DISMANTLING MACAULAY'S SCHOOLS WITH 'ONLINE' SUPPORT

Education 2047 #Blog 03 (23 JUN 2020)

The COVID-19 pandemic gives us an unprecedented opportunity to rework and break-free from the education that was shaped by policies beginning with the historical Minute on Education by Thomas Babington Macaulay (who may not be the only person responsible to set in the decline) almost two centuries back and evolved in response to the needs of an industrial society. All through, the education was prescriptive and intended to create initially clerks, then managers and of late coders- trained to follow the manuals and rule books. Educational institutions also were raised and configured to turn-out workforce with attributes of, basically conformists at the workplaces. 12 years of schooling-  classified into primary (1-5 grade classes), upper primary (6-8 grade classes), secondary (9-10 grade classes) and senior secondary (11-12 grade classes) became the standard in India's school education. The upward movement towards higher grades could happen only if the student passed an annual examination, involving reproduction of what is taught by the teacher or is there in the books, in certain fixed hours. The examinations other than those at the 10 and 12 level classes are generally conducted by the schools while national or state level boards conduct for these two (secondary levels), crucial to the students and their parents, for deciding the career. 

The secondary schools have served as a source for professionals/ work-force who get educated for 3-5 years in colleges/ polytechnics/ standalone institutions, before getting the first degree/ diploma/ certificate and moving on. The schools are affiliated to one of the boards of examination where students typically learn two/ three languages, Mathematics, Sciences and Social Sciences at 9 & 10 grades and given options for choosing Science, Commerce or Humanities stream, for 11 & 12 grades. Clearly, with fixed choices (limited by the offering from the schools), the education at this level has been constrictive and restrictive for students in pursuing their interest and in turn, realizing their full potential. The examinations are conducted only to stamp the product as pass/ fail based on rote-learning and top-scorers privileged with more opportunities and prospects. The creativity and imagination get muzzled completely when the students are in 11 & 12 classes, most of them taking coaching for entrance examinations in parallel and in the process, the secondary education becomes secondary to coaching! The distortions brought about due to this, at least for the students entering into the engineering that we see closely, have been alarming and show up during their four years course, visible in their lacking of skills that make them well-rounded and job-ready.

Intending to facilitate smooth initiation of engineering students into the new settings and make them develop awareness, sensitivity and understanding of the self, people around them, society at large and the Nature, the AICTE has introduced a three-weeks mandatory Student Induction Programme (SIP). With an apt acronym (that is administered right at the beginning of graduation) the SIP- not to be offered as a classroom activity- allows students to get a fresh breath that doesn’t smell of coaching. The programme covering sports, fitness, yoga, creative arts, literature, universal human values, extra-curricular activities etc. not only exposes them to what they missed in yesteryears but also begin to appreciate the importance of being a responsible and ethical professional.

SIP has been conducted across India for the last three years now and the feedback tells volumes about the life and times, travails and tribulations of the freshmen before leaving the school. From these youngsters, it turns out, as is also visible, that there is an acute and irrational pressure on them- the schools, teachers, parents, neighbours and even the colleges they aspire to join- all conspiring to see them score 95+ marks! This is where our schools and clueless teachers go completely wrong and are forced to, as they are mandated to, squeeze out students having been tested only in what a school can teach or books tell. This is a glaring limitation on the part of these elements of education and misaligned with higher education completely. Few precious years of adolescence are lost in the race, at times, without realizing what lies beyond the race. Alas!

There is a pressing need to reboot the secondary schools that must prepare, for the knowledge-age that we are in, youngsters armed with 21st-century skills and ready for careers and skills that are yet to emerge and; not 90+ scoring students but smart learners- the ones trained to learn on their own, agile and resilient too.  This requires moving away- in the secondary level itself- from memorization of knowledge to its application, from fixed syllabus to open questions, from fixed-hour tests to exciting challenges and from memory tests to problem-solving. There is, thus, a need for realignment of educational systems and subsystems, to empower the tech-savvy learners, by making use of ensembles of technology and adoption of online learning must happen, to transform education at the secondary level.

