Parents! Would you like to send your children to a factory kind of schooling, where rote learning is encouraged or a School where children are encouraged to learn with understanding and where learning is brought about naturally and organically by loving and committed educators, without much pressure and stress? Many Indian parents have a very low understanding of what a good School is. Do we desire our Children to be truly educated or rote learn to be prepared only for a job or pass some entrance exams, just with general knowledge or depth and wisdom to realize their true self and thus the true purpose of human life?

It is quite ironic that parents look for and appreciate a School where the management and teachers create an environment of fear and children are pressurized and stressed with heavy syllabus (stress is on quantity as compared to quality of the learning through the curriculum). Unfortunately, the parameters of Good education by many Indian parents are:

• Heavy syllabus. Parents desire that their children remain engaged in studying and cramming for exams and do not divert into any other creative pursuits. One really wonders on the relevance of the huge volumes of syllabus and the age appropriate content.
• Large amounts of copy work: In many Schools a good show is put up by teachers by giving large amounts of work in the copies of students which are mainly copied by students from the black/green boards.
• Time table with maximum back to back academic periods: Most of the so called factory(karkhana) schools, teachers mostly teach using lecture or chalk and talk method and dictate notes or ask students to copy notes from the black board. They have minimum or no activity periods.
• Repeated revisions before tests/exams and repeated testing of students (mostly exhaustive pen and paper tests which encourage children to rote learning).
• Control of large number of students using fear through dictatorial methods without any scope for dialogue or democratic processes. This calls for strict obedience without any scope for questioning.

A good School follows a balanced, meaningful and holistic curriculum. It has democratic processes and encourages students to develop 21st century skills i.e. to be creative, independent thinkers, responsible, innovative, open minded, decision makers, research oriented, participative, risk takers, enthusiastic, have a sense of wonder, respect all, grow in self-esteem and be empathetic to other living beings. This is what is true education which brings out a genuine and true human being and not just factory produced mechanical beings who lead superficial lives. Choise is entirely ours. Do we desire our children to be truly educated in the true sense of the word or just be a cog in the wheel in the factory kind of School and lead superficial lives…..!!!!