Improving the Indian Education System

Using Germany as a Benchmark

Abhinava Mishra Ankit Gupta

Arpit Narechania Ashish Kumar

Chamundeswar Nadh

In conjunction with Dr. Anil Kishan and Dr.Venkata Krishnan

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Chapter 1. Introduction

This project is about unravelling the mystery behind the above quote which is not only

humorous but alarming at the same time for the progress of a developing country like India.

Taking Germany (a pioneer in the field of Education especially Mechanical Engineering) as a

benchmark we plan to find the reasons behind the probable under development of Indian

education system.

The project is chiefly focused on improving the Indian education system. For the past

25 years there has been no revolutionary change in the Indian education system. In this project

we will identify the problems faced by Indian education system and we will propose the

solution based on our survey and feedback from people associated with this system taking

Germany as a benchmark. Indian education system influences nearly every Indian citizen and

thus we can say that development of India is proportional to developments in its education

system.

Given these circumstances, this project will examine solutions as small as “What books/

authors to follow?” to “What is the role of government policies in aiding development in the

educational field right from a primary school to the university graduation level?” Our GOAL is

to evaluate the educational system in India right from the quality of education, i.e. to see what

improvements can be made if focus is made on understanding and not on rote learning,

teaching standards, the role of administration (private/ government). We will also assess the

mindset and perceptions of the rural population regarding higher education, and see if they

hold the idea that education is not a must for earning money or getting a nice bride, and so

forth.

In order to successfully meet our goals, we will have to understand:

1. The perceptions of a sample of the population (rich, non-rich, rural, urban) regarding

education for themselves and their offspring - will be achieved by surveying participants:

In India: Rural - towns like Mandi, Kullu, Sundernagar

Urban - cities like Chandigarh, New Delhi

In Germany: Aachen, Cologne, Munich, Berlin

2. Perceptions of the students - how do they feel about education or how do they want

to be taught? What is their opinion on the format of home assignments; examination styles,

etc. (Focus on the root learning other than imagination)

3. Perceptions of the teachers, professors in educational institutions in the above

mentioned places - what is their outlook on imparting education - is it just for ‘money’ or a

typical Indian ‘safe government job’ or for the sake of ‘humanity’

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4. Perceptions of local Non-Government Organizations who are walking on similar

paths trying to modify the way people learn. (Why there are so many NGOs related to

education but there effects are unnoticed??)

5. Perceptions of the respective administration (private/government) is playing - “is it

here to make millions or help its students also make millions?”, “is the education centralized?”

OR “are there stark differences in the quality and course contents in different states within

the same country” (for example - the 28 State Boards, ICSE, CBSE, ISC, etc. in India)

The problem faced by Indian education system is not so explicit. The high number of

backdrops, lack of motivation among the poor students constitutes few of the problems faced

by the Indian education system. An ideal person will argue that there are no such problems in

the education system, but we should look at the facts:

Quoting Shiraz Naval Minwalla, a professor of theoretical physics at the Tata Institute

of Fundamental Research (TIFR) - Mumbai, who had won the New Horizons in Physics Prize for

2013 on 5th November.

“Institutions like TIFR, IIS, HRI and the National Centre for the Biological Sciences give

good support and scientists should recognize this. There are few comparable places in the

Third World. What we’re missing however is the depth. The U.S. research community has got

so good because of its depth. Genuine, exciting research is not done just in the Ivy League

institutions. Even small places have a Nobel Laureate teaching there. So, India may have lots

of universities but they are somehow not able to produce good work.”

In spite of having numerous educational institutions, the amount of research work

done is minimal. In spite of having lakhs of engineers per year, India has to import technology

from other nations for its own development. In spite of investing loads of rupees in education,

the government is unable to reap the benefits from the students in its due state. All these tell

us that there exists a problem which has to be identified and solved. We cannot proclaim that

Indian people are not that stimulated as others. It observed that most of the Indian achievers

are educated in a foreign country which unfortunately raises direct fingers at the education

system.

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Chapter 2. Literature Review

In this chapter, we present our key findings from a review of recently published articles

and commentary on this problem. We begin with a brief description of the two sites, and

follow with the background information discussion. Finally, we present case studies from

which we can learn about educational strategies and curricula which will be helpful in solving

our problem.

2.1 Site Description

In this project, we are going to focus on a thorough study between the education

system in India and Germany. Our first site will be the present educational institutions in India

which comprise of various college and schools across the country. We will analyze the

educational structure of a country which today is the second largest higher education network

in the world. Our second team will be analyzing the current scenario of educational system in

Germany.

India officially the Republic of India is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest

country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most

populous democracy in the world. Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and a region

of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its

commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history (A History of India, Stein.B). Four

world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here. Gradually

annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the

early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th

century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence. The

Indian economy is the world's eleventh-largest by nominal GDP and third-largest by

Purchasing Power Parity (Gross domestic product, current prices in US dollars, Oct 2013).

Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing

major economies; it is considered a newly industrialized country. However, it continues to face

the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, inadequate public healthcare, and

terrorism. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army

in the world and ranks eighth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal

constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7

union territories. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and a multi-ethnic society.

Germany (Deutschland), officially the Federal Republic of Germany is a federal

parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states and its

capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 sq.km and has a largely

temperate seasonal climate. With 80.6 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member

state in the European Union. Germany is the major economic and political power of the

European continent and a historic leader in many cultural, theoretical and technical fields

(Wikipedia). It is one of the earliest developed civilizations being part of the great Roman

Empire. It was a major force during World Wars and hosted the great Nazi Revolution. After

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crisis from World War I & II, in 1945 Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved

into two states, East Germany and West Germany and reunified again in 1990.

Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labor force, a large capital

stock, a low level of corruption (CPI, 2009), and a high level of innovation. It has the largest

and most powerful national economy in Europe, the fourth largest by nominal GDP in the

world, the fifth largest by PPP (GDP 2009, World Bank), and was the biggest net contributor to

the EU budget in 2011. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is

the second-largest exporter and third-largest importer of goods (Wikipedia). It is a developed

country with a very high standard of living, featuring comprehensive social security that

includes the world's oldest universal health care system. Germany was a founding member of

the European Community in 1957, which became the EU in 1993. Germany is a great power,

and a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, the OECD and the Council

of Europe. Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in

2010, the Fortune Global 500, 37 are headquartered in Germany. 30 Germany-based

companies are included in the DAX, the German stock market index. Well-known global brands

are Mercedes-Benz, BMW, SAP, Siemens, Volkswagen, Adidas, Audi, Allianz, Porsche, Bayer,

Bosch, and Nivea.

2.2 Background

In order to understand the problem, we need to understand the background of the

educational systems that are in place in each locale:

India Education in India falls under the control of both the Union Government and the State

Governments, with some responsibilities lying with the Union and the states having autonomy

for others. India has made progress in terms of increasing the primary education attendance

rate and expanding literacy to approximately three quarters of the population. As per the

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, 96.5% of all rural children between the ages

of 6-14 were enrolled in school. 83% of all rural 15-16 year olds were enrolled in school. As per

the latest (2013) report issued by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), there

are more than 3524 diploma and post-diploma offering institutions in the country with an

annual intake capacity of over 1.2 million. The AICTE also reported 3495 degree-granting

engineering colleges in India with an annual student intake capacity of over 1.76 million with

actual enrollment crossing 1.2 million. According to the University Grants Commission (UGC)

total enrollment in Science, Medicine, Agriculture and Engineering crossed 6.5 million in 2010.

