MAIN STREAM EDUCATION

By Sanjay Ram

ABOUT

Mainstream education is based on the idea of  educating children in a systematic way according to their age group or in other words classroom teaching. Students attend classes according to their schedule or time table given by the educating authority for learning in a proper way or regarding their capability to learn. Most of the schools practice mainstream learning to develop the basics of core concepts which is applied in daily life.

MAIN STREAM EDUCATION IN INDIA AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES

Main stream education in India is also like our mainstream media which focuses only on few topics and does not give any other choices! Unlike most countries which gives freedom to students on taking subjects they like or prefer, in our country it is mandatory to take the core subjects till 10 th. In  countries like Germany, USA , Singapore, till their 6 th grade or till primary level it is mandatory to study core subjects like English, Science and Mathematics, But when they qualify for secondary level they have their choice to study subjects they prefer which can even be vocational subjects which replace core subjects for their interest and growth towards the subject.

In India till 10 th grade we have to study the same subjects which could reduce the interest of learning as core subjects is given more weightage than the vocational subjects. It not only happens in India, countries in middle east like UAE have CBSE or ICSE also gives importance to core subjects .

ADVANTAGES OF MAINSTREAM EDUCATION

Mainstream education gives a sense of equality as students come from different backgrounds are collectively studying the same topics. There is a single teacher for all of the students in the same classroom so learning and competition can be considered logical to an extent. Mainstream education does not discriminates students on disabilities which is different than inclusive education, this gives confidence to the disabled people as they get some perks to provide equality to all, despite their religion, caste and gender.

DISADVANTAGES OF MAINSTREAM EDUCATION

Though Mainstream education is practiced mostly and has been proven to be effective to most of the students, It has also made education to be considered only on the basis of marks. Students sometimes lose interest on the subjects as marks and exams becomes a barrier towards learning. People often judge students based on their marks and not on the knowledge of their subject, In a 3 hour long exam the amount of knowledge cannot be tested or judged.

In India mainstream education is more focused on courses like Engineering, MBBS, Commerce … Well that’s it! Often students don’t prefer vocal courses, Humanities which is even a Mainstream course due to how relatives and friends think as the criteria to get admission is less, Even some of the best schools do not provide Humanities (Arts).

 In Germany, course like plumbing can give jobs which pay salary equal to that of an engineer! In USA, college degree is often not considered to get a job. These things cannot be imagined in India.

CONCLUSION

Mainstream education is not that systematic and logical even though most of the schools practice it, Mainstream education which was supposed to be the best way of learning has flaws in it’s execution area like by exams and marks. Education should be more focused on learning and growth of the children and it can only be accomplished by taking subjects in which a particular students prefer . Interest should matter rather than society which is more focused on core subjects. Unemployment will also increase as there would be lack of jobs , In India unemployment rates are increasing  due to the fact that people are concentrating only on getting a white collar job. So chose your course according to your interest as it will increase efficiency and would be useful for development of our country.