Reassessing schools and schooling

India is still struggling to solve problems of yesterday, such as basic literacy, while simultaneously facing new challenges of tomorrow. And as new challenges emerge, there is no choice but to reform and invent new structures and content to solve problems of the past while also meeting challenges of the future.

Inertia is not limited to inanimate inorganic matter but is also a characteristic of human society until large numbers of people not only desire change, but also figure out a way to realise it. Education reform has been extensively debated for over half a century in post-independence India. But the system has resisted radical reform, especially the mass education system. On the one hand we have experts who seem to know exactly what education is all about and they write policies and syllabuses which sound really good. Yet, there has been very little, if any, change in India’s classrooms. In fact, as mass education expands, we seem to be creating more problems.

So, what’s gone wrong? The idea of compulsory education and the model of the school as we know it, came into existence two centuries ago in the West when demand was low and policy-makers saw a need to restructure society and its workforce through benevolent compulsion. Today, the demand for education is overtaking the need for compulsion but systems of mass education can provide neither what is demanded nor what is needed. India’s 1,133,000 schools and 17,700 colleges play the role of rather bad babysitters at a time when parents, both rich and poor, have less time for children for good reasons and bad.

In short, although the world has changed radically, the basic school model has resisted change. Against this background, do we need a new social mechanism other than the ‘school’ for transfer of knowledge in a fast changing world?

In the emerging new world, children need to develop communication skills. Language does play a role, but communication is much more than that. They need to develop skills of measurement, computation, and analysis with mathematics as a base. They need to learn how to preserve their environment and to use machines and gadgets rather than learn ‘science’ from textbooks. Stretching ahead of them are longer life spans in a more complex society with high medical expenses, risks and tensions. They need to learn to cope, and maintain physical and mental fitness beyond what is delivered in ‘physical training’ classes. In a world of increasing mobility they will need to learn to understand, adjust, and respect others, while maintaining their identities and dignity.

Unfortunately this is not what we teach in our history or civics texts. Schools emphasise regimented discipline even as the important skills of negotiation and socialisation are learnt while trading goodies, in fist fights and arguments after school. Twenty-first century children will have higher disposable incomes and more time to relax when they grow up. They should know how to use time and money for rest and recreation. But the great majority of India’s school-going children don’t have sports, athletics coaches or dance, arts, crafts, and music instructors.

Therefore we need to seriously ponder whether it is necessary for the bright new generation to spend five-six hours daily for 200 days per year in classrooms where the knowledge transfer process is neither efficient nor effective any more. Is the ‘school’ as we know it really needed? Especially beyond the primary school ending in class V?

The plain truth is that the existing system of schooling — public or private — is simply incapable of delivering the knowledge and skill-sets required in the 21st century. In this scenario the certification mechanism is the critical factor. Currently government and its education experts monopolise the certification machinery and processes except perhaps in the IT sector which is quite independent and has set its own standards. As in the IT sector, it is possible to encourage professional societies and businesses to create certifying mechanisms that test skills and knowledge at different levels.

Imagine a ‘school’ of the future that is actually a social, cultural, and sports centre equipped with a workshop and garden (to work with hands) and IT equipment that allows children access to interactive learning material. The teacher is only a ‘learning manager’ who guides children to information and mentors them. Professional societies and businesses offer resource persons who conduct courses that lead to certification. The teaching profession is truly professionalised and teachers are mobile except for permanent learning managers. Is this not a variation of Gandhiji’s buniyadi talim (basic education)?

Will we find the personnel required for such human resource development centres? Will they be affordable on a mass scale? Is such thinking utopian? Not against the backdrop of an education system which is empty within and crumbling, and will have to change sooner or later. The time has come to do some serious out-of-the-box thinking if 21st century India’s children are ever to realise the country’s great potential.

(Dr. Madhav Chavan is a founder trustee and director of the Pratham Mumbai Education Initiative)