Agendas in Education
-Hem Bishwakarma
Education is the process of learning or/and acquiring knowledge, a set of skills, a pattern of behaviour and values and many more principally by formal teaching or schooling. But if this definition is left as it is, it would be unjust. Because, education is ‘lifelong’ in its process, ‘broader’ in its nature and we acquire or learn those pieces of knowledge and skills throughout life and through different ways — formally, informally and non-formally.
Pestalozzi says, “Education is natural harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate power.” For certain, the human mind has specific power innately built up and education trains and makes it more powerful than it was in the beginning.
I started this article claiming — and claimed by many people — that education is ‘the process’. There is a gap in our knowledge that we always see education as a product — the product is scaled on the letters grade or in numerical form. Children are stuck tightly to score ‘good’ marks and it leads them to frustration, be unethical during examinations and bring a halt to their growth in other dimensions. The product concept of education especially in countries with low economic status is deeply rooted. Because our parents always believe that the product determines the ‘face value’ of their children’s outlook. School teachers and administrators have been guided by the same assumption which has endorsed a negative effect on the ‘process’ of education.
Educators should not be limited, at least in this era, to only the concept of ‘bringing out the innate capability of a child’. The world is changing in its multiple dimensions of the fast-paced development in science and technology. And I always prefer to quote Heraclitus — ‘the only constant (in life) is change. Our educators have to be befriended with such ethos and work forward accordingly to help our children be espoused in the changing world and build up their championship.
Education has many goals in society ranging from making children productive citizens to providing them with the basic set of social skills, critical thinking, leadership, creativity, and so many uncounted ones. It has so many agendas to be addressed and be better prepared to work with. For this, the government, institutions and other stakeholders have equal shared responsibilities. Meanwhile, the education imparted in our schools has to meet certain goals left in another column.
Global Agendas of Education
With very limited resources, we all have to seek existence in the world. The manner and proportions we utilize the resources have great implications for the people in the future and the planet itself. So, education has an enormous area to cover in the field of sustainable development. UNESCO claims, “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) empowers people to change the way they think and work towards a sustainable future.” Our education system has to install such schooling which can prepare our children longing for mutual co-existence.
A large number of people are still out of school and drop out even though UNESCO had set the global movement “Education for All” as a part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Our education system has to re-examine the causes behind it and manipulate it to bring all the children into classrooms.
There is a present need to recognize the diversity of students in a community and be driven by the principle of inclusive education. The children learn better in a platform where opportunity is provided with the fearless and equally judged environment and the ‘connection’ between educators and society is made mutually strong.
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To subsist in today’s society, children should come up with 21st-century skills. These skills should be in-class taught regardless of the conventional curriculum on rote learning. These sets of skills help them to compete with the world and work collaboratively with global partners on the global platform.
Face value of education
We are still enduring the education system with certain orthodoxies and their influence is in multiple forms. We are in the post-method era and still using a very conventional way of imparting education. Similar way, I believe our assessment system has to be reflected and revisited and seek for the room for ‘Fifth Generation Evaluation’. We have to envision the process of education and assessment and their usage in policymaking.
The curriculum has not been able to reach all parts to meet the needs of a diverse population. The policymakers collect data samples only from definite places where education has no problem at all. The education has to be able to ignite social development as a Holistic Approach. The education system has absorbedly created two columns in society. So, many people cannot afford private education and on the other hand, are frustrated with the government-led education system. This is another step that invigorates the social inequity and social injustice.
Application of New Teaching Techniques and Approaches
Our education impartation techniques have been so old and outdated that they cannot address the contemporary needs of learners and society. We are convinced that teaching-learning should not be only the free-flowing vocal performance of a teacher and passively perceiving outdated and rusty information by the students. There are five sense organs and all are equally powerful in learning. And we are just using one — what a ridicule!
There is the ‘gap’ so that children are left disengaged in learning proper knowledge in schools. Teachers have been thinking about their perceptions, in their favour. Ultimately, education is to prepare better adults for the future and it has great value in what they learn today. Time has changed everything. We are in an ocean of knowledge so it is not wise to use only one sense to learn and the only way to instruction. There is a lot of research about the impact of using different instruction techniques. We have to pursue the formative teaching techniques so that we can fill up the ‘gap’.
Notion about Teachers
Teachers are the change-makers and this change is possible by their alacrity and professionalism. They have a tremendous responsibility to shape up the future of an individual and a society.
The role of teachers has been shifted merely from teacher to facilitator, instructor, tutor and so many to count. But, there is frustration in the teaching profession and among the teachers. I don’t think teachers are provided sufficient to make their living. Also, the trend in a country like Nepal — the trend is different — and it is a woe that only those having less competency to study subjects like science and management come to the Education Faculty — thought as a very ‘easy to pass’ subject. And those who are going to be the teachers are thinking merely about passing examinations! No sagacious and exceptionally brilliant students set their aim to be a teacher and the reason behind it is the stipend or wages and social status. This is almost too late for the paradigm shift of the ‘teaching profession’ as teacher-centred instruction shifted to student-centred. This paradigm is shifted when the atmosphere is created to pay something more or like what other ‘good jobs’ are being paid. Another dimension is that many schools are teacherless either because of their lower frequency of attendance or less recruitment. So this can be ironed out only when good policies regarding teacher’s facilities are formulated.
Conclusion
There may be multiple perspectives to see a phenomenon with multiple people. But, it is necessary to shape our education setting and policy to meet the global agendas — the agendas the world is pursuing. Our education should fulfil the contemporary stipulation of students and society. Correspondingly, education should inculcate humanity, peace, and compassion within the children; and prepare to fight against and/or manage pandemics and other possible disasters to come in the future. Also, a child should learn about inner engineering for his well-being and emotional development social transformation — and all-round development. And with this giant step, education should be set to mainstreaming all the people left behind.
References
Education For All. (2020, March 17). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_For_All
Education for Sustainable Development. (2020, March 4). Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development
Fifth-Generation Evaluation — Haslebo & Partnere. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.haslebo-partnere.dk/dyn/files/normal_items/427-file/Fifth-Generation Evaluation by Gro Emmertsen Lund.pdf
TEACHING TECHNIQUES — Oneonta. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://employees.oneonta.edu/thomasrl/YaTeachTech.pdf
The Effect of Teachers’ Expectations and Perceptions on … (n.d.). Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1791&context=dissertations
