Wednesday, September 22, 2010

What Sibbal Is Upto?

Indian education system, both at the school level as well at higher levels, has always been controlled, rather than guided by, bureaucrats and politicians, both at times pretending as scholar-intellectuals. Time and again new experiments are taken up, with results never verified.
Mr. Kapil Sibbal is the Terminator Part-n. He is hell bent to make Indian education what it should never be - making teddy bears out if kids; keeping them always in suicide queue as and when they face a failure in their life for the first time, may be aroun age 24!?
It is understood that the word Graduation originated from the word Grading. Thus the word Graduation implies that it is a method of grading the people in a given society on the basis of their knowledge, intellect and skill by some capable institutions or authority. Examinations are only a method for graduation.
What Mr. Sibbal wishes to do is that all the methods of grading be either fully removed or so diluted as to be practically redundant. Is it not amazing that all the organisations take their own exams/tests to select skilled people, no one relies the ability of a University or a board in graduating the people.
First Mr. Sibbal commanded - No exams at schools, and even if exams are there, no marking and percentage shown in results, then no homework no projects, no beating and scolding.
I very well remember beaten by my teachers even when the whole class made a mistake. I used to be annoyed from him. But today I have great regard for them, because whatever I am today, I am due to their wooden rods and sticks. Not that I think beating is compulsory, but it should neither be a crime.
If you are not taking exams you and the child both do not know what the child is ignorant of. If he or she is just being promoted to a next higher class, he or she never feels like learning.
Giving grade in schools is equally confusing. Two children, who could be more than 10 stages apart in percent-based marking system, might just be only 2 grades apart! The loosers feel happy but what about winners? Should we design our Education system with the loosers in mind or with the winners in mind?
Recently Barrack Obama acknowledged that Indian and Chinese students are smarter than the Americans.Sometime ago a similar statement was given by George Bush. The reason to this new found mental bankruptcy is the outcome simply of their experimenting. They had started with grade system in their schools much earlier. Now they are paying the price. We should have learnt not to follow them much earlier.

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