Power of ‘positive education.’

In India, thankfully the relevance of educating a child has found deep roots. It is a proven truth that education is empowerment. But today we have reached a stage where education has become a game of one-upmanship, each one trying to outdo the other academically, creating deep chasms of inequality in a field where it should actually be an equalizer. Education has shorn people and children of their values and morals.

This is not a problem only in India, it is seen all across the world. Finland is trying to correct this and so is Singapore, which actually has one of the best education systems in the world. The Govt is looking at ways to ensure that Singapore can create a more equitable society, build a stronger social compact among its people while at the same time develop capabilities for the new digital economy.

Government policies are moving away from parents and students' unhealthy obsession with grades and entry to top schools and want to put more emphasis on the importance of values.  Schools have been encouraged, especially for the early elementary years, to scrap standardised examinations and focus on the development of the whole child. "Character scorecards" and "reflection journals" have become the staple in many primary schools.

An important segment of the new curriculum, at the primary level is family time, and how parents should play an important role in inculcating the right values in their children. At the secondary and high school level, students work on projects that serve the elderly, reach out to migrant workers and read to latch-key children in day-care centres.

Isn’t this kind of education what we need in India to nurture caring and well educated human beings rather than the self-obsessed , I-Me-Mysely kids we are raising today?