All these numbers make India’s higher education system the third largest in the world, after

China and the United States (India Country Summary on Education, World Bank).

In the India education system, a significant number of seats are reserved under

affirmative action policies for the historically disadvantaged Scheduled Castes and Scheduled

Tribes and Other Backward Classes. In universities/colleges/institutions affiliated to the

federal government there is a minimum 50% of reservations applicable to these disadvantaged

groups, at the state level it can vary. In India the central and most state boards uniformly

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follows the "10+2+3" pattern of education. In this pattern the first 10 years are spent in school

then 2 years in a college and then 3 or more years in a graduate college or University for a

bachelor’s degree. This pattern originated from the recommendation the Education

Commission of 1964–66.

The education system in India is provided by both public and private sector and can be

divided into two parts mainly:

1. Primary Education and Secondary Education (covers school, high school and junior college)

2. Undergraduate and Postgraduate level (Higher Education)

Primary and Secondary educations comprise school education wherein children study

for 12 years (class 1 to 12) and are governed independently by various curriculum bodies like

CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education),

ISC (Indian School Certificate) and several state boards. Higher education includes colleges and

universities like IITs, NITs, IIMs, AIIMS, DU (University of Delhi), JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru

University) etc. All universities in India needed to be recognized by University Grants

Commission (UGC) which is the statutory organization for coordinating and maintaining the

standards of university education in India. As per the Ministry of Human Resource

Development, Government of India, in 2011, the higher education sector in India consisted of

42 central universities, 296 state universities (both public and private) and more than 30,000

colleges (MHRD 2011).

Even with such a huge numbers India face a big problem with the quality of education.

One study found out that 25% of public sector teachers and 40% of public sector medical

workers were absent during the survey. Among teachers who were paid to teach, absence

rates ranged from 15% in Maharashtra to 30% in Bihar. Only 1 in nearly 3000 public school

head teachers had ever dismissed a teacher for repeated absence. A study on teachers by

Kremer etc. found that 'only about half were teaching, during unannounced visits to a

nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India (Kremer etc. (2004),

"Teacher Absence in India: A Snapshot", Journal of the European Economic Association).

Higher Education network of India which is considered as the third largest in the world

fail badly to make a mark in worldwide educational surveys done by reputed magazines. Top

Indian institutes like the IIT Bombay and IISc couldn't make space in the top 100 list. IIT-Delhi

had 212 rank in QS World University Ranking 2012 and IIT-Kharagpur is the only Indian institute

listed in top 250 universities by Times Higher Education ranking and is placed in 226-250

category (Times higher education ranking, 2013). Surprisingly, the Government budget for

higher education has increased substantially in past decade. In 2007-08, Govt. of India

allocated Rs.2024 crore for implementing an Oversight Committee for recommendations and

in 2013-14, it allocated Rs.3348 crore to UGC (MHRD budget outcome 2007, 2013). But on the

other hand students in India who are well off prefer foreign universities for higher education

over their Indian counterparts. As per the Institute of International Education, Indians are

second in number of international students studying in US (100,270 in 2013) (i.e. 2013) and

according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 14% of Student Visa applications come from

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India which is second largest after China (20%)(abs,2011). As per the Global Education Digest,

UNESCO, 400000 Indian students apply annually to overseas pursuing higher education

(UNESCO 2010). These statistics are a ringing alarm for education system in India and are

indicative of a much needed modification.

Germany The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while

the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten (nursery school)

education is provided for all children between two and six years of age, after which school

attendance is compulsory (EACEA). The system varies throughout Germany because each state

(Land) decides its own educational policies. Most children, however, first attend Grundschule

from the age of six to ten. German secondary education includes five types of school. The

Gymnasium is designed to prepare pupils for university education and finishes with the final

examination Abitur, after grade 12 or 13. The Realschule has a broader range of emphasis for

intermediate pupils and finishes with the final examination Mittlere Reife, after grade 10; the

Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education and finishes with the final examination

Hauptschulabschluss, after grade 9 or 10 and the Realschulabschluss after grade 10. There are

two types of grade 10: one is the higher level called type 10b and the lower level is called type

10a; only the higher-level type 10b can lead to the Realschule and this finishes with the final

examination Mittlere Reife after grade 10b. This new path of achieving the Realschulabschluss

at a vocationally oriented secondary school was changed by the statutory school regulations

in 1981.

Many of Germany's hundred or so institutions of higher learning charge little or no

tuition by international comparison (“Germany Backtracks on Tuition", The New York Times,

13 September 2013). Students usually must prove through examinations that they are

qualified. If an educator/teacher is absent, students are allowed free time during that period.

If an educator/teacher is absent for three days, she has a chance of being removed from

his/her role of teacher at that school. With 10 German universities in the top QS World ranking,

Germany is one of the more popular destinations for higher education. It is a leader in fields

of technical education like Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Architecture, etc.

According to World education services in 2006, 20% of world's foreign students are found

studying in Germany and France (WES, 2009). All the stats make Germany strong in foundation

of Education.

One country is considered as one of the best source of international students for higher

education and the other is considered as one of the best destination for the same. The

comparison between these two will not be meaningful due to various reasons but a

comparative study may help to find flaws in our system which will help us solve the problem

to some extent

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2.3 Stakeholders

In this project, our primary aim is to suggest the methodology and provide

guidelines that help the institutions around us to improve in quality. Hence our stake owners

comprise of all the students who are studying in India in various schools, colleges and other

educational institutes. This directly affects the roles of teachers and parents and their way of

interaction with the student. Industries may also come under this as they are directly linked

with the education system which provides them professionals for various tasks. Indian

universities are unable to produce quality technocrats which readily affect the industry as they

have to spend a large amount in training sessions. But there are some existing institutions

within the country which face negative impact after this change. They are the highly over-

motivated coaching industry which may or may not able to deliver promised quality of

education but in all the case parents have to spend a huge amount of money for buying such

costly education in addition to paying school fees.

2.4 Case Studies

A survey by International Forum for Indian Heritage (IFIH)

In 2005 IFIH prepared a survey on Indian education system which was partly sponsored

by NCERT. The survey consisted of two parts, a questionnaire related to Indian culture and

values and a questionnaire related to aspects of Indian educational system. The survey

covered 11000 students from each corner of India (IFIH 2005).

Major findings of this survey were as follows:

50% students believed Indian education system is deficient in some aspects

62% students believed loads of textbooks to be carried to school is not only excessive

but also unnecessary.

35% students reported to be under pressure from parents to get better grades

Survey by HotHouseMedia

This survey was conducted in 2013 by 9 agencies in which 1750 Indian students

participated (hothousemedia 2013).

Key points of this survey were as follows:

63% of these students go abroad for under/post-graduation

38% of these students cite 'future work' as the reason for going abroad

39.5% prefer to go to the United States of America for a postgraduate/master’s degree

These surveys indicate that students are unhappy with the Indian education system and

are biased towards foreign education due to an unjustified disbelief in this system. During

preparation of our questionnaire we have to take care of these mindsets and set our

questionnaire accordingly.

