'Low-skill development due to exam-centric education'

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is talking about skill development, a report released here Wednesday says 92 percent of teachers across the country believe that the education system in India is exam-centric with lower focus on skill development.

The report, titled "Pearson Voice of Teachers Survey", said 92 percent of teachers agree that the Indian education system is focussed on exams due to which the students lack the required academic, cognitive, and vocational skills.

As a result, half of the students entering a class or grade lack the skills required for that level, signifying low orientation of the system on skill development.

Seventy-two percent of the parents in Madhya Pradesh, the maximum in the country, laid the most emphasis on exam results. In Kerala, this percentage was 61, the lowest in the country.

"This is a very important aspect of the gap in the current assessment framework," Deepak Mehrotra, managing director, Pearson India told IANS.

In this nationwide survey, 5,145 teachers from both school and higher education institutions in 247 cities were interviewed.

Sharing the vision of the prime minister, 94 percent of the teachers agree that skill and personality development are the most important benchmark for measuring learners' success.

Expressing concern through the survey, teachers have also said that in our country very little support comes from parents and policymakers.

"The point being driven is that the parents and policymakers should equally help teachers in improving the skills of students," added Mehrotra.

As per the survey, satisfaction is lower among the higher education teachers particularly with policy makers.

However, the survey also has some good news with 79 percent teachers believing that the learning environment has improved over the past decade.

The school teachers at 93 percent agree more with this than teachers of higher education at 71 percent.

The teachers identified good infrastructure, newer methods of teaching and technological integration as important enablers that have supported them in driving outcomes.

The entire teacher community agrees that introducing newer teaching methodology will be an important factor in improving the education system.

While technology integration can be an important enabler for improvement, it is, however, starkly the lowest in Delhi at 45 percent and highest in Jharkhand at 61 percent.

The survey was released ahead of Teachers' Day celebrated in the country Sep 5.