Dream Education

Today morning I picked up the newspaper and saw a full page ad of an educational institute...the institute is involved in coaching students for IIT jee for many decades...as a normal course I would have just foreseen that ad. My daughter is just three and I have no use of such ads in near future.

But my recent conversation with a close friend regarding her daughter’s education forced me to go through the advertisement...and shockingly what she had said the day before was true.

Coaching and orientation for students 7^th standard onwards...

I remember ten years back most of the students used to decide in ninth or tenth to take commerce /science/arts .That too percentage in school exams would be a major barometer for parents to decide...luckily our parents gave us the freedom to decide which fields to choose irrespective of marks or percentage, but not were all so lucky..In general scholarship exams, then board exams..after that  students used to enroll for iit,jee,medical entrance ,ca coaching..In short process began in 15^th or 16^th year..

But today i saw the ad. Coaching for students from seventh standard...I am just wondering are students of 12-13 yrs really mature enough to handle the situation.. I mean is it the right age to let them decide their fields, their future...

My observation in last few years shows me chaos everywhere.Ask any parent...Confusion starts from kindergarten..state board or  cbse or icse or igsce( i bet most of them may not be knowing the difference)

Once the board and school are decided parents are keen to enroll for extracurricular activities.In many cases the activities may not be matching child’s interests,nature,health but parents are more anxious to make their children all rounders..Well even in schools co-curricular activities are so stressed that parents become students.I have seen parents of 3-6^th standards working 2-3 hrs daily on projects and assignments of their children.. how much child actually learns from this kind of assignments??A friend of mine once whatsapped me to send names of twelve things seen in birthday party in Marathi..I was just wondering at what kind of assignment is this..Parents are seen sending messages,mails,scanned copies to each other for assignments..

My question and concern is

the way in which education in most of the schools and  institutes is imparted ,and the way in which parents are striving to make their children all rounder’s ,is it really going to benefit the children in life..Are we imparting them actual knowledge ..

this question was there at the time of my education too ..but at dat time I didn’t realise its repercussion..was too engrossed to chase my goals(i guesss like others)

Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research.(Wikipedia definition)

But how’s the knowledge, skill sets acquired or presumed to be acquired during schooling is to be applied in future life is never or rarely taught to children

Life for most of the students come to a standstill once the decision regarding field (science.commerce,arts) is made and admissions are taken..By hook or crook-By joining best schools, coaching centres, hard work of parents, day and night efforts of children.But once this process is over real trouble starts

Becoming ca is the most cherished dream but what after becoming ca??Engineering is most sought after professional degree. But what after engineering?.

How can lacs of students be categorised and made to fit in limited number of streams, jobs or careers?

A child can be having multiple skills set..Do we give them the space, time ,resources and energy to recognise their skills and nurture the best ones?A good mathematician can be an extraordinary painter..Intelligent person need not be always professionally qualified or an average scoring student may have an exceptional IQ.

Does our education system make our children allow to dream of doing what they really want to?..

Children should be encouraged to adopt out of box approach...At the end of day everyone needs to earn money. but money should be byproduct of activity..children should be taught to pursue activities according to their interests, capabilities and skill sets.They should be guided ,trained to turn such activities into remunerative activities..such activities would  give them pure  happiness and satisfaction .

Is our system inculcating the necessary life values ethical, moral is other important question??

Our children are tech savvy...but how are we going to make them understand the difference between good or bad when their exposure is so wide. Materialistic pleasures are not the end ,life has to be lived with some values which enrich and make family and society better place to live..Are we teaching our children these values??We so proudly tell our children can handle mobile or all gadgets so easily but can they handle tough life situations, can they make the right decisions so easily?

I feel the vicious circle of stress our generation is facing need not be passed on to next generation.Can we not let them have a better education atmosphere, better skills acquiring system, better working culture and better quality life..

Its for the parents, schools, coaching centres, subject experts, child psychologists to sit down ,brain storm and devise methodologies for such education system..

An education system in which children(parents also)are not taxed, where gaining knowledge is fun and happiness, application of knowledge is encouraged, where good quality life is taught to be lived  and good values are imparted, imbibed and practiced..