What’s wrong with Indian Education System?

(10 problems explained)

Indian Education System has become one of our most important concerns as of now. The
most striking reason for India being a laggard is its outdated education system.
In this article, I will discuss the structure & price of Indian Education. Later, I will discuss
the top 10 problems with the Indian Education System and Is there a way to fix them?
Top ten problems with Indian Education System
1. Structure & Syllabus
2. Same Thing for Everyone
3. Rat Race/Competition
4. Teaching is not a Profession anymore
5. Reservation System
6. Getting a job is an ultimate goal
7. Peer Pressure
8. Rote Learning/Producing Robots to work in a factory
9. Education Given is Irrelevant to Job-Market
10.Over-Commercialization of Indian Education System
Before discussing the problems with the Indian Education System, I would like you to brief a
little on Structure & the price of Indian Education. Although, you may directly jump to that
section by clicking on the above link.
A brief on Indian Education System
India is home to approximately 1.3 billion people, out of which 315 million are students.
India has as many as 1.4 million schools and more than 230 million enrolments. According
to Dr. Education, India has 819 universities and more than 35,000 affiliated colleges,
enrolling more than 20 million students per year. India leads every country in the world in
terms of the number of students & colleges but stills Indian Education system doesn’t make
it to the top 34 education system in the world.
Structure of the Indian education system
Indian Education System is divided into 2 different sections.
1. School Education 1. Univesity Education
 Pre Primary Education – Pre Nursery, Nursery,  Graduation [BE, BTech, BA,
LKG, UKG BSc, BBA]
 Primary Education – 1 to 8 Grade  Post Graduation [ MBA, MTech,
 Secondary Education – 9 & 10 Grade MSc]
 Higher Secondary Education – 11 & 12 Grade  Ph.D. [Doctoate]

India Education System tree

In India Sports, Photography, Acting, Music etc. are considered as hobbies, not a profession.
And i.e. why they’re not included in the education system tree. Moreover, the education tree
is so long that the average age of getting a job in India is between 20-22.
How much do we spend on Education?
Much of the family expense is spent on the education of their children. Here, is the chart
showing the amount required to raise a child.
Source: Economic Times
An average Indian family spends an amount of 25.19 lacs for on their children education.
This accounts for almost 46% of the total spending required to raise a child. And after all
that money and hard work, students end up being unemployed or underemployed
especially in the field of engineering.
Top 10 problems with Indian Education System
1. Structure & Syllabus
India is following the same course structure & syllabus since the time of Independence. The
Indian learning methodology insists on starting from the basics. It worked very well for
decades, even centuries and hence has taken a stronghold on the education system. This
drove the makers of the syllabuses to give too much importance to the basics to notice that
the old technologies are not really “basics” instead they are waste.

Here is an example from School Education

In order to make 10th standard easy (allegedly) the decision makers have created a huge
difference between the level of 10th and 11th standard. In 10th there is just theoretical and
very basic stuff and then in 11th, they are like ‘What the hell is that? This much
maths?’ Clearly 10th standard can’t develop the logic and problem-solving skills of students
and suddenly in 11th and 12th, they are bombarded with convoluted topics.
Here is an example from University Education
I’m a mechanical engineer & few topics in my engineering syllabus were Advanced IC
Engine, Carburetors etc. The harsh truth is, none of the cars from the 21st century uses a
carburetor & what so advance about IC engines. Engineering is all about inventing &
innovating not about learning the outdated technologies.
2. Same Thing for Everyone
Don’t judge a fish by its ability to climb tree said, Albert Einstein. Every student in India is
judged by their performance on a single sheet of paper. Same subjects, same syllabus and the
same test for every student irrespective of their interest make Indian Education System
worse.
3. Rat Race/Competition
Studying is not passion in India. It’s a race. A race for marks, race for getting into good
colleges, race for getting a job. Our education system basically promotes rat race among our
children. They have to read and mug-up the entire textbook without any understanding of it.
So a student who scores 90 out of 100 and comes first actually remains a rat. In fact, parents
also play an important in promoting rat race.

