Reorienting the current education system in Assam

This text should be read as a comprehensive proposal for revising the structure and content of the existing education system; can also be used as a basis document to start a discussion on the subject; please do not cite out of context and without due permission.

 

 

A. The basic aim of education is to provide students with the skills to develop their inner potential to be able to sustain themselves and to thrive in this world later as adults, to teach them how to think and make sense of and explore the world around them besides making them literate, educated and cultured as human beings; education must also imbue students with the right sense of values and with a commitment to working for the common good of the society they are a part of besides pursuing their individual goals.  Thereby, education is also the means to economic development and empowerment along with being a means to alleviate poverty and unemployment. 

A.     School education:

General:

1.      All efforts should be made to improve and support the government schools and to make them more attractive by improving facilities and amenities in the schools, standards of teaching and quality of education, and production of good study material in the mother tongues, especially in the lower classes. Stricter supervision, more resource allocation and better system of teacher training and upgrade must be introduced. (Cf. the Atishi model in Delhi)

2.      At the same time the random mushrooming of private English medium schools must be strictly discouraged. And licenses should not be given to such schools unless they can pass strict guidelines;

3.      Some parity must be sought to be brought about in the standards of the govt. schools so that they are comparable at least with the central schools if not with the private schools;

4.      The aim should be to make students bi-lingual (Assamese and English) or trilingual (mother-tongue, Assamese/Hindi, English) by the time they finish school, both in writing as well as speaking.

5.      Greater importance to be given to imparting learning skills rather than reproducing information.

6.      Stress laid on improving vocational skills – gardening, carpentry, tailoring, etc. as well as on creative and talent-based activities like music, dance, sports, arts etc.

7.      Class sizes must be reduced and there has to be greater and continued interaction between the 3 parties: students, teachers and parents.

8.      Extra financial support should be given for students from poor backgrounds (uniforms and textbooks at least, plus mid-day meals); academic support to those whose parents are illiterate and are not able to help their children.

9.      Special schools for children with disabilities, blind and deaf children etc.

10.  Teachers should work closely with parents to give the children the extra support they need if any. There should be provision for extra classes for weak students and special classes for students with mild hearing, speaking or seeing problems etc. Attempt should be made to integrate these students into the normal schools as much as possible.

11.  Annual retreats for school children should be organized at least for a week or two starting with the secondary level; Younger children should also be taken for shorter trips if possible, at least for picnics. Children should be taken out to see exhibitions, plays or music regularly.

12.  Exchange programmes between schools of different parts of the country or at least the NE should be encouraged at least at the higher secondary level.

 

Teachers:

1.      Being a school teacher must be made attractive, not just in terms of salary but also in terms of respect the job commands in society;

2.      The selection process for school teachers must be completely transparent and fool proof, and based completely on merit and aptitude based selection and also in commitment towards teaching. Stricter entry requirements for teachers.

3.      Incentives should be given so that better students feel encouraged to become teachers.

4.      Besides knowledge of their subjects, teachers must also be trained in child psychology and child pedagogy.  Teachers at the nursery and primary level must really be trained to be sensitive to the needs and problems of small children.

5.      The B. Ed. and DIET systems must be completely overhauled to produce better quality teachers who know their jobs and are better equipped to do so.

6.      Teacher training programmes for upgrading teaching skills must be made compulsory and interactive, so that they are more meaningful and effective.

7.      Teachers should be trained so that schools become safe havens for children, also for those coming from abusive backgrounds. Teachers must nurture the creative potential of their students and schools must provide all the facilities from potable drinking water, food to 3D animation and Artificial Intelligence to arouse the young mind.

8.      Teachers should be trained to be able to use resources already available in the Internet to further education. 

9.      Teachers need to inculcate a questioning mindset in students so that they learn not to take anything at face value; teachers need to make the students curious to find out more, to explore and discover, to ask questions and to take a wholesome interest in the world around them. 

10.  Teachers must work in conjunction with parents/guardians to bring out the best in the students and to give them the guidance they need to discover their strengths and their interests.

