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Are our English-medium educated children becoming robots? #PoorStateOfEducationInIndia #FaultyEducationSystem

Have you noticed a child studying in a reputed English medium school in an Indian city?

Have you seen the slouched shoulders, the unenthusiastic gait, and the resigned expression on the face? School children who mechanically go through the motions of assembly, classwork, lab work, project work, extracurricular activities without any enthusiasm or genuine interest? Why is this so? Do you also feel our children are going to school to become automated creatures without life, without heart?

I have felt this for a long time, especially when I compare my English medium educated child with municipal school students. Children from the lower strata of society, who go to government sponsored vernacular schools, are much better off than our elite school students, I feel. They can play, shout, roam around as per their own sweet will. They have the time to play and run, unlike our children who rush from one tuition to another all day.

Municipal school children get a sit-in mid-day meal every day, which is not only filling to the stomach, but also creates a bond among students. Compare that to elite school students who have hardly half an hour to finish off their tiffin, chat with friends, and play or generally fool around. Their time is measured, and even tiffin time becomes a sort of ritual, where the food is gulped down somehow. Plus, most school canteens generally offer fast food or oily unhealthy snacks.

Correct me if I am wrong, but vernacular school children have a much relaxed study routine and far less academic pressure. Students in elite English medium schools are suffocated with the constant pressure to perform well, particularly in academics. There is no scope for the academically weak or lagging child, who is immediately branded a non-performer, and a source of trouble for the school.

Is this the life we want to give our children? Where they have no time to pause and see the beauties of nature around them? Where they only talk of homework and pending projects and upcoming class tests among themselves? Where they can't connect to what is happening in society around them, simply because it's not in the syllabus?

I really pity our coming generations, for living this wretched life. As parents let us not add to their pressure. Encourage them to spend time doing nothing, just staring outside the window, or watching the sunset. Don't remind them of incomplete assignments. They remember those themselves...allow them some space to relax. Please.

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