Time To Unlearn

If we want to transform our destiny, we will have to change what we teach and how we teach

PICTURE SPEAK

EXPERIENCE IT: Practical study leads to deeper understanding

What will be India's story tomorrow? Will tomorrow be merely an extension of today's reality? Or will we choose to realise our potential?

These are the questions that highlight the true power of education. What happens in our classrooms today will happen in larger society tomorrow. This is why the teacher's role is the most important social role any person can perform. And if we want to transform India's destiny, we have to begin by changing what we teach and how we teach.

Seen in this context, the results of the study are disturbing. If this is the state of student learning in our most popular schools, imagine what might be happening in other schools. Though it is clear that a mechanical process of teaching and learning-by-rote is dysfunctional, it continues to pervade almost all of India's classrooms.

The message is clear. Schools need to refocus their priorities. Teachers need to move from teaching-for-exams to teaching-for-understanding. Class-rooms need to become more experiential and collaborative so that every child learns deeply and meaningfully. The focus of schools has to change from simply preparing children for exams to helping them learn skills they will use in their lives. Boards of education need to examine whether the near 100 per cent scores that toppers receive are realistic. And parents have to demand that children are learning, not just scoring high marks in school and board exams.

I think to be educated is to be aware. Aware of oneself, one's realities, one's potential. And such awareness is only possible if we are aware of our environment, of how we are embedded in our social context. This aware person, I feel, will manifest into a balanced human being who is courageous and committed in spirit, is curious and critical in thought, and is creative and caring in action.

To me, this represents the purpose and the outcome of good education. How do we, as teachers, help children learn that inward and personal growth is directly linked to the outward development of one's surroundings? How do we build schools where each individual's progress is linked to the collective good, thus discovering the key to wide-spread social development of our country? How do we develop ways of knowing how we are doing as schools, as textbook makers and the education system as a whole? Of turning our focus on to how we make learning really happen, not just for some or the more privileged, but for all our children? And how we work towards a system that sets high standards for itself and constantly works at improving itself?

Thus the seemingly dismal results of this study hide a significant silver lining, for it can also become the trigger for change.

Some trends are clear. Parents, no matter what their socio-economic background, are beginning to realise the importance of education. Efforts to improve school quality are gaining traction in governmental and non-governmental sectors. Through the National Curriculum Framework document of 2005, we have challenged archaic notions of education.

In short, the educational environment in India has never been more promising. India's most popular schools have the resources to set a new benchmark in school culture, teacher competence and student learning. I am certain they will respond to this challenge. In turn, this will motivate other schools to rearticulate their aspirations and their processes. This could cascade, and a system that has remained unchanged for over a hundred years might just change in our lifetime.

And when our schools change, can India be far behind?

The author is the chairman of Wipro

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