The
Education system in India,
has been widely acclaimed as one of the best in the world. Yet, on taking a
closer look, I would say that it is the intelligence of the Indian’s that has
given the merit and not the learning system itself.
One
of my important observation, when I visited Finland
as a Rotary GSE Team member in 2006, was
the system of education, which has been rated the No.1 in the world by PISA - Programme for
International Student Assessment.
I
had the opportunity of meeting and interacting with the principal of a teacher
training school in Rovaniemi. She shared a lot of useful information of which one
point caught my attention. She said
that, “the failure of the student is the failure of the teacher”. The child
comes with a raw mind to learn and it is the duty of the teacher to teach the
child the way, he/ she understands. There is no justice in classifying a child
as bright or dull, without the teacher taking enough efforts to bring out the
best in the child. The inefficiency of the teacher, surfaces on the results of
the student. But the teacher comfortably shifts the cause to the inefficiency
of the child.
When
it comes to education the Parents - Teacher – Student form the 3 vertices of
the magic trio. Everyone has to play their fair part. While it is true that the
child has to put in its share of effort to study and present well, it is the
duty of the teacher to create a interest
of the subject in the child by some innovative means and it is the duty of the
parents to create a good learning atmosphere.
In
Finland,
teachers have strong methodical autonomy , which means they do not have to fall
into a glue of a fixed teaching pattern. They therefore think of new ways of
teaching and make the learning process as fun and experiential as possible.
Throughout
the education students with learning difficulties are paid special attention
to. There is a strong favour for individual learning guidance. This is possible
because the number of schools as compared to the number of student is high. A
classroom has a maximum of 20 students, therefore personal attention is
possible.
The
parents seems to be very co-operative with the teacher and the child in terms
of the child’s interest development.
There is no imposing of the parents on the child as to what he or she
should become at the end of his education.
In
Finland,
there is a uniform curriculum throughout the country, in alternate to our
system of multiple curriculum such as ICSE, CBSE, Matric, State Board etc. This
uniform curriculum establishes a national standard and eases student migration,
from one part of the country to the
other.
One
noticeable and appreciatable part of their education is there is no ranking
system in school. The school is
considered as a place of learning and not as place of competing. No child fails
in class. Therefore no emotional damage is caused to the students during the
learning period. No complexes are developed.
There is no public ranking lists. Entrance to Colleges based only on
Entrance Test. The Entrance test is
again, not a place where you get rejected. The entrance test is more or less
like a general aptitude test, wherein the students subject preference is
evaluated. At the end of the entrance test a counselor sits with the student
and discusses, the suitable options for the student based on his interest and
skill level. The student then chooses the field of study based on this
evaluation.
In
Finland,
all education institution are run by the Government . There are no private
schools. While in India, the
students studying in Government schools are considered unfortunate, in Finland the
Government is able to provide the best of education for its students and also
be ranked as No.1, in the world.
While
it is nice to shout out loud, “ East or West, India is the best” it also makes
sense to learn the success strategies from the experts, and move the way
forward.
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article dated May 2008