Even as the world talks about the importance of educating children and organizations are dedicated to ensuring there are schools for them to attend, I encountered a girl in class 10 who told me she was done with education.
She is the daughter of my domestic help. She has declared that she does not want to study anymore, and is in fact even completing class 10 because she is being forced to! I spoke to her mother, who was resigned to the fact that the girl has a mind of her own because no amount of persuasion from family or friends was making her stay in school.
Why does the girl feel that it is enough to be semi-educated (that's what a class 10 education means in practical terms -- she can read and write the local language, knows some local history and can do some amount of math)?
Has her education been too full of rote learning that she can't bear any more? Has her education not shown her that studying further could mean a better future? What does a "better future" look like for her?
Unfortunately, this is the state of Goverment School education..... More than rote learning what happens there is "Humiliation by Rote". You ask a kid going to one of these places, they will tell you how badly they are put down by the "so called state employed educators".
ReplyDeleteWell I remember, while teaching at a so called "prestigious" college in Bangalore, the HOD advising me not to put too much effort on trying to teach beyond syllabus, as after degree the students are anyway going to become clerks some where.... so no need to put in too much effort.
So coming to your question: If this is the level aspiration and encouragement "private" colleges give to the students.... what is it like at government funded school, for children of maids.
Isn't it better for them to atleast live with dignity, anyway they are NOT getting education their parents aspire.
Having taught in colleges, I can tell you.... students just loose 3 years of valuable time, not much learning is happening (sadly)..... they are better off either getting vocational training (if they can) or get a job somewhere and get some work experience..... It is going to be like this unless the cream of the society stop looking at teaching as a profession for those "who cant" and for the sake of our own future devote time in education
@Uma, your comment while being very revealing, is a very sad commentary on the state of affairs.
ReplyDelete