There are more than 3000 MBA colleges, 25000 engineering colleges, 100s of private universities, 100 of government universities, 1000s of government primary and secondary schools and finally 1000s of private schools in India.
Quality In Education Institutions – Who Defines, Who Measures?
Are all these education institutes good at what they do?
If not,
Why are some good and
Why are some bad?
These are certain questions that you ponder upon if you are a student or a parent in search of a good institution to study
We have education governing bodies in India such as
- All India Council for Technical Education- AICTE
- university grants commission UGC
- human resource development ministry
- Distance Education Council (DEC)
- Medical council of India
- Indian nursing council
- Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR)
- National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)
- National Board of Accreditation.
And much more, each having their own jurisdiction.
And there is plenty of government-approved private rating agencies that rate these education institutions on the basis of various factors, which keeps changing from agency to agency.
But the plight of talented students that half of the institutions in India produce is bad. The industry talents they require is absent and as a result of that, they are unemployed
Bad education leads to unemployment which further leads to an economic slowdown and social distress. Each of them is interconnected with each other and the entire societal structure is like a domino. If one falls, then the entire systems will be on the verge of collapse.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying our entire education system is in tantrums. No, there are plenty of good institutes which are internationally acclaimed which provide quality education and produce competent talent to the industry.
But these are just a hand full a number. There are more number of educational institutions and primary schools who are producing abysmally bad talents into the market
Has anyone wondered why this is happening in a country like India?
Well, we hear to crack some myths and bust some facts.
Do Check:
Education as a business model
From buying books to uniforms to paying an exorbitant fee, it’s no doubt that education is a lucrative business model. As long as the education imparted looks nice, nobody seems to care if the education imparted is right.
Fancy buildings, swimming pools, gyms and sports parks, schools nowadays look no less than a five-star resort. And hence the fee they charge is logical and to some extent acceptable. All these things are surely required for quality education and all-round development of children. But at the same time, look and feel is very different from actual realities.
A school might be good in its infrastructure and facilities provided. But do they have quality teachers and is the course curriculum and pedagogy providing good education to children?
On the other hand, certain successful government-run primary and secondary schools in Kerala have been imparting good quality education to its students, but lack the technological and infrastructure might that these private schools posses. And that is where the problem is. If good facilities are provided, the quality of education is compromised and if quality education is provided, facilities are compromised.
But children require a healthy balance of good academic education as well as strong extracurricular and correct curricular activities.
If both are provided, then the business model will be under pressure.
But at any point in time, this business model bubble is bound to burst. Owners should come up with sustainable models to survive in future. The mean point should be found, where a balance if all three factors mentioned above is inculcated in our education systems.
We are in no way saying education as a business is wrong. But business done with compromised education is wrong. So what can be done to improve the quality of education in both private and public sector schools?
We have come up with some cool and innovative solutions for this problem, which are,
What can be done to improve the quality of education in schools?
Required infrastructure
- A clean, spacious school building having basic facilities including:
- Spacious classrooms with requisite furniture, boards, electrical fittings like lights and fans
- Clean and hygienic toilets
- Accessible drinking water
- Activity and play areas
- Laboratories with requisite instruments and equipment
- Computers for students to learn and experiment with
All we are suggesting is good infrastructure. Students definitely don’t need a five-star hotel kind of education. It is unnecessary and unsustainable. Having a good school building with spacious classrooms is enough. If it is maintained well on a weekly basis, that would create a healthy learning environment for the students.
Good quality of teachers
We believe there should absolutely be no compromise on this end. Because teachers are the very backbone of elementary, primary and secondary education in India. Hence, schools need to adopt a system where at no point of time, the quality of teachers is compromised.
Students’ likes and dislikes for attending classes, or interests in a particular subject, can be linked to their teacher and his/her quality of teaching. The challenge of improving quality of teaching by training teachers and supporting them with modern teaching aids, tools and methodologies — like smart classrooms and digital course content — needs to be taken up so that teachers take pride in their jobs.
Government support
To run a school, it requires a lot of bureaucratic hurdles to be passed over. Getting approval for each and every event and changes that take place in the school on a timely basis is important. Hence, full unconditional support to the on-ground school management from governmental bodies in running the particular private or governmental school is important.
People support
In India, we have no less than 135 crore people and according to statistics, every 5 seconds a baby is born. The staggering amount of work that goes into educating each and every person in the country is paramount. This is not possible by governments and other concerning bodies alone. There must be strong support from people to make India a highly educated nation.
Affluent people should stop expecting 5-star facility in schools. It’s a simple demand and supply concept. People want costly schools hence such business model have arisen. If people are educated and expect what is required, then the system will heal itself
On the other end of the spectrum, poor people need to send their kids to school without using them for earning and labour.
Innovative policies
Certain policies like PPP (Public Private Partnership) model should be implemented so that citizens and government can work in tandem. This reduces communication gaps and gives a good on-ground reality picture for the government and other functioning bodies.
Such innovative policies also help in financial stability for schools.
What all needs to be addressed by schools?
- The quality of teaching
- Laboratory facilities
- Language excellence
- Emphasis on value education
- Language excellence
- Communication with parents
- Cleanliness
- Customer service
- Safety & security
- Recreational/extracurricular facilities
- Working conditions and management of faculty
These do not require huge sums of investments. This requires proper planning and intent, which should be done by education institutes if their business model needs to survive.
Immediate steps the government should take, in this regard
Training
Better training institutes of teachers and educators are required in the country. The traditional form of training needs upgrading with respect to changing industry trends and demands.
Salary
Uniform salary and pay packages for school teachers across the country, irrespective of whether it is a public or private school. This will eliminate the stigma attached to the government and private schools.
Build technological infrastructure-
Students must be taught about technology right from the early years of their education so that it does not come like an alien thing in their later times.
Indian schools must embrace technology and education with an open heart and propagate the same to the students as it is there, where their future lies.Improve evaluation and grading system
No, we are not talking about student’s grades, we are talking about the institute grading system. The education bodies in India should be autonomous in nature and have robust, strong and honest people in it. Corruption should be weeded out of this system.
Rote learning
We have progressed with time; however, we still have not been able to move away from rote learning. While we know that IB schools are changing the education system at their level, but we also need to understand that the population that goes to IB schools is very limited in nature.
Not everyone can afford the education system that they offer. Hence, the government needs to take the baton in their hands and eradicate rote learning from the schools at all the levels. The schools must be encouraged to introduce conceptual learning which avoids students to mug up what they are being taught. While this will help students to understand the concepts better, they will also be able to retain and apply them better.
Overall academic learning
We continue to survive in the education system where science stream topples the stream hierarchy. Students are pushed to become a machine which only goes for high-profile subjects and subjects like languages, communications, arts are looked down and are not considered high-profile.
Students should rather be pushed to pursue the subject that they like instead of creating a differentiation between subjects.
In conclusion,
To make judgments about the educational quality of students, educational program evaluations, students’ achievement tests, competency tests, teachers’ performance assessment etc can be done. However, a piece of effective machinery to judge and define the quality standards in Indian schools is non-existent
All the stakeholder in the education system like the government, students, school owners, businesses, teacher and parents should work in synchronization with the common objective of improving the quality of education imparted to our students, who are the future of the country.