Highly critical of the proposed changes in the syllabus and content in textbooks in schools and colleges, Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey says “these two aspects should be left to the experts from the academia.”
Speaking to The Hindu here on Thursday, Mr. Sandeep Pandey said, “The less the political intervention the better for the students and the education system. The design of the syllabus and content in textbooks should be left to organisations such as the NCERT and the UGC. They should be left to the experts and the academicians.”
Mr. Sandeeep Pandey, who had taught at IIT-BHU and delivered lectures in IITs and IIMs, said many IITs and IIMs did not allow such interferences. “That is was why I bat for autonomy for educational institutions. The government can give its guidelines and policies at the macro level, but should not interfere with the course content,” he said.
Appreciating the proposal to do away with the board examination at the Class X level, he said, “I have always talked about doing away with the examinations. There should not be any examination at any level. If there is an examination, the students will study for the examination and will focus only on that aspect, and real education cannot be imparted.”
The Magsaysay awardee pointed out that instead of examination, the focus should shift to quality. “Today, we have more engineering seats in thousands of engineering colleges than the annual aspirants. But the question is quality, which is lacking,” Mr. Sandeep observed.
“The failure of a student can be attributed to the failure of the teacher. It is the teachers that make good students,” he said.
Mr. Sandeep was also critical of the corporate colleges and private coaching institutes. “They will flourish as long as the examination system exists. These institutes are making best use of the rat race, which is being promoted by the examination system, including the entrance examination. The selection of the students should be left to the learned teachers of the institutions,” he said.
He also expressed displeasure at the way the Right to Education Act was being implemented in various States.
“If the Act is implemented in its letter and spirit, then at least 25% children from the BPL segment will be able to get seats and learn in private schools,” he said.
