Regulating Learning Through Text Books

Ideally schools all over the world should follow 21st century education where teacher is the initiator of the education process, facilitating creative assimilation of knowledge. But we live in a real world and Milton's Paradise is a just a utopia in most developing countries.

The teacher competence and readiness remain a question mark. As a result, the quality of education deteriorated and the standing of teachers was lowered. Owing to lack of adequate resources, working conditions are also difficult - crowded classrooms, not properly maintained, absence or shortage of teaching materials.

Then a further serious deterioration in the quality of education is inevitable, with all the harmful effects on pupils this may entail. Secondly, at the turn of the new millennium IT and education reform agendas were adopted in much of the industrialized world to institute a much-needed paradigm shift "from a largely text-book based, teacher-centered approach to a more interactive and learner-centered approach. These reform agendas were all concerned with the adoption and use of IT in schools to increase learning opportunities and student motivation and achievement.

International studies into successful IT adoption in schools tell us that teachers need considerable additional support to make significant changes in their roles and pedagogic work practices and that IT by itself plays a very minor role in transforming teachers and teaching approaches in schools.
Textbook driven education needs to be changed, but the process must be gradual.

Teachers need a standardized curriculum that ensures minimum levels of learning for each grade level. Teachers need quality professional development programmes to gear them for activity and enquiry-based teaching-learning strategies. Teacher training institutions need to revamp their training modules to ensure high standard modules that incorporate the latest innovations in technology and science.

Educational institutions across Asia need to invest hugely in curriculum mapping that address the need of today's student and create an outcome driven curriculum where teacher and learner standards are in place.

Then and only then can we do away with textbooks from the Asian classrooms. It will take huge courage to cut through the morass of complexity and the deadwood accumulated over the last 60 years. If the schools have to move in the direction of textbook free class rooms they must undertake the following measures:

◦    Curriculum mapping and learning standards to be defined without any ambiguity.

◦    Clear visibility on teacher and learner standards.

◦    Core competencies and skill sets of teachers to be identified.

◦    Complete shift in pedagogy and methodology

◦    Integration of ICT in teaching and learning.

But till such time we achieve the objective of textbook free classrooms, teachers - with minimal training in innovative teaching strategies, with low skill sets, varying competencies, inadequate subject expertise, inadequate knowledge of resource building, overburdened with content driven curricula, and living with the fear of examination results - will depend on textbooks and this dependence is justified.

The government's initiative of regulating textbooks across the schools  in Jammu and Kashmir, to achieve uniformity, goes against the grain of liberating classroom teaching- learning environment.

Schools must be given freedom to choose the teaching-learning resources into primary grades and there should be no imposition of using prescribed and developed books by the Board, given that the private publishing industry has both resources and the capacity to deliver child friendly, internationally aligned, and quality resource. Given that books are the only helping tool for teachers to transact learning inside the class.

The concerned government departments need to be more collaborative in their decision making. As knee jerk reaction schools are exercising the option of changing their affiliation from State Board to the Central Board of Secondary Education.

This change may bring temporary relief but may create another set of problems. State Board and the regulatory authorities must create a collaborative environment to address textbook issues, and all the other issues impacting the schools and their wellbeing. We need to liberate our classrooms and offer complete freedom and choice when it comes to educational resources - textbook being the only resource available to teacher to provide necessary information and engage into teaching-learning process.

It is critical that quality and variety is made available that can only be possible through private publishing houses because they have the money and the resources to do so. The role of the State Board of Education and their regulatory bodies should be developmental and not punitive.

We have seen very little initiative to bridge this divide and create alignment in the thinking process. Private schools and the owners should see this purely as an academic issue. Private schools should defend the choice of books primarily as a pedagogical and educational issue and stop seeing it from the commercial angle, and impress upon the authorities the value of choice and the wellbeing of the child. The liberated classroom liberates the child’s learning therefore any imposition will go against the interest of child and the learning environment.

Dr. Farooq Ahmad Wasil, a published author, and an educationist, is founding director of  TSPL (Thinksite Services Private Limited). He has over 4 decades of experience in the field of education Management – setting up, operating and managing schools.