With the recent decision by AICTE about prerequisite for admission in Engineering, which was partially reversed later, has kind of made waves and left people discussing (read criticizing) the Indian education system.
On the contrary to popular belief, I am of opinion, that the prerequisites shouldn’t be there for someone to get certain education. More so in our culture where the path of education is forced upon students by their parents, it is not fair to expect from teenagers or young adults to determine what they actually want to pursue. But when they do know it, the system shouldn’t really come in the way, when the student is willing to put extra efforts.
And this is how many western universities think too. If you want to pursue masters in something, they won’t really stop you citing your majors in a different subject.
Now I know it’s a long shot expecting that level of efficacy from Indian education system. But how about making it work, fixings step by step?
Why is Indian education at sub par level compared to most western counterparts, except at a handful of institutes? Specifically the technical one? Lack of quality institutes, or labs or even professors? But these are just the facilitators. ultimately it’s the students who have to put in their efforts, so then what’s the reason that keeps them from giving their best?
What I think is, the year based limitation kills the learning mindset. With 4 months each semester, one cannot just go through the curriculum, let alone leaning from it. If we come up with a system where one can take exam whenever he/she is comfortable, wouldn’t that be a better way? Say, someone wants to take 8 months cover all that is there in a semester, why should that be a problem for our institutes or government or companies or even the peers?
Isn’t it better to be learning at own pace, giving enough time and effort to practice instead of skimming through millions of pages, and possibly supporting our own education instead of giving up altogether due to affordability?