4. Teaching is not a Profession anymore

Unfortunately, the honored profession of teaching is no more honored. Very few teachers of
today are teachers by choice or by desire. The rest are all there because they could not find
another job or they did not have a choice. The passion to learn so they can teach their
students does not exist in the teachers anymore.
In fact, Teachers hardly exist anymore. The biggest reason behind this is that there is no
test/exam for the selection of teachers in India whereas Finland [best education system]
selects only top ten applicants for teaching jobs.
5. Reservation System
This point comes into action after the completion of your higher secondary education. This is
the time when you come to know it’s not only about getting good marks. Someone with 50%
of your marks might get a better college or job. Reservation system acts as a Silent Killer of
India.
It began in 1982 when the constitution decided that 15% and 7.5% of the government jobs
quota be reserved for SC and ST (Scheduled castes and ethnic groups) respectively, and this
number will be reviewed after five years. In the 1990s, the Indian prime
minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh declared a 50% reservation for admissions and jobs in
all government bodies. And the rest is history.
6. Getting a job is an ultimate goal
The ultimate goal of education in India is to get a job not to learn or innovate. Choosing for
their passion as a profession or becoming an entrepreneur is a myth. This lack of ambition
does not allow our country to excel in any field. This attitude of our children making them
slaves of a few multinational companies. Somebody, please tell them if they are not working
for own their dreams then they will end up working for someone else dream.
However, the sad truth is that India is a country where students with new ideas & dreams are
not invited or supported by their friends & families.
7. Peer Pressure
In a recent survey, two-thirds (66%) students reported that their parents pressurize them for
better academic performance. The Psychologists suggest that students suffer from anxiety
and traumatic disorder relating to fear of examination. The fear factor is the reason why
students suffer from anxiety, depression, and the following consequences.
Also, the fear not only comes from the school but also from parents, who go to extreme
levels to push their children into getting better grades. Report suggests: –
Everyday, 6.23 students commit suicide due to the peer pressure, there must be something
wrong that we are not understanding.
8. Rote Learning/Producing Robots to work in a factory
Indian Education System is all about rote learning, students are emphasized to remember
contents of the book or documentation rather than developing their logic, thinking,
and intuition. Memorization has become the key to top the exams. Even several coaching
centers believe in teaching the tricks to solve entrance test questions rather than concept.

Fact: You can’t keep everything in your mind for eternity because you will forget things that
are not used for a while. Even computer hard drives start to lose data after a while.
9. Education Given is Irrelevant to Job-Market
This is perhaps the most apparent failure of our education system that after completing
graduation in any discipline students are not able to get jobs. It is simply because skills that
are required in a job market are not present in a fresh graduate. As per a recent survey, one
out of five graduates ever had vocational training & only 10% of manufacturers in India
offer in-service training to their employees compared with over 90% in China.

10. Over-Commercialization of Indian Education System

India is home to many universities which have been founded with the sole objective of
making easy money. Othe nation universities have the sole objective of making them eligible
to contribute to national and social progress & can be sure that simultaneously they can take
care of themselves too. The real profit comes only when the students learn and start
contributing to their nation, not when they are learning.
Why is Indian Education not worth? [Source – Wikipedia]
I would like you to enlight you with some shocking stats which shows that India Education
System must be redesigned.
1. Only 1 ‘Noble Prize’ in the science field whereas Germany got 54, US got 110 & UK
got 46.
2. As per WIPO statistics, during 2014, India registered 33.2 patents per million
population in comparison to 4,205.8 by the Republic of Korea, 2,566.8 by Japan,
1,782.6 by the US and 680.3 in China.
3. Global Innovation Index 60/130.
4. Globalization Index 107/184.
5. Education Index 145/191.
6. Human Development Index 131/188.
7. In the education sector, India ranks 92, which is way behind the ranks of other
developing countries such as Philippines (76), Malaysia (51), Sri Lanka (59) and many
more.
8. Only 16 Indian Universities makes it to the list of Top 1000 universities in the world.
What do leaders say about the Indian Education system?
1. India’s education system needs to be far better than it is today says, Bill Gates.
2. Indian education teaches to study, study, work hard, get your MBA & someday you will
have a Mercedes but where is the creativity? says Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-founder).
3. Education in India lacks creativity says Sundar Pichai.
How to fix the Indian Education System?
I believe the government / “people who script the syllabus” has resigned to the fate of the
education system and are hoping that it would limp on in the current state. As long as the
government is the monopoly in education, the problem will persist. The only solution might
be the privatization in the Human Resource Development department in India. Till then all
we can hope for: -
 Students aiming to become teachers when they grow up.
 Graduates who are not only intelligent and brilliant but also willing to take
responsibility and work towards the betterment of the system.
 Redefining our industrial base.
 Stop being service providers as a country and start becoming producers.
 Stop complaining and start acting.
I hope you enjoyed it.
What’s your take on this? What could be the best possible solution for the one biggest
problem of India
Comment Below!