Mulya Ferat, a Bengali remake of a Hungarian play, ‘Refund’ depicts a story of man who realizes that the education he received from his school had taught him nothing to earn a living. The protagonist in the play is Janardan, who goes back to his school to demand refund of the fee he had paid while he was a student. In the play, a mathematics teacher proves that he has got enough from the school by stating that the protagonist’s ability to calculate the fee was a contribution from the school.

A play that represents the Indian education system

This play has made a perfect representation of the present education system in India. It is high time to ask the question whether the present education system in India equips us with the skills required to earn a living in India or anywhere around the world.  A more specific question to be asked is whether the education system is meant for creating skills that will help us to earn living in the first place. Or does it have broader scope?

Is primary education in India a right?

In India we have come to a situation where education is considered as a service that can be sold for a fee. Here as in the play, the question of refunding the fee becomes important. Even after seventy years ofindependence, our country is facing a difficulty of answering the question whether education in India is a right or a service sold for a fee. Without finding an answer to this question there is no use of trying to find out whether our education system helps one to earn a livelihood.

Mistake of concentrating on higher education

The first census after independence conducted in the year 1951 clearly stated that the rate of literacy in India was just 16 per cent. The then prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to start quality education centers in higher education to place India among the industrial nations. This resulted in the creation of Indian Institute of Technology and various other pioneer institutes in India. But then the mistake was that he failed to allocate sufficient funds for the primary education in a country where 84 per cent of the people were illiterate. This system created elite institutions in the field of engineering and medicine, which were and still are considered to be centers of excellence from where government sector vacancies were filled. Such a system led to a situation where doctors and engineers made a better living when compared to others. As a result India faced a severe problem of brain drain, where professionals from India migrated to other developed countries. India failed to provide primary education to poor and marginalized them and in turn failed to trigger the pace of development which could have been made faster.

Poverty as a threat

The problems we face with our primary education are very difficult to solve. In a country like India where more than thirty per cent of its population lives below poverty line, the priority given for education is very low. All what the people are considered about is to do a low level job and earn a living. In a country like India, the main motivation the children get for going to school is the meal they get.

In Indian primary education we have three syllabuses that are being followed by schools. Two out of this are developed by the central government and one by the respective state government. Schools in India are of three types. They are government schools; fully financed and controlled by the government, government aided schools; partially financed by the government and the private schools, which are not financed and controlled by the government. But in spite of these complexities still India manages to produce finest scholars in the world.

Where the Indian education system lacks?

The primary education system in India lacks quality and infrastructure. In terms of quality of primary education, lack of ideas and ideals in transferring knowledge and methods used for assessment of students is an important drawback. One main reason for this is the lack of good quality teachers. The quality of teachers in primary schools is sometimes so low that students don’t know what they are taught and why they are taught. Studies have proved that students in the 3rd grade are not able to read and understand topics that they were taught in the 2nd grade. The deteriorating quality of teachers makes it difficult to develop necessary assessment methods and this is the prime reason why student’s innate talents are not discovered. The low compensation offered to teachers makes it difficult to attract good quality teachers.

Another problem that our primary education system lacks is the infrastructure and use of technology. Infrastructure refers to buildings, furniture and other equipments those aides in the process of learning. Majority of government schools across India lacks proper buildings and in some cases there is nothing much to call a school. Without proper infrastructure, how can we expect a child to go to school? Both the central and state governments should take necessary steps to ensure adequate infrastructural facilities are available in the government schools which lacks the most.

The role of technology in education

Now technology has a major role to play in improving education. Surveys have proved that using computers and devices like projectors will enhance the entire teaching and learning process. It is said that using computer in learning process has improved the ability of students to understand concepts and theorems when compared to traditional methods of teaching and learning. But the role of technology in primary education is limited by the lack of infrastructure. Without adequate infrastructure, how can technology contribute to learning?

In order to improve the primary education, the government should be committed in developing plans that will contribute to solving issues related to quality of primary education and lack of infrastructure and implementing those plans effectively or else we will be forced to remain satisfied with a system which helps to improve our mental capacity rather than developing our talents which will be useful for the development of the country as a whole.