Let them fly!

Do you know how people manage to make pets out of birds like doves, parrots, etc., without keeping them inside a cage? They clip the wings of the birds to keep them on ground. When they think that the birds are accustomed to them, they let them fly and the birds mostly do come back to them, keeping their faith. Well, it has been the same case with the children in our (largely middle-class) society who are blindfolded till they land in an engineering or medicine college. Their wings of freedom to think on their own to choose a course are clipped early in the current education system.

An education system is intended to guide the constantly evolving new breed of children. But I am afraid, all the education in current form doing is narrowing down their thinking abilities. There is no imagination going into the aspect of teaching. The skills of teachers as well as the practicality of the curriculum had been constantly under scrutiny. No emphasis has been made on moral, democratic values or gender-sensitization. Various committee reports on the reforms that are needed in the same are yet to see the light of the day.  Surely, why should the children need, what we ourselves know nothing of! 

Besides, the disregard of the state towards the education in government schools has forced the parents to move to private organizations, which do demand hefty sums of money. When there are hefty sums involved, everything comes down to demand and supply. These hefty sums put a lot of pressure on the teachers, who will apply the same on to the children in order to supply the demanded marks and ranks. And generally, It doesn't matter what genuine skill a particular kid, possesses or is passionate about.

The anxiety of parents in making sure that their child is in a trusted path, which assures a settled job and career, has also become an obstacle in producing honest and sensuous citizens. The parents(most probably the father) set the goal for the young one, as early as (s)he borns. Any deviation from that goal gets discouraged at the faintest hint of it. Most of the children's dreams remain as dreams under the safeguard of their parents until its too late.

Also today's schools, colleges and universities have limited the education to a small group of popular courses with little or no real research, producing politically immature and only-job oriented professionals. The quality of education in highest institutions like IITs is also getting diluted due to various reasons. A lot of graduates have been switching over to careers that are irrelevant to the course that they actually graduated in.

Its already time for the Indian State to seriously consider a revamp of education policies in order to ensure that every child gets quality education in government institutions at each level along with an exposure to various fields of arts and sciences early in their life. And its high time the parents stop rubbing their dreams on to the children and start helping them chase their own dreams. Let them fly, I say...