Futuristic Education in India
Quality human resource is the capital of knowledge-based economies. The western countries understood this long before and changed their educational system accordingly. We in India will have to do a lot of catching up. We should be teaching the curriculum of the future and not just the curriculum of the past. Curriculum that is relevant and responsive to the rapidly changing ecosystem. We have to re-design our schools and its learning pedagogies.
We will have to learn, adapt, and
constantly evolve this design. We will have to re-design our curriculum in such
a way that it will impart skill-oriented training which will help the graduates
and post-graduates secure jobs in the future. We will have to shift our focus
towards experiential learning and imparting broad range of skills, including
cognitive and meta-cognitive skills (e.g. critical thinking, creative thinking,
learning to learn and self-regulation); social and emotional skills (e.g.
empathy, self-efficacy and collaboration); and practical and physical skills
(e.g. using new information and communication technology devices). The use of
this broader range of knowledge and skills will be mediated by attitudes and
values (e.g. motivation, trust, respect for diversity and virtue).
We should introduce conceptual learning and discourage rote learning. Also change our evaluation system, so that the students not just study for the exam, but for gaining knowledge and experience. Our outcome goal from evaluation should not be to find the best student, but to find best in every student. This can be done through continuous comprehensive evaluation through various projects and activities. Leadership skills and problem-solving ability in students should be honed through group tasks. Creative thinking, digital skills and collaboration should be taught in our schools.
We will have to ensure that all subjects get equal weightage. Our teachers need to be trained in futuristic skills that they are going to impart to the students. They will have to be technology friendly as the future education will involve a lot of technology.
We need to provide better infrastructure and talent to rural schools. Since agriculture is the main profession there, the students should be exposed to agricultural science. Innovation in agriculture should be encouraged if we have to transform villages and shape their future. They need more vocational courses which will create rural employment and bridge the gap in skilled manpower.
When schools teach digital skills, the focus should be how to create technology. Some of the topics we teach today will no longer be essential in the 2030s: handwriting is increasingly obsolete, complex arithmetic is no longer done by hand, and the internet has replaced the need to memorize many basic facts.
Knowing things is not enough, because GOOGLE knows everything. The students be taught to apply their knowledge; to experiment and innovate. Computer science should be center-stage of the curriculum. It is not just about coding, but about computational thinking, interface design, data analysis, machine learning, cybersecurity, networking and robotics. Learning computer science encourages creativity, problem-solving, ethics and collaboration – skills which aren’t just important for technical careers in the developed world, but valuable for every career in all economies. In the US, 44 states have changed policies to recognize computer science as part of the academic core.
The students should be taught persuasion, negotiating, and other social intelligence traits. Certain skills like creativity which are irreplaceable by machines should be honed among students. Creativity is as much about psychology as it is physiological, where nurture, not nature, plays a factor. We should provide environment conducive to learning creativity.
The students’ ability to handle objects with accuracy and their ability to perceive and understand complex, irregular objects with the same deftness as structured things should be promoted. This will help the students in securing jobs which require attention to intricate details.
Ravindra Zinjurke