Education in India: Are students failing or the system?! | Sonam Wangchuk | TEDxGateway
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares inspiring stories of three individuals who, despite academic failures, achieved remarkable success. They emphasize the need to rethink conventional education systems, highlighting their work in Ladakh to reform schools and establish an alternative residential school for 'failures.' The school focuses on experiential learning, life skills, and innovation, fostering a supportive environment that allows students to thrive. The message is clear: a nurturing environment can transform perceived failures into shining stars.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The script introduces three individuals who, despite being labeled as failures in school, achieved remarkable success in their respective fields.
- 🏆 Rickson, a journalist, became the education minister of the Ladakh hill council at a young age, highlighting that success is not solely defined by academic performance.
- 🎬 Stanzin is a filmmaker who has won awards internationally, showing that creativity and talent can flourish outside traditional educational settings.
- 🏅 Finless, an entrepreneur, was recognized as 'Person of the Year' by a prominent journal, illustrating that innovation and entrepreneurship can be achieved by those deemed as academic failures.
- 🤔 The speaker questions the absurdity of college admission requirements that demand perfect scores, suggesting that this may not be the best measure of a student's potential.
- 📚 The speaker's personal experience tutoring students led to the realization that the education system might be failing students, not the other way around.
- 🔄 The establishment of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) aimed to reform the education system and has significantly improved pass rates.
- 🏫 An alternative school was set up for students who failed conventional exams, focusing on experiential learning and life skills rather than just academic achievement.
- 🌱 The campus operates as a self-sustaining community, teaching students practical life skills such as management, planning, and execution through real-world responsibilities.
- 🌍 The students engage in experiential learning activities that connect academic concepts to real-life applications, such as making jam to understand germ theory.
- 🏞 The campus is built with sustainable practices in mind, utilizing mud construction and solar energy, emphasizing the importance of environmental stewardship.
- ❄️ Innovations like the AI stupa artificial glacier demonstrate the campus's commitment to addressing local challenges with creative solutions, such as water scarcity in the Himalayas.
- 💡 The script advocates for a holistic approach to education, replacing the traditional '3 R's' with the '3 H's' - head, hands, and heart, to develop well-rounded individuals.
Q & A
Who are the three individuals mentioned in the script that achieved success despite being considered failures in school?
-The three individuals are Salaam Rickson, who became the education minister of the Ladakh hill council at the age of 27; Stanzin, a filmmaker who has won awards at film festivals across India, France, and Canada; and Finless, a celebrated entrepreneur featured in many national and international journals, who was declared the Person of the Year by one of them.
What is the significance of the 95% marks requirement mentioned in the script?
-The 95% marks requirement signifies the absurdity of some colleges demanding perfect scores for admission, which contrasts with the speaker's belief that less emphasis on marks would suffice and that students with 95% marks should not be made to feel like failures.
Why did the speaker decide to work on changing the education system in Ladakh?
-The speaker decided to work on changing the education system in Ladakh because they observed that 95 percent of the students were failing in the tenth-grade board exams, leading them to believe that it was the system failing the students, not the other way around.
What is the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) and what was its impact?
-The Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) is an initiative set up by the speaker and like-minded friends to work with the government to bring reforms in government schools. Its impact was significant, as it increased the pass percentage from 5% to 55% within seven years, and today it stands at around 75%.
What is unique about the admission criteria at the special residential school set up by SECMOL?
-The admission criteria at the special residential school are unique because they are not based on grades or percentages. Instead, they prioritize students who have failed in the conventional school system, while those who have passed may be considered but are placed on a waiting list.
How do the two-week youth camps help students at the alternative school?
-The two-week youth camps help students explore themselves and the world around them, understand failure, and prepare for it. They are designed to help students see failure not as a personal shortcoming but as an opportunity to join the alternative school.
What kind of learning experiences do students have at the alternative school?
-At the alternative school, students engage in a mix of counseling, introspection, and experiential learning to learn academic subjects and life skills. They participate in activities such as managing campus operations, making jam, and going on educational tours, which help them apply abstract concepts in practical ways.
What is the significance of the campus running like a little country with its own government and newspaper?
-The campus running like a little country with its own elected government and newspaper provides students with real-life experiences in leadership, management, and communication. It allows them to apply academic concepts in practical settings and develop important life skills.
How does the campus utilize the themes of Earth, Sun, ice, and fire in its innovations?
-The campus utilizes Earth by building with mud, Sun by using passive solar heating and solar energy for various purposes, ice by creating ice hockey rinks and inventing the 'make it anywhere' technique, and fire by using solar cooking devices. These innovations demonstrate a holistic approach to education that integrates learning with practical applications.
