Student Opinion Survey

As we said in the editorial, our educational system is akin to one-way street. We at the Nav Prerna School believe that children learn best in an interactive two-way environment. This article is about student’s opinion on different topics. A total of 200 school students voluntarily completed the survey. The following section contains results from the survey.

 

1. Favorite Subject

Hindi, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the favorite subject of majority of students. After all, it is the easiest subject for native Hindi and Marwari speakers. If Marwari was one of the subjects being taught in school; I am sure it would have trounced Hindi from the numero uno position. Tough luck for students here, they need to learn English if they want to be ‘successful’ in today’s India. Since Mathematics followed by Sciences follows closely behind in the race for favorite subject, the students would do well in a society obsessed with science education.

2. Where would you want to live in future?

Most of the students studying at Nav Prerna School are from a rural background (more than 85 percent). When asked about where they would rather live, not surprisingly, they picked villages as the top choice. More than one-fifth of students want to live away from the villages. I believe it is because the aspirations of people have risen all over India and students are no different. Rapid urbanization coupled with economic compulsions would force most of the students to live in cities in the future. 

 

3. Which sports do you like the most?

When we asked the students about the sports they preferred most, cricket topped the list with close to four-fifth of the votes. Undoubtedly cricket is the unofficial national sport of India. Move over hockey (ouch that hurts for I am a big hockey fan!). We are a democracy with influential mass media and corporate interests. How else would you explain popularity of cricket in Sikar when you can’t play criket in Sikar because of sandy soils? No one gets any exercise while playing cricket. Why call it a sport in the first place? A better term would be recreational activity. What? Do you want me to include ludo, snake and ladder, carom, and watching movies in the list of sports as well? 

With cricket at the numero uno position, you do have a point old boy. Next time I will keep that in mind. In the meantime please pray for the souls of Indian sports lovers (if there are any left). Amen!

4. Favorite Cricketer

Professional cricket is entirely separate matter. It is an exciting sport. Professional cricket needs athleticism, skill, right temperament, and love of the sports to excel in the game. Indian cricket team has made its mark in the world arena. With our recent success in 20/20 cricket we have proved that we are second to none. No doubt the captain of Indian one-day team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is a favorite with the students. He has done what the veterans of Indian cricket such as Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Dravid couldn’t. Bring home the world cup.

5. Which culture do you prefer?

Westernization is talked a lot in India (probably because it is confused with modernization and change). When you speak to men and women of certain age, this is all you hear. They lament about the youth following the ways of the west. I believe their complaints are more to do with their inability to cope with change. As Alvin Toffler would put it, they are in a state of ‘future shock’. Economic liberalization coupled with globalization has induced the pace of change to accelerate in the recent past. But our students are firmly grounded in Indian culture. More than 95 percent of Nav Prerna School students prefer Indian culture to western culture on any given day.

 6. Arranged Marriage or Love Marriage?

Arranged marriages are considered an important part of Indian culture. Many advocates of Indian culture consider this institution to be central to our ethos. In that case how would you explain marriage arrangements of Ram and Sita or Krishna and Rukmini? Anyways, our students stand by the arranged marriage system. Nine out of ten students consider arranged marriages superior to love marriages.

7. Which Indian customs should change?

Our students overwhelmingly prefer Indian culture. However, they are not blind to some Indian customs which treat a section of population inferior to others, or which treat women unfairly, or which are not compatible with our ideals of fraternity, equality, and democracy. Students do not like the practice of female infanticide, dowry, and parda pratha (hiding the face behind veil in presence of male members), which are manifestation of unfair and unequal treatment of women. Students are for inculcating a scientific spirit. They do not believe in the institution of mrityubhoj. 

8. Who is your ideal?

We aspire to become like our heroes, or at the very least, inculcate qualities from our heroes’ lives. Freedom fighters were the heroes for the post-independence generation. For the post liberalization generation in the big cities, wealth creators such as Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayan Murthy, or business leaders such as Ratan Tata are heroes. For close of three-fourth of our students the ideals were some one known to them. It could be a family member such as parents, grandparents, uncles, or someone from the school such as the classmates or teachers. A word of caution for parents and teachers. Beware! Your actions are being scrutinized by the students. They would turn out be like you in the future.

9. Which profession would you like to join?

Students at the Nav Prerna School would be real service to the society. Close of 45 percent of students want to join Indian defense forces, 30 percent want to be doctors and rest want to be teachers, engineers, or cops. Fashion designing, acting any one? Not for our students. They want real jobs.

10. Challenges facing Sikar

We asked the students about the biggest challenge (problem) in Sikar. I thought lack of opportunities for employment and infrastructure would have been the top choice. But I was wrong. The student’s choice (correctly) was deplorable sanitation standards. The deplorable sanitation standards lead to health problems and general sense of apathy among people. Indian economy is doing well and the youth have option to move to other places for work. That means that employment opportunity will always be open. Sanitation is our biggest problem. Is anybody out there? Can you hear us?

11. Challenges facing Rajasthan

Most predictably, the biggest challenge identified by students for Rajasthan is water scarcity. If we were to believe sociologists, the future wars would be fought over control of water and other such natural resources. We already have a few states in India fighting over control of water. Since we are a desert state, naturally short of water, we have to think of ways of providing drinking water for the masses. Ground water is depleting at an alarming pace in Rajasthan. We have to revive our traditional water conservation strategies such as rainwater harvesting in village ponds and take other water conservation measures.  

12. Challenges facing India

The greatest challenge identified by students for India was over-population. No doubt, the increasing population puts a great strain on our resources. Poverty, health issues, and increasing population are interlinked in a circular fashion. We need to tackle one of the issues to break the vicious circle. Starting at over-population is as good as tackling any other issue.

13. What’s your favorite season?

Rajasthan is a state with extreme weather. Winters are very cold and summers are very hot. The rains bring a welcome respite from unbearable June and July heat. No doubt rainy season is the favorite season of three-fifth of the students.