Indian Education System: The Heads and Tails

International Journal of Applied Research 2019; 5(11): 226-231 ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Impact Factor: 5.2 IJAR 2019; 5(11): 226-231 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 12-09-2019 Accepted: 15-10-2019 M Pradeep Kumar Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kamala Institute of Technology and Science – Karimnagar, Telangana, India P Sahithi B. Tech Student, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Kamala Institute of Technology and Science – Karimnagar, Telangana, India Indian Education System: The Heads and Tails M Pradeep Kumar and P Sahithi Abstract Education is the method of acquisition of knowledge, ethics, and values. It can also be defined as the process of bringing desirable changes into human beings. It is the base for the advancement of humans and plays a key role in development aspect of an individual and also the society. It not only helps in development of an individual but also in advancing the nation and leads to sustainable economic growth. Its direct and indirect effects can be seen on economic sector of the country. Although, the system in which the education is carried out varies from one country to another, but its core idea and purpose is same. For a county to have best education there should be a strong foundation and a good system with proper structure to carry out it effectively. If one sort outs the best educational system countries in the world, the list starts with Finland followed by Japan, South Korea, Denmark etc., the place of India is somewhere at the middle. It is the responsibility of every individual to bring India to the top in the list of best educational system. At present, Indian education system lags in few aspects and some improvements and changes are required. This paper addresses few issues, challenges and some lagging aspects in Indian education system and also provides some immediate changes required to enhance the quality of education in India. Keywords: education system, India, issues Introduction Firstly, the concept of education was initiated by Cord Macaulay in 1835 [1]. Education is the primary right of every child in a democratic society. Education can be observed as the significant factor for the development of any nation. The Indian education system produces some millions of graduates every year. As defined earlier education is the process of training people to acquire knowledge, skills, discipline, ethics etc. There is a change in Indian education system from ancient gurukulas (veda nilayam) to the present education scenario but still some changes are necessary to be one of the top most educational system all over world [2]. In India, most of the students are unemployed not due to lack of theoretical knowledge but due to lack of skills required [3]. Moreover, the higher education in India is growing to greater heights with more number of colleges and universities. Most of the students are stepping in to pursue their higher education, but the main drawback is that the current system is failing to provide quality education [4, 5]. Even though most of the states are offering free education for graduate level in terms of fee reimbursement, but the focus on the outcome has been missing. This will have a great impact on the quality of the student coming out from colleges which in turn affects their career. Further, students are not trained to reach the needs of an organization so that most of the graduates are unemployed. Faculty should encourage the students in the fields of research and the students should develop leadership skills rather than followership skills. Correspondence Author: M Pradeep Kumar Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kamala Institute of Technology and Science – Karimnagar, Telangana, India Classification of Education System Education can be classified into three categories [6]. They are stated below: 1. Formal education 2. Informal education and 3. Non-formal education. Formal education can be observed in universities, colleges, schools and training institutes. Informal education is a process that occurs in day to day life, in family, in communities. Non-formal education is an alternative method of formal education. ~ 226 ~ International Journal of Applied Research http://www.allresearchjournal.com It happens in a workplace [7]. The classification of education system is represented in figure 1. Fig 1: Classification of education system History of education The year 1937 was a year of significance in the history of education in India. During that period, basic education was introduced which is based on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi after publishing of Wood Abbott report. Mahatma Gandhi differentiated literacy and education. Literacy is only learning, reading and writing but education is the pros and corn progressment of a child. In ancient days, the children used to go to the guru’s home and request the guru to teach him/her. The children used to learn scriptures etc. The education system is initiated under supervision of gurus in the past. It is called as VEDHA NILAYAM. The gurus has to select the sishyas (student), to whom the guru want to inculcate the skills. Indian education system was generally classified into ancient vedic period, Medieval Buddhist period, Islamic period and modern education system. In the past India had been the place of inventions and innovations. The digit zero was first invented by the Indian scientist named Aryabhatta. The value of “pi” was first introduced by the Indian scientist named Budhayana. First university in the world’s was found and established in 700 BC where more than 10,150 students were educated more than 55 subjects all over the world. In