Our education system bores me. It does not give you enough fields to expand your creativity and imagination. All it asks from you is practicality and perfection when all it gives you back is bills and frustration. I hate the idea how years and years of gaining education ultimately boils down to the percentage you scored or the grades you scored. It really angers me when you are judged by your grades and not by the level of you intellect. I hate how your skills other than being good in algebra and science and bringing good grades are termed as mere hobbies.

Why aren’t we taught prose and poetry with as much dedication with which they teach us algebra and trigonometry? Why isn’t music part of our syllabus as much as history or geography is? The answer is of course because our education system doesn’t merely consider poetry and music as a “standard educational course” but rather as extravagances. Our education system is the greatest hypocrite. It teaches us to be ourselves but ultimately shapes us into whatever it wants us to be. Some of us may rebel but we eventually confide in it because we will have to survive and for that we need jobs and for that good grades. So we let ourselves fall into that vicious circle and though we know this ain’t what we want to do we mug up and take exams and cross our fingers and hope for good grades.

Our education system has created an illusion. It makes us see our wings, it ignites the desire in us to soar and even lets us fly but only in the path it deems suitable and appropriate. In a way, our education system has handicapped us with the illusion of freedom and power. Sure, our education system has gave us a lot- a certificate and possibility of a secure future but at what cost? We are slaves to books and its ideas, principles, philosophies. We need to mug them up and write them down while keeping our thoughts, our ideas to ourselves because we need good grades and for that we must write what has always been written and approved and what has been certified as the “acceptable answer”.

So if the education system is so faulty and we couldn’t possibly benefit much from it, do we really need it? I wish I could answer this question with no but I am bound to say yes because unfortunately, this educational system is a product of an even higher evil- a corrupt stone-aged /traditional system through which our nation functions. It cannot change until the whole system collapses and is replaced by a modern and much efficient system. So I hope though not today, though not immediately, one day we shall rise from the laid back syllabus that limits our imaginations , one day we shall break the chains of grading systems that destroy our individual opinions and dreams and one day we shall scream we don’t need such education.

धावंती खेति घोकंती बिध्या भनि बिध्यादाता हरु ले बनाएको श्लोक अनि यस्तै यस्तैले बनाएको र ल्याएको शिक्षा पद्दति !

सुनेको र इन्टरनेट मा पढेको कुरा भ्रुण देखिनै गणितिय लजिकको बिजारोपन हुन्छ रे ! कुरा रह्यो गध्य र कविताको लागि : गणित सिकाए जस्तो सिक्ने कुरा हैन किनकी यो भ्रुण देखि सृजित कुरा नभई उमेर बढ्दै जादा र व्यक्तिगत चाखमा भर पर्ने कुरा हुन् | गणित सितार र गितारको तार रेटे झैँ जति रेटो तेतिनै संस्कारिदै जाने हुदा शिक्षा बिकास का ठेकेदार हरुले बढी ध्यान दिएको होला | कुरा रह्यो नेपालीको, दैनिक बोलचाल को भाषा भएकोले हेपाइचे र होच्याइने प्रवृतिले गर्दा हामीले नजिकको तिर्थ हेला गरे झैँ भएको पनि हुन्सक्छ , हेर्नुस न जागिरे हरुको तथ्यांक ? गणित र बिज्ञान पदने पाखा लागेका छन् भने समाज सास्थ्र का बिद्यार्थीले ओगटेको छ जागिरे हरु मा ! अनि हाम्रा बा आमा हरुले पनि गणित र बिज्ञान मै जोड दिएका हैनन् र ? आफ्नै घरमा चियाएर हेर्नुस : के चाहे तिनी हरुले ? अनि कति खुसि थिए तपाइले गणित र बिज्ञानमा शिक्षा लिदा ? सानो हुदा म्याथ र अंग्रेजी को होमवर्क गरिसकिस भनि हजारौ पल्ट सुन्नु भयो होला ,नेपालीको कुरा बिरलै भए होलान ?

Evanescence, 

Your words, my sentiments. A few thoughts come to mind after reading your piece. Some of these dwell in a different realm from what you talk about , but I felt it might be worth sharing nonetheless. 

-  By 'our' I assume you mean Nepal's. It is a shame how Nepal's education system, particularly it's public education system, has devolved into shambles. The biggest issues facing the system are funding, training and management - the lack thereof. Even if we had the best syllabi that promoted critical thinking and creativity, we don't have the fundamental educational infrastructure to support it. 

- In Nepal's private, for-profit schools are in pretty bad shape too. With the exception of a very few schools, the vast majority of them just sell dreams of an English-medium education and better marks in the SLC  to naive parents. The results they deliver are a far cry from the promises they have pedaled. Many Kathmandu-educated high school graduates have a poor command of English. Mostly spoken but even written too. This goes for graduates from the supposedly top tier schools as well. 

- Where our private schools do well are in quantitative subjects like maths and  physics. That is largely because of an early and rigorous focus on these areas. In this case, Nepal's SLC curriculum is several notches above India's CBSE or ICSE. And miles ahead of the US. In the long run, this is a good thing for a country like Nepal where we need people and investments in hard technology, but, beyond a point, as you allude to,  it is not enough. 

- The focus on the sciences is largely driven by socio-economic factors. A career in medicine, engineering and now computer sciences has been a ticket out of poverty for hundreds of thousands of Nepalese. And even if you are not poor, people think working in those fields will allow you to maintain the income levels of your parents and stay in the middle class.

- Speaking of income, the commoditization of education is also a big contributor to the arts and languages getting step-motherly treatment. It is a global problem and you can see it in the US as well. The focus is all on business studies. A $100K MBA or law degree is seen as an investment to be recouped - both by students and the banks financing  their loans. Good luck with that if you have an MFA or PHd in the languages or the arts. The whole purpose of education has become  earning money. Knowledge is seen as a commodity that can be bought and sold. In school and beyond.

- The solution lies in democratizing education and breaking down both horizontal and vertical barriers to education and career growth. The IT industry in the US is a good example of that where graduates are sourced from several disciplines. I also feel continuous education should be encouraged, if not required, by companies and governments where people are going back to school to recharge themselves academically every couple of years - all they way till they retire. Only in such a case, might people put  more than a monetary value to their education. 

Just some thoughts. 

magorkhe1 and vivant

i agree with the issues you have addressed. With all these issues in discussion, there is also the issue of grades and importance and attention it seeks. you study for years but you are judged in terms of the 3 hour exam you take at the end and no shit is given to what you know and how you can use that. instead your resume should have a 4.0 GPA to have a decent job.

True. The academic evaluation system is a disaster in many countries. It is merely a tool to filter out people that the education system doesn't have the capacity to handle. I am surprised companies are actually looking at GPAs when hiring - that is a rather shallow way of evaluating potential hires and it is as much the employer's loss as it is the rejected applicant's.