Is education expensive?

Education, what is it? what it aims at? did we ever think of questions like these? probably no, is the answer I often get to hear from the parents, students and even from a lot of educationalists. Purpose of education was always intended to gain knowledge, using which, one can shape their carrier.

To what extent is our education actually helping us gain our fruition of daily bread and butter? Let’s look at the aspects which are collectively responsible for embracing the process of learning as education.

Education comprises of learning process of various subjects which include values, subjects, theories and what not in the name of learning. When we look at the structure of school education up to 12th standard, it offers different curricula. There itself, the inquisition of choice arises in the minds of the people.

What to chose? The available options are State Board (SSC), Central Board (CBSE), and Indian School of Certificate (ISC), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), Cambridge (IGCSE), and International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). The experts and educationalists say that IBDP is the best of all, in terms of a curriculum, which focuses on overall and advanced development of the child with a pragmatic approach.

If we look at the standards of the each curriculum, there is a lot of difference in the flow of information, segmentation, teaching methodologies, and a dozen other things. IBDP clearly indicates an international learning platform, where as IGSE is also international standard with a different approach.

When we look within CBSE or State Board, there are numerous differences and CBSE has more scrutinised approach towards moulding a child. And state board doesn’t really serve to the overall development of the child. The teaching methodologies are outdated and there is no much of creativity and importance to extra learning.

State board is highly affordable to any household. CBSE is a little expensive compare to State Board. Very few schools offer both IGCSE and IBDP which again holds a huge difference in terms of fee structure and methods as well, as understood before. The fee structure of each curriculum is incomparable with the other. IBDP being of an International standard, the cost it carries out is also quite international and pretty high. Here comes the question of affordability.

If there are students willing to pursue IBDP, how do they do it? They technically are eligible and deserving candidates but financially, not stable. Education, to be more precise, genuine education comes for a much higher price in this country. The idea is to develop global citizens in this perpetual growing world. By taking up a curriculum like State Board, to what extent will our children excel in life? This seems like the biggest reason behind poor development of the country’s youth.

Will improvisation of the state board curriculum help? The answer is absolutely no. There needs to be re-establishment of the curriculum all together. It can otherwise be called as are revamping of the system. This can be done with the dire involvement of government, educationalists and curricula experts, by including a student panel as well. Often the problem might not be with facilitators and learners but, could be the system itself. Affordability of quality education is must for everyone and eventually it will help the country grow.

BY Kalyan Raygalla