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2.5 Summary

There are various reasons we have pointed out that are responsible for this. Some of the

hypotheses we have brainstormed during our meetings and from the literature review are

listed below:-

Lack of money: By far one of the most pressing problems is the unavailability of money or

inadequate funding of Indian education programs or systems. The demand far exceeds the

supply, and available money are only for the most basic educational needs of the students.

"The traditional curriculum" like theoretical science and languages. Very small amount, if any,

is available for innovative programs and ideas. While German administration spends a lot on

developing skills apart from providing traditional education.

Lack of qualified Indians in Indian education: By far the most glaring problem is the acute

shortage of qualified Indians in Indian education. Materialistic gains, incentives and

opportunities entice the qualified Indian educator away from this challenging field. Brain drain

may be the possible reason. We can easily conclude on this point by collecting the various

statistics across the colleges and schools.

Insensitive school personnel: It is tragic that this exists in the 20th Century. Most

administrators and teachers are not knowledgeable. Whether it is attributable to apathy,

indifference or design does not lessen the problem. We will include questions relating to how

much teachers know about the student’s willingness towards the curriculum they have been

offered.

Lack of involvement in and control of educational matters: Indians have been unable to

express their ideas on school programming or educational decision-making. When they have

been expressed, his participation has been limited and restricted.

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Chapter 3. Methodology

The main aim of the project is to identify the problems faced by the Indian education

system and propose real solutions for the same. The main objectives which we intend to fulfil

are as follows:

1. Assess the educational institution in rural as well as urban areas and analyze the

methodology followed in India and Germany. Identifying flaws in the system

2. Investigate the perception of multiple stakeholders regarding the education system

3. Identity the positive methodologies being implemented and in act in Germany which

can help us in inspiration

4. Design real solutions to the disparities faced by the community and try to implement

the solutions & check for their feasibility

For achieving these objective we will be following a planned procedure. One of our

teams will take surveys of top educational institutes in Germany while the other team will

meet technical, medical and school students in India. We will also hold talks with our

colleagues who are also stakeholders in this study. We are also looking forward to the NGO’s

model which has presented a good example in this field. We are planning to have an informal

talk with any of the employees of creative organizations like MAD or Educomp. We keep in

touch with officials of NCERT, CBSE, ICSE or IITs that helps us in understanding how they are

developing the guidelines. What are the constraints they have to face? We will also be

highlighting the coaching industry in India and how it is affecting the life of Indian students.

Kota model is ideal for our research, which will be done with help of our in IIT Mandi who had

been a part of Kota in their technical exam preparation.

Similarly, in Germany we look forward towards the government and private structure

that helps in boosting the student’s enthusiasm towards studies at various levels. Our target

is RWTH Aachen University. We will conduct various sessions with students and faculties. We

also include NGO’s that are working in Germany and their contribution towards the

educational system. In Germany, unlike India we don’t have a rigorous coaching system.

Schools are self-sufficient for providing quality education. We will also draw conclusions by

taking various sites of coaching institutes whether the coaching model is really helping India

or not.

3.1 Objective 1

In order to meet our first objective (Identify the problem faced by Indian education) we

will interview our main benefactor i.e. students and the teachers. They are aware of their

requirements and also the steps which should be taken to improve their situation. Thus, we

will be visiting schools and colleges, conducting interviews with both students and teacher to

know their perception of the education system and the changes what they are craving for. We

will be visiting institutes in Himachal Pradesh which are relatively rural and then we will visit

institutes in the urban region mainly based in Delhi and Chandigarh. We will have a survey

among the students of all age groups for we expect the diversity in the problems faced by

them. We will be visiting institutes at each level from primary to higher education. We will be

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documenting the system followed by video recording and observe the differences with the

German system. We will also be meeting government officials working on various

governments’ initiatives in improving education system in India. We can get required data

from these sources which will help us in further analysis. We will also try to contact officials

who are working on developing the curriculum at various levels across the country.

3.2 Objective 2

To fulfil our second objective we will survey the general public belonging to each area

and to know their perception of the education system whether education is the mean of

knowledge or just a source of employment. Similar procedures will be followed for both India

and Germany. Why do poor people not want to send their child for education and why do the

rich prefer foreign education? There are so many problems in the society’s viewpoint because

it is the single main motivation among the people for education. It is commonly observed that

children whose parents encourage for education perform better than the others even though

many are pressurized for the same.

3.3 Objective 3

By this time we will be having all the data we need to propose the solution. For this we

will take the help of our mentors and have a meeting among ourselves. We will consider the

feedback from the students and the teacher and we will try to propose the solution which will

try to reduce their suffering. For these people have a better understanding about their needs

and desire and maybe they know the method that suits them. Keeping all these views in mind

we will propose the solution.

We all know that just proposing the solution is not enough and we have to prove the

efficiency of our solution by implementing it. For this we will be collaborating with the schools

and colleges and try to implement the teaching methodology proposed by us and we will be

taking feedback from the students and teachers, observe its effect and making amendments

to our solution accordingly. If successful these methods can be implemented in each and every

education institute in India and thus we will be able to make a small contribution to India’s

development.

Project plan

The tentative schedule for our project is as follows, in first stage we will be preparing

the document and survey questionnaire. In second stage we will be visiting different

educational institutes and collecting data. In third and final stage we will be proposing the

solution and implement it before the final open house.

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Chapter 4: Results and Discussion

Survey in Schools, India:

Survey Date: 11th April, 2014

Site 1: DAV Centenary Public School, Mandi

Site 2: SVM Senior Secondary School, Mandi

Sample: Stakeholders including Students, teachers and other administrative staff surveyed;

close to 150 people

Link to an interview with a teacher at SVM Secondary School, Mandi (click the text)

As part of a problem-check (if any) the team from India visited 2 nearby Senior

Secondary schools to evaluate the basic mindset of students about education. We also

conducted were direct interviews with the teachers and other administrative staff regarding

their views on academic curriculum, extracurricular activities and importance of education in

life to name some of the questions.

Q 1: Do you enjoy attending your school? Please rate on a scale of 10.

(Figure.1)

Analysis:

49.64% Students enjoy studying (range 8-10)

18.70% Students do not enjoy their studies at all (range 1-3)

Remaining ~32% students were neutral about their enjoyment towards studies.

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Comments:

For a small town like Mandi where the education system is still flourishing (evident

from the fact that there are very few graduation universities in the vicinity), it was good to

know that only 18.7% students do not enjoy studying. The reasons may vary from wanting to

pursue an altogether different occupation (this does not mean one does not take basic

education but this is unfortunately the most probable reason) or to join father’s business – a

typical example in Indian villages/ small towns or just not do nothing.

Q 2: Why do you come to school?

(Figure.2)

Analysis and Comments:

With 74% students attending school for knowledge, the education system seems to be

on the right track. Making friends also includes students who are interested in both knowledge

as well as friends.

A highly debatable part is Attendance and the unfortunate case of Parental Pressure. Students

were of the opinion that Attendance CAN be made mandatory but it should be motivated and

NOT enforced. It can be motivated by interactive teaching, for example, the subject of history

being taught by enactment in small plays actually playing the characters, thinking like them,

etc.

Out of the 6% students there may be students who need that extra push (that is, who

are lazy or not self-motivated) to come to school. Excluding them we can predict 3-4 %

students who complain of parental pressure which is an unfortunate but an unavoidable

statistic.

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Q 3: How would you rate the facilities provided by the school authorities?

(Figure.3)

Analysis:

Better than Average results.

