By Aditi Jain & Gautami Nair 18/01/2020
Ours cities have beautiful structures whose grandeur often attracts our attention. Nowadays visiting a school feels the same. The parameters to measure the efficacy of an educational institution is now wholly based on the amenities it provides. Kjo’s movies are permeating its effects on our schools, which now boast of five star facilities like horse stables, gymnasium and swimming pools. But for learning we have now diverted our attention to another medium that is Coaching Institutes. The Genesis of the word ‘Coach’ means to train and to enhance one’s performance but with growing competition and the urge to outperform others, this inherent role of mentors has taken a backseat and business tendencies are now controlling the steering wheel. Dummy schools are the emerging business empires thriving on the anomalies of the education system.
Duplicate Maal
Millennials today are all about fusion. #modernsanskari. We have the ability of bringing almost two unrelated things together for instance ‘Tandoori paneer- Pizza, Noodle- Samosa’ But our imagination is not restricted up till here. Although ‘Dummy’ ‘School’ is not exactly an oxymoron but no less than a hysterical mix. We are all aware that our favourite markets like Chandni Chowk and Sarojini have duplicates and dummies of authentic brands but we have now come far enough to create replicas of educational institutions too. The sole purpose of these institutions, like a duplicate sabyasachi lehenga, is to get that sudden satisfaction i.e., to clear an exam is the threshold of happiness, as suggested by them.
Science v/s Social science
Dummy schools have developed another trend of unnecessary attention being given to the STEM courses. These subjects are considered practical in their approach. But how many times in these institutes have students performed an actual lab experiment. All the jobs today in India are bagged by engineers. Is it because they are smart or is it just that they are so many in number? However, destiny is not so simple. The boring and repetitive social science comes back to picture when there is a desire for a seat in government office. Then we again revisit those old textbooks which were never taught in these dummy institutions.
Bas yeh aur exam pass kar lo
Often a misconception is created in the minds of children that, ‘once you clear the entrance exams then you can enjoy your college life fully with all its glitter, fests and parties . But dummy institutes fail to nurture students with values and principles. They merely focus on creating ready robots to join the race of life pushing students in the dark cave of laborious assignments, loneliness and depression. So, it is high time that we stop fantasising about the future by making our present miserable.
An yearly package
We take pride in the magnanimity of our scriptures but unlike the tricks and shortcut methods used to clear a simple test, it was not the way scholars like Kalidasa used to write their dramas. Guidebooks and tricks have now replaced actual learning. Earlier education in India was restricted only to male Brahman society. But, today although this has changed and education has reached the doorsteps of all, we have not left the old metaphor of ‘padhoge likhoge banoge hoshiyar’ behind. Instead we’ve modified this version and the new mantra is ‘science aur bio se rahoge aage arts lekar ho jaoge kharab’.
We cannot lose another Stark
Indian educational structure has become stagnant where conventional courses and methods are applied even now. Ideas, concepts and its dimensions are to be explored in a classroom. ‘Knowledge without character’ is disastrous just like Thanos with ‘infinity stones’. Today education has taken a departure from creating citizens who are sensitive towards their private and social environment. Kids are in the perception that studies are just a temporary burden that will end with a good yearly package in the end. We are growing everyday aspiring for new avenues for which doing a job is a necessity, however learning is not just restricted to that. Also, it is quite laughable that most of us are not even doing the job for which we studied so hard in school! Infact, many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
We look for enjoyment in every small thing we do but then should learning be boring? Even after writing so much about dummy schools we know that it is here to stay.
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You guys have framed it fantastically!
Keep up the good work!