Perils of Parochialism in Education in Goa by Brian Antao, Ph.D. The current Chief Minister of Goa, has taken upon himself the task for much needed improvement in education in Goa, which is a laudable effort. But the way he has been going about it is very questionable. First, he usurped the charge of the ministry of education that would give him a free reign to implement educational reform. His recent approaches to reforming education in Goa, however raise serious doubts as to, if his plans for educational reform are really on a right footing, that will produce the desired outcome, or will it be a mis-step in the wrong direction for which Goans will have to pay the price down the road. The most worrisome aspect of these missteps are the rather "parochial" views and approaches that the CM has been expressing in terms of his agenda for educational reform.
It is interesting that the CM has a fascination and has one of his role models as Shivaji Chatrapati, we all have our own favoured and admired role models, be they from the Indian mythology or from Western mythology. The CM recently expressed concern and issued a directive that the high school curriculum in Goa was not providing enough about the history of Shivaji Chatrapati, and the curriculum has been revamped to emphasise more on the issue. The CM also questioned the need for students having to study the history of Europe. This clearly is a sentiment of "parochialism" and it is a bit inappropriate for the CM to impose his personal agenda. Education reform in Goa, needs a reform in the "Fundamental Paradigm" of the way basic high-school education is imparted. Adding a few chapters on the history of Shivaji Chatraparti, are in no way "reforming" or advancing the state-of-the-art in education, but merely does "lip-service" to fool the electorate. What education reform really is a "Paradigm Shift". The end result of the education reform should be that the graduating students are more skilled and knowledgeable. What greater skills does adding extra content on the history of Shivaji Chatrapati provide to the students. For which it is useful to take a "Big-Picture" view of basic education in America and the advanced Western countries and Goa. The education system in Goa, after all follows the traditional Indian system of education, which it should not necessarily be forced to, since Goa is an autonomous state, and should have the powers of autonomy to implement its own progressive and forward looking education system. The basic difference in the Paradigms of education in the advanced western countries and in Goa is: In the west, students have the benefit of a more democratic system with an emphasis on an "Understanding based" learning system, that enables them to grow as "independent thinkers" with the development of personal and leadership skills, and well-roundedness. The system of education followed in Goa, is "force-driven" with an emphasis on "Rote-memorisation based" learning system that produces a lot of efficient "parrots" and at a more advanced stage, well-programmed robots. The education reform in Goa, which should come at the so called grass-roots level should be aimed at making this Fundamental Paradigm shift to the more westernised democratic system of education that produces "Independent Thinkers" aided with the development of personal and leadership skills, and equipped with a good "skill-set". In the long term, it is the "skill-set" that the students acquire along with their natural talents that dictates their success. Again the debate over reducing the content of European history and increasing the content of the history of Shivaji Chatrapati is really an exercise in futility. It also shows that the educationists in Goa, are not very savvy on some of the profound �pedagogical issues� that underly sound curriculum design. First of all History is only one of the subjects that a student is expected to study, and that too is a rather "non-critical subject" as compared to say a more "critical subject" such as mathematics. Secondly this emphasis on adding the history of Shivaji Chatrapati is too parochial, and perhaps even politically motivated with mis-placed goals of Hinduvta etc. as it does not keep in step with the developments of the wider world. (One has to keep a constant vigil on the BJP based governments, whose motives for the large part also include sneaking in their �Hinduvta� agenda through the back door). Today, the world is moving in the direction of "Globalisation", the latest buzz-word for development is "World-Class". Where the countries striving to achieve development, have to develop resources, talent etc. that is "World-Class" and able to compete in the Global playing field. It is important that educational reform in Goa, is in line with the more wider Global trends, where the talent and resources being developed in Goa, move in the direction of being "World-Class". Clearly with these more state-of-the-art trends in mind, a better way to restructure the history curriculum in high-schools in Goa, would be to increase the content of "Global history" rather than take it in the direction of narrow parochialism. This direction towards a more globalized educations would be keeping in step with the President of India's initiative to direct India towards being a "developed country" by the year 2020. With Goa, being rated as the Number ONE state in India, we Goans should be at the forefront of the "Developed India 2020" plan. Are the Goan beaurocrats even aware of this long term plan ? In a more reformed education system, the emphasis on education has got to be to impart to the student the "Fundamental knowledge", a system that is more "knowledge