We are turning boring STUCK Indian education into FUNDUCATION!!- Part 1

I have been meaning to write about Gyan Lab on Rodinhoods for quite some time now, but I’ve been procrastinating. 

This comment on facebook from Asha has changed that: “abhash…! where have you been?? u kinda fell off the cliff?! welcome back dude!!! will be in touch with you for the OH!!” So thanks Asha. This is due to your ‘INSPIRING’ words. 😀

Instead of going the normal route, I am taking the route where I will try to answer Alok Sir’s post on Why is Indian Education STUCK?? I ask 5 Questions.. via Gyan Lab’s vision. The post is too long and so I’m dividing it into two parts. The second part will be published on Thursday (Oct 23). 

Gyan Lab is basically our 2.75 year old startup which we started while still at college, back in January 2011. Back in August 2010, we decided to participate in a B-Plan competition. While we were trying to brainstorm to come up with ideas, we figured that nothing else needs as much of a disruption as does education. So, we came up with Gyan Lab. And I said to my friend and founder, Priyadeep Sinha, “This will not just be a B-Plan, PD. We will make this into an actual business.” AND WE DID!!

1. What ails Indian Education beyond the primary level? What is the ONE single point that you think holds us back and is actually taking us backwards?

We want our kids to be things we can boast about. We want our kids to do things we failed to do. We want to see our dreams through our kids. Why???

It is human nature to resist change. And when a change is more likely to become a disruption, the resistance is even more. There are good students who get disillusioned by the system which makes them feel very incomplete about lessons in school and even in college. It is because the system ignores the fact that individual students are a different entity from their friends and he being a different entity from another friend. It completely discounts that every kid has the ability to think differently. If one can get correct answers in geometry and co-ordinate mathematics without knowing any formulae but by simply drawing out figures, one’s discouraged.

Can I really ask why? Have you ever thought that he/she might have a dream for himself/herself! Are those dreams worth nothing? Why do we want our kids to get 90% marks just so that they can beat the neighbours’ kids? Why do we want them to learn swimming, badminton, tennis, cricket or horse-riding when the moment they become good in these sports and might become a national asset, we just snatch their glory away from them? 

There are hundreds and thousands, who want to develop their own line of thoughts. They do not wish to be chained under the jailed system. They wish to be left alone and explore the beauty in nature and science around them. 

Gyan Lab is for all such kids; kids who are considered educational outcasts. We came out of the British Era in 1947 but the assembly line education forced by them upon us still prevails in 2013. Who needs to bring in the change? Whose job is it to ensure that the disruption happens soon?

We are trying to do our bit.

2. Do you think the teachers, the principals and the teaching staff really KNOW what is happening to the outside world? Are they CONNECTED to the REAL world?

The teaching staff is poor in quality, either completely without or with very little training. The government-owned schools have outdated infrastructure and private schools are not affordable for everyone. Learning has little or no value. The whole focus of school education is to score most marks in examinations and join a top-ranked institute for higher studies. Rote learning is rampant and the real meaning of education is lost.

Teachers, the principals and the teaching staff know that their is a problem, but NOT THE REAL PROBLEM. Even with a limited knowledge of the problem they live in a perpetual state of denial. They are definitely not connected to the real world and still don’t realize that. 

Did you guys know: In the PISA+ 2009 test by OECD, Indian states Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh finished right at the bottom of all the 74 participating regions showing the deep lack of proper education in our country. But our government and HRD ministry, instead of taking this as a lesson, decided that the test is not for Indian kids. How?? They have since dropped out of the testing system.

I believe that people, inherently, take decisions based not on whether it’s wrong or right, but mostly on what’s the easier way out. This is a staunch example.

There are massive structural changes required to get India to the kind of education China, Japan, Singapore and the Scandinavian countries impart. 

3. Why are IB Schools proliferating and becoming the preferred choice for parents? This despite the fact that the fees are MASSIVELY higher compared to the old legacy schools in India…

No doubt these schools are better than most other non-IB schools, BUT ONLY A FEW. In fact, very few can justify there sky-high fees. This comes from the experience of having worked with Indian, French and German Kids from these schools. There is just a slightly more hands-on approach. But I don’t see a major upheaval in their ways.

Just for the sake of an example (Pardon me if this seems GENERALIZATION), here is something that has become very common these days and some people can totally relate to this. You wanted a school for your child which you could boast of in front of your friends. Some people built such schools. You paid hefty donations (called admission fees, development fees, etc.) and massive fees and got your child enrolled to satisfy your ego. They gave you promises of some stuff like swimming, golf, tennis, horse-riding, etc. But, there comes a time when you feel the school is ripping you off and charging more money uselessly. So, there is no trust between you (as a parent) and the school. Sounds familiar? Then you are one of the ‘urban modern rich folks’ who have so much of collective value to change the way in which education takes place yet you believe in satisfying personal ego over everything else.

That is just one case. There are many more. You see hypocrisy everywhere in the education field. This added with the fact that it is massively fragmented makes it look one hell of a task to make actual dents possible. However, in the last three years that we have been working in the education field, we have seen real interests from school administrations, parents and educators to bring about the much talked about change. There is this huge wave of democratizing education taking place and we are really happy to be right in the middle of the action. 

I’ll answer Questions 4 & 5, and discuss Gyan Lab in detail in the next post. Till then here’s the short answer. 

Gyan Lab is a unique education pedagogy and curriculum based on the concept of Fun-ducation (Fun + Education). Gyan Lab is focused on democratizing the school system by complementing theoretical lessons with hands-on, practice-based learning with a well structured blend of activities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Life Skills and Humanities to build an intuitive, creative and innovative future human resource of India. 

And feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. See you in Part 2 of this post on Thursday.

PPS: Most of the material for this post has been taken from the various posts written by Gyan Lab Founder/CEO, Priyadeep Sinha (PD) on the Gyan Lab Blog.