“We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population”
-Lord Macaulay

The British were in need of clerical jobs, so Macaulay proposed an educational system where students were trained to work as clerks in British business houses. Since the inception of the English Education Act in 1835, the system hasn’t changed much.

Students in India are trained to work under someone, for someone; well, the entire dream today gets stagnant at the point of getting a “good job at an MNC”.

Transitory, illusionary however it may be, I am flummoxed by the coaching culture that has evolved with time.

Holistic development as one may say, is like a mirage in the current socio-political disposition of India. The education system which was once ratified by the dominant Britishers has not been amended yet. It is a matter of immense irony that the brains that are claimed to be the best in the world, cannot grasp things in one go.

Undoubtedly, the children are not at fault. Time which should be utilized in other activities that develop personality is being utilized in visiting a school in the evening.

Isn’t that erratic? Something that can be done in one go, has to be done twice. The trend has become such that without going to the evening school one may not succeed.

A common misconception is that people in schools don’t teach. The fact is that you study in the evening, so teachers there aren’t interested to teach someone who has an alternative and is disinterested.

Two education systems run in parallel, where one can tuition and prepare for some exam. How much folly is there on the part of the education system, that children study on two curricula completely opposite to each other.

Universal curriculum has become another political enterprise of the parties. I don’t know when it will be possible. Is it a distant dream? This highlights the extremely lackadaisical approach of the educational policy makers.

Sports, drama, and music all of them are abhorred these days just because children are compelled to study something that they aren’t interested in. This happens just because Indian academic institutions check irrelevant academic proficiency rather than the holistic development of the child.

The most hilarious fact that I heard some days back is – I am extremely passionate about computer science and I want to make a career in the same, but due to the pressure of testing systems, I have opted for Hindi and studying something that I am uninterested in. It has literally created a havoc.

The concept of education has been misinterpreted to a great extent. Education has become synonymous to academics. Policy makers aren’t interested to change anything even after knowing the problems that the youth at large is facing. Getting to a good college, working at an MNC, spending 12 hours in front of a computer, and then suffering from an ailment at 35 is not the aim of life.

Public speaking is the second largest fear of the world, after armed equipments. I mean people here can’t even express themselves properly. In even advanced educational institutions sports is given a back seat and textbooks have become the “be all and end all” of each and every side.

This simply highlights the inability of policy makers that are not able to realize the inappropriate acts that were created by Britishers to gain employment in factories. The system needs to be changed, India needs to change so that the state and an individual can benefit the most by utilizing his intellect and brains in the best way possible.