Today is Republic Day and all of us feeling good. Today and tomorrow being holidays, most of us folks will prefer to catch up with sleep. I am sure many of you must have seen on the telly, our respected President playing the perfect host to the charming French President Sarkozy.
I am still thinking of the two school girls who committed suicide here in Rajkot. The reason being too much homework and failure in exams. One of them had an ailing mother and had to do both the school work and homework.
After these shocking suicides worried parents met with the District Education Officer. He has suggested to the various school authorities two things. One, avoid corporal punishment. Second, do not give too much homework to the kids. These are suggestions. It is to be seen how much the schools do about it.
Though the suicides happened in Rajkot the problem is everywhere. I still get the shivers when I recollect the times I got caned (I remember two times) for forgetting to do my homework when I was in school. The fear, the sense of humiliation, the feeling of being insignificant has left scars in me. My heart goes to the two girls. The mental torment they must have felt that led them to kill themselves.
Anyway, education in our schools and colleges is all about cramming. Memorize and then go give the exams. Aim is to get good marks. But it leaves us uneducated. We learn nothing. There is no pleasure in this type of learning. It makes us crammers. We do not learn to be original because we are not encouraged to think. Studies become a burden.
Learning should be interesting and stimulating. There is a drastic need of overhaul of the educational system. Teachers need to make learning interesting. And please spare the rod. The fault is not in our children; it is in the dull way things are taught in Indian schools.
