Learning just for earning?

Kandhon ko kitabon ke bojh ne jhukaya… rishvat dena to khud papa ne sikhya… 99% marks laaoge to ghadi varna chadii… likh likh pada hatheli par..alpha beta gamma ka chaala…. concentrated H2SO4 ne poora bachpan jala daala…….

These lyrics of a Hindi song from superhit flick ‘3 Idiots’ paint a true picture of the emotions and agony that every schoolgoing kid in India goes through. Under the heavy encumber of books and boring educational methods, an average child is unable to balance the wishes of his parents with his own daring dreams. He is clueless as to what he actually wants from life and whether his desires are in compliance with the hopes and expectations of the society.

What is the main purpose of education? Just to get a satisfactory job or to realize your true potential and make a significant contribution to society? Many of us fail to realize our priorities. Part responsibility for this failure lies with our success oriented education system and some of the blame needs to be borne by our parents and their excessive ambitions. The present education system is such that studying does not mean quality learning, but is limited to the mugging up of answers before the exams after which a person rarely remembers what he wrote on the answer sheet.

Parents, on the other hand, support the frenzy by asking their wards to secure excellent marks in order to attain admissions in good colleges, get well paying jobs, lead a first class life, or in short do the family proud. Grades become so important that the guardians fail to comprehend that percentages and divisions do not necessarily mean knowledge and life skills.

I am also a victim of this, like scores of our readers no doubt. I always missed an informative and discussion based growing-up as my main motive was to simply mug up the notes and secure excellent marks. Ultimately I was at a loss as my logical approach and understanding towards common subjects declined gradually. Thank God for my profession, my integrated approach towards life has changed but, honestly, I still bear the brunt of it in my daily routine.

Do we ever comprehend that all the successful names today are established and thriving because they chose to pursue their own dreams, regardless of what they were told to. The other day I found out that the Formula 1 driver Adriano Sutil belongs to a family of musicians, but considers driving as his passion. Sachin Tendulkar is a class 10th fail, but is known as the `God of Cricket`. 2010 Nobel laureate, Venkat Ramakrishnan failed IIT, medical entrance tests but never failed to strive towards his goal.

Parents need to realize that through their persistent demands, they discourage their child’s ability to think logically and rationally. Remember the Chatur of ‘3 Idiots’? Do we want our future generations to be like him- a man with a false character, who is ready to acquire anything through his malicious ways?

Education fetches knowledge, awareness and power to bring change. But due to the tedious and lack-luster system, a child is ready to follow unethical practices like cheating. Recently I appeared for IGNOU exams and was disconcerted to see the travesty of the whole system. The examination hall was an immoral playground with students cheating and professors unbothered as to how the students would survive the cut-throat competition.

Later on when these children are unable to vie with the world, they end their lives like it has been happening in Maharashtra for the last couple of days. No wonder, prodigies like Neha Sawant, an amazing dancer, take the extreme step when prevented from following her destiny. It is our life and we should be given the right to decide for it. But unaware of the pragmatic approach, today’s child is more engrossed in theoretical aspects, overlooking the fact that civilizational development depends upon on our abilities to question.

India boasts of having one of the largest technical and scientific manpower reserves in the world, but one wonders if most of it comprises outdated syllabus and out-of-sync teachers. India has one of the lowest higher education enrolment ratios of 11%, while the US has crossed the mark of 82%. Primary education is still a far away dream. Government is granting Deemed University status to several universities and colleges, but the quality of education remains substandard. Bureaucracy has found its roots deep-down into the system, restricting the employment growth in India.

Management guru Peter Drucker once said that after a decade there won’t be any poor nations, but only ignorant countries and India’s education pattern can take us all towards that status. Our system is rigid and unyielding. We are more concerned about degrees, which in the long run never help. There is no scope for vocational education and those who take the initiative are looked upon as losers. All the ‘intellects’ end up simply becoming graduates in B.Tech, MCA, MBA, MBBS and CA.

There is of course nothing wrong in studying these courses, but why not patronize our hobbies as our professions and set up unique precedents, instead of copying others. Every child is unique in his own way, so let’s try to become inimitable by establishing new standards for our next generations. As it’s been said, “An educational system is worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a life, instead of teaching them how to make a living.”