It, however, needs to be understood that online education does not and should not mean making teachers deliver instructions before a camera,  conduct quiz/ tests using a social media group or putting a camera on the head of an examinee or tracking their eye movements. The greatest benefit that online learning brings in (by reinforcing the traditional mode and existing with it), is the flexibility in the education system and also empowering the learner by increasing the choices of subjects (including skills, competencies, languages) of interests and calling; facilitate learning from anywhere and anytime (and any language in near future); in creating one’s learning pathway; in choosing a source of learning/ teacher; collaborating with peers in learning or experimenting; taking assessments as per convenience etc. All these are unthinkable in the current ossified structure that privileges knowledge over skills and not just rewards the toppers but treats harshly those whose passion lies beyond what schools offer. Needless to add, the present system is also harsh to drop-outs, late-bloomers, left-out, left-behind, second-chance seekers etc.  

All through the years and decades, we have been worried about the enrollment and dropping-out of the students; but here comes the historic opportunity when we can focus on empowerment and allow dropping-in (at any time or age) of anyone who wants to learn. Yes, the schools (and boards) must grow-up and extend opportunity to learners to choose what they want to, which wasn’t possible hitherto because of limitations of physical infrastructure, topographical disadvantages, shortage of teachers etc. They must, instead of teaching, testing, grading (A-F) and certifying in 5 odd subjects, consider exposing a learner to 10-20 subjects+ skills+ competencies and issue a certificate with all that a learner scores 'A' in. The students must be trained to generously use resources including the internet and other technologies and make the learning discovery-based and pick-up skills, to stay a lifelong learner.

A realization needs to dawn on the schools/ boards that memorization or rote-learning limited to 5 subjects is not going to help the students anymore, as 21st- century students no longer need to be skilled and tested in this! This also becomes clear from the list of 12 attributes identified for a 21st-century graduate of which only 3 are technical skills! Accordingly, administration of courses and memory-based examinations, that too decided by a school/ board in which it has strength does not make sense anymore. Let classrooms, books, teachers and examinations not be a leash anymore, gagging the potential of a human. The schools (and boards) themselves not being able to adjust the sail (by mainstreaming online education) will mean, they are off the line while they push their students to come online.  

The realignments may leave the teachers confused and fuming as they have been at the centre of the education system of the industrial age. Fortunately, for good teachers online learning is the best thing to happen; they can now be reached by students of schools other than theirs or even in other locations anywhere in the world. Likewise, the disinterested students forced to sit in their classroom can find an online teacher of a subject that genuinely interests them, anywhere on the internet. Thus, with contented teachers and students, the sum will be greater than the parts!

Another unsettling concern may be the examinations/ tests to which I can say, that with online learning mainstreamed and advanced technologies deployed, the pathway can be cleared for moving towards education without examinations. The questions to test the memory can be built into the online material, embedded into apps, gamified or left to classroom interactions. The testing of higher-order cognitive skills can be done through projects, group activities or evaluation by peers/ teachers/ mentors. This may produce even more students ending up for admission in courses for higher education/ jobs, for which we already have entrance examinations/ tests. Such examinations/ tests can also be made less taxing with more focus on aptitude than on subject knowledge which a student is already trained to deal with, in the secondary school.

Is there anything wrong in these realignments of education by integrating online learning that empowers learners, earns wider recognition to teachers, frees up schools of factory-like functioning and provides motivated learners to higher education or jobs? Even if your answer is in affirmative and in favour of status quo, it needs to be noted that learners have moved on as digital natives, navigate virtual spaces effortlessly, experienced sufficiently in the art of searching, choose their source of learning independently, have even stopped writing and taking notes; and also that shift is happening towards "personalized and adaptive learning" aided by technology. Let's not forget, India commanded one-third of the global GDP for most history when our education system was apprenticeship-based (characterized by personalized, analytical and exploratory learning).

The online learning and adoption of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Immersive Virtual Reality, Internet of Things, Robotics will continue to tilt the scales in favour of a learner-centric system. The global pandemic gives us an unprecedented opportunity to regain the lost muscles to build, not an assembly-line but an assembled-line of motivated, ethical and smart workforce for India, that has committed itself to be self-reliant.      

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Author is an Adviser with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on deputation from Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC).

Views are personal.

Feedback/ comments are appreciated and can be given in the comment box below. Thanks!

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