In the last fortnight, I happened to interview the head of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) electrical engineering and artificial intelligence lab who was visiting India. He's been at MIT for close to 30 years, so we got talking about university education in the US and in the world in general.
Among other things, one of the points he reiterated was that university education in the US - and indeed in the world - is likely to change completely. A lot of fundamentals, taken for granted for several decades, are in question. People are in fact beginning to question everything, he told me. Why a four-year degree? Why at 18? Why a postgraduate after graduation? Why for two years? Why so expensive? And so on. A lot of the long-cherished notions on what comprises good education are under scrutiny. This is a result of the fact that what has been considered good education has in a way out-priced itself - the cost of university education everywhere has been rising unabated to a point where people are questioning its value.
He argues the world is moving on and the future of education lies in "micro-credentials" - modules of teaching, probably online - that let you learn specific skills you need to achieve what you want at your workplace. The biggest skeptics of online education have mourned the death of peer learning and the on-campus experience. Well, it appears neither needs to die but more on this later.
That's why in the same week when I read of Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani's big leap forward, I couldn't help but marvel at the world our ministers inhabit. In a statement to teachers at a school in Ranchi, she said that the government was considering linking teacher promotions to student performance. This would help make teachers more accountable for their students' performance. She argued that this was necessary if India were to position itself as "vishwa guru" (world teacher) - seemingly unaware of the hordes of Indian students leaving the country in search for better higher education.
Moreover, the minister sounded uncertain even with regard to this statement; she didn't say that the government intended to link the two, just that it was considering something like that.
I don't know if Ms Irani realises how out of date and archaic she sounds; even worse is the thinking behind the statement. Why in the world should a teacher not be held accountable for his student's performance and outcomes? What possible rationale could there be to not link the two? This single omission in the Indian education is - many teachers I have spoken to agree - one of the main factors that has led to such a severe deterioration in outcomes. There is no system in India to measure a teacher's competence level. There is no incentive for them to try and teach better. Promotions are usually based on the number of years one has been teaching. Often, teachers are propelled into taking up leadership roles - like that of a principal - just because they have been around the longest. In government schools, teacher absenteeism has been a persistent problem with no punishment for delinquency. But even at some of the most prestigious institutions - like colleges under Delhi University - it is not uncommon to find teachers skipping classes, preferring instead to earn some extra money through either private tuition or teaching at coaching centres. The shortage of high-quality teachers is the biggest crisis facing the sector today.
Why do we have such poor quality teachers? Teaching as a profession remains poorly paid. While this has begun to change a bit in the private sector, it is still usually not enough to sustain a family with the change in aspirations India has witnessed since 1991. From 20 female teachers per 100 male teachers in the 1950s, the ratio has jumped to 90 female teachers per 100 male teachers in the country now, say ministry of human resource development figures.
While that in itself is a good thing - since women are otherwise missing from the workplace as you go up in the hierarchy - the failure of the profession to pull in male teachers is a giveaway. While the ratio improves a bit at the college level, primary school teachers in India are mostly women who look at it as a second income for the family. At expensive private schools, it is homemakers with spare time who come in for a few hours, treating their earnings as pocket money.
And last but not the least - I know I sound a bit like a stuck record, so I apologise to regular readers of my column - content and methodology. Let's change what our children imbibe, allow them to think and produce original work instead of encouraging regurgitation of outdated content.
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