Faulty ‘mode of teaching’ could be the root cause

One of the key problems with the education system in Kerala could be the ‘mode of teaching’ said J Prasad Director, director of State Council Educational Research and Training (SCERT).
“The poor results in Mathematics and Social Studies cannot be due to lack of qualification because government school teachers are well qualified,” said Prasad.
The department’s assumption is that existing teaching methodology is not successful in presenting the concept and bringing about analytical thinking in students, he said.
“When the Right to Education Act was put together, it aimed to make free education accessible so that children would get to school and they don’t drop out. But that is not an issue here. Kerala has a second-generation problem. Here our main challenge is not getting students to school but to ensure quality of education for students,” said Prasad.
P K Ravindran, an educationist, said it is important that existing pedagogic techniques be revised.
Speaking about the removal of the detention policy he said: “To suggest that student has to be held back to study something is absurd. But it is also absurd that students will be able to proceed to a higher grade without studying the concepts that are taught in lower classes. In such a system, the responsibility of the student progression is entirely the responsibility of the teacher.”
He said that in a rote learning system the pedagogic techniques of the teacher are not very crucial in a lower class. But in higher classes, students are forced to apply them while tackling problems. J Prasad said one of the main issues that SCERT will examine is teachers’ training.
“This year, we plan on giving an eight-day special training camp for all teachers under the leadership of NCERT. Four days will content-based training and another four on 'technological application'. One of the main parts of this training is that it will be based on the results of the National Achievement Survey,” added Prasad