Experts foresee a phenomenal evolution in the school education landscape

Updated on: Saturday, December 15, 2012

The coming decade will see a 'phenomenal evolution in the school education landscape', say experts. While some opine that higher education needs to be defined by quality, others say that technology will further percolate into classrooms.

Syed Sultan Ahmed, Managing Director of Edumedia India Pvt Ltd, said, "One clear area of evolution I see for schools will be a shift of focus from 'marks based' academic curriculum to 'life based' overall development. Schools talk a lot about it these days but do very little. In the coming years, colleges and universities will start enrolling students on the basis of their overall development and not just grades. This will change the obsession of schools towards exams and marks".

Ahmed opined that, schools in general care very little about standards and quality. "In the coming years, with increasing competition and expectations from parents, they will be forced to deliver better quality education at competitive fees," he added.

Ahmed also observed that, at present there is a huge disconnect between what children study and what the industry and the world require from them. "In the future, there will be a larger say of the industry in the curriculum that schools teach. Several skill based learning modules will be introduced by schools, making education a lot more relevant to the world. Creativity and innovation will be one of the most priced qualities in the future, and schools will have to gear up to create thinking individuals with a capacity to make sense of the abundant information that they are exposed to," he said.

The biggest educational challenge in India, is the failure of the government to provide good quality primary and secondary education through government schools, he said. "Privatization of government schools through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, seems like a possibility in the coming years. India’s dream of becoming a developed nation, depends a lot on its school education," he said.

He added that another trend that seems like a real possibility, is personalised distance learning, enabled by technology and home schooling.

According to K S Badarinarayan, principal of MVJ College of Engineering, the education sector is something that is constantly evolving. By 2020, education will be more or less virtual in nature. "What we have right now, is a classroom culture. But, the growing presence of internet means that students in Bangalore will be able to choose subjects and courses from across the world. Imagine being able to take one course from America and another from Europe," he said.

However, the decline of classroom culture can also have its set of disadvantages. Nevertheless, if employed the right way, expertise from across the world can be mobilised. "I also think that, the future will have students being more competitive and creative. The education sector should also ensure that students are industry ready. Right now, only 25% of all students graduating from engineering colleges are really employable. What happens to the rest? By 2020, hopefully colleges will be able to provide multi-skill development for its students, like technical skills and soft skills put together," he said.

Anitha Kurup, a professor at School of Social Sciences and anchor of the education programme at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), felt that the primary education in the country has grown tremendously in the past decade, which means the higher education has to grow to meet the needs of the primary education. "What the higher education needs to do in the next few years, is to define itself by quality. We need to look at the kind of skills that need to be developed, and the kind of courses you provide to the students. We also need to learn from other countries that have expanded their higher education and gain lessons from their experiences," she said.

There is a need for giving importance to basic sciences, socials science and humanities. In her opinion, the reason these fields are suffering right now as opposed to engineering and professional courses, is because these courses are not linked to the kind of job options people are looking for. "Ultimately, private players will be have a big role in the growth of higher education.

We need to work out models that are feasible. The government should find a way to engage with the private players, without completely withdrawing, to realise the kind of growth we are looking for," she added.

Experts foresee a phenomenal evolution in the school education landscape

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