Let's Go Out of Syllabus

The Indian Express 28th April 2021 Save

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Context: A case for dismantling our exam-centric education system that only creates hyper-competitiveness and perpetuates inequalities.

Qualities provided by education for children: Sensitize them; make them humble wanderers; activate their patience and endurance; cultivate the ethics of care; prepare them to pass through existence with the songs of collective redemption.

Problems with exam-centric education system:

Standardized exams are not neutral: Despite having diverse and asymmetrical socio-cultural context, students are required to master the same texts, equate knowledge with the same official curriculum and write the same exam.
- The digital divide in the country suggests that “online” teaching/learning is a myth and has done injustice to those who cannot afford it.
- Thus their performances are bound to differ and will perpetuate social inequality.
Not the substance of meaningful education: The ritualization and tyranny of exams cause immense psychic anxiety, generate widespread fear, and deprive the entire experience of learning/unlearning/exploring of a sense of joy, wonder and self-discovery.
- Every subject is reduced to a set of exam riddles: It transforms one into a clever strategist; one is trained (by coaching centres as well as school teachers) to master the technique of giving the “right” answer.
- Kills the spirit of learning as self-exploration: One-sided emphasis on exam performance at the cost of reading books, exploring scientific reasons for ones experiences etc.
Ethical issues:
- Legitimizes hyper-competitiveness as a way of life: By breeding fear, envy and superiority/inferiority complex.
- Against the spirit of reciprocity, symmetry and cooperation: Thus, “successful” products of the system (“toppers” and “gold medallists”) tend to be egoistic.
- Provides no room for developing good qualities: like the art of relatedness, humility, the ethos of sharing, and trust.