Issue 63 Vol III, May 15, 2008

A N A L Y S I S

Stifling Curiosity
Prashant Kumar

THE memories of my tenth grade results are still afresh in my mind. Having been a mediocre throughout my schooling, a score in eighties was kind of an achievement. A wave of happiness had overtaken my family; partly because of the decent score, and partly because of the successful completion of the first high-stakes examination at the school level. With nearly half-a-decade past my senior schooling, the thought of what a decade of schooling has endowed me with still haunts me whenever I look back.

Schooling envisions preparing a child for his life. At the primary and secondary level, the entire scheme is directed towards enlightening students with the elementary knowledge of science, mathematics, arts, and social sciences. Senior secondary entails some specialisation and students have enough leeway to decide what particular stream they would be pursuing. The same constitutes a high watermark in an individual’s career as it is at this stage that a vital career decision as regards the vocation one would be opting for is broadly taken. In sum, at the primary and secondary level, a student is exposed to a variety of options that he has at his avail to elect from; and at the senior secondary level, he is allowed to elect a particular stream best suited to his interests and abilities which he would like to pursue a career in.

A contrast is needed to be made at this juncture in terms of purpose that is intended to be achieved through education. In the colonial and immediate post-colonial era, the aim of education was essentially to prepare people for clerical and bureaucratic positions which in case of the former required people with modest education skilled in arts like reading, writing, simple calculations etc, and in case of the latter required people with profound learning in terms of enormity of knowledge possessed. With industrialization taking centre-level after the World War II, rapid industrialization became the order of the day and sooner or later every nation was constrained to join. Those who missed out bear the brunt even today in terms of the role they have come to play in the present world and weight that is attached to their voice.

Industrialisation brought along the need for a taskforce equipped with radically different skills. Rather than requiring individuals with profound learning in arts, literature, or similar subjects, it required individuals who would analyse a situation critically. Though this is not to cast aspersions on the ability of individuals skilled in such areas of learning to think critically and analytically, such skills were not in consonance with the need of the times. A massive overhaul of the educational structure became the order of the day; the same ensued at most places as it did in India.

Though this is not to undermine the importance of education that is imparted through the present scheme, it has aspired more to create a system wherein emphasis is placed on learning things by rote. Right from the inception, a sense of high esteem is instilled towards learning through such a process; and despite it being significantly important to instill the rudiments involving such a process of learning inevitably, the system lacks the foresight to look through the purpose of the scheme. Such a process should ordinarily be followed by a mechanism whereby practical application of the skills acquired is tested. It would not only result in an enhanced understanding of the concepts, but would further help in improving the ability of an individual to analyse a situation critically.

Consider one question asked in social studies paper for class X in 2005 - What were the main causes for the failure of the Revolt of 1857? - The question serves no purpose other than testing the retentive capacity of an individual. The same pattern is sadly evident from the majority of examinations conducted at different levels across the spectrum. In such a situation, an individual is left with no scope to apply his cognitive skills, and is constrained to reproduce whatever is hammered into his head through classroom teaching and textbooks. The question, however, could have been made more meaningful if recast in the following manner - How would you characterise the Revolt of 1857- a success or a failure? - Such an open ended question leaves an individual with the option to take his own stand, and further serves the purpose of testing both reasoning and argumentative skills aside from a mere acquaintance with the issue.

In today’s commercialised and globalised world, the ability of an individual to ride his way out of situations involving complications of varied nature is tested at every step. The ability to judge a situation analytically and critically assumes cardinal importance as there are no stock answers to the multiplicity of problems that one is faced with frequently.  Herein, the role of education that one has received becomes vital in terms of how skilled is one at manoeuvring his way out of such situations.

As per the present scheme, an individual is acquainted with the rudiments of a variety of topics, and the examination is aimed at testing familiarity with such issues and topics. The same results in individuals skilled in arts like mugging up getting an edge over others. Further, it results in others developing an aspiration towards earning such a skill. Eventually, curiosity - the most obvious of traits of an individual which has the potential of giving an analytical and critical bent to an individual’s way of thinking - is stifled to an extent that one can only envisage thinking in a manner that is expected and acceptable.

