June 24, 2016
| Education is the most powerful instrument to bring about the desired changes in the people where as the teaching-learning process is the heart of education. In the teaching-learning praocess, the teacher, the learner, the curriculum and other variables are organised in a systematic way to attain some pre-determined goals, which are set according to the changing natural and social setting. |
It should be noted that teaching is not only about giving lecturers or gaining knowledge, proved though high scores, but also a process of exploring opportunities for living a desired life. That is why the objective of education has been now understood broadly as the process of building one’s personality, developing humanitarian values and achieving quality of life.
Unrealistic concept
But in Nepal, our concept and understanding of education are neither realistic nor rational, rather they are too traditional and unscientific, lost in a dilemma without clear objectives. Many people, even a few students, have started to raise questions about the utility and importance of education.
As a teacher, I too have to think thrice while responding to the queries of the pupils who question why they should study or what happens after this degree. There are many questions unanswered regarding the education of Nepal, and every stakeholder has to seriously ponder over these issues when considering their children’s further studies.
Education is the knowledge of putting one’s potential to maximum use. Actually it is that which develops the human conscience, rationality and culture. It makes men and women right thinkers. Without education, a human is as though in a closed room while with education he finds himself in a room with all its windows open to the outside world. Therefore, the importance of education is obvious.
It is important to develop our qualities and expand our knowledge. It is equally important to make an individual self dependent and adjust with the social and natural world. Education is also important to develop one’s career, professionally and financially. Plus it has a huge role to play in socialisation, adaptation and developing one’s personality and human conscience.
Thus, teachers, learners, guardians and policy makers, which are the core elements in any educational system, have the responsibility to direct the education policy to achieve its goal. But we find weaknesses all around. We Nepalese see education as merely a teaching process. Not only students of schools and colleges, but also university students and teachers define education very narrowly as a process of giving or gaining knowledge.
In Nepal, most curriculums, barring some technical ones, do not guarantee the development of skills necessary to find employment and become independent. It is unfortunate that the scientific and humanitarian objective of education and the post modern paradigm have been repudiated by our conservative planners. The duplication of out-dated curricula has polluted the real meaning and value of education.
While education is understood as a lifelong learning process and has become the way of life of the people, our conventional educational pundits still define it as a process of reading texts and listening to lectures with the sole purpose of reproducing them in the exams and getting high scores. When the educational discourse is about rationalisation, justice and quality of human life, we are bent solely on getting a degree and scoring high marks. That is why many people view our education as impractical. Our institutions are producing unemployed certificate holders.
The social perception of education is also not scientific and clear. Even our guardians and society measure success in life on the basis of money s/he earns. Our society is biased towards property and defines prestige on the basis of it. The value of being a good person, the value of its impacts on society and the value of change have been forgotten by our guardians and people.
A few teachers who emphasise on giving lectures and love strict discipline and pin-drop silence are regarded as good teachers by the school management and the students. But the teaching-learning process without the participation of students, a class which doesn’t share the experience of students and motivate the right behaviour will not fulfill the objective of education. A class belongs to the students and teachers are only the facilitators in guiding the learning process.
Parents and guardian are also an important part of the teaching-learning process and have a contributing role in the successful education of any student. Many parents think that it’s their duty to choose the faculty and subjects for their children. They conclude that a student who scores an A+ and A must study science and only those with C and D grades should take up social sciences and arts. How many parents care to understand that children scoring A+ grades also love sports, music, arts and social science?
Therefore, we have never motivated our students to become good citizens, family members and human beings in the real sense. Thus, we can blame our educational pundits, educators and parents and students for the political and socio-economic chaos in the country. It’s learning which develops patriotism and progressiveness. So, despite earning undergraduate and graduate degrees, we are chasing money and do not understand the value of taking up agriculture, for instance.
We never understood that being a social and rational human being is the greatest achievement of education and the ultimate success of life. We undermine the role of education in correcting our behaviour and attitude and adapting to the physical and natural environment. How can we expect innovation, invention and development from the educational system that teaches the pupil to mug up notes and duplicate them in the exam? Our education inhibits personality development as it focuses only on knowledge. How can we expect the development of our agrarian economy which is almost completely bypassed by educational discourse? The theoretical and pirated education neither helps us to create leaders capable of developing our community and nation nor contributes to establishing economic and social justice worldwide.
Change
Thus, in order to bring our educational system and process on the right track, change is a must. First of all, our notion of education should be broad. Similarly our teaching-learning process should focus on skills and attitudes rather than knowledge. It is also necessary to bring change in the mindset of our students, guardians and society, which measures the quality of education in terms of big buildings and expensive fees and the success of education in terms of high marks and a nice earning job.
By Pramesh Pokharel
The writer is a Lecturer of Sociology/Anthropology in RR Campus.