Comments:

As visible from the below attached photographic proofs, the facilities like classrooms,

desks, seating seem adequately comfortable and student friendly. However, there is a

possibility that the students here are not aware of the facilities provided in their urban

counterparts hence are content with what they have been offered. For example: e-Learning,

using power point presentations for saving time, showing video/ audio clips over projectors,

etc. are some of the high end facilities in some urban schools.

Q 4: Do the teachers indulge in interactive form of teaching or the traditional monotonous form?

(Figure.4)

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Analysis:

Good to know that the Grey sector is negligible, but the Orange sector must get

transformed into the blue sector with reforms.

Comments:

The reason for some teachers not being interactive could be many: personal choice

(traditional way of teaching), negligence or inexperience. They have been taught in a way and

they wish to follow the same procedure without thinking of a pleasant change which requires

putting of extra effort.

Q 5: What is your opinion over examinations? Should they be scrapped?

(Figure.5)

Analysis and Comments:

A student’s nightmare is the night before examination. Though all goes well for most

of them but there are some with “Examination phobia”. Exams are a must but the way they

are conducted s to be evaluated. Rote learning and puking the mugged definitions onto paper

will help no one. So, emphasis needs to be on understanding and application. Once

examinations become student-friendly, the blue sector will definitely engulf the green sector.

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Q 6: What language of instruction would you prefer to learn in - English OR in your Mother tongue?

(Figure.6)

Analysis and Comments:

The 30% students who feel education must be in their mother tongue must understand

that if in future, they wish to pursue higher education OR interact with other individuals even

while doing business for example they will need a common medium of communication. English

must be the primary language of instruction with the mother tongue/ local languages as

secondary languages.

Q 7: What is the attitude of your parents towards extra-curricular activities?

(Figure.7)

Analysis and Comments:

The 14% parents with negative viewpoint and 50% out of the 53% neutral parents

(assumption) must understand that “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”.

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Apart from academics, a child must have a hobby not only for refreshment but also for

his overall development. Be it in the field of sports, music, cooking, art etc. The schools must

plant these seeds right from primary section with compulsory yoga, sports, music participation.

Q 8: Why did you choose a particular course, subject in school?

(Figure.8)

*Sharmaji – this is a famous term from the Bollywood blockbuster movie 3 Idiots starring

Aamir Khan. The protagonist is made to pursue Engineering because his father’s (Mr. Sharma)

friend’s son had pursued the same and is leading a very well off life. The protagonist is not

excited over money and lifestyle but only his craze wildlife photography.

Analysis and Comments:

The percentage of Parental pressure over choice of stream is not that high but

definitely can be reduced.

Q 9: Do you attend coaching classes for additional practice or so?

(Figure.9)

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Analysis and Comments:

Coaching today has become more of a commercial business. Students are sent to

coaching classes so that they forcefully spend a predefined period studying and give their

parents some mental relief.

Technically, education imparted in schools must be more than sufficient for the student to

explore the subject on its own and excel in the same. The government must examine the

coaching trend in the country and try to find a suitable solution for the same.

Glimpse of the survey experience at the SVM Senior Secondary School in Mandi

The filled in survey

questionnaire papers from the Survey

Sites

(Figure.10)

Team member is volunteering for the survey at

SVM Senior Secondary School. Class 10 and 11

students are attempting to answer the survey

questionnaire.

( (Figure.11)

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(Figure.12)

A teacher at the school happily volunteered and took part in the survey process from

our side. He also took part in the teacher’s survey

(Figure.13)

Students are very seriously filling up the questionnaire given to them with our

colleague supervising the proceedings.

Survey in Colleges, India:

Survey Date: 12th May, 2014

Site 1: Institute of management studies, Himachal Pradesh University

Site 2: Institute of IT, Himachal Pradesh University

Site 3: Department of physical science, Himachal Pradesh University

We also conducted an online survey in which we got feeds from student of different

colleges including other IITs and private institution

Sample: Stakeholders are mostly Students of which around 100 students are of HPU and

around 80 responses from our online survey

As part of a problem-check (if any) the team from India visited Himachal Pradesh

University, Shimla to evaluate the basic mindset of students about education. We also

conducted an online survey and took responses from various engineering colleges in India

including IIT’s and NIT’s.

22

Q 1: What is the motivation behind selecting your college

Analysis and Comments:

The above analysis shows that 76 % of the students attend college for the quality of

education in India which is obvious as seen by the million aspirant who prepares in their senior

secondary stage for getting admission into the premier institute like IITs. This is an optimistic

indication as it shows that student want good education and thus more focus should be on

quality rather than quantity of education. Also, 15 % opted that they choose college due to its

proximity from home, this indicate that student favor colleges near to the home primarily

because of cosines and economical reason and so instead of having colleges hub like Bangalore

and Noida the government should also focus on opening colleges at other places so that

student of those places also benefit from this.

Q 2: Was your school life effective in gaining basic knowledge and soft skills?

3%

15%

76%

6%

because friends are in samecollege

close proximity from home

education here is good

fee structure is good

24%

76%

no yes

23

Analysis and Comments:

This question was a continuation of our school survey, we want to know the feed from

the school pass out about their school experience, and the graph do show a positive response.

Thus it displays the importance of school life in the future of the individual and thus additional

focus should be there on the personality development in the school rather than just basic

subjects. We can conclude that the courses related to soft skills should be incorporated in the

school’s curriculum so that we would be able to decrease the dissatisfaction of the above 24 %

students which is certainly a significant amount.

Q 3: Which one of these methods are more effective; chalk and board method or audio-visual method?

Analysis and Comments:

Now this shows a variation and the opinion was different for people of different

streams while students of it and management preferred audio visual over chalk and board

whereas student of basic science preferred chalk and board method. the reason we got that

Audio and visual method are really effective in conveying your ideas and also saves a lot of

time than the other conventional method but there were reaction from the student that

usually instructors are misusing the technology and the increased speed and bad usage of this

method makes the content difficult to understand . So there should be audio visual method

but the instructor should be trained for the proper usage of this technology.

59%

41%

audio-visual methods chalk and board method

24

Q 4: Is your college Education effective or you are doing it just for the sake of the degree.

Analysis and Comments:

Now the above depiction is alarming for the nearly 48 % student are studying just for

the sake of degree , while the last graph showed that student join college for the knowledge

and interest but as they move forward in their college life , there perception changes regarding

the college education . It’s due to the lack of facilities and the quality in the education they are

receiving which result in the decrease in interest among the student. Thus we are indeed

creating million graduates per year but if you compare them with foreign graduate they are of

pitiful quality. It can also be due to the parental or other pressure toward some specific fields

in which person has no interest in but still continues for the sake of degree. Indeed it’s said

that in India, a student choose his profession after doing his B.Tech.

Q 5: WAS YOUR SCHOOL LIFE EFFECTIVE IN TERMS OF BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT?

effective52%

just for the sake of degree

48%

effective

just for the sake of degree

25

Analysis: 76% of the students surveyed show a positive attitude towards their school life

expectance in terms of education and personality development. Comments:

Seventy-six percent of responses are positive, suggesting an outlook in favour of school education. Students find themselves comfortable with the present school methodology in terms of imparting education and personality development skills. In this question, we have made an assumption that students have a rational understanding of the terms quality education and personality development.

Q 6: Does your stream match with the career you intend to pursue?

