Indian Education System: When Learning Becomes a Struggle
Education is supposed to be the foundation of a country’s future. It should teach children how to think, solve problems, ask questions and build a better life.
Yet for millions of Indian students, education can still feel like a race of marks, exams, memorisation and certificates rather than genuine learning.
Calling the system “worse than sewage water” may sound extreme, but the phrase reflects the frustration many people feel when they see children spending years in school without receiving the quality of education they deserve.
The Problem Is Not That India Has No Schools
India has a massive education network.
According to UDISE+ 2023–24 data cited by the government, India had around 24.8 crore students, 14.72 lakh schools and 98 lakh teachers. Government schools represented about 69% of schools and enrolled roughly half of all students.
The problem, therefore, is not simply the number of schools.
The bigger question is:
What are students actually learning?
A Child Can Pass a Class Without Understanding the Basics
One of the biggest weaknesses in education is the gap between school attendance and actual learning.
The ASER survey measures basic reading and arithmetic abilities among children in rural India. ASER 2024 covered more than 650,000 children across more than 600 districts.
The encouraging news is that learning levels improved in many areas compared with the post-pandemic period.
But the fact that a major nationwide survey still needs to measure whether school-going children can perform basic reading and arithmetic shows how important foundational learning remains.
A child spending ten years in school should not merely receive a certificate.
The child should leave school with knowledge and confidence.
Marks Have Become More Important Than Skills
For many students, the education journey becomes:
Study → Memorise → Write exam → Get marks → Forget information.
This system can reward short-term memorisation while giving insufficient attention to creativity, communication, financial literacy, digital skills, problem-solving and practical knowledge.
A student may know a complicated formula but have no idea how to apply it to a real-life problem.
A student may memorise definitions but struggle to explain the concept in their own words.
That is not the education we should aim for.
Education Should Prepare Students for Life
Schools should teach students things that they will actually use.
Students need opportunities to understand:
- Financial literacy
- Basic taxation
- Digital safety
- Communication
- Entrepreneurship
- Critical thinking
- First aid
- Environmental responsibility
- Career planning
- Practical technology
- Mental resilience
- Problem-solving
Academic knowledge is important, but life skills are important too.
The Funding Question
Education quality cannot improve without adequate investment.
UNESCO’s 2026 SDG 4 monitoring data puts India’s education spending at around 4.1% of GDP and 14.2% of total public expenditure. The latter is below UNESCO’s 15% benchmark and has declined from 15.7% in 2015.
India has repeatedly discussed increasing investment in education, but the question is not simply how much money is allocated.
The bigger question is:
How effectively is that money reaching classrooms and improving learning?
Teachers Need Support Too
It is easy to blame teachers when education outcomes are poor.
But teachers themselves work inside a larger system.
They need:
- Proper training
- Adequate classroom resources
- Reasonable workloads
- Modern teaching materials
- Technology support
- Professional development
- Enough teachers in schools
A good teacher can transform a student’s life.
But even the best teacher cannot fix every structural problem alone.
Government and Private Schools Face Different Challenges
India has both government and private schools, and neither category should be treated as automatically good or bad.
Some government schools provide excellent education.
Some private schools provide poor-quality education despite high fees.
The real measure should be:
What can the student actually learn?
A school should not be judged only by its building, uniform or advertisement.
It should be judged by the knowledge, skills and confidence it develops in children.
India Does Have Reasons for Hope
It would also be unfair to say that the entire Indian education system is failing.
There have been significant improvements in learning levels in recent years. ASER 2024 reported substantial recovery in foundational reading and arithmetic, particularly in government schools, after the disruption caused by the pandemic.
India also has outstanding schools, universities, teachers, researchers and students who compete successfully at the international level.
The problem is unequal quality.
A child’s future should not depend entirely on their family’s income, location or access to expensive coaching.
The Real Question
Instead of asking:
“How many children passed?”
we should ask:
“How many children actually learned?”
Instead of asking:
“How many schools were built?”
we should ask:
“How many classrooms became better places to learn?”
Instead of celebrating only examination results, we should measure whether students can think independently, communicate clearly and solve real problems.
We Need an Education Revolution
India does not need an education system that merely produces exam candidates.
India needs an education system that produces thinkers, innovators, skilled workers, entrepreneurs, researchers, responsible citizens and confident human beings.
The goal should not be to make children study more.
The goal should be to make them learn better.
Calling education “worse than sewage water” is deliberately harsh, but perhaps the anger behind such language should make policymakers, teachers, parents and society ask an uncomfortable question:
Are we educating children for the future—or simply preparing them to pass the next exam?
India has the talent, population and potential to become an educational powerhouse.
Now it needs an education system worthy of that potential.
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