 

Structure:

The 5+3+3+4 system of the NEP should be divided up into 3 sets (5 years, 6 years and 4 years), as far as the school organization and the teachers etc are concerned;  There will be three kinds of schools primary schools (5 years), secondary schools (6 years) and higher secondary schools (4 years). 

A lot of emphasis should be given on physical education at the primary and secondary stages and students should be taught how to swim, cycle, do basic carpentry, cooking, needlework, gardening, etc.

Vocational training should be started at least by the secondary stage and should continue to the higher secondary level.

 

The first five years: Pre-primary and primary

The three years of pre-primary education (3 -6 years of age) should be called nursery and LKG and UKG they should be formative and no formal lessons should be imparted; emphasis should be on learning through playing like doing puzzles, matching and memory games as well as developing motor skills through games requiring precision and coordination. All activities must be conducted in the child’s mother-tongue as much as possible.

The next 2 years of primary education (6-8 years), the one and the same class teacher (who started with a batch in UKG) should accompany that batch right up to Class II, in order to lay a solid base in basic counting and writing skills. At the end of their primary education, students must be able to do simple sums, read, write and speak in their mother tongue, and speak a second language (say English).

There should be a government primary school within easy reach (within a couple of kms.) of every child. Anganwadis should be refashioned to take care of the pre-primary stage so that the children are taken care of in smaller groups and have more support. The mid-day meal programme should cover all students at least at the primary level.

 

The Secondary level

The next set of teachers should be responsible for the secondary stage 3+3 of six years (Classes III, IV, V) and (Classes VI, VII, VIII)  with students age from 8-14 years) there should be subject teachers in addition to class teachers. Once students have learnt to write in English, some subjects, especially the sciences subjects can gradually be taught in English and the rest in the mother-tongue or the regional language (if different) or a mixture of both. Children must be completely literate by the end of this phase and be fluent in speaking, reading and writing in at least 2 languages. Basic computer education must also be imparted at this stage.

Secondary schools must also be easily within reach of students (within 5 kms).

The end of the secondary stage will mark the end of universal basic education.

 

The Higher Secondary Level

Thereafter another set of teachers will take the students through the next lot of 4 years, first the two years of high school and then the two years higher secondary school at the end of which there will be the first public examination for students to decide what they will do in the future. At this stage students must have full flexibility to choose their subjects and encouraged to work in groups on creative projects rather than by rote. Science laboratories, Computer and language labs as well as opportunities for vocational training must be offered at this stage as well as serious career counseling must be provided.

At this level, the schools can begin to specialize a little in one or the other direction, even while continuing to offer all the basic subjects; For example, one can have excellent science labs and teachers specializing in the sciences, another can specialize in liberal arts or in languages, a third in the social sciences, some others can offer more commerce-based subjects, while others can offer visual art or music and dance etc. or in technical or vocational subjects etc.

 

Curriculum/Syllabus

·       Syllabi to be streamlined to include more hands on education, rather than ‘what’ one learns, the emphasis should move to ‘how’ one learns; the emphasis should be on students being encouraged and guided to think and work things out by themselves rather than memorizing and reproducing information.

·       History and the cultural and ecological diversity of Northeast India has to be included, as must subjects like tea, earthquakes and floods so that students know something about the issues that are important in this part of the country.

·       Inclusive education about the ethnic diversity of the region, the many tribes, their culture and languages, and the uniqueness of this part of the world should be included. Language education in some of the larger languages spoken in the NE should be possible for students who wish to take them up.

·       Social Sciences must include the idea of Assam as part of NE, NE as part of India and India as part of the world. A strong sense of history and culture of the NE must be imparted as well as about Indian culture.

·       Exams should be held orally as much as possible with written work being restricted to assignments and projects.

 

B.     College and University education

General

1.      The most important and significant change is that all graduate and undergraduate education will be moved to the universities as is the case everywhere else in the world;

2.      Besides the general universities, there will be specific universities for technology, law, medicine, music and performing arts, sports, agriculture, veterinary sciences, management etc.