the ancient times, the community centres and temples formed the role of schools where Sanskrit and sciences are the languages learned and taught. Then after this Gurukul education system was initiated. In the past, sages and scholars used to convey the information orally and then it is passed to the future generations. In the Medieval Buddhist period education bloomed at universities. The traditional methods of education were started in Islamic period. Now the modern education system was an exact model of British education system. After independence, in the progressment of Indian education system some aims were framed by National Policy of Education in 1992. Hierarchy of Indian education system The structure of Indian education system starts with the schooling. This phase of education can be termed as primary education. In this phase a child begins his life to know and learn various things starting with basic alphabets to pronouncing words, spellings etc., once the child gains sufficient basic knowledge he gets promoted to the basic education level which can be 7th to 10th standard. This will be followed by an intermediate education, which decides the interest and future plan of the student. Once a student is done with his intermediate education or education in diploma he may move further by joining in bachelor’s education. The detailed structure of present Indian education is shown in the figure no 3 Fig 2: History of Indian education system ~ 227 ~ International Journal of Applied Research http://www.allresearchjournal.com Fig 3: Indian Education system structure 3 decades. Although, few changes have been made in the recent years, still some more modifications in the curriculum is necessary. Lagging Aspects Some of the lagging aspects in Indian education system are: 1. Providing quality education Most of the graduates and post graduates are obtaining degrees with first class marks, but they fail to answer certain basic questions pertaining to their subjects. This might be the problem of a student, but at an outset it is a problem of education system too. Having degree in hands but not getting recruited is a symbol of incapability. Quality education should provide all the learners with capabilities and knowledge that are necessary to mould their career and contribute to peaceful and democratic societies Outcome based education is a method used as a performance parameter to measure quality. 2. Providing good payment for teachers Teachers play a key role in providing good education and in making students life successful. At present, when compared to any other profession, teaching profession is a low paid job. With this drawback, most of the eligible candidates are not opting teaching profession. Even though, people join in teaching with the interest and passion, they get degraded with the heavy works and low income. 3. Making education as business Now-a-days, most of the institutions are making students to mug up the answers to get good marks and results. Institutions advertise these results and ranks to attract students and parents in order to get more number of admissions. This continues as a cyclic process. This leads to make money instead of providing good education to a student. So, the education should not be seen in business angle. Education should be seen as a movement not like a business. 4. Evaluation methods Student’s performance is measured by the marks which are obtained from their examinations. A proper evaluation should to be established so that the results replicate the exact performance of a student. 5. Curriculum As the world is moving with a great speed, the curriculum of Indian schools and colleges is being same since the last 2 to 6. Creating interest in students Education system lags in creating interest in students to learn the subject. 7. World class infrastructure According to the statistics infrastructure in educational institutions in India is far away from other countries. Due to lack of infrastructure students may not be interested to learn which affects the economic development of a country. 8. Practical approach Practical methods of learning are lagging in the present system. General assumption is that marks plays a vital role to become a successful person, but it’s not completely true because students may be habituated to rote learning method and get marks which are not useful to succeed in life. Knowledge is important than marks. 9. Creative thinking Most of the students got habituated for reading and repeated reading (which may be termed as mugging) instead of understanding the true essence of the subject. A proper education should inculcate creative thinking in the students. 10. Gap between academia and industry As the technology is rapidly increasing day by day, the students should upgrade various technologies that are evolved or introduced but this case is not seen because the students are busy with their curriculum and curriculum do not contain the updated technologies. Apart from the technologies, skills like managerial and soft skills plays a key role in an industry but the students are not capable of learning skills as there are no activities in educational institutions. 