While protests over the NEET question paper leak have shown the strength of democracy, it has also brought Gen Z into the limelight. In an interaction with TNIE, Jayaram, Director of Valley School and Secretary of Bangalore Education Centre (BEC) - Krishnamurti Foundation India, speaks on the education system, exams, success, failure and aspirations of the young. Excerpts.
The NEET question paper leak triggered the recent protest, but as an educationist do you see deeper issues behind the growing frustration among students? What steps should schools, parents and students take?
What we seem to have understood as education is schooling, which I think is a misconception. Schooling may be a small component of education, but education starts at birth and goes on throughout life. This fragmented, narrow objective of education is leading to a lot of damage to the human mind. Each one of us contributes to it as parents, teachers and society by imposing our ambitions, fears and anxieties on children.
The restlessness in young people is often mistaken to be indiscipline, whereas they may actually be searching for meaning. Their urge to learn is smothered by the demands and judgments society places on them. Another concern is that trust has receded; children are losing trust in examinations, parents, teachers and finally learning itself. Schools cannot solve everything, but they can help rebuild trust.
The real challenge is also the lack of attention and listening. Education should not merely create efficient, technologically smart people, but help children develop resilience, understand themselves and face the world with confidence.
What, according to you, should be the purpose of education beyond academics?
The quality of learning should not be restricted to subjects. Some people believe that understanding the world, how to be compassionate, are incidental or redundant. It’s a huge quality to understand yourself. Values are instilled, they are cultivated, they are taught and so on but is it possible that one facilitates the discovery of values where they are long-lasting?
Values are instilled at home, but what about life skills? What should be the ideal age to start with life-skill building?
I don’t know if there is a clearly demarcated age group for teaching life skills. I think it starts early at home when you start making your bed or helping your mother in the kitchen. Then it moves on to how to fix a bulb or repair a tap. I think it cannot be segregated; however, if you are looking at a skill that needs to be imparted through a trained professional, we need to look at the biological and emotional maturity of a child. For example, if you want to teach a child pottery, you could start by teaching to knead the clay, centering and so on, after which it becomes open-ended and improves hand-to-brain skills.
We generally talk about success, but along the way there will be failures. Are we preparing students mentally for failures?
There is an exaggerated fear of failure, and a glorified feeling of success. The atomisation of society wherein an individual is considered hyper exclusive is a bane. The moment this atomisation starts, it is inevitable for success to be the only motivator, simultaneously creating a very deep fear of failure. Supposing there is a way neither praise nor criticism is looked at in an exaggerated way, and is communicated as an observation rather than a judgment, that would be the ideal way to go about it.
How do labels such as success, failure, good and bad shape a child’s thinking?
Such binaries often polarise the mind, where nuanced relativity is required. If I call a cup of coffee good, does every other cup of coffee immediately turn bad? Of course it depends on multiple factors: no one entity can do it, neither one school nor parent. A perceived lack of attention in a child is often looked down upon. You see a toddler being obsessed with something inconsequential, like a stick, and looking at it with such intensity that they are oblivious to you. Isn’t that undivided attention to the object in question? If that is attention, why do we disrupt it by asking the child to pay attention to us?
How should teachers respond when a child appears distracted in classroom?
I teach biology and when I walk into a class well-prepared, and I see someone looking at a lizard, the student is not paying attention to what I am saying; but do you say the child does not have the quality of attention? There is a different way of relating to a child with that kind of attention: with empathy. All of us are failures in some things too, as parents or as friends.
At home there are certain presumptions and expectations to work with; how does a school ensure that the epistemological spectrum is broadened?
School is a microcosm of society. It needs to be a space of inquiry. If children are able to question presumptions set on them, they do not govern their actions. Nobody is controlling you, it is entirely your inquiry.
There is also a lot of criticism against the protest that happened and people have also voiced against GenZ. What do you have to say?
