By Zohra Javed for TwoCircles.net,
“3Idiots” is a super duper hit. It apparently talks of how the education system is killing the creativity and burdening students. Does the film really serves the students with solutions or is it just another film is a matter of debate.
But talking of education system and the reforms it must undergo, I think a section of the entire education system that should actually be considered its strongest pillar is the most neglected. I am talking of the teachers. How often have we heard that teachers are poorly paid in most schools and colleges.
And that’s not all, government, who seems to be keen on bringing about the reforms, does not pay salary to its teachers for months together.
In such a scenario is it any wonder that most of the teachers at all levels are perhaps into the profession not because of their love to spread knowledge but simply because they “got the job”, and a little deeper look into their life would reveal that they actually did not like what they were doing, but have a family to feed and responsibilities they cannot afford to overlook.
In times when one hears so much about pursuing a career of one’s liking, how many are lucky enough to be doing so? Insecurities in life outdo every creativity that a person might posses. We do not have the courage to say “NO” when it really matters.
An education system should teach this virtue also!
Also an education system anywhere in the world that does not teach basic human values fails its very purpose. My mother tells us how difficult it was in her time for women from respectable Muslim
families in our native place to go to a school. But my grandfather, convinced his mother, saying education polishes the soul.
However can an education system that creates clones of job-seekers also contribute to bringing about an improvement in the values, morals and principles that should govern life and be at the base of
everything that one does in life.
And how many of us want our children to take up teaching as a profession?
I would also like to make another point here since the film mentions the flaws in the country’s education system, let us not conclude it provides real solutions too. First of all it talks of only the
above-90%-lot, those who have already qualified to be in a prestigious Engineering College. It is another matter that some of them did not like engineering.
Let us realize the fact that between the completely dejected and the enviable toppers lies the majority: The average student. They are in majority. And it is basically their problems that should be discussed.
That would in all probability provide solace to those who are at the lowest rung of the ladder too.
The essence of it all, I think is, for us to realize that our children are not machines. Neither are they indebted to us so much as to be striving forever to fulfill the desires and dreams of their parents. They are human beings, with their own personalities and preferences. Guiding them to be good human beings and invoking in them the spirit of healthy competition should be our role as parents.
Too idealistic to be true?
I believe in aiming high!