Myriad issues plague education sector

S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @Svs037 

Education sector in India is trying to embrace modernity, but things are still far away from being rosy. Infodea went ahead to meet a couple of education experts to know the issues bothering our learning sector.

Education in India is still far away from promoting research and innovation. Sanjeev Singh, managing director, Phoenix 360 Solution nods in agreement. 

‘If we were to assume that there are about 2000 patents being filed annually, major share of them are from established institutions like IITs.’ Climate for research is not amicable in many of our institutions for higher learning. Things donot end with that, says Sanjeev Singh. 

When learning is about earning marks and getting a job one can seldom think about research. To focus on research one has to be passionate on the subject, that is not happening these days. One is least encouraged to think different and be passionate about the subjects, says Sanjeev.

Only those subjects are learn’t that can get jobs. When jobs were being generated in civil and mechanical engineering sectors, they were the most preferred. When Information Technology (IT) field became a segment generating employment, engineering courses in IT became hot cakes.

It is not only that, says Professor Rama S. Varma, from Biotechnology department of IIT-Madras. Many private educational institutions have not built reputation like IITs have done. Lack of credibility also is a reason why many institutions are not able to take up research as it does not give them the viability to ask for funding, says Professor Varma.

Going further on issues bothering education sector, Bansidhar Majhi, director, IIITDM Kancheepuram sees the need to strengthen school learning.

Lack of strong learning foundation in school is the reason why many students continue to fail in many basic subjects even after they step into abodes of higher learning institutions.

While lot of refresher courses are run in institutions like IITs and IITDMs to stay updated about latest developments in science and engineering, many other institutions donot seem to be doing that. Giving another viewpoint to this Sanjeev Singh says lack of updation in syllabus forces many students to spend good deal of money to go for courses like CAD, CAM. 

Shortage of teachers is another issue bothering the education sector, say experts. Sanjeev Singh opines while technology has offered a good solution, there are issues that still bother. Giving a nod to this Professor Varma says learning apps like ByJu’s are wonders of technology that can help a lot, but they can never be a replacement to human element.