Analysis: 80% of the students show a positive attitude towards this question; the light blue area

covers a significant area of the pie chart, indicating an overwhelming response in the affirmative. Comment:

The significant number of positive responses suggests that students have not

reluctantly chosen their field of study, but they have a proper vision of what they intend to do

in their near future. But how the university is helping them in this regard will remain a critical

question. The above statistics show a negative trend of the satisfaction level they are receiving

from their institute. Hence, it can be concluded here that somehow institutions are unable to

meet the expectations of students and fall short of fulfilling their future expectations.

Q 7: What is your main reason for choosing your Education?

26

Analysis:

A little lesser than three – fourths of the pie chart area which represents

“knowledge/interest orientated” option suggests a high favourability of one option over the

rest.

Comment: Students are not blindly following their field of study. They are doing so out of their

interest and for gaining knowledge. They are convinced that knowledge certainly helps them with their first job, but it’s not good to study merely for the sake of landing a job. This is a positive indication as students are aware and they know what is essential for them.

27

Q 8: Should the system focus more on R&D?

Analysis: Again a huge positive response as almost 87.5% of the students surveyed say that there

should be strong backing for R&D within the institution. Comment:

Good research is essential as it gives an institution recognition and the students a chance to fulfil their curiosity and lots of real life challenges. Students know well that these are essential parts of their student life, and hence voted high for R&D. Hence, it can be concluded that awareness is not the problem among Indian students; they have a broad idea of what is essential and what needs to be introduced in order to improve the present condition.

If any uncertainty exists among the students, then it could be due to the lack of enthusiasm among the institutes or the lack of motivation among the students.

28

Q 9: Your satisfaction level in university

No. of Students vs Rating on a scale of 10

Analysis: Higher peaks can be observed for the average values when compared with the higher

values. Overall response is below the mid value, and hence shows a sense of slight dissatisfaction among students towards their institution. Comment:

Students have lots of hope and genuine aspirations, and it’s now become the responsibility of their institute to help them in fulfilling their aspirations, but the result is somewhat discouraging. Students are not satisfied with the present condition, some find that their college doesn’t have adequate facilities while others believe that their institute is not focusing on developing their skills. On the other hand, while some institutes focus on skills, they are unable to maintain appropriate standards.

29

Q 10: Should there be a provision of Compulsory Attendance

Analysis and Comments: Approximately half of the students want attendance to be compulsory , and most of

the same believe there should be some discipline needs to be maintained to get success in life and attendance criteria forces students to maintain that discipline

However other half believes opposite of it. According to them at the age of doing masters and bachelors, students are well grown up and this discipline should come by their own, without any external reasons. And they believe if attending classes are not fruitful then why to waste their time, instead they can do other useful activities or self-study. If the class is worth attending, students will gladly attend the classes there is no reason to force them

Q 11: Rate the facilities available for developing soft skills

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

30

Soft Skills: Communication Skills, Personality, Critical Thinking, Optimism, Team Work, Creative

Thinking etc. Analysis and Comments:

These are the graph for rating given by the student for developing soft skills among the

students. The median rating given is 5 which is really low. As per Federation of Indian Chambers

of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in 2010 found a majority of graduates lacked adequate "soft

skills" to be employed in the industry .Also according to the wall street journal Engineering

colleges in India now have seats for 1.5 million students, nearly four times the 39,000 available

in 2000. But 75 per cent of technical graduates and more than 85 per cent of general students

are unemployable." Thus it shows that out system is lacking in term of soft skills and even they

are admitting this problem, so equal importance should be given to soft skills as that to regular

courses

31

Visit to Kindergarten, Germany:

To study education system in Germany we have visited a Kindergarten and interacted

with the tutors over there and noted down so key points of the system

Date: Tuesday, 13th May, 2014.

Site: Kindergarten, Aachen

Some key points about the system of Kindergarten in Germany

Eligible Age Group: 3-6 years

Duration: Minimum 1 year, can be extended

In-house facilities: Bathroom, Play Area, Eating Area, Indoor play house, Classrooms,

outdoor garden, pool, etc. There is facility for overnight stay in case of parental emergencies

or so.

Examinations: Certificate awarded for successful completion. No competitive grades are

awarded so that admission into the primary school is not like a rat race or so.

Ownership Status: There are both private as well as government Kindergartens in Germany.

It is essential that both have to follow some basic norms as set by the Educational Board.

Extra-curricular Activities: Frequent excursions to nearby Park, Kirche, Schools, Tierpark,

Theaters for fun as well as some socio-religious-cultural enhancement.

Teacher - Student Ratio: 2:20 (pretty good)

Medium of Language: German

Technical Knowledge: They are taught basic reading, writing, listening, observation skills with

an optimum and efficient usage of audio as well as video resources. When asked for the reason,

their point of view was – a child’s growth is in a primitive stage and all the senses must equally

develop. Use of audio and video devices reduces the monotonic (boring) nature of the class (It

is a KG, after all). Social interaction (manners and habits) and communication with people,

each other is also high on their agenda for all round development of the child.

Conclusion: Overall, the kindergarten system is pretty well established with overall

development of child as a sole priority. Because of strict norms by the board, there is no

commercialization and hence quality is maintained. The rules are actually implemented too –

For example- We were not granted permission to capture the photos of the students in the

classroom for security reasons.

32

33

34

35

System in German Schools (Primary, Secondary, Higher

Secondary):

Primary education is from Class 1 to Class 4 followed by Secondary School and Higher

Secondary from Class 5 to Class 12.

Medium of language is German. However, there are English medium schools too but limited.

Like India, they too have the system of 2nd and 3rd Language. For example – English is the 2nd

language and Spanish or French as 3rd language.

The classrooms are semi-automated with projector, marker-pen board, chalk board, paper

support which so ever is to be used. Audio and video resources are considered as more than

30% of the “classroom TRP” improvers. Unfortunately, not many field trips are organized by

the school administration. This is astonishing as Germans are supposed to be the “practical

guys”. They are indeed, but in a different way. They are so highly self-motivated that they grow

themselves into practical people. Be it bikes, motorcycles or a car, many of them are well

aware of their working/ repairing, etc. In the semester breaks, no summer camp or something

is organized by school facilities for co-curricular activities. Private institutions who specialize

only in these fields take the initiative to organize extracurricular activities, camps, personality

development workshops, etc.

Examination structure is also similar to that in India with an end Semester examination

and small examinations every month or so. Students are offered extra-curricular/ hobbies

during the school for example sports, yoga (fitness), learning to play a musical instrument,

dancing, sketching, etc. But, the school authorities will not help you focus to build it as your

secondary career or so. A more detailed description can be found in the below interview of a

German student who had his schooling in Bremen.

Arpit: What is the structure of schooling after kindergarten?

Interviewee 1: The primary school is from Class 1 to Class 4. It is followed by Secondary

School from Class 5 to Class 12 (higher secondary).

Arpit: What is the medium of language used in teaching? Are foreign languages are also

offered?

Interviewee 1: Deutsch is the primary language with English as a mandatory secondary

language. Other languages like French, Spanish and Latin are also offered and can be opted

for.

Arpit: What is a common duration (start and end) of an academic year in School?

Interviewee 1: Classes begin in August-September with 2 weeks of Christmas and Easter

Break. The term ends in July followed by around 6 weeks of summer break.

