Innovation is critical and necessary for any sector considering the pace at which the world is changing. In other words, innovation is a form of advanced problem-solving output.
While talking about innovation people look for out-of-the-box solutions for the given situation and this undermines the scope of the simple solutions which could also suffice the purpose. In every sector one can find innovative things happening at various levels, in the case of education, it is imperative to provide the right solution at the right time.
Innovation in education is too often blended with the acquisition and usage of technological tools in a school environment but this is not correct. Innovation means constant engagement with your surroundings and the problems or affairs taking place around – analyzing processes and outcomes, observing strengths and weaknesses, making a hypothesis, creating and testing new ideas, and tracking the progress of experiments to bring the solutions to real-life problems.
With the change of time requirements of knowledge and skillsets of a person to survive has also changed from the knowledge of textbook to skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, lateral thinking, communication skill, etc.
At present, the industries, organizations, companies, service sectors or any kind of Job/business requires a person who can deliver the results and for achieving the results certain skills are required thus these skills shall be imparted in the children while schooling. For developing skills and preparing the children for future innovation is important in education. However, while thinking about the innovation there are certain obstacles that need to be handled as these become the factor for the innovation not being implemented as desired.
A few obstacles which stop people from being innovative in the context of Indian education are as follows:
School approach:
School institutions have this responsibility to impart knowledge and prepare students to become future citizens who can lead the country towards development. Schools should be one space where students should get the opportunity to explore and innovate. But most of the schools prefer showing no initiative, escaping from this responsibility, and adopting a scripted curriculum. Schools are focusing on improving the grades of students but not on the methods which could contribute to their overall development.
Overburdened Teachers:
If the teacher is engaged in administrative activities which are allocated to them by the government through circulars such as conducting census surveys, election duty, other paperwork like records of students enrolled in various government schemes, assisting children in the school for opening the bank account and linking them with Aadhaar cards, conducting parents’ meetings etc. All the mentioned tasks are additional responsibilities assigned to teachers which leaves little space in the mind of the teacher for teaching passionately and innovatively as an occupied mind refuses to think out of the box mostly. Also, the focus is on the completion of the syllabus rather than providing an opportunity for students to explore new avenues to learn the concept in depth.
Parents and Community Expectations:
Within every community, there are people who resist change. Without the involvement of all education stakeholders — parents, students as well as teachers, and administrators — an innovation will never reach its full potential. Everyone’s expectation from the child is to get good marks in the exams and get employed after completing the education. Most parents are aware of one way of being educated—the way they have studied in school. New learning forms confuse today’s parents, making it difficult for them to support them. If parents don’t understand this then the children might refuse to as well. No one wants to take the risk of getting involved in this journey of experimenting, failing, and innovating. Students need access at home to support and continue the learning they're doing in school.
Marksheet not Learning:
It is perceived that the mark sheet has the potential to provide an opportunity to others on judging a child's capacity to learn, grow or calibre to achieve anything in life. This thinking or perception limits the scope for the teacher to think, imagine and try something new which could be based on skill development as in the 21st century only marks can not guarantee success in life thus blend of skills and academics is imperative, however, unless these things are mentioned in any policy or directed by the experts it can not be implemented. The mark sheet needs to be re-imagined so that learning could capture not only marks but interests, strength, potential, skill sets, etc could also be incorporated.
There are many more elements that unintentionally act as obstacles to innovation in Education. We need to provide a flexible curriculum to our students which respond to the needs of each student group as innovation is about having a mindset which equips you with the skillsets of solving problems and bringing new solutions which can support the community. It is about creating better opportunities for learning within the constraints of the surroundings.
