What is education and why is it important? The mere thought about education excites me, because according to my personal approach education is not only books and grades but something way beyond that. Education is an experience through which you learn something new, something that you had never known, it could be the color of the sky or the formula of formaldehyde, it could be the first step of a child or the speed at which an aircraft flies.
Education is often misinterpreted, by the load of books or the courses taken.
Near me, anything that brings about a positive change is education. Sometimes people learn many theories but do not practically change, they may undertake lessons on science and mathematics and geography but stay unaffected about their liabilities.
Reading books, hearing lectures and attending courses doesn’t necessarily mean that you have been educated, until and unless you do not incorporate your knowledge to your attitude.
Education is embedding your knowledge in the mind. It is the application of information or skills. It is the knowledge of the world and the drive to improve it into something better. It helps us think optimistically.
Unfortunately, today as the world is progressing on a fast rate, everything is shortened; education is also selling in the name of short courses. It is very difficult for the human brain to learn a subject spread over 4 years in merely 4 months. In the name of technology and advancements people are misled towards fast track studies which is ineffective.
Below I would highlight just a few of the many issues that are faced by us in the field of education.
Depression due to technology
Depression is one of the issues in education that is faced by today’s teens, it may have been unknown to past generations or if existent could be on a lighter level. Today technology and social media has contributed much towards depression and lack of self-esteem. Use of mobile phones and tabs have become an educational requirement, where students are expected to spend time over the internet for research or assignments. Having its positive aspects, technology does hold its negativities which includes the social media where children of young age spend most of their time connecting with friends, which tolls their study time and they often lag in academics leading to despair. This also results in academic pressure where there is a great competition for grades and degree, if left behind the growing brain of youth does not understand how to control his/her reactions and emotions. Children in their adolescence are complicated and their activities need to be supervised by both parents and teachers.
Costly Education
A primary issue in education in current educational system is the cost of education. Higher education is costly and is unaffordable by many. There are brilliant students who possess the ability to excel in studies but drop their college due to the higher fee structures. In our country most of the families are living below poverty line and are unable to afford college for their children. At the time when a child is to study he/she is compelled to earn and help feed the family. Only if there were colleges that would provide education that was economical, the rate of literacy would rise in our country. Our talented youth would have a chance to outshine in the fields of science and technology.
College Dropouts
Although the rate of admission in schools and colleges is quite considerable in our country, but there’s a great number of dropouts also. This could be due to financial constraint on parents or the stress of environment itself. It has been observed that parents desire to educate their children but in the later years as the family requirements grow, the finances for education seem to burden families and often the older siblings leave education to earn and help the parents. Whereas, if there is less financial constraint the desire to be socially active in youth or not to be able to cope up with the burden of studies, children never complete their academics. For such children, it is important that the teachers and parents keep counselling the students and help maintain their interest in studies and completing education.
Privatization of Educational Institutes
It is being observed that many institutes that were being run by government are now shifted in private sector. This has effected the source of income of such institutes. Where they were previously funded, now have to earn on their own. To meet the demands and payments the burden is automatically shifted on tuition and business. This effects the interests of the public and to some extent the quality of education.
Issues in Education
The privatization and public institutes differ greatly in education standards, since there is not a set curriculum, most of the institutes have different curriculum. Moreover there are many private institutes whose degrees are not even recognized by the government, in which case the students are paying heavily for education but resultantly their efforts are not recognized and they are not able to apply in jobs where a proper government recognized degree is required.
Method of teaching / teaching staff
Most of the private institutes have their own pattern of studies which may differ from the criteria followed by most of the colleges and schools. The whole education system in our country in not working on the same pace. There are students of the same class with differing level of understanding of the same subjects. There are schools that have over filled their classrooms due to which proper attention is not paid to all the students. The world is advancing in technology and in many schools run at a lower level the teaching staff or old teachers are not tech friendly due to which they are unable to cope with the current systems of teaching. Science subjects that can be taught with the help of latest researches through internet and multimedia are taught only from the textbooks which may be ineffective with the current progressions.
School developed in small buildings
Most importantly, in our country there are many small level institutes working in very small buildings, or people have opened small schools/colleges within their houses, such schools and colleges are ignored by the government. They are not recognized and are there for the personal earnings and not for educating. When personal goals start to seep in the education system the future of students go at stake.
Such issues if left ignored can affect the future of students who are relying over the education provided to them. A balance must be created over specially something as important and sensitive as education, which not only holds the future of a child but also the future of our country.
