India's education system is a mixture of the ancient past and the British contributed curriculum. It was designed to make IAS officers during the British Raj. It was not designed to make engineers and scientists.
There is a heavy emphasis on rote and memorization in the Indian Education System. Even now the parents ask their little kids in elementary school to repeat something from a book. The skills of analysis and observations are not taught or encouraged.
The science is taught as a subject with lots of facts. The students learn to memorize scientific facts, but the philosophy of science or the scientific method - based on curiosity and experiments - is not taught. When I was in the school, there was no class on the scientific method or the philosophy of science. We memorized rules and equations and laws without understanding 90% of them. The fact that science is not linear and happens in small steps after going through the series of trials and errors was never emphasized. There were elements of Indian mysticism blended into the science teaching. For example, Kekulé came to the circular structure of Benzene because God made him see a snake in the dream. Without intervention from God, Kekulé would have had hard time figuring out things on his own.
What can be done to improve the Indian Education System? We need to overhaul the complete curriculum. There should be entrance exams for teachers. I think this is more important than having entrance exams for engineers. The scientific method and reasoning should be the top agenda at the schools and useless historical facts and fatalistic medieval philosophy should be consigned to where it belongs - at home and for those who are fascinated by history.
There is a heavy emphasis on rote and memorization in the Indian Education System. Even now the parents ask their little kids in elementary school to repeat something from a book. The skills of analysis and observations are not taught or encouraged.
The science is taught as a subject with lots of facts. The students learn to memorize scientific facts, but the philosophy of science or the scientific method - based on curiosity and experiments - is not taught. When I was in the school, there was no class on the scientific method or the philosophy of science. We memorized rules and equations and laws without understanding 90% of them. The fact that science is not linear and happens in small steps after going through the series of trials and errors was never emphasized. There were elements of Indian mysticism blended into the science teaching. For example, Kekulé came to the circular structure of Benzene because God made him see a snake in the dream. Without intervention from God, Kekulé would have had hard time figuring out things on his own.
What can be done to improve the Indian Education System? We need to overhaul the complete curriculum. There should be entrance exams for teachers. I think this is more important than having entrance exams for engineers. The scientific method and reasoning should be the top agenda at the schools and useless historical facts and fatalistic medieval philosophy should be consigned to where it belongs - at home and for those who are fascinated by history.
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