Reviving K-12 education in small-town India

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, SMALL-TOWN INDIA is a reservoir of talent and skills. The scale, size and challenges for reviving K-12 education in small-town India can be gauged with the help of some alarming statistics. Over 80 percent of India’s total population resides in non metros and the hinterland, and yet they have no access to high-quality affordable education institutions. There are around 1.5 million schools in India, but only 20,255 are affiliated with CBSE. Fully 98 percent of schools are either affiliated with state boards or aren’t affiliated with any board. Several national surveys like the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) confirm the quality of education and learning in these schools is pitiably low. Tough times call for tough decisions and out-of-the-box thinking. While much of the debate on improving access, equity, quality and affordability of school education is linked with technology, I propose national focus on the following fundamental issues to improve the entire eco-system of school education across the spectrum and throughout the country. Curriculum. The written, taught and assessed curriculum in India’s schools is outmoded and varies significantly. There is a strong case to reduce the width of K-12 curriculums and increase their depth, bearing in mind the needs of 21st century children. A large baggage of theoretical content across all grades can be curtailed or removed from the curriculum to focus on deeper integrated learning. A study needs to be undertaken to understand the requirements of the economy and society of the future, and what children must learn in schools to face real-life challenges. Pedagogy. A bad curriculum well-taught is many times better than a good curriculum poorly taught. Undoubtedly, pedagogy always wins over curriculum. Therefore pedagogy must shift from memorising and reproducing content to in-depth understanding of concepts connected to the real world. If a school’s pedagogy focuses on how a child learns, the entire experience of schooling will be enjoyable and interesting for all stakeholders.  Assessment. I have never been able to understand why teachers or schools don’t provide feedback on assessments. Isn’t a test also an assessment of the teacher — how well she/he teaches a subject? I find it difficult to understand how all students move from one lesson unit to another irrespective of scores or grades in subject tests. Take the example of a student scoring 5/20 in a subject test. Self-evidently, he hasn’t understood the concepts of that subject and needs remedial classes. But the student is made to attend subsequent lessons in the next class even though his understanding and grasp of one or more subjects is inadequate.  We lay a foundation for failure by neglecting to provide any feedback on children’s poor performance. Moreover, we fail to provide remedial education to students who don’t reach a threshold of learning in a particular subject or concept. This has to change. Some suggestions: Integrated education. School education in India is incoherent. While knowledgeable educators world over emphasise the importance of pre-primary education in the formative years of child development, Central and…