11. Research Research is one of the lagging aspects which affects the development. Research in educational institutions is lagging compared to other countries. The students should been courage in the field of research and this should be the vision of every educational institutions so that the students get an ~ 228 ~ International Journal of Applied Research http://www.allresearchjournal.com idea on the updated technologies and they will be acquiring knowledge on it. 12. Digital teaching methodology Most of the educational institutions in India are still opting traditional methods of teaching instead of digital teaching methodology. Teaching is not done my making use of technology or audio-visual aids particularly in colleges. So there is a need in Indian education system to implement the digital teaching methodology by the way of using technology and internet within the education system. Effective and innovative teaching-learning methods should be adopted by using the digital technology. The student assessment and evaluation methods need to be improved by adhering latest technologies. Issues Tremendous change has taken place in the last two decades in the field of education. The use of digital media has increased drastically in the field of education where a teacher has a privilege to use various means of multimedia for the benefit of students and for effective communication. As per the statistics, the people enrolling in the institutions to take up their education have been increasing day by day [8] . As the numbers of students getting enrolled is increasing, more number of issues are associated with the education system. In order to find out the issues, students who have been registered their courses in various institutes was interviewed on present education system and its loopholes. Also, a good number of journals and web links were reviewed for the purpose of literature. Based on these, some of the prominent issues which are faced by the education system and universities/institutions today in India have been listed. The various issues in the education system of India are outlined below opportunities that are available. But whatever the option we get we go it by a chance which is a big issue. Because as it is selected by chance they may not be interested in doing work which influence the final result. 6. Lack of facilities Everyone looks for a comfortable and healthy environment in educational institutions. Lack of facilities has an impact on student’s performance and teacher effectiveness. 7. Absenteeism This issue is mostly seen at bachelor’s level. Students are most irregular to their classes which have a great impact on their outcome. This may lead to lose interest in learning subjects and fail to clear the exams. 8. Financial incapability Due to financial incapability many students are unable to reach their goals. The students who are really interested and have a passion and zeal to learn may have this issue which influence our education system. 9. Corruption in education Corruption in India has been degrading the quality of education. The admission process by paying at dark room has been increasing. Also, there is a practice of paying full salaries in the account and taking it back by signed cheques. Roles and Responsibilities It’s not the students or the teachers that who make a better educational system, but the responsibility lies on every individual. In this section the roles and responsibilities of individuals and groups who are associated with the education system has be explained. 1. Dropouts Dropout is a prominent issue at present. Dropout means discontinuing their education. It may be due to their financial problem, lack of interest. Although, governments of various states are looking into these problem to reduce the dropouts, still these issue need to be resolved. 2. Downfall of pass percentage From secondary education to intermediate and from intermediate to professional education, pass percentage is getting reduced. It may be due to lack of interest, lack of effective teaching, proper evaluation methods and so on. 3. Political influence and involvement Political influences should not be encouraged in education sector. Every educational policy of government is a political decision. State education at all levels is controlled by politics. 1. Students Students have the important role in education system. Students have two main roles in education system. The first role is that students should be capable to learn what teachers are teaching. They should have that passion and zeal to learn. The second role is to apply what they have learned. 4. Less salaries The salaries should depend on the performance of an individual and if teachers have very good conceptual knowledge and if they are fit for the position that is assigned to them they should be paid high. But it is not seen which is an issue at present. 2. Teachers Teaching is highly sophisticated profession. The important role of a teacher is to deliver the instructions that are required for the students to learn. To accomplish this, teachers must prepare effectively and they should take the feedback from the students. Apart from academics teachers must also function as mentors and counsellors. 5. Selecting profession by chance not by choice Now a days profession is selected by chance not by choice. We should be in a position to select the best among the 3. Management Institutional management plays a key role in achieving the objectives of an good educational system. It ensures the ~ 229 ~ International Journal of Applied Research http://www.allresearchjournal.com effectiveness of an institution. Management of education is the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the various activities of an institution. 