Often we are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. We get busy in solving the manifestations of the problem rather than looking at the cause.

A problem well stated is a problem half solved. We never look at the problems afresh - right from ground up. Surprisingly, attempts at identifying the root causes often leads to solutions so simple that you may even fear to express them.

I better dare to be naïve.

Showing posts with label mass education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mass education. Show all posts

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Standardizing School Curriculum and Delivery

The greatest challenge that India faces is lack of quality teachers .
To aggravate the problem, each State pursues its own curriculum for the students. Even Central Government of India has ICSE and CBSE.
Does this mean that students in AP are different from those of Punjab?
Or is it just that we would like to have more diversity than we already have.

I think standardizing education and its delivery can be thought of in the following ways.
1. Having same curriculum throughout India except for vernacular languages.
2. To pool the best brains in India to devise this curriculum.
3. To make the curriculum interesting to students.
4. To utilize the TV, Internet and CDs to deliver the education. TV is far more effective than any other delivery. It engages the kids the most.

5. Identifying the best teachers in India, pooling them and letting them research on each topic and come up with the best way to explain it. Did you ever wonder why students get a few concepts right and fail to get the others?This is because they were taught those few concepts in a way they could understand easily. Good teachers know this trick. But all students don't get good teachers. Even in the best of schools, all teachers are not good.
6. Recording the delivery of this best method on a Video by the best teachers. Using as many examples and illustrations as possible.I always felt the UGC programmes that I used to watch on TV when I was a student are the right way to teach.
8. Delivering these programs through TV, Internet and Pre-recorded DVDs/CDS
9. The teachers in the schools will just facilitate the process of learning at the time of delivery.
10. Even the tests can be standardized. They can be delivered through emails on the test day to schools.
Imagine the immense advantages that this will bring for a country like India.
1. Lack of quality teachers is no longer a problem.
2. All students get exposed to the same quality education. Be it a rich kid or a poor kid.
3. Students will get their concepts right.
4. India will get a great advantage in the world with their students getting their concepts right.
5. Countless teachers, educators et al are saved from devising separate curriculums and delivery.
6. Standardizing education saves a lot of time.
7. Saved time can be put to a better use to increase productivity and thereby GDP.
8. What more, We can have a standard method of training teachers too on facilitating the students on getting the concepts right.
9. Even if students miss a few classes they can always catch up from DVDs / CDs.
10. Students and parents are freed from the big dilemma they face when they have to change from a school with one curriculum to a different school with a different curriculum.

It is unfortunate that mass education is the only area which did not take advantage of the new technologies that came in the last 80 years. It is high time we use these for everybody's good.

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