We need a pedagogy free from fear and focused on the magic of children's innate quest for information and understanding.
Sugata MitraRead
The Indian education system, like the Indian bureaucratic system, is Victorian and still in the 19th century. Our schools are still designed to produce clerks for an empire that does not exist anymore.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Indian education system is outdated and focuses on creating workers for a past empire rather than preparing students for the modern world.
Sugata Mitra critiques the Indian education system, comparing it to the bureaucratic systems of the Victorian era, which he argues are antiquated and misaligned with contemporary needs. He points out that the current educational approach still aims to produce clerical workers suitable for an empire that has long since dissolved, thus failing to equip students with the necessary skills for today's society and future challenges.
Themes
EducationSystemOutdatedLearningSkillsModernization
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on educational reform, this quote could be used to emphasize the need for change in the curriculum.
More from Sugata Mitra
All quotes →It's quite fashionable to say that the educational system is broken. It's not broken. It's wonderfully constructed. It's just that we don't need it anymore.
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In nine months, a group of children left alone with a computer - in any language - would reach the same standard as an office secretary in the West.
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I was inspired by the Hole in the Wall project, where a computer with an internet connection was put in a Delhi slum. When the slum was revisited after a month, the children of that slum had learned how to use the worldwide web.
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Students are rewarded for memorization, not imagination or resourcefulness.
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