Arpit: Does the school administration organize any special summer camps or workshops for

example in sports, or other hobbies? How does a German student spend the breaks?

Interviewee 1: The families either go on a vacation, or send their children to such summer

camps/ workshops organized by private institutions.

Arpit: How does the government support the education sector? Fee structure, Private/

government run schools, etc?

36

Interviewee 1: The schools run by government from Class 1 to Class 12 have no tuition fees

unlike their private counterparts (they provide scholarships, though). The private schools are

slightly better in terms of facilities provided.

Arpit: What are the common facilities/ equipment used in teaching?

Interviewee 1: Projectors, beamers even in Government schools.

Arpit: Is the education system centralized in Germany?

Interviewee 1: Quite centralized. The examination level, teaching standards differ across

states. For example in Bavaria, the examinations are really tough and in Bremen, they are the

worst. So, for transparency in the admission to University, the universities screen the

applications based on both - their marks and the state from where they come from. Quite

weird and untrustworthy, but looking at the population and number of applications, it is

manageable.

Arpit: Does the school authorities offer extracurricular courses or training in sports, musical

instruments, yoga, etc.?

Interviewee 1: No, the school just organizes maybe a football game, some special sessions on

other sports or hobbies like yoga or so. The school authorities do not motivate to develop a

student’s skills into a potential career. The student has to go to a private training center to

hone his skills.

Arpit: Are teaching oriented workshops and seminars conducted for the teachers in

Germany?

Interviewee 1: Yes, but most of them don’t see the need to actually change themselves.

Arpit: How is the child guided through his college life? Do the college authorities help in

through guidance counseling, etc.?

Interviewee 1: The child must learn to be self-motivated to tackle the system. Registration for

an examination for example has to be approved by a professor, or a specific date has to be

negotiated with. The college administration will not individually email everyone about

deadlines, etc.

Note: More detailed answers can be found in the audio clip of the conversation from the

below link

Interview of German Student Audio Recording

37

Universities in Germany:

Admission to any Bachelor Programs in German Universities is done directly through

applications based on the marks secured in High School. There is no separate admission test

conducted for the normalization of students across the country. Admissions to Master degree

programs also follow similar procedures and GRE, IELTS is sometimes used as a selection

criteria element. For courses instructed in German, a minimum B2 or C1 European framework

German language specification is mandatory.

The typical duration for a Bachelor Program is 3 years with 6 semesters and the Masters

courses take any time between 2-4 years. The Master courses are generally coupled with an

internship and a thesis as requirement. The thesis which is research based is carried out mostly

in Industries exposing the students to the industry environment.

Every typical course is divided into two parts: a Lecture and an Exercise. Concepts and

topics are discussed in the lectures which are generally taught by a Dr. Ing Professor while the

exercises are conducted by the assistants who are generally people who completed their

Masters and pursuing their research & doctorate in the University for more than a year or two.

They are thus given exposure to teaching and are also financially assisted for the job.

Coming to teaching methods, the courses follow specific guidelines set by the

department and follow a script called lecture notes for most of the course content.

Courses are taught interactively using digital slides with videos (e-lectures). The

courses are frequently updated with information of latest technologies to keep track with the

world. The slides also include experimental data and research done by the institute and some

proprietary material which are other. Working models like those in the figures below are used

to explain mechanisms. Also components or machines are mostly brought to class or shown

before teaching about them to give a clear picture to the students.

Every course is generally coupled with at least one lab session to give students

knowledge of applications to theory. Majority of the projects and assignments are conducted

in teams.

Concluding, coupling academics with practical work in each and every course where

possible develops the student’s understanding ability as well as exposes him to the technology

used in industries.

A more detailed description can be found in the below interview of a Indian Student

studying his masters in Germany

Arpit: Which program are you in?

Interviewer 2: I am doing my Masters in Mechanical Engineering

Arpit: How long have you been here?

Interviewer 2: I am here since October 2012.

Arpit: So you must have done your bachelors from India?

Interviewer 2: Yes

38

Arpit: How easy was it switching from the Indian Education System to the German Education

System?

Interviewer 2: Almost same like timings of classes, examination etc. but the courses are

better

Arpit: When do the courses generally begin?

Interviewer 2: It begins in October generally

Arpit: How are the classes spread across the week?

Interviewer 2: The classes happen like one or two in day from morning to evening compared

to India where we have classes everyday

Arpit: Why Germany over India and other countries?

Interviewer 2: Actually after my Bachelors I was working for two years then I thought of

masters in Abroad as its common thing that Bachelors in India is better and Masters in

Abroad. I had other options like USA and Singapore but I choose Germany because of

cultural experiences

Arpit: How do you rate your experience here?

Interviewer 2: It was awesome I had taken some time to adjust to exams and all but now I

am comfortable

Arpit: What is with the system of Oral examinations here?

Interviewer 2: They were taken when less no. of students are enrolled and a professor is not

interested in a written exam. Also if a person fails in a written exam he is then allowed to

take an oral exam and complete the course rather than repeating it again

Arpit: If you are hypothetical doing your Masters in India would you rate it better or same as

here or less

Interviewer 2: Ya, this Masters here is a lot better than in India. Here there is no compulsory

attendance so if the course is not good or you are busy or you are working you can skip the

classes and also you can drop your course a week before examination etc. Giving you more

flexibility.

Arpit: How do you rate the teaching methods?

Interviewer 2: It’s almost same but is much more professional and classes use interactive

models etc.

Arpit: How helpful are the professors?

Interviewer 2: Yes they are good they might not know you by name like in India. But if you

approach them they are pretty much helpful and clear your doubts. Generally they are busy

so you need to take appointments but someone either the professor or his assistants will

respond and clear your doubts

Arpit: Would you prefer to work in Germany?

Interviewer 2: Ya, I would like to settle down and work here in Germany. It is a beautiful

place

Arpit: That’s it, thank you for the interview

Interviewer 2: Ok, bye

39

Chapter 5. Conclusions

From our literature review, we conclude that poor education system now has been a

problem in our country. Bright minds are going outside and help in developing economies of

other countries. We have established IITs, IIMs, law schools and other institutions of

excellence; but they literally seem no use towards country progress. Students at various school

levels now routinely score 90% marks so that even students with 90+ percentages find it

difficult to get into the colleges of their choice; but we do more of the same old stuff. Lots of

money of government is invested whose outcome is not as predicted by various policy makers.

Something is not right with this system, it need to be studied. We are towards globalization.

Until we won’t improve our institution; this big fish will swallow the whole country’s economy.

Thanks to those who are helping our country by returning from the foreign and bringing

technology and money in country. Our project is also based on this philosophy, it’s now

become urgency that we should start learning from our fellow developed country and

implement those ideologies here.

After the field visit, meeting with teachers and administrative staff (a link has been

added after the conclusion from which the below mentioned conclusion was drawn out), and

our own research, we have developed the following guidelines to help improve overall

education systems in relatively rural places like Mandi. Some of our suggestions include:

From the analysis of Question 1 about enjoyment of studies, with almost 50% outright

interested in studies, there seems to be great scope for development in Mandi as far as

the education sector is concerned. With the IIT leading the way, there is huge potential

for the town to become an educational hub in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

E-Learning with use of technology needs to be emphasized. The infrastructural and

teaching methods are indeed up to the mark (they do meet the basic requirements) but

they can be made better by for example use of – projectors to show power point

presentations, audio/ video clips for better understanding, etc. This can not only make a

teacher’s life easier but also expose the child to better technological gadgets which will

help him adapt to when he steps out of the school pursuing higher education or jobs.