3.      Colleges will have to be completely restructured in order to cater to a different set of students who do not want to go in for higher education but want to be trained and skilled in various fields in order to find employment in the service sector; they will offer mostly diploma or certificate courses to create skilled manpower for mid-level jobs, clerks and secretarial staff, nurses and pharmacists etc.

4.      The present day ITIs and Vocational Training Schools should be merged with these colleges to produce manpower for professions like plumbers, masons, electricians, gardeners, carpenters, tailors, car mechanics etc. Entry level for some of these courses should be as early as after finishing Class VIII of basic universal and compulsory education.

5.      Colleges will also be in charge of in-service training courses, or offer possibilities for employed people or seniors to improve their qualifications by learning some specialized skills. Or just to learn a hobby – baking, pottery, stitching, languages, creative writing, yoga, karate or fruit preservation.

6.      Colleges of education with train teachers for schools. They will have to do these courses additionally to their studies at the graduate or postgraduate level depending on the level they want to teach in schools. Graduate teachers should be required for the secondary level, post graduates for the higher-secondary level.  Primary school teachers can be Class XII pass only but they will have to do extra courses in child psychology, counseling and pedagogy.

7.      While school education should be free at least in the government schools, college and university education could require fees which can then be supported through scholarships or student loans schemes.

 

Graduate Level studies in the universities:

1.      Science/Arts/Commerce streams should be abandoned. The Bachelor degree a student gets should depend on the subject they major in.

2.      All graduate courses with major should be of 4 years duration while pass courses can be for 3 years.

3.      Pass courses should be offered only for specific set combinations like BA in liberal arts, PPE, or fine arts etc.

4.      The idea should be that only those who want to pursue higher studies and research should graduate with major and go on to do postgraduate degrees, those who do pass courses should be the ones who want to join the civil services, banks or appear for other competitive exams.

5.      Education at the higher levels should be more self-regulated with the students having greater freedom not only to choose what combination of subjects they want to study but also whether they want to attend classes.

6.      The syllabus should be set, and exams held based on it, preferably with an oral component as well; credits should be distributed over written work, and the oral exams and as long as the student gets the requisite credits, he/she should be allowed to work out how to do it. Courses should try to cover most of the syllabus but does not have to cover everything. Students can be required/encouraged to prepare for certain parts of the syllabus on their own or through group work.

 

Postgraduate level studies:

1.      At this level, only students with interest, aptitude and talent should remain and they should be studying for their post graduate degrees either to become teachers, or researchers. The kind of degrees offered (MA/M.Phil./Ph.D) should depend on the subject being studied and the career goals of the student.

2.      While an M.A./M.Sc./M.Phil. course should normally last two years there can be variations depending on the subject and also on whether it is combined with some other degree. There should be provision for lateral exit at each stage at this level.

3.      Point 6 above of the graduate level comments apply at the postgraduate level as well. Besides getting credits through assignments and oral exams, students will also be required to produce dissertations at the post graduate level to test their ability to do independent study and research.

 

Teaching staff:

·       Teachers/Instructors of the colleges should be qualified to teach and train the students taking their courses, either by attending university and acquiring degrees on the subject, or through practical experience by working on the job and having trained for it.

·       Teachers of the universities must be highly qualified teachers and motivated researchers.  All university teachers will be expected to teach both at the undergraduate and at the graduate level and will be expected to also do research on their chosen areas of expertise.

 

Post graduate Research:

·       Only university teachers and researchers with several years of experience in conducting independent research should be allowed to supervise students at the M.Phil. and Ph.D. levels.

·       Only motivated and meritorious students who wish to pursue careers either as researchers or as university teachers should be encouraged to do Ph.D.s. 

·       Under no circumstances should quota systems be introduced at the higher levels of education, both in selecting students for research fellowships or in appointing teachers and researchers at any of the post graduate institutes. Merit should be the sole criterion at that level.

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