Education System In India-Pros And Cons

There has been a lot of chatter about the education system in India, well as a part of this system we need to know about the pros and cons.

The System-Now and Then 

The education system in India is quite a debatable topic at this point in time, While some say it’s good, others don’t. We need Education that not only makes us eligible for a job but prepares us for the struggles of life. The role of Education is something that can’t be ignored in building the personality, Career, and mental growth of humans. It helps in building a true, progressive character of a person which later on defines our success and failure.

 The Education system in India has changed a lot from the ancient times when we were taught about the Vedas and only the elite classes of society reserved the right to education. It took a different turn after the arrival of the British as they opened the centers for higher education which we call Colleges and Universities today. Today, after 73 years of freedom, when we are the most modern as we possibly can, it has a diverse and different infrastructure, administration, teaching methodology, and values. 

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Indian Method of Schooling: India is recognized for its instructive greatness. Indian Schooling has achieved worldwide acknowledgment with its recognized decent variety of character. Diverse educational plan bodies administer the institute instruction scheme in India. There are private and public schools both but 95% of the primary schools are government board partners.

• Advanced Education: 

There are roughly 152 local universities, 316 national colleges, and 191 autonomous universities in India. The other institutions include 33,623 colleges, 1,800 selected girl’s schools, and 12,748 Degree Programs organizations. The officials responsible for the extraordinarily professional programs are India’s TEC(Telecommunication Engineering Center) length-Education Committee as well as the Indian teacher training Board, the Indian Medical Board, the surgeons of India, the Indian state bar, the Regional homeopathic medicine committee, the Pharmacy Committee of India, the Indian Civil Society committee and the Indian Dentistry Council.

• Open and Distance learning: 

At the education level, the State Centre of Free Schooling provides opportunities to educate those who have struggled to complete school. Only at the supplementary and upper auxiliary stage, 14 lacks of students are chosen by transparent and differentiation instruction. In 2012, some states have adopted Public Open Schools to offer distance instruction. IGNOU runs in isolation instruction at a higher level of schooling. It has a minimum enrolment in 53 administrative areas of 1.5 million. 

• Professional training: 

All India’s industrial training Committee in 2013 announced that more than 4,599 technical establishments offer diplomas, certification, and validation in architecture, building, in-the-board, system, drug store, innovation, town administrations, and others. The yearly admission to specialized certificates and degrees surpassed 34 lakhs.

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Pros and Cons Explained:

• Children between the ages of 6 and 14 have been provided free education by the administrations of Central, State, and Union territories. On the other hand, The Indian Education system has a shocking fact that 12% of students between the ages of 4 and 12 suffer from some or other psychiatric disorder.

• Indian Education system is one of the very few examples where seats are being reserved for the underprivileged classes in Schools, Colleges, and Universities.  The system of Education in India expects the student to get counseling from the parent whereas it’s not the right thing to do because Children and young adults hesitate to share everything with parents due to the generation gap and fear of mockery so having a counselor in the school itself is of utmost importance.

• Indian culture focuses on the act of charity and hence every school has two or three scholarships for the poor and meritorious children. In 2019, the Indian government announced 50 million scholarships for girl students from backward communities. The system pathetically lacks in identifying the unique talents/skills of each student. Very few schools pay serious attention to develop an enriching program for extracurricular activities.

• The Indian government aims at bridging the gap in gender education and empowering Indian women. Many states and Union territories are already providing free education to girls while others are on their way to implementing it soon. On the other hand, the system sends the student in the wrong direction. It is illogical to lay stress only on scores rather than the Education itself. This is the main cause of thousands of coaching classes we have in our country today.

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Indian Education procedure

Primary/Elementary Education in India:

Schooling of children having the age of 6 to 14 years is the place to get primary education. Playschools have been established by the govt. to the children below three years. CBSE and ICSE are the boards to organize the Indian schooling education system. Both are followed by several schools present in India. This education is not compulsory for all students. Prep School or Kindergarten of learning is also divided into subcategories nursery, lower kindergarten (LKG), and upper kindergarten (UKG). The students between the ages of 3 to 6 are in these classes.

Key Features:

The number of schools, teachers, and the enrolment category is classified based on school category and school management. The category and reputation of the schools are identified based on the number of students, teachers, their qualifications, experience, teaching-learning processes, instructional methods, learning materials, and other facilities. 

Classrooms are considered to be of utmost importance because it’s where learning takes place. It is important to make the students feel comfortable within the classrooms so that their learning and understanding effectively take place. The classrooms should be attractive and appealing, therefore, in elementary education, when pictures, drawings, paintings, and other concepts are displayed and students take pleasure in coming to school and understanding the concepts. Hence, to lead to improvements in the overall quality and the instructional methods, it is crucial to make the classrooms attractive. 