4. Government bodies Some of the governing bodies are associated with Indian education system are • NCERT: Basically engaged in designing text up to secondary level. • UGC: Primarily the funding authority for university education. • AICTE: It enforces rules and regulations regarding technical/engineering education. Challenges The foremost challenge is to make the education as application oriented by teaching both theoretical and practical concepts on equal priority basis. For this, the institution has to allocate the equal time for the theoretical explanation and experimentation. The present system of basic education doesn’t focus on practical approaches where as higher education allocates 75% of time and marks for theoretical knowledge and 25% of time and marks for practical. By the way of educating the student in schools by practical methods will enable them to learn the concepts quickly and easily. Further, higher educational institution give equal priority for both theory and practice. Another challenge is to bring a drastic change is the curriculum in order to meet the requirements of the present generation and the competitive society. As the curriculum consists of only the subjects and they contain only the basics and they are not upgraded to the updated technology. So students do not have any knowledge regarding the updated technologies that are going around the world. So, modifying and redesigning the curriculum is essential for a proper education. Recruiting the faculty to fill the vacant positions is another major challenge as most of the universities/institutions in India have so many vacant positions for the post of faculty. Most of the institution in India are opting contract lecturers/staff instead of having regular one. This results in loss of subject to students due to inefficient staff. It is a major challenge for most of the institutions in India. India’s Student-teacher ratio has scaled to be lowest against Canada's (9:1), Russia's (10:1), Sweden's (12:1) and Britain's (16:1) [9]. This results in overloading a teacher which in turn affects the quality and outcome of education. Further it also influences the research carried out by them. A low ratio of student-teacher shows that the teacher is overloaded by teaching multiple classes. Besides this, it is also impossible for a teacher to pursue their research. The governing authorities of education system must ensure that all the institutions have to maintain a good student-teacher ratio to overcome this problem. Immediate changes required 1. Two way communication Classroom should be a two way interaction session rather than simply teacher teaching the subject and just students listen the class. This enables the students to interact with the teacher and clarify the doubts. This method also keeps the students active in listening the class and interested. 2. Curriculum Generally in schools and colleges curriculum is framed annually. Curriculum consists of only academics so that the students are not aware of various skills which make them difficult when they step out of an educational institution. Curriculum should be designed and developed in a way that includes various skills apart from academics. 3. Change in examination pattern Time is moving forward but still we are unable to move away from rote learning. The educational institutions must be encouraged to introduce the conceptual learning and the syllabus should contain in an application oriented system and exams should include different sections like reasoning, problem solving, creative thinking sections etc. so that there is no chance to mug up which can minimize rote learning method. By following this procedure rote learning can be eradicated. 4. Equal respect to all the subjects Instead of creating the difference between the subjects all the subjects which plays a key role should be introduced so that when students enter into the real world after they step out of their educational institutions they are confident. The students must be in a position that they know the basics of all the subjects so that on upgrading the technology they get upgraded faster which enhances their confidence levels so that they may be in a position to speak in front of anyone at any spot of time. 5. Better training of teachers In most cases, teachers after entering into the teaching profession will handle the classes directly. It could be better and beneficial to the teacher if they undergo any training to deliver the subject effective. Training also enhances the knowledge in a particular subject. Every organization should organize at least one training program in a year for making teachers perfect, improving their subject and also for boosting and motivating them 6. Teach them the purpose of education Education is not just about becoming big and rich person. It should be about humanism, learning morals, ethics and values. Students must also be taught in-depth about the morals of life. If Indian education system considers them seriously we can be one of the best education systems in the world. Education is not only learning the subjects and getting good score it’s about learning various skills and they be exposed whenever necessary to prove themselves. Conclusion This paper makes an attempt to bring out the problems and issues that are associated with the current education system in India. As number of institutions in India is increasing day by day, there are more issues and challenges that are associated with the present education system. The major lagging aspect of the education system is providing quality education. This aspect differentiates the education system with other countries. Providing quality education will lead the students to secure good job, to be aware of various aspects, to inculcate ethics and decency for the overall development of their personality. Further, the contribution of teachers, management and other individuals are also important for the better education system. This paper also ~ 230 ~ International Journal of Applied Research http://www.allresearchjournal.com addresses roles and responsibilities of every individual who are associated with the education system. Minimizing the issues and problems and focusing on the challenges will considerably make the Indian education system as most effective and lead to achieve top place among world. 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