Indian Education Is Performance-centric Not Student-centric

By Author: Mahesh kumar
Total Articles: 1
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Alka Sharma from Bhavan’s SL School won the CBSE best teacher award. In her view, the Indian education system is rather upside down in the way that it is oriented towards performance. She admits that it is all about ‘completing the curriculum’ and not about actual learning or growing young minds and attitude status of young boys and girls. Sharma is a teacher who believes that kids cannot be force-fed learning. In her view, kids should be made to understand concepts first and should have fun while they do so.

The mighty ‘syllabus’

Every Indian student has heard their teacher talk about completing the syllabus. Every Indian parent acknowledges that the syllabus set for their children is more ‘vast’ than it was in their times. Meanwhile, there is much that the syllabus lacks in terms of teaching children how to become autonomous, functioning adults equipped with life skills for the real world.

Learning by rote

This may be a colonial relic, but the Indian education system has not seen fit to evolve beyond rote learning. ...
... There is still an emphasis on memorising vis-à-vis actual understanding and application of learning. Critical thinking is vital for young minds, however this is actively discouraged in our schools.

Don’t think, don’t question

A student who has tried to write a creative answer rather than the ‘book’ answer has likely been told by their teacher not to be ‘over smart’. Indian students are taught to keep their heads down, not raise too many questions or rock the boat. Independent thinking isn't encouraged to put it mildly.