Is the Indian Education system good?

We crib about the loads of the bags, the brutal examination system, the excessive pressures on the tender childhood...we squirm when we hear young children being driven to suicide because of the pressures of the board exams...

Yet this is the education system that has given not just India, but the entire world thousands of doctors, engineers and software professionals...we can pride ourselves on being hardworking, strong on analytical and problem solving skills thanks to the grinding and grilling in our schools and colleges....

Is our education system as bad as it is made out to be...Would India lose its edge if we were to adapt say an American format of education...

Please do comment!

Good question Tallyho. I think Indian education is too tuff on chidren sometime and American system is too liberal at times, maybe if we could settle somewhere in between (I am only talking about education till high school- not beyon that).

I really wonder
Whom should I blame?
What should I blame?
I don't think educational system is bad but examination system is bad in India.If examination is also a part of it then educational system is also bad.The present system is stressful,very very much greedy for marks,percentiles and not knowledge oriented.I wish I get oppurtunity to spend ,study as Henry David Thoreau suggested.

Cheers,

Mythili

I feel the Indian education system in the elementary and high school level is very good. The grilling really pays if not for all. If one can survive this education system, he/she can have the ability to make it big anywhere in the world. Our science and math are exceptionally good at these levels.

I am in US so I can compare with US education system. These days if you are aware there is a lot of hue-and-cry going on in US for it's deterioration in education system. They have one quarter high school white dropouts while the number is half for blacks and latinos. They have even taken the initiative of "no child left behind" program. They cribbing about not putting much stress in teaching science and maths. They are producing more and more crimilan psychologists and creative writers. USA is a very resourceful country with a less than one third of Indian population. So, may be it will take some more time to feel the heat.

On abc there was a program on why India ia growing fast in producing so much tech. and science people. It was told that for modern Indians the only weapon is education to survive and they even respect and worship education(in the form of Ma Saraswati)which is a rare feature in all over the world.

The major flaw I see in Indian education system is that it forbids you from asking basic questions. Don't ask why, just do it. Most of the basic knowledge is bookish and less creative. Do we need a 5 or 6 year old to sit through 8-9 hours of school 5 days a week and then loads of homework on weekend? We argue that India produces most hardworking Software Engineers and Doctors in the world. Yet we don't see most inventions attributed to Indians. What is stopping us? It is the basic rule we are fed since childhood and that is work hard, don't ask why or how? Our education system needs to be less meticulous and teachers should bring out the ingenuity in us.

Originally posted by: sowmyaa

Good question Tallyho. I think Indian education is too tuff on chidren sometime and American system is too liberal at times, maybe if we could settle somewhere in between (I am only talking about education till high school- not beyon that).

i agree with di here 😛 i sometimes think that teachers here may let off a bit too easy while when I go to India i see my cousins get sad because they didn't get first rank and ended up in third rank. Supposedly that was horrible. I definitely think there should be a place for all this right in the middle 😊

Another aspect is the quality of teachers particualry at school level..you do not have exceptionally brilliant people opting for school teaching as a profession...how can we expect them to broaden the horizon of children when their own thinking is very conservative and narrow...the curriculum is good, examination reforms too are being brought in time to time but we seriously must think of enhancing the quality of our teachers...

Originally posted by: TallyHo

Another aspect is the quality of teachers particualry at school level..you do not have exceptionally brilliant people opting for school teaching as a profession...how can we expect them to broaden the horizon of children when their own thinking is very conservative and narrow...the curriculum is good, examination reforms too are being brought in time to time but we seriously must think of enhancing the quality of our teachers...

Exactly, I too had this in my mind. Brilliant people would prefer to join teaching more likely as a professor/lecturer, and not a school teacher.

The competetion in India is more than many other countries. I was surprised to see the progress of a three+ year old boy(pre-school) student in India. It's not that he was exceptional, everyone in his class is more or less same. In US in the junior level teaching is more about fun and doing fun projects. But I guess in India the grooming starts at the very basic level.

Originally posted by: Pradarshak

I was surprised to see the progress of a three+ year old boy(pre-school) student in India. It's not that he was exceptional, everyone in his class is more or less same. In US in the junior level teaching is more about fun and doing fun projects. But I guess in India the grooming starts at the very basic level.

If the grooming includes tapping a toddler's creative aspect then I am all for it. Here in US I see that some Indian parents start teaching ABCs soon after the toddler starts talking. I have a friend who bragged that her 2 yr old can say A to Z and 1 to 10 and name 5 colors. I have seen the way she teaches and none of it is fun. It is like the kid was mugging up and lots of hard work. In my opinion the kid could have been taught all this with some fun elements. That is what I pointed out earlier. We teach kids the importance of hard work but forget to tap their creative and curious minds. It is like we are preparing them to work hard under someone and all the thinking part will be done by someone who will be their boss.

Originally posted by: TallyHo

Another aspect is the quality of teachers particualry at school level..you do not have exceptionally brilliant people opting for school teaching as a profession

It is indeed sad. Most of the good lot choose better careers and no one wants to be a poor teacher. Our government is to be blamed for it too. The primary level teachers who have the most important task to groom a kid is paid less than a College lecturer.