Falling standard of education

THE one reason for the plummeting educational standards in our country is that our teachers in general fail to engender the vital habit of inquisitiveness among our students. They confine education for them within a narrow circle of cramming only a few of their class lectures and later puking these out on the examination day. This pares down education to what is strictly a rehash and confirmity and undermines students’ overall learning process and cognitive maturity. Any education which fails to engage its pursuers into thinking, questioning and curiosity is mere memorisation and holds no real worth. So, if our teachers are to wage a successful battle against the prevalent intellectual stagnancy among our students, their main task should be to expose them to an environment infused with the spirit of healthy debate and discourse. They should also strive to get them into the habit of exploring and probing chiefly on their own rather wholly feeding them on the easily provided stuff. Our teachers need to remember that knowledge isn’t something which they can anyhow put into the brains of their students. First, they need to create in them a state of mind which craves interest, wonder and inquiry. Only afterwards it is that they will be able to inspire them for any voyage of meaningful learning or can help them to stay abreast of the cutting edge developments in their respective fields. Unless our teachers adopt such a basic approach towards education, our institutes will only produce copycats not innovators, followers not leaders.