Nakalmand is the new Akalmand: Shallow reality of Indian education with #WhycheatIndia

India, today has been leveling up its name in terms of world class education. While its institutes escalate to the top of charts, entering these major universities is nothing less than a rat race. In a way, it helps filter prodigies from the pool of candidates applying, but those who get in, may not promise the level of competency expected out of them. Why if you ask? Answers Why Cheat India, a film starring Emraan Hashmi, which uncovers the loopholes in our education system.


Hashmi, who plays the mastermind of one exam scam, took to social media and shared a new promo of the film, along with its changed name. “Akalmandi nahi Nakalmandi” is what our system thrives on, as highlighted in the movie.

    Talking about the anomalies in the system, he said, “I have learned a few things in my school life as a student but there are lots of things which I haven’t learnt during that period. We concentrate on mugging rather than understanding a subject. In colleges, our faculties are unqualified or they are disinterested in teaching. We have limited seats in educational institutes where huge number of students pass out from schools and colleges every year.”

    When questioned about how the three word title (Why Cheat India) reflects the education system in our country, the actor replied “There needs to be more open dialogues, a logical and analytical way of thinking and a semblance of consistency which I’m not seeing. Our system is all about rote mugging, and not asking questions. No one is supposed to ask why, ‘why’?”

One can’t deny how big a ‘market’ education is in India. Commercialization of education has been prevalent since long, and so are the exam scams. Not just the students, the parents are at fault too. Their desperation to secure a desirable job redirects them towards undesirable means. A mother of a high school student, paid 16,000 rupees (£175) for her son to cheat. She believes “It isn’t cheating, it’s a way out.”

But however, as one digs deeper, more dirt is likely to be found. From the conventional Guru-Shishya Indian teaching, we have come a long way. The cheating mafias have taken over, who capitalize the desperation of students, and turn it into a detrimental business.

But with a country producing 17 million job seekers every year, there are only 5.5 million jobs. What is more jolting is the insecurity of unemployment that has made cheating a lucrative business.  People are eager to grease their palms with malpractices and unfair means to emerge on top.

Where is our educational system heading to? Is it really our way to achieve success? Here’s hoping that the movie Why Cheat India gives us a clear picture.

 

Shantanu Prakash: ‘Education trends need expansion in India

The founder of Educomp Shantanu Prakash, hints the need of a new approach and innovative trends to ramp digital education for India’s education sector. Majority of the ‘smart’ classes are only concentrated around cities and metropolitan areas, courtesy the larger focus on edtech by the urban diaspora. Although, the utility has to be extended to remote locations as well as rural areas in India – especially the ones that require support to their current infrastructure. To use digital education in the smartest way possible, a network has to be created, which links students, educators, and guardians.A large number of schools are only limiting themselves to an Internet connection, a projector, and simple educational videos. Digital education specialists advise that these schools are only touching the surface. “Smart education is more than just a projector and a computer,” explains a smartclass expert from Educomp Solutions.


Daniel Newman, CEO of the Broadsuit Media Group, counts gamification and artificial intelligence as important facets that need to be explored extensively. Virtual Reality or simply VR, can give students a panoramic view to some of their chapters. For example, a 3-dimensional view of a carbon dioxide molecule will give the students a better understanding of how molecules are formed. Imagine a student surrounded by the 3D models of different microscopic organism. Such an interface has helped middle school students differentiate between bacteria, parasites, and viruses.

There’s more, some schools abroad are using augmented reality where students can create their own devices that obey the laws of physics. To learn better, students in Ivy League schools are using smart boards with augmented virtual reality. There, they can interact with, and create machinations that aid them design cars, complex structures, and various free-body objects.

After Educomp Shantanu Prakash – A Newer Perspective on education

As far as innovation through edtech goes, gamification offers one of the best functionalities to smart education instruments. The mixture of incentivized learning with fun creates a learning-friendly environment while making sure that the allure of tech stays in the process without presenting any capacity for boredom. For instance, consider younger students responding to more a friendly cartoon character who teaches them multiplication step by step. When the students learn the mechanism and concept of a certain topic, questions will follow. When the doubts have been cleared, they’ll have a clearer overview.

Drexel University’s Online Learning Senior Vice President, Susan Alridge explains, “These virtual game worlds provide a unique opportunity to apply new knowledge and make mission-critical decisions, while identifying obstacles, considering multiple perspectives and rehearsing various responses.” Some of the popular educative games like Math Ninja and QuizUp have attracted a huge following from children and adults alike.

https://youtu.be/Ygc7qD3Xrq4

Artificial intelligence gives ‘Siri’-like bots that answer to children’s complex queries. That’s just the outside shell of artificial intelligence. Advanced AI can use machine learning to study a student’s characteristics, and create a personalized report by assessing their weak and strong points. Furthermore, the report can be used to create lesson plans and personalized learning roadmaps for the student.

Even simple edtech ventures that provides a platform to students to learn from teachers online is treasured by the market. Companies like Vedantu and Byju’s have made it easy for the differently-abled to get educated. Now, they don’t have to travel far. Within the comfort of their home, the differently-abled can get better education and receive prestigious distant-learning degrees.

India has a school dropout rate of less than 40%, which is decreasing faster as education standards are bettering. Education in the 76s was hanging between the Macaulay model and new discoveries. In 1962, the establishment of CBSE led to a revolution, prompting new curriculums and subjects to be added. Schools in villages were limited to primary classes. Now, students from different villages can enroll themselves and study for higher classes and board exams.

Shantanu Prakash reveals that at the current pace, it will take 10 years for digital education and smart classes to come to all the schools. For this to increase, the government needs to take a strong initiative in digitizing education apart from making it available everywhere.