4 Things Indian schools need to teach but don't

( Disclaimer: This post kind of got out of my hand and is a little lengthy but i hope you will stick around and read it till the end)

School days are the most memorable part of our lives; notwithstanding the trouble our parents had to go through just to enroll us into good schools (standing in long queues etc.). Today, we all want our children to get the best schooling and have big hopes and dreams for their future . But education in the present scenario is more like a rat race mostly based on rote learning. Little kids are asked to learn big nursery rhymes which do not have any meaning and are difficult to comprehend for us adults, let alone children.  I mean – Pussy cat went to London just to frighten a little mouse. There is one where a piggy is on the railway line picking up stones and is apparently hit by an engine whose driver doesn’t give a damn about it.

Looking back, it always makes me wonder if we are ever going to use the formula to find the area of a trapezium or a parallelogram, if you will, that almost made us bang our heads through the wall. Or even the lengthy theorems that we not only had to mug up, but also prove its existence. Maybe these things are predominantly taught us to increase our literary excellence and someone, somewhere is making a good use of them in their daily lives( or professions). But there are some things that need to be taught in schools to make it a well rounded affair.

1. Personal finance

I think finance is the fundamental part of our existence. How much we earn, how much we spend and how much we save are 3 basic pillars of adult life. Most adults today are abysmal when it comes to handling their own finance. They may earn lakhs/ crores of rupees but have no idea how to invest it or rather where to invest it. Some don’t even know how to file their taxes. For kids, credit cards are like magic wands that their parents use to buy what they want. Albeit, the reality is much different. I’m not saying we need to have full fledged finance courses, but an introduction to the basics of budgeting, savings, credit cards, taxes etc.

2. Self defense

I think most of the people reading this (if not all), will agree with me that schools need to teach self defence to kids. Safety is our biggest concern and one tiny step towards it would be empowering our children with self defences like martial arts, taekwondo etc. Some schools have introduced it in their curriculum already; who knows it could even turn out to be a great hobby or even career for that matter.

3. First aid & fire safety 

For most of us first-aid means applying Band-Aid to a scar, but it is a lot more than that. It is the necessary things you need to do in case of emergencies until medical treatment is provided. First-aid lessons could prove to be valuable and even help save lives. Similarly, fire safety drills must be conducted on a regular basis. I felt proud when I read about this little girl who managed to save many lives recently during a blaze that caught in her building by simply doing what she was taught in a fire safety drill in her school. Remarkable, isn’t it?

4. Other life skills

We all want our kids to be self-sustained adults. But much of the self sustenance comes from learning basic life skills. We live in a society where men are not supposed to cook and women who don’t know how to cook consider it empowering. I think everyone needs to know basic cooking (making maggi isn’t cooking). But this may not be done in schools as it's not cost effective and may involve safety concerns. It could be optional though as it is one of the life skill that will never go to waste. Children must also be taught other basic life skills like cleaning (have you read about how Japan teaches cleanliness in schools? If not, you must check it out) and stress management (that mostly happens during exams).

I would like to end this rather lengthy post with a quote from one of the most successful business man in the world-

"I told my son: You don't need to be in the top 3 in your class, being in the middle is fine, so long as your grades aren't too bad. Only this kind of person has enough free time to learn other skills.

Jack Ma
Founder of Alibaba group.

Do you agree/disagree with what I said?  Comment below and let me know.