Indian Education System

PM reviews NEP implementation​

Taking stock of the progress of implementation of the National Education Policy, (NEP) 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday underlined the need for a combination of online and offline learning in schools to avoid “overexposure of technology” among children.

At a review meeting, attended by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and top officials from CBSE, NCERT and UGC among others, Modi also instructed that databases maintained by anganwadi centres be integrated with records maintained by schools to ensure a smooth flow of children from pre-primary classes to Class I.

“Modi observed that a hybrid system of online and offline learning should be developed to avoid overexposure of technology of school-going children,” according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
indianexpress.com

PM reviews NEP implementation

Modi also instructed that databases maintained by anganwadi centres be integrated with records maintained by schools to ensure a smooth flow of children from pre-primary classes to Class I.
indianexpress.com indianexpress.com
 
I liked the semester system in 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 . Will make it less life and death situation , which it is today . Also cognitive games , memory games , puzzle etc to be introduced in pre school . shd also be in early school level . Many innovative games , activities etc can be introduced .

 
You've brought up a very important and nuanced topic. The Indian education system is indeed a paradox — while it has produced some of the most brilliant minds globally, it also faces criticism for being rigid, exam-centric, and often disconnected from real-world application.


Strengths of the system include:


  • Strong foundation in core subjects like math and science, which has helped many Indians excel in engineering, medicine, and technology.
  • Competitive exams that foster resilience and discipline.
  • A large pool of dedicated educators in both urban and rural sectors who are committed to teaching despite limited resources.

However, the weaknesses can't be ignored:


  • Creativity and critical thinking often take a back seat to rote memorization.
  • Curriculum gaps in practical and vocational skills.
  • Household pressure to pursue only "secure" careers like engineering or medicine, which can stifle personal interest and passion.
  • The brain drain is real — a reflection not only of better opportunities abroad but also of domestic underutilization of talent.

Facilitating change doesn't just begin with policies or new syllabi — it begins at home. Encouraging curiosity, giving children the freedom to fail, explore arts, sports, and new-age careers like design, digital marketing, AI, etc., is crucial.


Let’s also advocate for:


  • More skill-based learning and internships integrated with education.
  • Building mental health support systems in schools.
  • Promoting teacher training programs that emphasize innovation and compassion.

Our collective goal should be to empower the next generation not just to be employable, but to be thoughtful, creative, and responsible citizens. The change will take time, but it starts with conversations like this.
 
MPU said:
You've brought up a very important and nuanced topic. The Indian education system is indeed a paradox — while it has produced some of the most brilliant minds globally, it also faces criticism for being rigid, exam-centric, and often disconnected from real-world application.


Strengths of the system include:


  • Strong foundation in core subjects like math and science, which has helped many Indians excel in engineering, medicine, and technology.
  • Competitive exams that foster resilience and discipline.
  • A large pool of dedicated educators in both urban and rural sectors who are committed to teaching despite limited resources.

However, the weaknesses can't be ignored:


  • Creativity and critical thinking often take a back seat to rote memorization.
  • Curriculum gaps in practical and vocational skills.
  • Household pressure to pursue only "secure" careers like engineering or medicine, which can stifle personal interest and passion.
  • The brain drain is real — a reflection not only of better opportunities abroad but also of domestic underutilization of talent.

Facilitating change doesn't just begin with policies or new syllabi — it begins at home. Encouraging curiosity, giving children the freedom to fail, explore arts, sports, and new-age careers like design, digital marketing, AI, etc., is crucial.


Let’s also advocate for:


  • More skill-based learning and internships integrated with education.
  • Building mental health support systems in schools.
  • Promoting teacher training programs that emphasize innovation and compassion.

Our collective goal should be to empower the next generation not just to be employable, but to be thoughtful, creative, and responsible citizens. The change will take time, but it starts with conversations like this.
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India is still a poor country wtr to per capita and very few jobs other than engineer or doctor pay well...if your interest is writing books ,maybe if you were born in the West you have a potential future but in India it's almost impossible. But we need to produce much better engineers. We need to have a nationwide engineering standards Authority which judges engineering graduates based on their personal projects and technical skills tested in an exam and also a small interview....this validation by the authority should aim to make engineering graduates from even small colleges be capable. We also need to produce way more scientists, ppl only going for IT nowadays.

