What is wrong with the Indian education system?

                    

content credit : Shrey Jain, Mechanical Enginnering undergraduate @ NIT Jaipur. Political commentator, Writer;LILA MILI

Indian education system has several flaws. Few of them are:

1. Rote Learning: Yesterday was my Chemistry Exam. Cements was in the syllabus. Our teacher had mailed us a 51 page PDF file and told us to learn it. It had all useless reactions and facts like percentage composition of cements,sources of cements. It's not the fault of our teacher. Fault lies in the education system. Can our HRD Ministers and bureaucrats in last few years give me the logic behind learning all the crap. Even if I learn them, I will forget it after a few days. So the question is what has this 51 page PDF added to my knowledge?

2. Making Practical Files: In my last semester,our Electrical Practical teacher told us to write 15 page study. There were 4 such studies. We used to go to the Electrical Lab and start copying those studies from the photos clicked by our mobile phone of studies provided by teacher. So the question is same again.What was the contribution of my mobile phone in Electrical Lab in enhancing my knowledge?

3. Giving poor grades for late work: The same Electrical teacher gave me CC grade(equivalent to 6 grade point) for submitting work later. My question is pretty simple. What on the earth have those students achieved who got AA grade(equivalent to 10 grade point)?

4. Learning formulas which are given in the book. I can refer  book IF these formulas need to be applied during training and job.
 Eg: Depletion Width in a semiconductor = Under root of (2*Epsilon*(1/Na +1/Nd)/q). 
    Learning Physics derivations and Chemistry reactions is the other side of the same coin. Even if I learn them, I will forget them after a few days because it is human tendency to forget. We cannot retain everything we learn. But still we have to learn for examination point of view. When I question the logic behind teaching this, I always get the same boring answer from those who have accepted to live with this system. They say we should know everything as we are Engineers. We can definitely retain the concept. We should be taught the practical applications of E=mc^2 but it's useless to ask the derivation of the same equation in exam (I have great regards for Einstein).

5. Giving questions from the topics which are not taught in the class. How can you expect us to master those topics which are not covered in the class.

6. Partiality: I have observed that boys are a victim of this phenomena. Usually girls get better grades even for a poorer work in comparison to boys. Eg: In practicals I was awarded a CC for late work but a girl got AA or AB for the same late work. (This should not be generalized. I am not against Women Empowerment. Women should be empowered but  not at the cost of men).

7. Giving marks for the length of answers: I will get better marks if I write more. Even though the teachers try to categorically reject this theory but the reality is in a stark contrast to what they say. What matters is the length and not the content. Even if I write "I Love You" or "Abki Baar Modi Sarkar (This time Mr. Modi) " in the answer to increase the length I will get better marks.

The list is endless. I have just listed a few of them. We need to seriously think about Education System. What have the Education Ministers and bureaucrats done in the past? They have always talked about improving the education system to please voters and fetch votes. Colleges are like factories and I hope they will be like colleges very soon.