Revitalize and Enrich School Education

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. This statement is true as far as our country is concerned. The Indian School Education system has undergone several changes over the last few decades. Primary Education and Secondary Education still need several changes with respect to class room teaching, methods of teaching, learning outcomes, the method of evaluation, etc.

Many private schools have come up all over India. Schooling fees vary from school to school and region to region, generally unaffordable for the large number of poor students. Each school insists on different visions and missions of Education and ultimately the students who are the receivers of Education are not receiving Quality Education. Therefore, School education is lacking luster and interest for both teachers and students.

School Education lacks the following:

• Well designed spacious, ventilated, bright class rooms.
• Good, competent and tech-savvy teachers interested in understanding the learning process.
• Well written text books and the courseware.
• Well equipped activity oriented syllabus for all the subjects.
• Video and audio communication tools essential for teaching-learning activities.
• Failure to utilize technology in Education.

The design of class rooms in several schools has not changed at all. The class rooms do not have natural daylight. The arrangement of furniture is also traditional and not flexible. Pupils are arranged in horizontal and vertical rows and columns. This type of arrangement cannot promote any group activity. It has created several health problems to our school children.

Teachers are using black board and chalk piece as a visual communication tool in schools. In a class of fifty and odd students, not all children can see the black board clearly. There is no 180 degree view for all the children seated in the class. This has caused defective eyes, short sightedness for students. Most of the children use spectacles. The use of chalk piece has created health problems like skin allergy and asthma for both children and the teachers.

Since we are not using technology, we are unable to get rid of heavy school bags that children carry. School bags are loaded with note books, text books and all other day to day requirements. As a result, children suffer from severe head ache, shoulder pain, stiff neck and back ache at the end of the day. Most of the children end up their day with health problems. They find it difficult to do their home work and other school related work. So their performance is poor. Over a period of time they develop hunch back and spinal disorders.

The schools and the Education Department have not taken any measure to rectify this. Both black board and school bags are creating health hazards. School children will perform better in their studies if some of these draw backs in the Education System are removed. School Education will have to change for the better and become children- friendly. The Education Department should do away with school bags and black boards in the schools. How?

The method of teaching should be changed. The class room teaching should cater to the 5E’s of Education: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Children should be motivated to learn by self. Self study habits with a facility for interface and interaction with their teachers make the children curious and they learn and explore on their own. Moreover, it is important that they become self-styled independent learners by methods best suited to them. As far as possible “Learning by Doing” should replace “Learning by Rote”. Group learning facilities should be encouraged because children learn better in their group and they develop team spirit. Brain- storming and Group Discussions should be encouraged to make learning interesting.

We have to revolutionize Education through technology. The teachers should use multimedia to do their class room teaching. Multimedia uses text, sound, animation and graphics in proper proportion. Learning outcome of high percentage can be achieved only when children are made to visualize. Teachers should design their lesson plans in PowerPoint presentation format. Teaching through multimedia will have a lasting effect in the memory of children. This type of teaching through multimedia will cater to all the types of learners at all levels.

Ministry of Human Resources has introduced low cost Tablet PC for school students. The Education Department and the schools all over the country should make use of this golden opportunity. Each student should be given a free tablet PC with subsidized internet. The courseware and the activity sheets of all the subjects should be fed into the tablets in Word and the Excel format for the entire year. Children should type their answers in the activity sheets, which teachers can access through networking facility of the school. School tests and examinations can also be conducted online.

Education and Technology should go hand in hand. Technology should be a tool of learning to impart Education in schools. It is ironical that education has helped technology to evolve and grow, but technology is not being used to promote and improve education.

Enriching Education with Technology will certainly make teaching-learning process joyful experience for both teachers and students. Then school education will become more meaningful and purposeful. Let us remember John Dewey’s Quote-“Education is not preparation for life. But Education is life itself”

We should not forget that India is a poor country lacking “Inclusive growth”. Inclusive growth requires Inclusive Education. Inclusive Education requires Inclusive Technology. Technology and Education are interdependent variables. Each should promote the other. They are not competitive but complementary.