Indian Education, Education and Value Education

I have blogged about this. Tweeted about this. Written FB posts about this. Even wrote in the paper about it. Yet, it feels like the education system in India is nothing more than a bucket of keywords in an article on a spam website. Crushed between huge ideas like "all-rounded development", "honing soft skills" and ground realities of unemployment even after getting a DU degree, where exactly does the Indian Student go? DU wants a four year programme so that students have more time to learn and grow. There's a claimed focus on understanding rather than learning. The St. Stephen's cut-offs, however, beg to differ. Experimenting with new methods is a good thing, but do we have a Vision?

Letting students into a college which follows the Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP) which focuses on holistic learning, solely on the basis of marks in one exam? It contradicts the two major education reforms of the recent years. One, the aforementioned FYUP. The other, the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE).

Now don't get me wrong! I was a huge fan of CCE – the projects, the debates, the symposium meets - it was all a lot of fun. And with all honesty, I can say that I learnt much more than I would have through dry, boring textbooks. But not all schools implemented it the same way. While I used to be having a blast creating a movie presentation or quiz contest, my friends from other schools complained of weekly written exams that were all the same. So the issues of discrepancy were and still need to be addressed. But the concept was amazing: understand, don’t just learn. And it was in CCE that a huge focus was shifted on to Sports, Dance, and Music and so on. But come grade 11, and there was a sudden and abrupt shift. Gone were the days of all-rounded understanding. Everyone was thrown into a pit where the only way out was to lap up everything in the textbooks and spit it out on the answer sheet. It was a grim, grim change. So it naturally feels weird that the way into another CCE like program is through a mind-numbingly textbook based exam result. Doesn't it?

And what about the Values and Morals components that education boards are trying to add? There's a lot of hue and cry about how Value Education is not needed at the college level. It's a place for higher education and morals are to be taught at a younger age. I disagree. If you can give space to a person to introspect and learn to take decisions on the basis of values, why restrict it to school? Are values just another lesson to be mugged up in school and then forgotten once we pass? No. A continuous positive reinforcement of values will lead to a generation of "Youth" who don't go snatching chains and committing crime without batting an eyelid. Yes, there is a lot of discussion and debate required on the way these values are implemented. The "Value Education" that was incorporated into the Class 12 course was laughable. Two questions - apparently that's all what our great "Value System" is worth. I do not know what the Mind Body and Soul (or whatever it is) section will do and how well it will be implemented. But in the kind of terrifying world we live in - I think it's necessary for EVERYONE, right from age 9 to 99, to get a timeout where one forgets about the frenzy of life and introspects - imbibing our morals. Oh wait! I just understood that's what Pablo Neruda was trying to say in "Keeping Quiet". How ironical - a poem that urges us to take a break from the frenzy of competition and the ruthless run to success, was in fact added to a year of just that. 

As Neruda once said “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” 

With optimism and with hope, I'll try move forward with the new education system and request you to do the same. Yes, there's much more change that is required. And some may say that I should do something about it and not just write. But I feel that discussion and debate is as integral and important to a decision, as action. What do you think? Is there more that can been done in Value Education? Or is it a redundant cause? What about CCE? Either it should be scrapped, or introduced in 11th and 12th as well. What say?
Do share your thoughts in the comments below!

Also, speaking of college, have you started shopping for college yet?