The teaching and learning processes hold great significance. In elementary education, the scholastic concepts are much easier to understand and students are even assisted by their parents. In the completion of homework, preparation of class tests and exams, and assignments, parents help their children. The concepts in elementary education are easily communicated to the students. In nursery school, the students are taught only the basics, which serve to be the foundation in the enhancement of their literacy skills. For example, numbers, letters, words, pictures of different objects within the environment.

Pros of the Elementary education system in India:

• Since 1990, there has been a steady increase in the enrolment rate of elementary education. There has been an initiation of several schemes that have led to an increase in the enrolment rate, these are, recruitment of local teachers, having an increase in the number of schools, providing mid-day meals, incentives, and scholarships for the students.

• Parliament passed an act to enforce the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. It provides a justifiable legal background that permits all children between the ages of six to fourteen years to an education of acceptable status, based on principles of justice and non-discrimination. It provides for a child’s right to free and compulsory admission, attendance, and completion of elementary education. More essentially, it provides for the child’s right to an education that is free from anxiety, pressure, and apprehension. 

• Many Programs and schemes have been formulated and executed by the government to take the education system in India to the next great standard. Operation Blackboard Scheme, a Mid-day meal scheme that focuses on improving the health of underprivileged children and provide them with a nutritious meal during their school breaks.

• Mahila Samakhya – Another externally assisted project with a special focus on gender has reached the poverty-stricken and marginalized women, who have been able to overcome social impediments and are stating issues such as, child marriage, child labor, and violence against women. A group of literate and knowledgeable women has been created with the help of the Mahila Shikshan Kendras and since then, there is an ever-increasing demand for literacy and education for their daughters and granddaughters. This has proved to be an advantageous social impact like postponing the age of marriage of girls. The program is presently put into practice in over 9,000 villages in 53 districts spread over ten states.

Cons of Elementary Education system in India: 

• In Rural areas, either parent is disinterested in sending their children to schools or the children consider dropping out of schools because, the teaching-learning processes are not well organized, there is no proper availability of creative activities, the management of the schools is not carried out properly and the environmental conditions of the schools are not suitable. Therefore, to lead to a rise in the enrolment rate, it is vital to make improvements in all these areas. For example, it is necessary to make separate toilets for girls and boys to have the provision of filtered safe drinking water in the school premises.

• Differences between the regions, genders, castes, class, ethnicities, religions and other marginalized sections of the population continue to exist and serve to be the biggest challenge for the Education system in India There has been an increase in the school drop-out rate amongst the deprived, marginalized and socio-economically backward sections of the society due to various reasons. Besides, there are differences based on gender amongst the Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, regarding the children who are in between six to fourteen years of age. Measures should be initiated to eliminate gender differences and equal opportunities should be made available to all individuals.

• In some of the elementary schools, there are limited materials and equipment available, which is not sufficient to meet the needs and requirements of the students. The measures that are vital to be undertaken to enrich the quality of elementary schools are making provision of proper teaching-learning methods, effective communication between the teachers and the students, availability of materials, books, articles, swings, playthings, and all the other resources which play an important role.

Secondary Education in India:

It covers the category of children between the ages of 14 and 18, a group comprising 80 million children according to the 2001 Census of India. 10 + 2 is called Higher Secondary Education. Higher secondary education is affiliated with central boards of education. Students apply for and take classes to prepare for one of the centrally-administered examinations.

The senior school comprises classes 9 to 10 and 11-12 with a standardized countrywide exam. Secondary schooling involves classes 9th and 10th which are important for the career of students as the future subject or stream completely depend on the obtained marks in secondary classes whereas, higher secondary class 11th and 12th student have to choose any particular academic course as a focal point in which they have to make their professional career

Key Features: 

In India, the national pattern and trend might disguise the disparities across various states. It is because the backward states have low enrolment and even lower physical and human resource investment than their counterparts

Indirect demand for secondary education is generated due to the increasing demand for a highly skilled labor force in the global economy. It is because the secondary graduates are trainable for the requirements of the globalized market. Further, good quality secondary schooling introduces them to formal reasoning, abstract problem-solving skills, and critical thinking as well as its occupationally relevant content. Secondary education promotes the development of skill and knowledge with access not only to the nation but also to the global economy.

Pros of Secondary Education in India:

• Within secondary educational institutions, two-third of the schools are secondary and the rest are higher secondary schools. This is an improvement over the trend of 75 percent of the schools being high schools and the rest 25 percent being higher secondary schools for more than a decade from 1980-81 to 1996-97. This indicates that on average for every higher secondary school, 2 to 3 feeder high schools exist

• The rise in the share of the population shift into the service sector leading to overall higher per capita income in the country is being reflected in the growth of and demand for secondary education. Gross enrolment ratio, Transition rates have improved significantly in the last decade and Dropout rates have gone down.

• Some Schemes have been implemented which are centrally sponsored such as Girls Hostel Scheme, National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education, Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary stage. All these Schemes have helped the backward classes of society to get Education and aspire for more.