BTW it's a myth we produce mostly engineers, in southern India that's true but most degrees from northern region is in humanities. Our Defence Sedretary did his BA in History or something but he is in charge of modernizing our military along with turtle 🥲
 
Subgradewalker said:
We need to revamp the accreditation criteria of universities. UGC has become an outdated body run by people who have failed to keep up with the world. Chai Samosa takes precedence over quality of education. If your campus is big enough, with students being enrolled to fill seats.. bingo.. you can be a "leading" University. It doesn't matter if the said universities even have the machines/tools/equipment to teach kids the course. Just usual parroting and 12th Grade experiments. Changing the criteria will atleast start reflecting the true state of Indian universities, making people aware and pushing universities to move beyond land grabs and maybe towards grabbing latest machines.

I am not even kidding. I was appalled at the state of JECRC jaipur which comes under one of the leading University of 'CAPITAL' of Rajasthan. They taught us things by mandating to pencil down everything said by teacher from their "notes" and experiments that a US kid would have likely done in his garage at 14. I ofcourse dropped out. Basically, connect wire, take readings whoosh. B.TECH in India is a joke. That leaves M.Tech to cover basic aspects too. Making it inefficient as a M.TECH. which obviously reflects in PhD studies too. The lack of resources to pursue a research program in 99% of the uni is also a glaring problem with India.


But then, its also due to the poor state of manufacturing India found itself in. Even today, with all the progress, advanced manufacturing and production alludes us. It will change with units being set up. But you are looking at a backlog of 40-50 years.

Manufacturing is important cause it reduces the cost of tools needed by institutions. Also, the fact that not everything is even available on market.
That's why student led R&D gets limited to 3-4 IITs, IISc and few other institutions barely crossing double digit mark. Cause govt provides funds and connnection to them to have those resources. Example, An IIT professor can apply for advanced centrifuge and get approval from the foreign company. But a professor from JECRC won't even know where to start. Let alone the kids.

A vicious cycle which needs constant efforts from GOI to end this cycle and usher into "atma-nirbhar" bharat. So, anyone criticising the initiative or questioning it's significance... This is just the tiniest of what it means to be self independent. It's not about just making own S-400. It's also about making our own chemicals, vaccines, CNC machines, heck.. a syringe! PPE kits, The Bandaids...

Look at the figures. India was deeply fragile till just 25 years ago. 2000-2013 saw independence in low level software domain and final products FMCG sector. Then look at the work since last 10. you will find how much dependent we still are on others for basic things even and how much we have covered the ground. Then you might realise the significance of make in India, it's progress and the GOIs vision. Otherwise TATA was east Indian company with Indian license before 1991. Extract, Process, export, import final products. Syringes came from China, cars from Japan, coldrinks from USA.

Every month there's a new narrative, new attempt to stall the progress, Raghu Ranjan predicting downfall every quater.. but ever thought, why still we keep moving forward? Cause while I-phone assembly and Hammers make the headlines.. the syringes, APIs ( Active pharmaceutical ingredients) , toys ( plastic production, technology, marketing, designing), PPE kits, nuts... The list is looking... They don't make headlines. But units and clusters keep coming up away from spotlight.. making us resilient and atmanirbhar slowly and steadily.

So, no.. we are not being vocal and doing band baja baraat sunlike China. We are making noise only to attract investment and attention in Big and advanced things that we need help to catch up to. The real deal is happening away from noise. The foundation. It gets lost in the blanket terms of "electronics production", " defense production". And that's good. Cause we have still 100x to cover to catch up. And that's where the govt needs to be pushed. To fasten it. But who will push them? The opposition would rather derail govt away from it with the kind of opposition India finds itself dealing with. The Anti-development and pro-naxal mindset of theirs.

Sorry I got derailed. I recently searched for opportunities under "import substitution" and realised the quagmire India was in , is in and will remain in if we keep mocking the very things we need and if old guard ever comes back.

Dhanyawad.
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Posting this here. Seems more relevant.


Also this. In one of our "leading" universities where students flock to.

VIT Protests: Vehicles set ablaze, Chancellor’s bungalow damaged: Student protests rock VIT Bhopal over jaundice outbreak

The babus of India leave no stone unturned to fill pockets and look the other way. India ( including other babus) suffer the 'unintended' consequences of it. Inke aage to chor ucchake bi bhole bhale lagte h
 
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Subgradewalker said:
Posting this here. Seems more relevant.


Also this. In one of our "leading" universities where students flock to.

