Education curriculum has stopped producing intellectuals

India is a country that is accredited for being amongst the leading flag bearers to enlighten the primitive world dominated by ignorant people. It was India that realized the importance of aspects of life other than filling the stomach and covering the bodies, man is a special animal, special because of the grey matter God provided and it was India that by promoted free & radical thinking helped in quenching the thirsty brains. But on comparing the past with the present we find a sharp contrast in terms of the quality of intellectuals produced by the country, in the mad race for materialism it seems that the basic fundamentals that made us a great country are being trampled underfoot.

Intellects are people who see the world from a different perspective and on the larger canvas, It is such people who contribute to the world hence moving it in a progressive direction as is a saying ‘Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people’. The intellectual growth of a person begins right from childhood when he starts to develop a thinking brain, when he questions the different aspects of life and the process continues till the individual survives so the primary reason for the stark decline in the level of intellect has to be improper foundation and upbringing in terms of the type and style of education bestowed upon them.

Nowadays, due to the education curriculum in practice, a lot of emphasis is given on the bookish knowledge, be it the class works or the strenuous homework, a student is confined to the boundaries of books and is restricted by the deadlines of assignments. The world is too diverse to be reduced to dull uniformities of rules. Education practice such as this pushes the student in a niche thereby closing his mind to the joys and beauty of life.

As a general practice a student is always asked to replicate the notes provided by the school teachers and swaying away from the set path leads to deduction of marks hence creativity is nipped in the bud. No student is ever asked what he likes to do or what he is good at rather the custom education curriculum is imposed resulting in mental fatigue and frustration so a student who if allowed to grow in a free environment could have contributed to the nation in a big way is transformed into a normal individual with no freedom of thought. As a direct consequence the quality of intellectuals found in our country is decreasing at an exponential rate.

The point stated above is proved when we have a look into the education system followed by the developed western countries where individuality is given foremost importance and their education curriculum is based on the same principle. As a result individuals with free mind and great ideas are produced contributing to the growth of their country in general and the world in particular.

Our education policy induces a herd mentality and hence curbs the growth of free thinking individuals who could lead to great ideas and discoveries. Small students are made to carry extremely heavy school bags harming them physically and then they’re made to follow the customary norm without expressing their feedbacks, hurting them mentally.

And now with the increase in the number of suicide cases amongst students it is clear that students are finding it tough to cope with the immense pressure of mugging up books aimlessly without being able to contribute something back. It is of grave importance to identify and combat this very serious matter else we will be living in an India where finding intellectuals would be a rarity.

I would like to end by saying that it is imperative to tackle one of the most urgent but overlooked of the litany of potential show-stoppers looming for the future Indian intellectuals.

By: Faisal Abidi