This document discusses the importance of education in India. It notes that to benefit from the country's demographic dividend over the next few decades, quality education must be provided to every single child in a timely manner. However, the current state of education falls short, with students not able to apply concepts learned and teacher quality being compromised by poor training and political pressures. The document argues that teacher education needs to focus more on developing practical teaching skills and engaging students, rather than just theories, and that education systems should embrace diversity, curiosity, and creativity rather than conformity.

1. Why educationisimportant?
If we keepgrowingata rate of 8%, we needan educatedworkforce.Withalarge noof youngpeople
inthe country today,we hope to benefitfromademographicdividendoverthe nextfew decades.
But that couldeasilyturninto a demographicdisasterif we are not able toprovide educationfor
everysingle childinthe countrytoday.Forthe benefitsof the dividenditisimperativethatwe
provide aqualityeducationforeverysingle childinthe countryinatime boundmanner and the key
wordsare quality,everysingle childand time bound.
 Childrenmemorise andreproduce but do not internalize orunderstand what they have
learnt. Theyare not able to apply basic concepts to day to day tasks, whether at school or
at home.
 Teacher qualityis not about qualifications,butthe abilityto connect with children
 States are reducingthe percentage score to pass in the RTE mandatedTeacher Eligibility
Test to enable more teachersto pass. In Bihar, in 1990, Laloo Yadav as ChiefMinister
decidedthat 12th class Pass is not requiredto be a teacher. He reducedit to not just10th
class Pass, but 10th class Fail!So from 1990-1996, a whole bunch of primary school
teachers inBihar who had themselvesnotfinishedclass10 were recruitedto teach! The
political compulsionof a govt job seemsto be more important than ensuringthat a
teacher who ishired isof a good quality.
 Education in the mothertongue isthe way to go. That isvery important. But the reason
why parents are pullingtheirchildrenout of govt schools is due to the non-availabilityof
Englishmediumeducationin governmentschools.
You know what Jammu & Kashmir has done? By an Act of govt they have convertedall govt
schoolsto Englishmediumschoolsand the teachers don’t have the capacity to teach in English.
We do these kinds ofsillythings. "Ok,people,youwant Englishmedium?From tomorrow all
schoolswill be Englishmedium."
Why doesteachereducationonlygive youtheoryandtheoryandtell youaboutstandardsandall
otherthingsthat have nothingtoaboutwiththe basic skills,the ‘magic’thatyouneedtoengage an
audience ,to engage astudent.Soi make the argumentthat we reframe teachereducation, we
could focuson content and that’s fine;we could focus on theory,and that’s fine but contentsand
theorieswiththe absence of magic of teaching and learningmeans nothing.

2. There are 3 principlesonwhichhumanlife flourishesandtheyare contradictedbythe culture of
educationunderwhichmostteachershave tolabourandmost studentshave toendure:
1. Human beingsare naturallydifferentanddiverse.EducationunderNOChildLeft
Behindisnotbasedon diversitybutconformity.
2. Curiosity. Curiosityisa kind of an engine ofachievement. Inplace of curiositywe
have culture of compliance.
3. Human life isinherentlycreative.