based", emphasises acquiring a good "skill set" and promotes and encourages self-learning and self-discovery. In the case of teaching History, the curriculum has to be a well balanced one, that whet's a student's appetite on all aspects of global history. A motivated student can then pursue additional study and research on whatever specific narrower topic of history that is of interest, be it the history of Shivaji or the history of Europe. Educational reform in Goa, needs to be in the direction of stimulating "intellectual curiosity" in a student and providing enough choices, and NOT constraints and barriers on the free access to knowledge and information. The author having been educated for a large part in America, the atmosphere and environment at some of America's leading Universities, in comparison to Goan and Indian standards may almost seem Utopian ! In the western system of education, students completing high-school have greater "Intellectual Maturity" in that they have a better sense of awareness of what their core talents, strengths and weaknesses are. It is based on this intellectual maturity that students are able to make better decisions and choices on what career paths to pursue, and hence tend to excel at a much higher level and later on in life. Whereas the problem with the education system in Goa, which is "force driven", students are really unaware of what their real talents are, and make career choices based on societal pressures, and social status, which results in short-lived success, (topping at the SSC and HSSC levels maybe!) as in the long run they tend to peak very fast or burn out, and begin to complain about the same societal factors impeding their prosperity, when the real problem is that they are really career mis-fits. Take for example, the way Engineering education is imparted in Goa. One really need not have any "Engineering talent" to excel. You can pass first class with distinction by simply being good at cramming and excelling at the final exams. The real skill imparted by this systems of education is the skill of cramming and passing exams! The ultimate test comes when one is in the working field, where the day to day activities demanded from the job are far more complex than the system of cramming and passing exams that the education system has prepared the so called excellent engineering graduate. Again, the difference in Paradigms comes into play, a good engineering education is one that develops the various "engineering skills", which also involves to a large extent the ability for being a creative and original thinker and problem solver. Finally, in his admiration for Shivaji Chatrapati, the CM also wants to emulate Shivaji's so called "management style" as a role model for Goa. Which is another rather troubling step in the parochial and backward thinking direction. Maybe in terms of a historical context and as a pure academic exercise, it may be interesting to study an ancient management style as that of Shivaji Chatrapati. But with all the development and advancements that have taken place in the world today, it is simply astounding as to why one would go back in time to emulate a system that as served its time. "Management styles" if not anything are the most dynamic, and have to be changed and refined to keep pace with developments with respect to time that moves forward. The study of Management has evolved into a specialised field, with many advanced institutes of education offering degrees such as the Masters in Business Administration(MBA). If Goa's top administrator is unable to progress a state-of-the-art system of governance and management in a forward direction, based on the latest management principles, and is awed by an ancient historical "Management style", it does not really bode well for the forward progress and development of Goa. About Goa, being rated the Number ONE state in India this year, it is a great achievement, but it seems we are still "wallowing in the mire". It is is time to move on, and the greatest pressure now is to sustain this Number ONE position. Will Goa be ranked as the Number ONE state again next year ? Or will this ranking prove to be a "fluke". Looking at the pace of developments, it is very unlikely that Goa will even rate anywhere near the top in next year's rankings. States like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are on a war footing undertaking massive development programs. Maharashtra state government wants to turn Mumbai into a bigger Shanghai ! with a proposed Rs. 6,000 crore development plan. What long term development plans have the BJP led Goa government put into place for the future development of Goa ? The Goa government is only running around the development of Goa as a permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Even for the IFFI, most of the initiative and drive is from the Central government, by no means it is an initiative of the Goa state government. The CM proclaimed that all the traffic island beautification work in Margao would be completed by August 15th... we are still waiting to see when this work will actually be completed, or perhaps the CM mean't August 15th 2004 ! Government "incompetence" has always been a stumbling block in the path for progress in Goa. (The author, Brian Antao, is an Indian citizen originally from Goa studied at Loyola High School in Margao, educated in America, and currently on a sabbatical break, back in his home town, Margao, Goa.) ___________________________________________________ Art meets Army ; Swapna Weds Capt. Rajsekhar. Rediff Matchmaker strikes another interesting match !! Visit http://matchmaker.rediff.com?2 ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
