A Reformation much needed than Demonetization!

It’s going to be five months since I started to live in Stockholm. I should have explored half of this city by this time, but you know a student budget works :P . But I did have some quality time here. Roaming in streets of old town of Stockholm itself  an enthralling experience for a guy like me, who prefers music. I have seen the first snowfall of my life; walking in snow,building a snowman,slipping down in the snow,throwing snowball at my friends, believe me I have always lived in cities with temperature around +30 deg Celsius and should I say how a snowfall would make me feel?

Kay! I will write about my Swede life in a different post. I have something more important to put here. This might be a not so uncommon thing to talk in India but I know I can analyze that in a souped up fashion.

I feel and believe that only an indicative education will help us to move towards a healthy and sustainable society and I also believe that education system in India is fairly equal to anything but bull dung, be it primary education or middle school or college or any level. I always know something is wrong but I have never witnessed how a perfect education system will be. When I see the effect of a good dynamic education system in Sweden, I can't be more sure about my belief in good education.

• The education is free for Swedish citizens here. From preschool to Phd. Not only for Swedes but this applies to citizens of other countries in European Union. I am doing my master program here and I can learn Swedish for free because I have Swedish personal number (Identification number provided by Swedish government for people who stay in Sweden for more than a year). Had I worked in Sweden for a year and applied for masters here I would have had free education too. In India it’s a huge burden and huge money and even considered as a huge investment. A family with more than one child has to kiss goodbye to several obligations only to pay for education of the kids. Education should never be such burden. In India students commit suicide because they could not pay student loan. Corporate business supremos don't suffer because of the defaulted loans but students do. Shame on the system. 
  
  
• Language. What beats the comfort of learning subjects in our own mother tongue? I am a Tamizhian but I learnt all my subjects in English. I have learnt Science, history, geography and all possible subjects in English (Though they say math is just numbers still those x,y,z had beaten the shit out of me). I have learnt Tamizh only as a language as a literature and nothing more. Probably the last time 90's kids (Kids? meh! maybe) wrote in Tamizh would be in their high school Tamizh exam. I still remember this incident, maybe I will remember this for rest of my life; I was writing a letter to bank manager and I started writing in Tamizh, my mother panicked and she revolted, she told it is obscene to write an official  letter  in my own mother tongue. In Viva voce at my college I tried explaining a concept to my professor in Tamizh, who shares similar mother tongue with me but he stopped me immediately and asked me to continue in English. I could not use my mother tongue in class room, in presentations, in examinations. Here in Sweden people prefer their native language over English. Even in Examinations they can write in Swedish/English/Mix of Swedish and English. Swedish students can answer questions asked in viva voce in Swedish, they can present their works in Swedish. They are not disrespected or stopped because of that. They excel in their studies  because they understand concepts in better perception when they learn in their mother tongue.
  
  
• Flexibility and comfort of being a student: I was quite startled when few of my classmates were taking sandwiches, coffee, energy drink and other eatables into the exam hall. I was not used to this. I was not supposed to carry anything to exam hall but my ID card when I was a student in India. During my undergrad examinations I would be writing in a pile of papers (literally) and when I reach to a limit of exhaustion they will provide me a glass of water. Here, in Sweden students are allowed to carry eatables and coffee even during lectures and seminar halls. Who wouldn't mind a cup of coffee when they feel drowsy in the class room? In India I have seen incidents of teachers asking students to spit out chewing gum or cake or chocolates or anything they eat during lecture hours (Fun fact; chewing gum will help us to get active when we feel sleepy).
  
  
• Knowledge transfer over Ego: Well, I have seen incidents of teachers/professors who get furious when a student points out a mistake. In India students are prohibited to use mobile phones or laptops in class hours. We are not allowed to search or check about the topic during the lecture hour. These activities will enrage the professors. Attendance is compulsory in most of the colleges back in my place and most of the evenings and weekends will be wasted entirely for writing laboratory observation and records (My College abolished this record system and came up with an even more obscene idea of having pre-lab and post-lab system which was a total disaster). Here in Sweden we are allowed to use laptops or mobile phones during lecture. We take notes in our laptop and I used to search something which I find difficult to understand and later I’ll ask the lecturer about it during coffee break. About 30% of students ask doubts to the teacher during every coffee break. Can expect the same amount of students to ask questions about the lecture to the lecturer in India? People can walk out of the lectures if they feel that it is not worth their time or if they have other commitments, it is totally fine here. The student will not be questioned for that or He/She doesn't have to face the wrath of the lecturer in charge. With the Wi-Fi at my university here, I can access YouTube-Facebook-research material site (I have access to most of the available research papers) and literally anything in web with pretty good internet speed (I have never tried torrent with my university Wi-Fi so I have no idea about it) The Wi-Fi at my college back in India was like Maruti Esteem when comparing to Bugatti Veyron I am using now in Sweden. I did not have access even to YouTube. I don't know what they were restricting us from. Many educational institutions in India has a ban for girls-boys interactions, it is considered as a taboo. Still physical violence is in practice even in college level across colleges in India.
  
  

I can sense and feel a good student-teacher relationship here in Sweden, It is based on friendliness-respect unlike the fear-respect which we used to have in India. I can talk freely with my staff thinking that he is a fellow human like me and not the one who would take things personally and reflect that when he/she evaluates my grade. I also blame few unpleasant activities of students which makes the education system in India complex, unfriendly and tricky. The move towards better relationship between students and teachers is possible only when the students realize that there can be a better environment waiting for them if they really co-operate.

Disclaimer: I finished my schooling and college in Tamil Nadu and I have put my own experiences and what I have seen and heard from my friends (I have had one year of education in an arts college and four years of education in an engineering college). I have generalised the majority. There might be few schools and colleges in India which might be so ahead of what the system provides and there are few very good teachers who are good for normal Indian student-teacher protocols.