Being Born in the 90`s I proudly say that i am from the last lucky generation. My childhood was a memory and i feel pity to all the kids these days as their childhood is being made miserable due to n number of factors.
Frankly the moment you come to class 10, you start facing the problems as that is the point where you have to do a marathon against all the odds in life at least till your retirement. So the only area where you can learn & enjoy simultaneously is the schooling.
It was my generation which luckily escaped the horrible schooling (so called the corporate schooling ) system these days, but after that i could not do it for intermediate. At that time there were no other options to do my intermediate other than the corporate. Since intermediate education was just for two years and we were little grown up by that time it did not lead to a major disaster but it has done the required damage. But after my intermediate it started going to the schooling system and is making the next generation fit for nothing.
India especially the state of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, will start facing a new problem in the next 10-15 years (the time for the current generation to come into economy). The Corporate schools have changed the complete meaning of school education. Unknowingly a student learns a lot in the school. It might be sports, soft skills, life skills, curiosity, ways to think etc. The corporate schools do not have a environment which nourishes any of this skills.
There are many schools in the state, which do not even have a play ground. I feel it much better to call them as industries which manufactures rankers and scorers rather than schools . Ideally a school is a place where you discover yourself, you know what you are good at, what you are interested in etc. Its the first place where you know your passion and have the ultimate liberty to work towards it. But in schools these days, children are being trained( tortured) to scores ranks. They are being made to by-heart and reproduce the same data in examinations without even understanding it. Thus leading the country nowhere.
Parents are other contributing factor to this problem. Parents start comparing with other students thus pressurizing them. Parents knowingly set up SMART goals to children which is making the goaks SMART and the child "NOT SMART". Parents should not compare children with others, the more parents compare a child is killedchild mentally, we forgets his capabilites, his creativity etc. I agree that parents have all the right to take care of a child`s education, but they cannot force him to do a particular thing just because it is the best in market as of now. An example of this failure is during the early 2000`s IT boom was on it peaks and there was a lot of demand to IT graduates, since IT jobs were one of the high paying jobs back then everybody followed it just for the reason some body else did it and is earning more. The result was evident in the year 2008 where there was a global recession and many people lost their jobs. At that point there was no other option available as the state was full of IT grads and there are no jobs to them. Parents should understand the interests and the hobbies of their child and should guide them accordingly. So how to know the interests of children, an Ideal school does it.
What are the qualities of an Ideal school??
- It has a playground and has the provision to teach sports to children.
- It explains and makes the children to understand the subject and inculcates curiosity towards subjects.
- It teaches children communication rather than languages, to know what are communication programs some of the examples include, Elocution, Debates, Oratory, Public speaking etc.
- It enhances and brings out the creativity out of children through fine arts like painting etc.
- Programs such as NSS and NCC to inculcate patriotism and socially responsible.
- Programs to develop leadership skills like house activities, group activities etc.
These programs do not make them stars right from childhood. But they make them better person and teach all the necessary skills to make better life.
Finally, i would like to remind what Jack Ma the founder of Ali baba said to his child "You need not be the best student, just be an average student with decent scores, this will teach you all the necessary skills required for the rest of your life". Make sure that children earn and learn skills because marks do not fetch them grains but skills do.
