Marathi Version of the post is here.
This issue is on the anvil in many developing countries. Particularly in many second world countries, You may like to click here and read the perspective of an Indian mind.
The issue relates to improvement in different aspects of education such as budgetary provisions, teachers’ recruitment policy, curriculum, language teaching, student guidance, student streaming according to their inclinations, educational management, teacher-student ratio, physical environment, and teacher education and training etc.
The issue is complex. To understand the issue and to achieve the objective, we need to examine various models based on what teachers, parents and scholars think.
Some of the NGOs working in this area have outlined four questions and will direct their effort in pursuance of the answers :
1. What is it that we want our students to learn?
2. How do we know if the students have learnt it?
3. What will be our course of action if students have not learnt?
4. How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered the essential knowledge?
It has been universally observed that when organised effort is initiated for “Quality Improvement” governmentally, it is often met with stiff resistance. Canada and to some extent Australia have tried to implement legislation in this regard but are facing opposition by critics. A high-level Education officer in Maharashtra, India, recently resigned in frustration over this issue. Quality in Education takes a back seat in the politics of masses.
China, to some extent has been successful in this direction, thanks to some noteworthy research in the area.