VIT Protests: Vehicles set ablaze, Chancellor’s bungalow damaged: Student protests rock VIT Bhopal over jaundice outbreak

The babus of India leave no stone unturned to fill pockets and look the other way. India ( including other babus) suffer the 'unintended' consequences of it. Inke aage to chor ucchake bi bhole bhale lagte h
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Most people aspiring for IAS IPS view it as a ticket to make money and lead a stable life not to serve society, and that's because of the fuedal mindset and even fuedal reality that's present in vast swathes of the country especially in eastern India which is amongst the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in the entire world, poorer than even most parts of Africa. The colonial legacy means IAS IPS are at the top of this fuedal heaiarchy but those at the bottom can come to tbe top. The failure of successive governments to foster the development of industry and employment has resulted in this situation. This is why you see people in Bihar, UP trying harder than most other regions to enter IAS IPS.

Many people who come to the IAS service are from families who are amongst the poorest and neglected sections of society, they endure decades of ambivalence from the government and have to go through harsh survival in a brutal third world society, so when they come to these positions like IAS they prioritize their familial well being over the well being of the country and society, because the society itself molded them like this. One IAS I met lived with her family in a home not much bigger than the living room and kitchen of my home, and her father had been fighting a court case against his former employer who had cheated him for almost 20 years. Now if you were that babu, what would you do once you entered the service?

For us over here who I am guessing are relatively well off, its easier to think of abstract ideas such as the general well being of the country, building it's strength and capabilities, strategic competition with China Pakistan etc but those who come from backgrounds that I mentioned above such things mean very little infront of the harsh lives they have led in a poor and underdeveloped society like ours.
 
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RationalGuy said:
Most people aspiring for IAS IPS view it as a ticket to make money and lead a stable life not to serve society, and that's because of the fuedal mindset and even fuedal reality that's present in vast swathes of the country especially in eastern India which is amongst the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in the entire world, poorer than even most parts of Africa. The colonial legacy means IAS IPS are at the top of this fuedal heaiarchy but those at the bottom can come to tbe top. The failure of successive governments to foster the development of industry and employment has resulted in this situation. This is why you see people in Bihar, UP trying harder than most other regions to enter IAS IPS.

Many people who come to the IAS service are from families who are amongst the poorest and neglected sections of society, they endure decades of ambivalence from the government and have to go through harsh survival in a brutal third world society, so when they come to these positions like IAS they prioritize their familial well being over the well being of the country and society, because the society itself molded them like this. One IAS I met lived with her family in a home not much bigger than the living room and kitchen of my home, and her father had been fighting a court case against his former employer who had cheated him for almost 20 years. Now if you were that babu, what would you do once you entered the service?

For us over here who I am guessing are relatively well off, its easier to think of abstract ideas such as the general well being of the country, building it's strength and capabilities, strategic competition with China Pakistan etc but those who come from backgrounds that I mentioned above such things mean very little infront of the harsh lives they have led in a poor and underdeveloped society like ours.
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Truly a vicious cycle.
 
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RationalGuy said:
Many people who come to the IAS service are from families who are amongst the poorest and neglected sections of society, they endure decades of ambivalence from the government and have to go through harsh survival in a brutal third world society, so when they come to these positions like IAS they prioritize their familial well being over the well being of the country and society, because the society itself molded them like this. One IAS I met lived with her family in a home not much bigger than the living room and kitchen of my home, and her father had been fighting a court case against his former employer who had cheated him for almost 20 years. Now if you were that babu, what would you do once you entered the service?
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Britishers never used to recruit such people during Imperial civil services. Interview was basically for this reason only to check the thought process and candidates background so that the upcoming officer upholds the value of administration. This is why there used to be a saying that interview is toughest to crack.
 
screambowl said:
Britishers never used to recruit such people during Imperial civil services. Interview was basically for this reason only to check the thought process and candidates background so that the upcoming officer upholds the value of administration. This is why there used to be a saying that interview is toughest to crack.
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Bruh in British time hardly those kind of people had an opportunity to give an exam for Peon post you are talking about IAS now. Back then only the well off had the resources to go for IAS exam. Just look at the literacy rate of those time...Back then the avg joe was happy if their kid had passed 7th standard. Cuz that was considered good enough to get a government job..how do I know cuz my great grandfather was a British police officer. Also it wasn't why it was called toughest to crack, it was because they were very corrupt af. The interview process in British days was more about having connection and some moola than your abilities. Way more than the variant of that we see today.
 
redpanda said:
Bruh in British time hardly those kind of people had an opportunity to give an exam for Peon post you are talking about IAS now. Back then only the well off had the resources to go for IAS exam. Just look at the literacy rate of those time...Back then the avg joe was happy if their kid had passed 7th standard. Cuz that was considered good enough to get a government job..how do I know cuz my great grandfather was a British police officer. Also it wasn't why it was called toughest to crack, it was because they were very corrupt af. The interview process in British days was more about having connection and some moola than your abilities. Way more than the variant of that we see today.
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Until late 70's, the standard set by Britishers was followed even though there was reservation( limited mostly to SC) the selection was to be very strict. Interviews used to check the temperament and thought process, know family background. This all stopped and the merit now days is a joke. OBC/ST and others infiltrated.

