflect the global sentiments in the local ecosystem, it would certainly be possible for the Indian education to acquire a global leadership in education. 

Let us remember that we are not seeking anything new, we are only trying to reclaim our position.