The current education in India has failed to create students who asks sensible questions, who dream of achieving something challenging, and want to do something for the betterment of the society they live in. It is of grave concern that our schools and colleges produce a pool of students who are attracted towards routine jobs such as information technology and biotechnology where Indian students imitate the work done by others. They are not enriched with stuff that drives them towards performing authentic research work. All they are taught is crack various entrance exams and join a Multi national company which pays them well. Little do they know about the Indian society and the various building blocks that make up the Indian society.

Decline in quality a major concern in India

It is widely admitted as a result of many surveys and studies that the quality of the Indian primary education system is in a pathetic state with the government run schools contributing a major share for the deterioration in quality. In the primary education level, there has been significant improvement in the enrolment ratio and a decline in the dropout rate in higher classes. But this alone cannot solve the problem of decline in quality.

Even though the government schools are blamed for the loss of quality, there are many other reasons as well which has contributed significantly towards the poor performance of the primary education in the country.

Education is not a market driven service

Education cannot be considered as a market driven service, which is meant to serve the needs of the market alone. What has happened in India is that the education system has turned out to be a system that meets the demands of the society. This is where we have to focus to determine the exact problem of the Indian education system.

In the present globalized competitive world, what the society needs is a set of knowledge that will help the child in becoming employable and in finding a decent job. What we have to take into account is the inherent quality of such job fetching knowledge. It is an area which our government and other stakeholders have not bothered to look into.

Have a relook at the social and economic background

There is a wide spread call for the urgent improvement in the quality of education. But such a system of education cannot for sure deliver the quality that is sort by the government and the industry. If the government is really concerned about the improving the quality of education, they should have a look at the social and economic background which is developed as a result of the policies that were introduced by the government, which has led to the present day quality crisis in the education system.

The importance placed on English language

The best example for the impact of government policies is the importance it place on English language. The National Knowledge Commission has observed that the understanding and command over the English language is of great importance in the areas of higher education, employment opportunities and social opportunities. So the commission recommends that English as a subject should be introduced from class one onwards. One point that needs to be considered is whether the inclusion of English language is a reason for drop out at primary schools.

Teachers and students do not know English

In most of the private English Medium schools, both teachers and students are not familiar with the English language and that will make the entire process of teaching and learning meaningless. The problem with such a schooling system is that students will not learn English and any other subjects. But if the medium of instruction is their mother tongue, this problem would have been solved to a greater extend. Many of the countries such China and countries from Europe have a highly skilled population and these countries has adopted their mother tongue as medium of instruction in their schools.

This does not mean that English language is not important. English is quite essential for communication with the west; where the economies are closely linked. But is there a need to force the students in class 1 to learn English as a language. It can be taught at a later stage once a foundation is built on other subjects.

Society calls of English education

In addition to the government policies, it is the society that drives the demand for education based on English as a medium of instruction. Every parent wants their child to be sent to an English medium school and it has unfortunately become a prestigious issue for them. This has resulted in the explosion of English medium schools in the country. Even the lower middle class population in the country is aware that even the basic skills in English will help their children in getting a decent paying jobs in various industries such as IT, hospitality etc. Such jobs offer better pay and status than traditional agriculture or any other traditional jobs.

Service sector and education

The service sector in India which is closely connected with the economies around the world has in turn increased the demand and value of English in India.

So in service dominated economy, what will be the relevance of other skills; will such skills be rewarded in terms of excellence as our government and industry wants it? A comprehensive education system evolves with a major contribution from agriculture and the industry, which will help in developing different skills.

Consider the structural imbalance

The present day governments and various statutory bodies do not take into the account the structural imbalance in the economy as the main factor that cause skill crisis in the country.

We have a very narrow view of knowledge, where we give more importance to Information Technology than science, to management than economics, and to grammar than literature. It is high time that we think about another social and economic background that will improve the quality of education in the country.