EDUCATION- An Indian Perspective
EDUCATION- An Indian Perspective
EDUCATION- An Indian Perspective
"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."- Albert Einstein
"The real difficulty is that people have no idea of what education truly is. We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock-exchange market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated." (M. K. Gandhi True Education on the NCTE site)
Education as a concept, many times confused with term literacy'. A person who can read and write is assumed as educated person, often overlooking the fact that the reading and writing are just tools to get educated.
Like mother educating the daughter on the fine arts of cooking or stitching, father educating the son on the finesse of fine tuning the engine, a farmer educating his siblings on types of soil or tending the farm. In fact education is passing knowledge and experience of on generation to next generation.
When a child enters in the realm of school, the child's mind is already filled with knowledge on various concepts ( may be right or wrong, clear or unclear) and teaming with questions of what? Why? When? Where? How?
In the child's mind there is no division of subjects like mathematics, science, social studies but gets the explanation, perceives, understands various concepts-starts to assimilate, apply, analyze and evaluate. The environment for educating through various subjects befalls on the teacher.
For instance Rainbow' the subject perceived by the child, as poem, the child visualizes and appreciates the wonder of the mother nature, in Science understands the phenomenon of dispersion of light, in art finds expression of rainbow, writing gives credence to the assimilated knowledge of the rainbow. This becomes the knowledge base for the child. When the same topic is dealt or referred in geography the child links and connects with another knowledge base- space and slowly evolves and sequences the learning and thus process education is in place.
Our education system made of various boards have framed age appropriate curriculum and syllabus (may need tweaking here and there) by far a decent educational programme. There are many who have reservation about our education system but the fact remains that those who are questioning are also the product of the same system. In fact our education system has achieved its objective ie think-evaluate- and bring about the change.
Children from Standard I to X are exposed to multitude of subjects to get reasonable explanations to make informed conclusions and select the field in which they want to further their quest.
Learning Capacity
Children have boundless capacity for learning. Often parents feel that children are over burdened with school work and teachers are the devils with invisible horns.
The parents' expectations, communication, and unwarranted sympathy towards the wards, unrealistic standard set by the teacher and parents sometimes undermine the effectiveness of education.
Instead inadequacy the wards face in understanding the concept, complexity of language used to explain concept are some areas which need to be looked into.
Other relevant fact only Indian children face is the fact that children come from different background speak different languages. The linking language often would be either State language or English.(28 States and that many languages) Though Hindi is our National Language. This language too has different avatars in different states and some States have still not accepted Hindi as National Language.
Learning Style
Every one has an ingrained learning pattern. If the learning process matches with the pattern one learns better. Learning also depends on the type /style of learner. This holds true for children and adults. Many theories have been put forth by educationist .among these theories- Kolb's theory and Peter Jarvis experiential learning are to an extent effective in a class room teaching and could also be used in teacher training programme.
According to Kolb's theory when a new learning experience is encountered two sets of reactions sets in-
To do some thing about the learning experience / to watch what is happening.
To feel about the experience / to think about it.
Based on above facts four styles in learning are identified and the role the teacher needs to play is outlined.
1. Concrete Active learners -could be easily identifiable 2 to 5% of the students in the class fall into this bracket the teacher need to be a facilitator.
Concrete Reflective learners- an average of 15-20%of the class fall into this group- here teacher need to be motivator.
Abstract Reflective learner- about 20 to 25% come under this group and they need the teacher to be expert in the field.
Abstract Active learner- the rest comes into the group where teacher need to be coach and take them through the process of learning.
Expectation from the Teachers
Most of the teachers over the years of experience unconsciously would have identified the groups. But a conscientious effort and analytical approach would definitely ease the workload of the teacher and time spent with the students would be more effective.
Interestingly Peter Jarvis experiential learning- throws light on passive learners. A person when exposed to situation/ experience may not respond and may continue in the passive state. This is due to Non learning or non-reflecting, presumption or not relating.
But a continuous input in the form of exposure and experimentation gives the learner to reflect/ evaluate upon and invokes the reasoning and memorization in a person and brings about the changes in a person.
Integrating Peter Jarvis experiential learning in training programme for teachers would be more effective. In fact the learning theories help to design the modules for training programme, but then each module designed should take into account the needs of the teachers rather than implementing the module which is already designed.
Every module thus planned should be in consultation with the teachers and should be realistic and practical and adaptable and easy to implement in the class.
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