Finland’s Education System can Inspire Indian Reforms

The Indian education system is broken. This is not an opinion but a fact, and our experiences are testimony to it. Remembering how one had to memorise facts and formulas to do well on tests, compete and not collaborate with our peers, and let our abilities be defined by our grades, makes one realise there’s a lot that needs to be changed in how we learn and how we teach in India.

The Indian education system is centralised. It is also short on funding teaching and learning infrastructure. ASER reports since 2005 reveal that half the fifth grade students in rural India  lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. This may limit job prospects, and even perpetuate poverty. The Indian education system has consistently underperformed in delivering conceptual understanding and problem-solving abilities among students and teachers. The 2021 National Achievement survey reported an average learning level of 59% in grade 3, 49% in grade 5, 42% in grade 8, and 36% in grade 10. This shows a trend of steady decline in learning level as one moves from lower grades to higher grades. India can consider an alternative model to change its grim education landscape and foster economic growth.

One model to aspire to learn from is the Finland Education Model. It is a high performing education system. It secured rank 1 in the Educating For The Future Index by The Economist in 2019. What makes it an efficient model is autonomy for schools and teachers. Teachers are involved in drafting the local curriculum, and school policy. Schools also have the authority to select textbooks of their choice and decide their pedagogical methods. 

Giving autonomy demonstrates the trust and value given to schools and teachers in Finnish society. Teaching is a popular profession where even training universities only select the most motivated and talented applicants. Finland provides pedagogical and facilitation training to teachers that makes them proactive and capable of independent decision making in how to run a classroom, professionally and collaboratively. 

There were several attempts made to transform the Indian education system through commissions and policies like the University Education Commission of 1948, the Secondary Education Commission of 1952, the National Education Policy of 1968, 1986, 1992, 2005, and most recently New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. However, none of them have succeeded in making teachers and institutions truly autonomous. 

NEP 2020 does mention pedagogical autonomy and socio-emotional learning. But its implementation has fallen short.  Government school principals do not have the authority to hire or fire new teachers which results in a lack of accountability for teachers, leading them to do the bare minimum or nothing at all. Unfortunately, even in private schools, production of an AIR1 is the priority, and teachers must conform to a syllabus they had no involvement in making. Overall, the Indian education system under-delivers teaching. 

Indian policy emphasises getting degrees instead of training. To become a teacher, there is now a market for paper leakages, cheating, and fake degrees, that can help non-deserving candidates become teaching professionals. As per a recent study by Ei, a leading EdTech company,  nearly 80% of math teachers in India had difficulty with foundational maths concepts like algebra, estimation, ratios, logical and proportional reasoning. This study was conducted over two years, and involved over 1300 maths teachers who teach grades 3 to 6 in 152 schools across India, UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. It highlighted that 27% teachers could not answer grade 4 questions correctly, while 63% could not answer questions based on grade 7 topics.

Localising curriculum is also important. Finland’s national core curriculum tries to establish a high level of trust between the national and local school authorities. This approach builds strong collaboration and enhances educational effectiveness and responsiveness. However, in India the curriculum is centralised. The government appoints school boards that govern local school districts. Additionally, the government controls the majority of funding for public schools, giving it significant influence over resources, teacher salaries, and overall school operations.  NEP 2020 has also been criticised for promoting the political agenda of the ruling government, reflecting ignorance of India’s regional and cultural diversity. The curriculum and teaching instructions are uniform across the country rather than being tailored to local contexts.

It is understandable that Finland and India are not the same on per capita GDP, demography and diversity. Complete replication of a model is not a good solution. The system in one country should not be imitated, but good practices can be adapted to another. In a developing country like India, educational institutions and teachers play an instrumental role in shaping young minds and nurturing kids. 

The Indian model needs to let go of a one-size-fits-all approach and move beyond the obsession with marks and degrees. We also need to provide teachers opportunities to learn and upskill. Our teachers should be able to improvise on what should be taught and how to teach it, taking inspiration from the Finnish model. The system should enable teachers to teach, not train race horses.