The excruciating education system!

The Excruciating Education System: Are We Educating Children or Burdening Them?

Education is supposed to be a journey of learning, curiosity, and personal growth. However, for many students and parents in India, the education journey has slowly become a source of stress, financial pressure, and constant anxiety.

Instead of focusing only on knowledge and skills, the education system appears to have become increasingly focused on marks, competition, and commercial aspects.

Recently, our Prime Minister requested citizens to adopt certain measures to reduce the impact of rising fuel prices caused by global conflicts. Similarly, I would like to raise some questions and request the government to examine certain aspects of our education system.

1. Why the Dependence on Additional Private Textbooks?

The NCERT curriculum is designed after careful consideration of academic requirements. However, many schools insist that students purchase additional private textbooks and study materials.

Do students really get enough time to absorb multiple sets of books?

If an NCERT textbook costs around ₹100, private reference books can cost several times more. This creates an additional financial burden on parents, especially when the same concepts are repeated in different formats.

2. Are We Ignoring the Concept of Reuse?

Governments and environmental organizations regularly promote reduce, reuse, and recycle practices.

However, in many schools, students are often required to purchase new textbooks every academic year. In some cases, the content remains almost the same, with only minor changes in design or cover pages.

This raises an important question:

Are we teaching children about sustainability while following practices that increase unnecessary consumption?

A system that encourages book reuse, sharing, and recycling would reduce costs for parents and also promote environmental responsibility among students.

3. The Financial Pressure of Advance Fee Payments

Many educational institutions collect fees for the entire academic year in advance. Private tuition and coaching centers often follow similar practices.

For many families, managing a large one-time payment can be challenging.  Could there be a more parent-friendly system where fees are collected in installments?

If the education system expects parents to plan financially for their children's future, institutions should also consider the financial realities faced by families.

4. Language Learning: Choice or Burden?

Learning multiple languages has many benefits. However, the approach needs careful consideration.

A child's primary education is often most effective when taught in the mother tongue, as it helps in better understanding and conceptual learning.

Students should have the opportunity to learn additional languages based on their interests and future goals rather than feeling overwhelmed by multiple compulsory subjects.

Language should become a tool for communication and knowledge, not another source of academic pressure.

5. Attendance Rules and Learning Outcomes

Most schools and colleges require students to maintain a minimum attendance percentage.

Attendance is important, but it also raises a question:

Should education measure success only by physical presence, or by actual understanding and learning?

A student who attends every class but does not understand the subject is not necessarily achieving the purpose of education.

The focus should be on improving the quality of learning rather than only enforcing attendance numbers.

A Need for Reform

The purpose of education should be to create confident, skilled, and responsible individuals.  Students should not feel that education is only about surviving exams. Parents should not feel that educating their children is becoming an endless financial challenge.

A better education system should balance:

• Quality learning
• Affordability
• Practical skills
• Creativity
• Emotional well-being

The future of the country depends on the quality of education we provide today.

Education should open doors of opportunity — not become a source of pressure for students and families.