What is the AI stupa artificial glacier, and how does it help the Himalayan villages?
-The AI stupa artificial glacier is an invention that pipes water away from the Indus River during winter when it's not needed and allows it to freeze, creating a cone of ice. This glacier melts in late spring when water is most needed by farmers, providing a solution for water scarcity in the Himalayan villages affected by climate change and melting glaciers.
What is the message the speaker conveys about the potential of students labeled as failures?
-The speaker's message is that even students labeled as failures can shine like bright stars if they are provided with a supportive environment that replaces the conventional 3 R's (reading, writing, arithmetic) with a more holistic approach that includes head, hands, and heart.
Outlines
🌟 Overcoming Failure to Achieve Success
The first paragraph introduces three individuals who, despite being labeled as failures in school, have gone on to achieve remarkable success in their respective fields. The speaker questions the absurdity of educational systems that value perfect scores over resilience and creativity. The narrative then shifts to Ladakh, a region in India that faces unique educational challenges due to its geographic and cultural isolation. The speaker recounts their personal experience with the education system and the establishment of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), which has significantly improved the pass rates in government schools. An alternative school is also mentioned, which caters to students who have failed in the conventional system, offering them a supportive environment to learn and grow.
🏫 Innovative Education at the SECMOL Campus
The second paragraph delves into the operations of the alternative school set up by SECMOL. The school functions as a self-governing community with its own government, newspaper, radio, and even a separate time zone. Students are given real-life responsibilities and learn through hands-on experiences, such as managing resources and planning community events. The campus is built using sustainable practices, with mud construction and solar energy utilization. The students are engaged in practical experiments that connect theoretical concepts to real-world applications, like using germ theory in fruit preservation. The paragraph also highlights the school's innovative approach to science, focusing on themes like Earth, Sun, ice, and fire, and mentions the creation of artificial glaciers to address water scarcity in the region.
💡 Embracing the Holistic 3 H's of Education
The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to education, which SECMOL refers to as the 3 H's: head, hands, and heart. The speaker argues that education should not be limited to intellectual development but should also involve practical skills and emotional intelligence. The campus's educational model is presented as an example of this philosophy, where students are empowered to lead, mentor, and innovate. The message concludes with the idea that in a supportive environment, even those considered failures can excel and contribute positively to society.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Education Minister
💡Filmmaker
💡Entrepreneur
💡Failure
💡Admission Criteria
💡Counseling
💡Experiential Learning
💡Innovation
💡Artificial Glacier
💡Holistic Education
💡Youth Camp
Highlights
Three individuals, despite being labeled as failures in school, achieved remarkable success in their respective fields.
The absurdity of high academic standards, where students with 95% marks feel like failures.
The educational experiments in Ladakh, a region with unique climatic, linguistic, and cultural challenges.
The transformation of the Ladakh education system, increasing pass percentage from 5 to 75%.
Establishment of a special residential school for students who failed in the conventional system.
Admission criteria based on failure in the conventional school system, not academic grades.
Youth camps that help students explore themselves and understand failure as an opportunity.
A campus that operates like a small country with its own government, newspaper, and time zone.
Students learn life skills through practical responsibilities such as managing animals, solar cooking devices, and gardens.
Innovative learning methods that bring abstract concepts to life through experiential activities.
The campus is built using sustainable materials and energy sources, emphasizing environmental stewardship.
Students engage in scientific innovations, such as building artificial glaciers to combat climate change.
The campus promotes a holistic education approach, replacing the traditional 3 R's with the 3 H's: head, hands, and heart.
The message that in a supportive environment, even those considered failures can shine like stars.
