The system is such that the teachers cannot complete the curriculum, if they wish to do justice to their teaching, nor they can venture on something new because of the limited time constraints. The students too cannot leave some subjects which they find difficult nor can they opt for other subjects of their choice. Thus the productivity of the present day educational system suffers.
The most important goal for developing countries is to achieve literacy for all, which, according to UNESCO estimates, requires four or more years of schooling. However, in many countries four years of schooling may not produce functional literacy, because not all educational systems are equally effective and many students repeat the same class or drop out due to various factors.
Due to these drawbacks in our educational system new methodologies are being worked out to make teaching learning process more meaningful and effective so that the child is benefited in all respects. Hence modern technology and mass media are being used to achieve the required goals in education. The use of television and radio for mass education is not new to our country. There are many educational institutions in this country which extensively make use of modern technology for giving basic instructions to students in schools at various levels. These new ideas can greatly increase educational productivity, though of course they will not replace all the functions of educational institutions.
Educational experts suggest that television is a fairly effective method of learning provided it is used and not misused in the guise of promotion of educational progress. Today it is a fact that video recorded television courses are available in the market so that learning process can be enriched within the four walls of the house. But all these facilities available to the present day students are guided by the so called curriculum and hence are subjected to the educational system in which the productivity is much less compared to the huge budget spent on education in this country by the Government.
I came across another view, somewhat strange and controversial, of some other educationists who feel that there is no need of any school or class room for child’s effective learning. They claim that whenever schooling is set up as an official institution in a society, people get the idea that the only way to become educated is by attending classes. They come to believe that they don’t know anything important unless they learned it in a class taught by a certified instructor. They believe they are unable to learn whatever they need to know by looking around and finding out for themselves. They become helpless, passive consumers of education, uncritical, unable to take charge of getting the knowledge they need. Unless it is organized for them and presented in a classroom, they think they can’t learn.
To strengthen their argument of educating a child without admitting him/her in a school they give numerous examples. They advise us to look at the things we know: how to speak our language, how to knit, how to cook, how to write cheques, how to drive a car, how to use a camera, how to swim, how to fix a flat tire, how to play the guitar, etc., etc. Our children, they say, will know the names of the players of the entire cricket team or football team or prominent athletes of this country as per their interests. They have learnt all this without attending any school.
They boast of the fact that the child learns much more and more effectively without going to any school. They are critical of the fact that we send our children to schools and colleges only because the students need a certificate or a diploma or a degree at the end of the educational course which helps them to get a decent job. The era of evaluating people at the time of selection for a job on the basis of certificates, diploma or degrees must come to an end, they feel. Under this system educational standards cannot improve because it cannot avoid itself being examination oriented. They propose to provide places full of the kinds of things people need to use in their lives. They opine that the government should make available all concepts and equipments, traditional as well as modern, in all fields of life to students so that they experience and learn the needs of their respective interest in a free atmosphere.
Though the thought of this type of education is, no doubt, revolutionary, it has got various elements which can provide very effective learning to the students. It stresses on the capability of the individual students in order to make a choice of what to learn and what not to learn. This choice is totally denied to students in our present day educational system and hence it is a big failure. A student who is weak in mathematics cannot leave that subject because it is a part of the curriculum. This type of education provides a lot of scope for the students to understand, to search and to discover answers to questions on their own which is totally absent in our present day educational system.
Therefore the present day educational system needs a total revamp. The two aspects of the above mentioned thought on education that is (a) freedom to students to choose the subjects as per their capability and interest and (b) freedom to learn by doing must be included in the present day educational system and vigorously implemented. The attitude of the educators of today to confine the students to bookish knowledge and prepare them for yearly examination only is the greatest defect of our educational system. This must end immediately. Hence there is an urgent need to crystallize different view-points and come out with an educational system which will provide intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual growth of the child besides giving students the freedom and choice of the subjects of their interests and ample opportunities to learn by doing.
(Tomazinho Cardozo is a former Speaker of Goa
Legislative Assembly)
