Learning is life-long either formally or informally. Every level of learning is unique. The passion for continuous learning is necessary for personal and professional development. As the learning level changes in our educational setup, the transition from schooling to higher education is central to the student capability of expressing the creativity and potential towards excellence. Pertinently, whatever is being learnt at school level has a life time impact in terms of the role of schooling in academic, personal, social, behavioural, ethical and emotional development of a learner. At both the levels, the best way to reimagine institutional education is to support a student holistically and enabling him/her in revisiting its approach to connect and engage with diverse kinds of students and other people for better character development enriched with values, ethics and respect besides the classroom knowledge.
Thus, educational institutions need to rethink and reshape the way curriculum is designed, knowledge is imparted, assessments are performed and evaluation is done so as to make the education more meaningful beyond the objective of awarding certificates, diplomas and degrees. This involves reaching out in creative ways with the students so that a learner is prepared for the life and not only for earning only. At the same time, it is the duty of a responsible student/learner to exhibit a strong commitment and to choose a program/course after rigorous research that suit to their individual needs as well as of the society. In fact, the involvement in community activities should be of equal value as are the academic achievements for a learner during the course of enrolment in an educational institution. Thus, connecting educational institutions with societies in terms of learner involvement in understanding the community and society problems and their solution finding must be the cornerstone of curriculum designing and evaluation mechanism.
Further, it is imperative to develop scientific temperament and outlook amongst the learning community of any stream, explain the living world in terms of scientific principles using observation, experimentation, modelling and simulations, satisfy the curiosity of the students and explore their innovative ideas of scientific and non-scientific nature. Psychological wellbeing, enhanced adaptability, peer learning and handling peer pressure, confidence building, empathy, improved personal and inter-personal relationships and stress management are other core areas which demand institutional attention. These will fulfil the requirements for inclusive education.
For this, the institutional administration and faculty should build a relationship-rich environment and eliminate equity gaps, so that a student feels the sense of belongingness in the institution. A student is a hub stakeholder. A student has a right to decide the learning pathway and at the same time to witness a conducive and vibrant campus culture and learning environment. The institutional goal must be to make students’ time on campus more engaging, and participative. Equipping the students with comprehensive, advanced and experiential learning of global standards for better career development and effective problem solving must be one of the core objectives of an institutional vision.
Although, institutions emphasize on excellence and student success, the more is yet to be done to raise standards and employability rates. Curriculum revision is a critical process and it needs commitment and willingness by the faculty to be a part of this revision process through a well operationalised mechanism so as to adjust to changing demands at local and global level. At the same time, imparting life skills assumes higher significance because it is apparent that academic success goes hand in hand with many aspects of students’ lives spent beyond the boundary walls of the institution. Thus, besides the focus on knowledge enrichment, entrepreneurship, technical knowledge and vocational training, imparting crucial soft skills or life skills to learners will rejuvenate the educational sector and make the campuses more inclusive places of identifying, knowing and addressing/solving the real-life problems.
Thus, an institution should offer a plethora of opportunities to the students, which will help them to develop the flare for research, problem solving and analytical thinking. But to achieve that, it is important to honour the learner and encourage them for self-directed learning. Besides, it is equally significant to empower a teacher and support them with professional development and enrichment opportunities with optimum resources. This will rejuvenate their way of working and enable them to innovate in their teaching practices and institutional progression. By student I mean an ideal student who follows the ethics of learning, otherwise teaching-learning process is incomplete.
(The Author is Associate Professor of Zoology, Deputy Controller of Examination, Nodal Officer UGC-National Academic Depository & Academic Bank of Credits at Islamia College of Science & Commerce Srinagar. Feedback: [email protected])
