GAYATRI SINGH CHARAK
“A bird flies not when it is simply taught to, but when it actually spreads its wings”
We are the future of the nation, the new world, and yet our wings are being snatched away from us. What are these wings? Education. The only thing which can make us fly to great heights has been compromised, diluted, and then given to us.
The question is not about who is responsible, but it is about why is it so? The New Education policy, if we talk about, launched by the Indian government recently listed so many key areas of modification. But was it implemented considering it as the future of the new minds? No, it was implemented soullessly just like any other chore by the people in power.
We say we want to become like the west; sophisticated, developed, educated, self-reliant and employed. But we never really took enough time to stop and realize what wrong has been going on in the education system of India. If a child wants to pursue Philosophy and chemistry, he or she is considered irrational, just because these subjects don’t form a perfect combination. This is the very problem with our education system. Had that child opted for both the subjects and pursued them, he would possibly have become a philosopher or a scientist (as in the best-case scenario), which would indirectly be beneficial for the whole country. But there is not enough trained and professional faculty in the schools who can provide for the same, neither is there such a structure where kids are free to choose whatever they want to pursue. One might love Physics but doesn’t want to study Chemistry, instead wants to study History. For such a child, there isn’t even 0.001% possibility to achieve what he has in mind.
There is nothing more stressful than the life of a student studying in high school, fragile with his/her dreams and uncertain about what is yet to come. What makes it worse is the system of education, here in India. There is so much to memorize and to theorize, that kids have zero skill in their own opted subjects. We ask why there is so much unemployment, and then blame it on the government for not providing adequate jobs. But did it ever cross our mind, that if schools would be considerate enough to teach theory as well as skill, then we wouldn’t even be whining about jobs. We would have enough knowledge as well as the Skill to work it all out ourselves. So, the question therefore is not about who is responsible. The question is that do we want to send our kids on suicide missions where they are unsure of their future, or do we want to change this age-old system and achieve the very virtue of a developed nation? ‘The birds will fly only if the plight of their wings is being looked upon’.