The Indian education scramble

Source– The post is based on the article “The Indian education scramble” published in The Business Standard on 12th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS2- Issue related to development and management of education, human resources.

Relevance– About our education system.

News- The article explains the issues concerning our education.

There is debate among educational policymakers about teaching methodology. For example, whether a 10 years old kid must learn Newton law of motion before learning to ride a bicycle.

What are the issues related to our educational system?

First is, It was largely designed by Britishers and had greater emphasis on knowledge as something superior to skills. Regular graduate courses are seen as superior to vocational education. It is in contrast with Germany, where 75 per cent of the people in the 19-24 age group have received formal vocational education whereas in India the corresponding number is merely 5 per percent.

Second is the central role of tution. While the southern states are slightly lower in, the eastern ones have two-thirds or more school children taking tuition. There is an almost universal belief in India that private tuition is an absolute must to score well in exams. It promotes rote learning.

Third issue is related to exponential growth in edutech startups and large investment going into these ventures.

Fourth issue is the large number of coaching centers for IIT in Kota and UPSC coaching institute.

Fifth  issue is related to Artificial intelligence where roughly 80% of research funding in the world is devoted to. There is a possibility that chatbots would replace 90% of jobs currently being done by professionals like doctors, lawyers and physicians, the lifeline of India’s middle class.

What are new guidelines in China related to tuition classes?

Recently, China banned private for-profit businesses from offering both online and offline tutoring classes for primary and secondary school students. These guidelines also ban

such businesses from offering classes on weekends, holidays, and summer and winter breaks.