The recent proclamation by the CBSE chairman Mr. Ashok Ganguly aimed at changing the scheme of examination from one based on rote learning to analytical learning deserves appreciation, and should be seen as a significant march towards overhauling the entire scheme of education. As per the changed scheme, twenty percent of questions in all major subjects would test Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). HOTS are specifically intended to test the analytical skills of an individual. The measure is ought to affect the tack adopted by students while preparing for exams. Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that the major portion of the paper would still be comprised of questions based on rote learning, and the emphasis would still be on learning through such a process.

It turns out that though the reforms initiative deserves to be applauded, the same needs to be carried further. As a sequel to the reforms initiative, it is submitted that the question paper should consist of two parts. The first part shall aim at testing theoretical skills which would essentially be a test rote learning skills, whereas the second part shall be completely dedicated to testing critical and analytical skills. A passing score shall be made obligatory in the first part, and any score above shall be made irrelevant. The score achieved in the second part only should go on to constitute the percentage or percentile score. Such a scheme of examination would have the effect of drastically shifting the emphasis from rote learning to analytical and critical learning. Furthermore, by not doing away with the rote learning mechanism completely, it would admit its indispensability to some extent.

Eventually, the reforms initiative should not be seen as an end result in itself. It is a mere initiation of the process whereby the entire outmoded structure needs to be replaced with a new contemporary one. Society needs thinking minds  and education  must  move in  that direction.

BACK

Junta Holds Referendum in Cyclone Aftermath
K.Verma

BURMA, now known as Myanmar is one of the poorest nation in South-east Asia, with about 90 per cent of its population living in poverty. The cyclone Nargis this time made their life even more miserable. As there are 40,000 people who lost their lives and more than this are still missing. The people are in the need of food and water.

Last year government responded violently to crackdown the protest carried by thousands of citizens for rising prices and dissatisfaction with the regime. This time the government is urging people to vote in favour of the draft constitution, to make the military's role more powerful. The National League for Democracy opposition group, headed by the imprisoned Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has called for a vote against.

The government is saying that, despite the devastation made by the cyclone Nargis, it still intended to proceed with the ballot. A statement issued by the regime said it would keep "striving to hold hands with the people" in an alleged move towards democracy. It added: "The referendum is only a few days away and the people are eagerly looking forward to voting."

But this vote on May 10 was not to elect a new government in military-ruled Myanmar. It was a ballot for a referendum to approve a new constitution that the junta was forcing on a beleaguered people. The last time the people had voted was for the parliamentary elections in 1990 when the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) claimed a landslide victory -- only to see it rudely brushed aside by the military.

It was of no concern for survivors and for the thousands who died in the seven townships in the Irrawaddy delta and in the 40 townships in Rangoon.  Because an international appeal was made to the junta to postpone the referendum was refused. Even U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon added his voice to the call.

The junta stuck to its original plan to conduct the referendum on the chosen date after announcing that the people in the affected areas will be able to vote on a new date, May 24. This confirmed the views of people in Myanmar that the junta is more interested in enforcing the approval of the country’s third constitution at the expense of helping the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

According to the highly-placed official sources within the regime it came to know that this decision was made knowingly. The country’s strong man, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, had taken a decision ‘’not to use many troops and financial resources to help the people, since he wanted to use many of them for the referendum,’’ he said. The military leaders are only interested to secure a ‘victory’ and gain political legitimacy.

There were attempts made by the NLD to observe voting close to Rangoon were they were denied. A car that NLD members were travelling in to visit polling stations was stopped. Other NLD members have reported that authorities in some provincial towns had ‘’forced’’ voters to vote ‘yes’ after confiscating their registration or identity cards.

‘’It was not a free poll,’’ a visibly angry 63-year-old woman said after leaving her polling station. ‘’An official in the polling station came to where I was to write my vote and forced me to vote ‘yes’.’’

If we take people’s view this was not a fair poll this time. This vote has shown that regime is mainly interested to remain in power. For this purpose they can go to any extent and use any gimmickry.

BACK