Cons of Secondary Education in India:

• The main disadvantage of the Secondary Education system is its lack of irregularity, infrastructure, and its reach to every state, every town, and village. Multiple numbers of factors operate, which may be broadly classified as demand, supply, family-related, or school-related factors besides the state policies and practices. While some of the academic factors push the students out, the socio-economic reasons pull them out of the system.

• This fact can’t be ignored that even when education is free, there are both direct and opportunity costs which are reasons which force children to drop out. The cost of books, uniforms, mid-day meals, etc. is major costs for poor families. Children of secondary school age regularly work on family farms (i.e., in conflict with school attendance). As a result of high opportunity costs, school attendance, and, therefore, school performance tends to be much lower for children from poor families even though tuition fees are nominal, other fees and expenditures of secondary education are higher for the socially deprived children and girls.

• Not having a school close to home is often a barrier to children’s enrolment and retention, especially for girls in village areas. There is also a problem in the quality of school education, which is influenced at both the system and institutional level. Poor functioning of schools also matters to a greater extent in the levels of not only participation but also performance.

Higher Education system in India: 

In higher Education Graduation, diplomas, and other professional courses are offered by Colleges, Institutes, and Universities. Colleges, Institutes, and Universities provide various courses such as Law, Medicine, engineering along with bachelor programs in arts, science, and commerce.

Most of the reputable universities in India require students to pass admissions tests in addition to passing a final secondary school examination for entry into a college or university. Fun fact, India is the third-largest hub of the education system in the world.

Pros of Higher Education in India: 

• India has progressed at a rapid rate in terms of higher education figures. There were 659 Universities and 33023 colleges up to December 2011-12. Much of the progress achieved by India in education has come from the private sector. The public and private sectors are not against each other but they are working simultaneously to improve the education system in India. Indian higher education system is growing very fast irrespective of various challenges and with the help of new-age learning tools and technology, a country like India can overcome these obstacles and bring a greater shift in the country’s higher education sector.

• There are opportunities for strategic engagement in higher education leadership and management at the state level. India’s government should exploit its resources to collaborate at the national and international level in areas of quality assurance, international credit recognition, and unified national qualifications framework.

Cons of Higher Education in India:

• The Gross Enrolment Ratio of India in the higher education sector is only 15% which is quite low as compared to the other developing countries. With the increasing number of enrolments at the school level, the supply of higher education institutes is insufficient to meet the growing demand.

• Most of the educational institutions are owned by political leaders, who are playing a key role in governing bodies of the Universities. They are using innocent students for their selfish means. Students organize campaigns, forget their objectives and begin to develop their careers in politics

• Shortage of Faculty and the inability of the Education system at the state level to attract and retain well-qualified teachers have been posing challenges to quality education for many years. Large numbers of NET / Ph.D. candidates remain unemployed even there are a lot of vacancies in higher education, these deserving candidates are forced to apply in other departments which is the biggest blow to the higher education system.

• Accreditation: As per the survey done by the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) in June 2010, not even 25% of the total higher education institutions in the country were accredited. And among those accredited, only a few universities and colleges were found to be of quality to be ranked at ‘A’ level.

Suggestions to improve the system: 

The role of Education is undeniable as it builds a world view and the coexistence of several world views. It prepares us for the various challenges in life, jobless situations, and the relevance of everything around us.

• There is a need to implement an innovative approach from primary to higher education level to make the Indian educational system globally more relevant and competitive. Education should enable students and teachers to understand and grasp the impact of technology and digitization on their opinions and views through the flood of information and opinions on the internet.

• There is a need to focus on the graduate students by providing them courses in which they can achieve greater excellence, and gain a deeper knowledge of the subject so that they get placed in the good companies which would reduce unnecessary rush to the higher education.

• The education system should encourage interaction, innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking. The education system should be made more flexible from primary to higher education where students are free to enter and exit at any time. 

• Universities and colleges in both public-private must be away from the political affiliations, favoritism, the money-making process should be out of the education system, etc. The Indian education system needs to customize the training because it is meant to be only for one boy, but it is valuable for everyone. In every event, not everyone should be matched to a large instruction scheme. Others have been teachers of visual art; others have been teachers of music. A few children adapt quicker, some moderate. The schedule should be planned so that each student’s capacity is distinguished and spurred. 

• The system of evaluation should test the following abilities or outcomes of learning at the UG and PG levels. Ability to appreciate and practice democratic values, social justice values, and human values; Understanding and grasp of domain area knowledge, Application of domain area knowledge in real life; Analytical and critical thinking based on issues arising within and outside the domain knowledge; Problem-solving abilities, ability to think interrelated aspects of knowledge and its application in a larger context, ability to articulate, communicate, in written and oral form ideas, viewpoints, and solutions of problems effectively to all, ability to appreciate and practice democratic values, social justice values, and human values; Ability to reflect, adopt, adapt and change as the situation demands. This outcome of learning should be part of the Indian national education system. 

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