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Sunday, April 16, 2017

Shouldn't even be a topic, right?

Education in any age requires constant analytical assessments to address the challenges that come over time due to changes in lifestyles and national priorities. What was very a good few years ago may not be the right thing to apply in today’s classroom. The question of what is the best changes with time. If a government fails to properly address quality of education, the implications will be devastating. From a metaphoric point of view, education is the wheel that turns a country’s development journey. Consequently, the wheel’s quality will dictate how far and how smooth the journey will be. The implications are vast ranging from mere disciplinary problems in classrooms to grave concerns like unemployment and losing national values and objectives. Therefore, addressing parameters of education constantly to review and evaluate its quality is the most important development factor of a country.

Some of the major implications of not addressing the quality of education will be unemployment crisis, incompetent workers or professionals, adverse effects on the quality of life, economic downturn and finally a country that is engulfed in turmoil and chaos.  

Currently, there are three major revitalization reforms of providing quality education to our children. They are; Transformative Teaching Pedagogy, Central Schools and Premier schools. However, these initiatives will be further met with other challenges that need to be immediately addressed if we want a success story. Some of the issues regarding these new developments are teacher workload, student-teacher ratio, classroom structures, classroom furniture, allocation of resources and motivating teachers. If these challenges are not met, the initial initiatives will only result in a vast amount of loss in resources and time.  On the other hand, school curriculum is at the centre of the quality issue. The curriculum has to be reviewed after every few years to address the challenges that are faced with changes in the economy and other factors influencing the developmental needs of a country. However, there is a paucity of research-based informed decision-making in our education system that is contextually Bhutanese in nature. When we address the quality of education in Bhutan, it should not simply be an initiation of a foreign success story. Addressing the quality of education for Bhutanese children should consider factors that are culturally and societally Bhutanese.

The future of every nation is groomed and nurtured in the schools by education. Therefore, not addressing or not giving importance to the quality of education is sheer ludicrous and without a doubt shouldn’t even be a topic for writing an essay. There is no question why the quality of education shouldn’t be addressed and receive timely evaluation and revaluation.  

Shouldn't even be a topic, right?