WHAT is happening in the era of ‘speed and scale’ to the education sector? Well, legendary American writer Henry David Thoreau had written in 1850, “What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.” What he meant to say was that education could stifle creativity and unique individual thinking by pushing it on rigidly structured paths. The present-day education system appears to be doing precisely that. The children are forced into a structured education system once they start running. From KG to PG, individuals are forced to go through factory-like academic settings, with conveyor belts of guided choices separating them in different directions after Std X and Std XII. Barring the change in ambience of educational institutions and the advent of the coaching classes, not much has changed in the education system.

 

Though the aberration of ‘no fail policy’ was halted, its impact on the education system appears to have continued. For, most of the educational institutions today are busy projecting their pass percentage and many are afraid of failing the children who have not studied. In the competitive business of education, better pass percentage means better admission ratio. It is all about scale. The children are passing at a fixed pace almost up to Std XII. It is in Std XII and various entrance examinations that they face a real test of what they have learned till then. And, failure there leaves many shattered for the rest of life. No doubt, some strong souls refuse to be overwhelmed and they make a fresh start to choose their path to succeed in life. But, many feel out of the league. Does the ‘speed and scale’ phenomenon offer them relief? Well, the question can be answered in Thoreau’s another quote, “There are more consequences to a shipwreck than the underwriters notice.”

 

As far as speed is concerned, it is on display in the presentday education system. The teachers are often rushed into a flurry of activities because the course has to be completed before time so that more time can be devoted to preparing children for practice tests. In this rush, the central idea of education -- to bring out the perfection already within -- takes a backseat. This speed does not allow children to develop their own wings as per their liking. They are cast into monotony by teachers who are bound by the prescribed methods and rigid curriculum framework. They are more into instruction than pedagogy, because the system leaves no or little scope for them also to evolve and handhold a child listening to a different drumbeat. Because, not everyone can keep up the pace with others. But, the problem of ‘speed and scale’ appears to have infected higher education too.

 

Barring a few highly reputed institutions that have resisted the temptation to compromise on quality, many others are admitting students only to push them through the ‘system’. Right from entrance test score to attendance to valuation of examination papers, compromises are being made to ensure that newer students enter the system every year in given numbers. Thus, again, students are passing at a fixed motion without many getting enriched qualitatively, because the balance of scale has to be maintained while achieving speed. Unfortunately, this leads to what the corporates and industries call ‘employability crisis’. The applicability to ‘speed and scale’ to the education sector is laying the foundation for negative results. Generally, no one fails today despite scrapping of the ‘no fail policy’. Everyone moves up the ladder, irrespective of quality considerations. This is creating contradictions too wherein many hardworking candidates also get deprived of deserving a seat in branch of interest, but some get there easily on the strength of money and access.

 

How is this going to create a meritocracy required to make India a developed nation in the long run? Why does this happen? Because, in the name of ‘speed and scale’, much-needed pause and the element of joy are being sacrificed in varied measures. Just as a person sitting in a fastmoving car fails to register the things passing by in a flurry, those in the so-called fast-paced environment with commerce being the supreme consideration are finding it difficult to gain understanding of the situation. Such individuals rise through hierarchy, thanks to rapid career progression, but fail to accumulate enough experience required to face real-life situations. To qualify for rapid career progression, they make compromises too. Further, thanks to scale, they are left with no other choice but to change their definition of joy and tie it to material things rather than to inner feeling. Thus, the ‘speed and scale’ phenomenon has increased the numerical scale but has curtailed the spiritual scale.

 

Hence, after spending some years in a particular field, many opt out or try to take breaks intermittently in search of rejuvenation, mindfulness, inner engineering etc. The pursuit of ‘happiness’ tied to speed and scale has disadvantages, but most glued to the colourful fast-paced environment do not realise this. By the time realisation comes, they are caught between their liking and their need. So, they continue, becoming willful plungers into the whirlpool of pace and pleasures. They know but can’t notice that the ‘e’ of education makes ‘pace’ different from ‘peace’  A growing country like India cannot afford such a spiritual compromise infecting the individuals. For, individuals form a society, and the society produces leaders with foresight who run the nation.

 

So far, India has excelled in this. But, the way forward cannot be paved well only with ‘speed and scale’. It must be balanced with the introduction of ‘pause and joy’ in education system and career progression, without compromising the interests of individuals. India must equip herself with this great value so that progress becomes blissful and beneficial for all for at least foreseeable future.