Spread education evenly among economic classes, says education expert.
In order to establish world-class educational system, India
will have to follow the footsteps of Singapore and Finland, instead of aping the
system followed by the US. This was the advice imparted by educationist Howard Gardner
at an event in the city on Friday. He was at the Indian Institute of
Management (IIM), Bangalore, as part of the three-week Howard Gardner India Tour.
While talking about the educational system in India, Gardner said that it is quite
similar to the one prevalent in the US. “There is disparity between the kind of
education received by the rich and the poor in both these countries. However, the
system followed by Singapore and Finland is more evenly spread among all economic
classes and that is what should be achieved. In India as in the US, the rich can
afford better schools, they can hire coaches and have access to better facilities,”
he said.
Gardner also dispelled any notion that a person’s caste or creed plays a role in
how intelligent they ultimately are, citing that this belief exists in some parts
in India. “I publicly went and denounced a programme that was designed in Australia
revolving around the multiple intelligence theory, but also highlighted racial differences.
The people who designed the programme had the best intentions at heart, I’m sure,
but it was scrapped,” he added. He also spoke about how schools in the country should
not be focusing on preparing students to be ready for the requirements of the job
industry. “Schools should be focused on teaching them. Let the professionals teach
them to be professional,” he added.
Engineer overload:
If India isn’t careful, and then the country may have a problem of having too many
engineers. “I saw a similar problem in Brazil about 20 years ago. No profession
should be valorised over the other. You never know what sort of a professional skill
will be required in the next 25 years,” he said. “Who knows what is going to be
needed in the next 25 years?” Gardner is regarded as one of the foremost education
intellectuals and is a professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education. He is also renowned for having coined the Multiple Intelligence
theory.
Courtesy: DNA India
