Education System – Finland

Was reading this article from the World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-is-the-best-in-the-world

While talking about the education system of China and Singapore it interestingly describes the education system there with the following words

• Hard Working
• Myopic Tunnel Vision
• Rote Memorisation

Interestingly our Indian system is also on the similar lines but while China and Japan manage to get to the number 1 spot with the system we are not able to get there. That is a separate discussion. Let us get back to Finland. What do they do differently. The article talks about 10 things – what stood out for me were the following:

• No standard grading system – wonder how they manage this. But that seems to be the norm. Individual grades which is devised by the teacher are used
• Teachers need to be highly qualified with a Masters Degree. It is a coveted post. This singlehandedly can make a world of difference for India if adopted. Our prestigious IITs and IIMs already follow this which makes them powerhouses but unfortunately their selection mechanism is completely flawed (another blog post on this later)
• Counselling, free meals, focus on basics are part of the school and is the core emphasis
• Compulsory education starts at 7 and ends at 16 years of age. Talk about we starting at 3 and ending at 17 although officially until 14 is the bare minimum but these do not yield any opportunity – actual unwritten completion age is 20 to get some basic job opportunities.
• Vocational and Graduate pursuits are equally available and there is no major class divide between them post school
• School timings are between 10 to 2:00 with breaks in between !
• A teacher typically stays with a students journey in school for 6 years with individual attention developing a close relationship with the student and their family.
• Zero additional tuitions and minimal homework outside class !

Even if we incorporate one of the above reforms in our policy, life would be much better for the students and for our country.