I am not an analyst or psychologist, but is it possible to put yourself in the shoes of those on the street? If I studied hard, went through intense times and then a leak happened, I would be disappointed because my faith would have been completely shattered. I am not referring to just the present incident. What happens when faith is shattered? If you understand the root of what is happening then there is no Gen Z, X or Y; every generation has its own compulsion.
Where does accountability lie?
How many revolutions and movements have we come across, and how many of them have created tangible change? We are all very sophisticated servants to somebody or other. Various luminaries like Tagore, Aurobindo, Jiddu Krishnamurti have come, but what have we taken from them? We want something to be followed as a system rather than internalising it.
What about distractions like social media?
It is a matter of big concern for all of us. Entertainment and boredom go hand in hand, they coexist. Parents need to participate and get involved with children in their activities. Involvement with the child builds kinship. But do we have the time, do we have the inclination?
How has social media changed children post-pandemic?
I can say that kids have learnt more about the world through social media than through history or geography classes. It is obvious that psychologically, reliance on gadgets and social media is having a tremendous impact. It has decentralised information: there are multiple sources, so reliance on one source, which can be fallible, has been eliminated. But the need for validation has risen; you need somebody to tell you what food suits you, or what dress to wear. This excessive reliance on “experts” is not good.
Has social media and constant exposure affected today’s youth more than previous generations?
The human mind has not changed across generations. What has changed is the level of exposure. Today’s youth live under constant public scrutiny through social media and digital platforms, making their actions, achievements and mistakes far more visible than those of previous generations.
Are today’s youth more sensitive and easily influenced by misinformation?
Young people have always been impressionable because they are still growing and learning. Technology has increased the volume and speed of information, making it easier to influence opinions. The best way to deal with this is by developing enquiry and critical thinking so that information is questioned rather than accepted blindly.
Why is there a growing disconnect between parents and children, and why are young people experiencing so much anger, frustration, and fear of failure today?
Every generation experiences a gap between parents and children, but today’s fast-paced and highly demanding world has widened that disconnect. Human emotions such as fear, insecurity, ambition and jealousy have always existed, but constant pressure and competition leave little time for self-inquiry and emotional understanding. Parents, often with good intentions, may unknowingly impose their own beliefs, expectations and ambitions on their children, instead of allowing them to grow naturally. Parents should encourage curiosity, independent thinking and self-discovery instead of imposing their own expectations and ambitions. Children should be given the freedom to grow according to their interests and strengths while receiving guidance and support.
What is the root cause of fear, and how can it be managed?
Fear arises from desire, the desire to achieve something, the fear of not achieving it, or the fear of losing it. Fear cannot simply be eliminated, but understanding its source helps people respond with greater awareness, acceptance and emotional intelligence.
Are the government’s education reforms moving in the right direction?
Reforms are meaningful only when they address the root problems of education. Simply replacing one examination or assessment system with another is a cosmetic change if the system continues to emphasize competition and elimination rather than learning and personal growth. Education should promote enquiry, self-awareness, critical thinking and emotional intelligence instead of focusing primarily on examinations, competition and memorisation. The purpose of education should be to help individuals understand themselves as well as the world around them.
Can exam fraud be prevented?
Is there any foolproof system that has evolved in preventing things of this kind? Has it ever happened? It is just a knee jerk or fragmentary response only to please the public. It is not something that can be sustained.
Do you think centralisation of examination should be stopped and more state preferences be given?
With the kind of population, kind of infrastructure and facilities we have, not everybody can do everything. It has to be divided equally. We have a hierarchy and the moment the hierarchy is created, selectivity is inevitable. Selectivity leads to comparison. None of these examinations actually gauge intelligence. They gauge the capacity of doing a particular thing. I doubt there will be a difference if exams are centralized or become state-specific. Opinions vary. When something is smaller there can be more efficient administration or there could be more corruption. It is very difficult to give a blanket answer.
What are your views about coaching centres?
One of the things we discourage is our children going for tuitions. It undermines the capacity of the child to learn. It only gives a short-term scope of acquiring a skill.