The number of aspiring teachers is not as high as the number of aspiring engineers or

doctors or managers. Some of the reasons being less packages (money, basically), serving

the society is not a big deal for today’s generation. Because of this there is not much

competition and the teachers are not willing to teach for the sake of imparting knowledge

but to earn money.

Teacher Training Workshops: Frequent workshops and trainings can be organized to

motivate the teachers too in their work. Their own way of teaching can be improved and

this should fall positively for both parties.

Role of teacher can be improved: The teacher must examine each and every child during

the class hours for any unwanted symptoms or special talents. For example the teacher

must keep motivating students to not only study academics but also pursue a secondary

40

profession as a hobby (something which one enjoys while not studying). Who knows, in

future, it might just become your primary profession?

There MUST NOT be any pressure for securing the Number 1 position in the class because

out of a class of maybe 50-60, only 1 person can attain it. This does not mean the others

are not up to the mark. There should be no pressure from the parental side too because

all it will lead to is unwanted trauma and stress which can lead to potential suicide.

The teachers must also become part time psychologists or counselors to identify special

talent in a child and inform the parents of the same. This will help the child identify the

correct career graph and avoid going along the wrong path with his other colleagues.

One essential point put forth by the Teacher interviewed was salary. The government can

evaluate the salaries of the teachers over various regions and assess the effort put by

them. Inter teacher competition is to be encouraged so that a so called ‘safe’ government

job is not misused and taken for granted. For example – strict rules over allowances of a

teacher, ensuring quality of teaching based on the class’ performance over a period of

time, keeping a check on factors like punctuality, manners, etc.

The government should evaluate the role played by a school in a child’s career and try to

find a solution to why there is an increasing trend in coaching culture? Coaching classes

are we all know, private based, so the employees are bound to get more salary (general

conception). Does this hurt the teachers in schools and their teaching methods get

affected? This is a genuine question one will ask. If the quality of teaching is not up to the

mark, only then will the child be sent to a coaching class for better understanding.

Use of English language as a primary medium of communication has to be encouraged

with the local/ mother tongue as secondary language. This is because a child’s career

cannot be constricted to the boundaries of his/ her city or the state. He has to cross the

borders and face the world at some stage or the other. Knowledge of an internationally

recognized language is absolutely essential in today’s world in order to effectively put

your point across and communicate.

Development as a complete human being is also very important along with academics.

Hobbies and extra -curricular activities need to be motivated from a very early stage in

life. For example, learning musical instruments, making a career out of sports, singing,

dance, arts, etc. These must be motivated by parents as well as teachers and can become

your source of income in the future. The sole reason being – If everyone becomes

engineers and doctors, then firstly unemployment will only rise, entertainment, serving

the society will perish and poverty will rise. There has to be a balance in the state.

41

Analysis and Conclusions of Interviews conducted in

Germany:

After 2 interviews with students– (one a German National currently in his Bachelor

program and the other – an Indian Masters student and a visit to Kindergarten, we have some

startling conclusions about the system.

Germany is a developed country as we all know. The system implemented in the

education sector is commendable. The German government financially aides all educational

institutions run by it. Which means, as one of our interviewee mentioned, the education from

class 1 to Class 12 is completely free of cost. Also, in the Masters and Bachelors programs at

certain universities, there are grants and funding that removes the concept of tuition fees

altogether.

The system focuses on the comfort zone of the students. It is up to the students to

decide which course to attend and which course to appear the examination for. There is no

compulsory attendance in lectures. A student may attend all lectures but may appear for a

selected number of examinations. One does not register for any courses but for the

examinations he is going to take. For example, a student can appear for a course examination

in the summer semester even though the actual physical lectures had taken place in the

previous semester. This is a feature which can and has to be implemented in the country.

Imparting knowledge must not be constrained but made freely available to all those who crave

for it. A student may use electronic gadgets for his own better understanding or even personal

reasons – the only criteria being to not disturb the professor or the class. Also, it is NOT so

easy to fail in Germany. The reason is that Germany provides students with another

opportunity but unlike that in India which is like an ATKT (Allowed to Keep Term)/ Backlog

which is a black spot in someone’s Resume. The student who fails a written examination is

invited by the professor-in-charge for an ORAL Examination. Only failing in this format of

examination can fail a student. The examination patterns are also innovative – there is no rote

learning and all questions are application and conceptual. One needs to really understand the

theory and learn to apply it. Last minute studies do not come to one’s rescue here.

The e-Portals also have the lecture slides, exercise tasks and their solutions along with

e-Lectures which is the video recording of the lecture for future use by the student. Though it

may prevent a student from attending class, it is a useful revision tool or to fix the final pieces

of the jigsaw puzzle.

The culture here is such that people prefer partying at nights for any reason

whatsoever which means they earn their right to party by efficiently and judiciously utilizing

the time available in the previous day.

As far as technology goes, right from schools, the students are exposed to beamers,

projectors, power point presentations, short movie clips (audio/ video), white boards, chalk

boards, etc. that do not come as a surprise “what is this thing?” when they grow up. A topic in

Mechanical Engineering such as Dynamics of Machines which includes topics like Moments,

crank shaft, rocker, etc. can never be taught be imagining the possible movements and

42

situations in air or own paper. To solve the problems, the professors or their accomplices use

this. It is a portal which contains demonstration models of mechanisms, electronic simulations

of the same. The professor actually gets these models to class and will physically demonstrate

various crank rocker variations. This really opens up a student’s mind to the possibilities or the

real life action.

Another unique aspect is the self-motivation/independence, ability to work on own of a

student. A student will not be informed for example of upcoming events or changes in lecture

venues or such petty issues. He/ she needs to himself keep updated via certain portals meant

for those reasons. For example, it is the student’s responsibility to get him/ she enrolled to a

course, registered for an examination, negotiate any time clashes or so.

Something of a concern here is support for extra-curricular activities. The school/ college

administration does not actively participate in the flourishing of these things. As mentioned

by the German interviewee, it is up to the families to send their child to private institutions

which offer such trainings for example playing musical instruments or if someone wants to

really become a sportsperson.

These were some of the different aspects about the respective education systems between

the East and the West as a matter of fact. No system is perfect. It needs to be made perfect.

There is no harm in accepting someone’s good points and implementing the in ours’ if it is for

our own welfare.

Technical Solution:

The Mechanical Department of RWTH Aachen University uses an open source library

called DMG-lib which is developed by RWTH and various other institutes in the world, for

various interactive videos and mechanism designs which are used in teaching the courses.

The Digital Mechanism and Gear Library (DMG-Lib), headquartered in Ilmenau is a

power center for research information with the aim of collecting, preserving, networking and

multimedia presentation of the extensive knowledge about mechanisms and gears for a wide

public. The structure of this digital library includes books, journal articles and scientific journals,

a functional model, in the form of videos and interactive animations will be presented. The

DMG-Lib is mainly supported by the German Research Foundation.

