Low marks for education

Hirschmann is director, ECE , at the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Centre, Haifa, while Gor Ziv works with several international organisations which are concerned with implementing educational intervention in schools in deprived areas.

The educationists, on their maiden visit to India, commented on how the concentration of students in one class impeded teacher-student interaction; the lack of awareness of children’s needs; inability of teachers to implement training programmes, management interference in teaching, and the overburdening of teachers in government schools. Or for that matter, the prevalence of English-medium private schools and the blind prestige attached to them by the populace at large. Gor Ziv attributed this phenemenon to “a colonial hangover, which is evident in other former colonies like Phillipines and Burma as well”. Hirschmann added, “The standard of government schools must have a bearing as well. In Israel, for example, there are very few private schools because the standard of government schools is excellent”.

The world over, observed the widely-travelled duo, there is an awareness not just for securing an education, but evolving an innovative educational system as well. Said Hirschmann, “Education has to have relevance for the child, otherwise he will not accept it. In Japan, for instance, the education system is very quality-conscious, yet, the high suicide rates among Japanese children speak volumes for the joylessness and burdensome nature of such a system.” Education should make one feel good about oneself and learn abilities as per the demands of the situation, says Hirschmann.

She feels that Phillipines and Kenya do a lot of thinking about their education system. “In Phillipines for example, even in deprived areas, it is amazing how teachers make exciting teaching aids from scraps that are lying around," she said. Gor Ziv also observed that Scandinavian countries like Norway and Sweden have invested a lot on education not simply because they could afford to, but because there’s a high degree of social awareness.

However, both agreed that teaching is getting a severe beating. The highly qualified, despite their interest in the profession would rather hop onto the corporate job bandwagon, for teaching is still relatively poorly paid. “Germany pays its teachers very well, and they enjoy a high social status there. This even prods men to join the profession," said Gor Ziv.