I know a foreign service officer who doesn't even knew how to draft a letter.
 
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screambowl said:
Britishers never used to recruit such people during Imperial civil services. Interview was basically for this reason only to check the thought process and candidates background so that the upcoming officer upholds the value of administration. This is why there used to be a saying that interview is toughest to crack.
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That's what made them so vicious. Ordinary people were not in control of their own destiny and had to slave away to support the boot of the white man who ruled through a few of his self appointed lackeys from a very restricted social and economic class. Though it is ironic most of our independence fighters came from this very class, such as Subhash Chandra Bose, Nehru, Patel etc. Perhaps it is this which makes our independence struggle so unique compared to the rest of the world.
screambowl said:
Until late 70's, the standard set by Britishers was followed even though there was reservation( limited mostly to SC) the selection was to be very strict. Interviews used to check the temperament and thought process, know family background. This all stopped and the merit now days is a joke. OBC/ST and others infiltrated.

I know a foreign service officer who doesn't even knew how to draft a letter.
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To suggest OBCs and STs are inherently bad officers is foolish, especially considering the percentage of officers who are SC ST is quite low iirc. Most are GC or OBC. And from personal experience as a "GC" person I can tell you, many GC officers are also absolute dumps.
 
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RationalGuy said:
That's what made them so vicious. Ordinary people were not in control of their own destiny and had to slave away to support the boot of the white man who ruled through a few of his self appointed lackeys from a very restricted social and economic class. Though it is ironic most of our independence fighters came from this very class, such as Subhash Chandra Bose, Nehru, Patel etc. Perhaps it is this which makes our independence struggle so unique compared to the rest of the world.

To suggest OBCs and STs are inherently bad officers is foolish, especially considering the percentage of officers who are SC ST is quite low iirc. Most are GC or OBC. And from personal experience as a "GC" person I can tell you, many GC officers are also absolute dumps.
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Almost 50% of the babus are GC btw. Many of them pass those exam without reservation. It's not reservation that is the main problem here, it's the system as whole which is corrupt. It is set up in a way like that going as far as British era. IAS/IPS babus those days too used to exploit the common men. IAS babus back then too acted like demigod. There are enough books from that era that shows this. There are a bunch of Bengali and Odia novels that criticise the behaviour of such babus in those days. The apathetic corrupt behaviour of babus towards their own kins. There anomalies like Bose, Nehru, Patel, etc. but most babus in those days looked downed upon avg joe Indian and justified atrocities of the Raj. I would say those guys left their service to join freedom struggle because they saw the corruption with their own eyes. By corruption here i meant an entirely different kind of corruption.

www.deccanherald.com

46% of IAS/IPS officers from general category, 29.4% OBCs: 2018-22 data

A total of 763 officers — 382 IAS, and 381 IPS — from the general category were inducted during this period, while 486 OBC officers — 243 IAS and IPS officers each — were appointed.
www.deccanherald.com www.deccanherald.com
 
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It's not the reservation or the general caste/SC/ST/OBC problem. Heck, it's not even education system problem.

It's a problem of a outdated, moronic, absolutely pathetic, non sensical EXAM process and content that's the issue.
They are selecting people to manage India! , through what? Through the methodology deeply rooted in an era where Beauracracy was a tool to suppress, not help.
They are selecting people with a process where rote memorization, "practicing" interviews, where "what to say" matters more than what you do.

Once and twice you can blame caste or education.. but if a system repeatedly produces corrupt and oppressive officers even if the raw product was not corrupt.. then it's the system which is lacking. Not the caste.
And on top of that, they have so much protection that govt has no option but to rely on transfers, which becomes tool for hobnobbing rather than accountability.

Rather than teaching them management, they are incentivized to learn "important dates", framing answers from the perspective of a newspaper...
 
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RationalGuy said:
To suggest OBCs and STs are inherently bad officers is foolish,
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OBC is not linked with caste. You will find many upper category people in this OBC slot. And ST has again nothing to do with caste. These two are legal theft of seats. The only thing is that many incompetent people reach the interview due to this. Which in long run hampers the interview quality. For this reason now candidates who during interview have just missed the seat by few marks are called again for different services because in interview their capability has been identified.
 
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