The library is released under open source license so the contents of it can be used by anyone

in the world. The content also contains details for fabricating of various functional models

which can be used in teaching concepts. There are many such projects made worldwide like

KMODDL (Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library), Taiwan's Antique Mechanism Teaching

Models Digital Museum, The Archimedes Project, National Museum of Science and

Technology, Milano (Italy), etc. which can be used as a great resource of knowledge and to

make teaching experience better.

43

Implementation of a proposed Technical Solution in a school

in Kamand

Our team visited a Primary School in Kamand Village. A class of 19 was first taught about the Solar System using the conventional chalk board method. And then a small questionnaire was conducted to check how well the students have understood the concepts. After which the same thing was taught in an interactive way using a video and a similar questionnaire thereafter. The results were as expected and positive. They revealed that the student found it more easy and fun to learn when taught in an interactive way using audio-visuals. The students now have scored well in the test and have a better understanding of the concept. The team met the principal of the school after the class. According to him even though the students perform poorly in academics compare to other corporate schools, they grasp the things easily in the class. Involving such interactive course content in the syllabus will help them a lot to excel in academics. All they lack is proper, well defined syllabus and efficient teaching methods coupled with competitive resources.

The teachers also appreciated our efforts and requested us to visit them more often and teach similarly. We have also developed an app using yapp which make it easier for any teacher in country to improve his the interaction with students. We also made a prototype of the animated books which will greatly help in making education more interactive.

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Conclusion:

Personally, we felt really happy that we helped students BUT it was very sad when the teacher asked us to visit again. This was because even though they liked and endorsed the teaching method using audio-videos, they are helpless as the school authorities do not possess any technological devices to exploit. The HRD Ministry can intervene here by ensuring there is not much gap between an urban or rural educational institute, be it private or public. India has a pool of talent spread across villages, towns and cities. It is the government’s responsibility to identify the talent and nurture it. The very essential requirement here is providing all with equal facilities and opportunities.

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Recommendations:

After 3 grueling months travelling across India as well as in Germany we have lot of suggestions

which if implemented could be the dawn of the rise of India as a superpower.

In Germany, at the university level there are 2 such types – Technischehochschule (TH

– a kind of technical university) and Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences.

University of Applied Sciences (FH) University (eg. TH)

Focus on practical applications

Focus on theoretical principles

Examinations based on the information

given during lectures Examinations often cover far more

material than discussed in the lectures

Research: small projects, variable,

practically-oriented

Basic research! Some projects take a

lifetime

Professors: 5 years experience in industry Professors: often only university

experience

The students must realize if they wish to pursue a career towards a job, business or research

and accordingly choose a university. This is a really good initiative as it will have people with

common interests come together.

Review of teachers’ performance: The teachers in India are underpaid (from a feedback

of a teacher from a school in Mandi). There is stark difference in the salaries and

treatment of teachers in private and government institutions. There should be a strict

check on a teacher’s performance by organization of frequent teacher oriented

workshops their own development. In Germany, if a teacher fails to show up for 3 days,

then he/she is handed over with the suspension letter the very next day.

Attendance: We strongly agree that if someone pays 100% concentration in class, then

half of his exam is done. But, not all students have this ability to learn during class. He/

she may not feel comfortable with the teaching methods or qualities of students. There

is no point wasting that student’s 1 hour just because the professor’s ego gets hurt if

the class is empty. Rather, they must try and find the reason behind less attendance

and improve themselves! Here in Germany, students can eat, drink whatever they

want but they must not disturb the instructor.

Examination: The examinations here are conducted very differently from those in India.

We strongly recommend examinations which test a child’s reasoning, critical thinking

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and analytic skills AND NOT rote learning, memory skills. For example, case studies,

hypothetical situations. Basically, a professor must take pains and set a question paper

and not just copy paste definitions, etc from text books.

There should be well defined and separate classes and tutorials (exercises). These must

be taken seriously taken.

Interactive teaching using physical demonstrative tools. Be it an IC Engine, a small

turbine model, a jet or even a small mechanism in a Dynamics of Machines Class. DMG

is a special project developed here in Germany which has links as well as physical

demonstrative models which will help the student better visualize the question for

example. Using videos, mobile/ tablet applications integrated into the Aakash Tablet

for example can lead to better learning especially in schools.

Choosing a specialization quite early in one’s career.

“In India, one gets an Engineer’s degree and then chooses what he wishes to pursue as a

career.” – This was a statement made in the first chapter of the report. Here in Germany they

do not have junior college like we do. They have but continuous schooling from Class 1 to Class

XII. Based on the interview with one of the German students, one gets to choose his/ her

courses after class 8 or 9 which are more oriented to what he wishes to do in future.

Union Human Resources Development Ministry in India can take bold and difficult

steps to streamline the education system.

There is gross difference between the quality of education, mindset of teachers

and facilities provided by private and government institutions.

Education in Germany is completely free till Class XII with the institutions aided

by government grants. Even universities in Germany are completely funded so

that the students need not pay any tuition fees. This is difficult in India primarily

due to population but something can definitely be changed here.

Centralization of boards: ICSE, CBSE, ISC, IGCSE, and various state boards- all

these examination boards are out of phase with each other and it takes

examinations like IITJEE, AIEEE, BITSAT to unite and normalize them which is

not only a complex but an unjust procedure in itself. In Germany, there are no

national level entrance examinations for admission into universities for

bachelor program. The Class XII or ABITUR result coupled with the application

form does the job.

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References:

Times higher education ranking 2013 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2013 -14/subject-ranking/subject/engineering-and-IT

Ministry of Human Resource Development 2011 http://mhrd.gov.in/over_test11

Andrew White “Indian Students Flock To The U.S.” article in Forbes, Aug 2007 http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/05/india-america-students-oped-cz_aa w_0813students.html

MHRD outcome budget higher education 2007-08 http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/OutcomeBudget07-08-HE_0_0.pdf

MHRD outcome budget higher education 2013-14 http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/OutcomeBgt_2013-14-HE-E.pdf

IEE : Institute of International Education 2013 http://www.iie.org/Services/Project-Atlas/United-States/International-Students-In-US

ABS : Australian Bureau of Statistics Dec 2011 http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20Dec+2011#WHEREAPPLICATION

UNESCO Global education digest 2010 http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Pages/DocumentMorePage.aspx?docIdValue=210&docIdFld=ID

Education System in India, Wikipedia page 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India

Education System in Germany, Wikipedia page 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany

WES, World Education Services, Oct 2009 http://www.wes.org/educators/pdf/StudentMobility.pdf

IFIH survey on Indian education, 2005 http://ifih.org/surveybackground.htm

Hothousemedia, Survey by hothouse media, Feb 2013 http://www.hothousemedia.com/ltm/ltmbackissues/feb13web/feb13agencysurvey.html

“Journal of American Indian Education system”, Vol. 10 No.1 by AlonzoSpang. “Problems in Educational System”, by Rakshak Foundation,

http://www.rakshakfoundation.org/research/educational-reforms/problems-in-educational-system

“Right to education Act and stakeholder perception in School system”, by Teacher plus http://www.teacherplus.org/2010/july-2010/right-to-education-act-andstakeholder-perception-in-school-systems

“The school system in India”, by Angloinfo http://india.angloinfo.com/family/schooling-education/school-system/

Education in Germany, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany World Bank, India Overview, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview

FH-Aachen,http://www.fh-aachen.de/en/university/ios/faqs-and-general-

information/

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Appendix: Questionnaire 1

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50

Questionnaire 2

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Questionnaire 3

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