Transcripts
let me share with you three of the many
stars that I follow and ask a little
question salaam Rickson studied
journalism and became the education
minister of the Ladakh hill council a at
the age of 27
stanzin is a filmmaker today and has
been winning awards at film festivals
across India France and Canada finless
is a celebrated entrepreneur featured in
many national and international journals
and one of them has declared her the
Person of the Year
can you guess what could be common among
these stars no they were not top scorers
from an elite school in fact they were
failures that failed miserably and
repeatedly at school yet they achieved
these feats now on the other end of the
spectrum the absurdity that we see is
some of our colleges demand
hundred-percent marks get an admission I
think less would do makes one wonder why
our students with 95% marks made to feel
like failures let me take you to la da
to see some of our experiments in
education a little bit about la da a
mountain desert at 11,000 feet in the
rain shadow of the Himalayas nature has
left us well i and dry climatically
linguistically culturally we are a
microscopic minority in India and
therefore face a lot of problems
especially in education I came face to
face with the reality or rather the
follows
of the education system almost
accidentally while tutoring tenth grade
students to finance my own engineering
studies in those days 95 percent of the
students were failing in the tenth grade
board exams I was convinced at this rate
it could only be the system that is
failing and not the students I decided I
was going to go back to Ladakh and work
to change this system together with
like-minded friends we set up the
students educational and cultural
movement of Ladakh segments we work with
the government to bring reforms in the
government schools and within seven
years the bass percentage went from five
to fifty five percent today thank you
today it stands at around 75% but we
didn't want to miss out those who still
failed in the exams and for them we set
up a special residential school an
unusual one on the banks of Indus in
Ladakh here the admission criteria is
not your grades or percentage but that
you have failed in the conventional
school system
while those who have passed may be
considered but on the waiting list for a
change a typical student arrives at this
campus as a lost and confused soul in
one of our two weeks youth camps that
are led by the seniors at the campus
these camps are held just after the
board exams and before the results are
declared and in these camps there help
to explore themselves and the world
around and understand failure and
prepare for failure because it's not
them that are failing and when the
results do come out more than half of
them fail but they are better able to
cope with it and see it in fact as an
opportunity to come to the alternative
school at this alternative school they
have a mix of counseling introspection
and experiential learning to learn the
academic subjects and the life skills
that they miss out at school for example
the campus runs like a little country
with its own little elected government
that changes every two months it has its
own newspaper the campus times the
campus radio and even a separate time
zone one are ahead of the Indian
Standard Time it's the easiest way to
make teenagers go to bed early and get
up with the sunrise
the leader of their elected government
may give them portfolios or
responsibilities for example of
management of the animals the solar
cooking devices gardens and food
production electricity supply accounts
and so on they plan they set goals
execute and report in the big bimonthly
Parliament and learn the life skills
that way abstract concepts are brought
to life through experiments using in
life for example when they learn the
germ theory they make use of it in fruit
preservation in a big Jam making
festival to make hundreds of bottles of
apricot jam and then they label it
packet advertise and sell it in the
market you could say their lessons in
economics and commerce and lit the
profits the whole school goes on tour to
the plains of India by learning
geography on the way and when they are
back they report it in the campus times
talk about it on the campus radio and
with such experiences by the end of the
year they are so mature that they are
ready to lead and mentor in the next
youth camp where another batch of lost
and confused Souls come teenagers who
are infamous around the world for how
they are it's unfair to them you see
that they can be our partners in running
the system if they are given
responsibilities respect and challenges
to channelize their energy rather than a
long list of rules and disciplines to
follow the
these innovations in education
innovations in general are a part of
life at this campus innovations in
science have revolved around the themes
of Earth Sun ice and fire now earth or
mud that is the cheapest material right
under our feet we have built the whole
campus using nothing but mud no cement
and Sun the cheapest source of energy
right above our head is the source of
power for heating these buildings
passive solar heated buildings that
requires no other fossil fuels keep
these buildings at plus 15 degrees when
outside it is minus 50 the Sun is also
used for all purposes this campus is off
grain for cooking for vegetables in
winter in the solar greenhouses for
natural lighting electricity water
heating water pumping even the cows on
the campus live in solar heated kashyap
ice can be a lot of fun and used also
the fun part face this campus invented
make it anywhere technique of ice hockey
rinks and build what would probably be
the largest ice hockey rink in India and
produced women's ice hockey champions at
the national level I can also be a
savior for the Himalayan villages
reeling under climate change and fast
melting glaciers our latest invention
has been AI stupa artificial glacier
together with my students we first build
the prototype of this glacier very
simple technology where water that goes
waste into the Indus and the ocean in
winter when nobody needs it is piped
away and downstream and where a big
fountain gushes out just because of the
gravity no moving parts no machines and
freezes as it falls down in
- 22 - 30 and makes a cone or a mountain
of I the geometric shape is such that it
melts in late spring when farmers need
water the most it has been widely
covered in international journals and
you can look up basically what we are
doing at this campus is to replace the
conventional 3 R's approach to education
reading writing arithmetic all to do
with only the head with a more holistic
three H's head hands and heart without
skilled hands education is practically
useless without a kind heart it can even
be dangerous so my message is that in an
unfortunate environment even stars are
made discarded as failures but in a
supportive environment even so-called
failures can shine like bright star
thank you
you
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