While there have been many new introductions in the field of education, including online learning for kids and e-content for school education, the India education system is still quite far from being perfect. There is no doubt that education is an important part of any country’s economic growth and development. However, even with the student population being around 315 million in India, hardly 8.15% of the students manage to graduate from colleges. Of course there are issues faced by the education system in India, but before the right authorities can start working on them, it is important to first understand what the problems actually are. Here is a brief explanation of the main issues that are faced by the education system in India:
- Inadequate funding
Most of the universities in India depend on government grants to be able to meet expenses related to research and their other facilities. However, there is quite a dearth when it comes to government funds, which in turn leads to other issues like poor facilities, less global exposure, and underpaid teachers. When faculty wishes to inculcate e-content for school education into their curriculum, enough attention has to be paid to the funds that have been received. Private funding does play an important role in this scenario.
- Number of student drop-outs
According to a survey that was conducted by Nasscom, the percentage of students that enrol for higher education is less than 6% of the world’s average. Out of all the teenage students, a very little percentage enrols for higher education while a whopping percentage drops out. The remaining students complete their education, but at the second stage, only a few tend to join the work force and the rest drop out. This is one more challenge that is faced by the education system and the government needs to take measures in order to inspire students to complete their studies.
- Low quality, money making institutes
Earlier, education was a noble cause but it has now turned into a lucrative business practice. Today, a lot of people consider education as an industry where they can make some quick money. These people are not really interested in imparting the right quality of education to the students, as they rush in to make some quick money. As a result, the industries are now full of many graduates who are more or less unemployable.
- Hands-on project experience is not encouraged at school and college levels
An old issue, it has been seen that students are mainly spoon-fed information at school as well as at the college level. There are so many textbooks but hardly any lab or project sessions. E-content for school education and modules for online learning for kids are some steps that have been trying to make a difference in this regard. But, there is still some distance to cover.
There are several other challenges faced by the education system in the country, like a lack of quality teaching staff, alarmingly huge fees for several schools and colleges and an attitude that concentrates more on scoring marks rather than having the students actually learn.