K. Fillip Sumi
Education shouldn’t be thought of only as a process where academic lessons and achievements are constantly made the ultimate goal. If must spread beyond that and should facilitate us to attain values essential for a meaningful living to suit this rapidly advancing world. The purpose of education, vitally, should be to possibly make the learner say that he has acquired something worthwhile that is relevant to the environment around him.
Education must be value-based in the sense that we should be able to relate those values in our mode of living. We must be able to apply educational benefits in our workplace also. The syllabi which our institutions follow are nearly immaterial to this changing scenario. Present curriculum in education of courses. Education received thereby doesn’t show compatibility to this highly techno advanced age.
The prevailing common and regular course of education in many disciplines has turned out less effectual in qualifying us to fit into this IT world. Thanks to the many IT institutes that marginal number of people is associated with. It is updating the common people though still in unsatisfactory measure.
While the global world is trying to move beyond the computer era, the knowledge that we are imparting to our children through our current educational system is still not impressive and significant enough to blend with this sagacious era. There should be functional utility in the values imparted and must have connectivity with the existing environment.
There is a serious need to review our education system to cater to the growing needs of this hasty changing world. It should be reviewed in such terms that it becomes applicable taste to almost everyone and many disciplines are recognized in this single system, we need to adopt certain methods to make it relevant to the changes happening.
Education must be acquired through different but appropriate stages. And probably for this reason, educationists and other experts have set different classes (e.g. Kindergarten-A, B, Class-1 etc) to clear before they could be promoted on to next class. If a student learns the 26 alphabets in KG-A and is supposed to learn the numerical in KG-B and then to write in words in Class-1 but is double promoted directly from KG-A to Class-1 because he scored 100 out of 100 in the alphabetical exam: then it becomes clear that he’s leaving out the lessons on numbers. In this process, some essential stages in education are missed from the systematically planned education.
Education is perhaps an issue where each and every stage laid should be systematically by passed to receive the benefits in full terms without undermining and skipping any session. Then only it can become meaningful. The uncommon concern is, when a particular class is being jumped over, the student misses out not only the lessons but also the values that he ought to be learning at that stage. Therefore, it’s silently felt that, to impart systematic and purposeful education in complete dose, double promotion in school must be kept in control.
Simultaneously, conversely though important, missing some academic lessons is not a matter of much concern when the student has the ability to pull through and handle the new subjects with ease. But, no matter how intelligent he might be, he will be missing the psychological developments that should be passed through and which are experienced throughout the year by his peers. Since he missed out that stage of mental development, that part will always remain void.
He immediately tries to adjust with the thinking and ways of his seniors which are now counted as his peers and will be expected to behave like them emotionally, psychologically, mentally etc. Those people whom he once counted as seniors are now equals. In this process of equalizing with them, his mentality also struggles to leap over a stage of inner essential development.
Education is in demand but over-stuffed and crowded classrooms will do no good to the students. It can only hamper their healthy learning. Some limits should be set and seriously enforced to work out this problem. It may not be limited only with the classroom atmosphere but should also contain those teachers tutoring students privately. Today’s educational environment demands a healthy atmosphere to excel.
Reforming an education system will not be an impossible mission, if undertaken. There might be variance and contradictions in ideas. There may also be many good reasons to retain this existing method of education and we have to consult such views while reforming this state of affairs. No doubt, it’ll be a strenuous task. But unless we make an embarking step to complete thousands steps, we cannot march ahead with progress. We have in motion our mission of transforming the current system of education to give a fresh and relevant method of learning to our children to suit the changes taking place worldwide.
