Know Why Finland Has The Best Schools

    • Dheeraj.Jangra@timesgroup.com
    • Publish Date: Sep 27 2016 8:20PM
    • |
    • Updated Date: Sep 28 2016 3:12PM
Know Why Finland Has The Best Schools

Finland is feted and envied by educationists globally in equal measure, for being the leader in delivering quality education. Since, it implemented radical education reforms more than 40 years ago, the country's school system is consistently being ranked among the best in the world. But how? It’s simple — by breaking every rule that is associated with the traditional notion of learning...

1. Finnish children don't start school until they are 7
This is in stark contrast to India where children start going to schools at the tender age of three. Finland believes that children learn more by playing and exploring rather than being locked up in a classroom. But they don’t lag behind their counterparts in other countries. The kids starts school at the age of seven when they are ready to learn and focus. 

2. Less time in school 
Many researchers have pointed out that early morning school regime deprives children of the most essential ingredient in their healthy development— sleep. Students in Finland typically start school between 9:00 am and 9:45 am. The school day usually ends by 2:00 am or 2:45 am. Also, there are ample breaks between the classes to allow both students and teachers to be well rested and ready to teach/learn. 

3. There is no grading or measurement system to judge a student's abilities for the first 6 years
Finland is the antithesis of other exam obsessed nations. There are no rankings, no comparisons or competition between students, schools or regions. The differences between weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world, according to a survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

4. No exams until children are in their teens
Only one mandatory standardised test is taken in Finland when the children are at the age of 16. Can we imaging this in India?  

5. Less homework  
According to the OECD, Finnish students have the least amount of homework in the world.  They average under half an hour of homework a night. They also don’t take coaching or tuition classes. 

6. Long recess break 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  But we in India believe that by cutting down on recess time, the marks of students will automatically shoot up. In Finland, the students get around 75 minutes of recess break. So they are always fresh and motivated. 

7. 100 percent state funded education
Finland’s schools are financed by state. So, parents don’t have to worry about the funding. But that’s not it! The people in the government who are running the schools are educators, not politicians or business people with vested interest. Also, the teachers are sourced from the same poll of university-trained educators. This means that a Finnish kid in the Helsinki will receive the same quality of education as his counterpart in rural area. 

8. Low student-teacher ratio
Smaller classes allow teachers to focus more on the needs of individual students, working with them to enhance their strengths and improve their weaknesses. In Finland, there is a teacher for every 20 students. Whereas in India, one-third of primary schools still have higher pupil to teacher ratio than the stipulated norms. 

9. Respect for teaching profession
A country can’t have a solid education system if the teachers are not valued and respected. Teachers in Finland are given the same status as doctors and lawyers and paid handsomely. But it’s not easy to become a teacher in Finland. Only 10 per cent of those who apply to teach actually make it into the classroom. However, once in school, they spend only 4 hours a day teaching, spending the rest of time in professional development, meeting with colleagues, students and families. 
 

What ails our education system? Do you think that India can learn a lot from Finland in this regard? Please share with us your views.
 

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Comments

Ritvik Baweja Bal Bharati Public School

Recently, Manish Sisodia also went to Finland to take inspiration from their education system, this also suggests that the cracks in our education system should be repaired. The students should be given an opportunity to clear their doubts and open learning should be promoted.

Rajathariga S P AECS MAGNOLIA MARUTHI PUB SCH

India can definitely learn a lot from Finland''s education system.Especially the no grading thing. Grades just discourage the students and lower their self-confidence.

Khushi Sharma BHARTI PUBLIC SCHOOL (SWASTHYA VHR)

Yes, there''s always a room for improvement. India can adopt the methods mentioned above. Focus on individual abilities rather than mugging up the syllabus would aid the students to find out their caliber and areas of interest.

Onkarpreet Bhavan Vidyalaya

Of course India has a long way to go in the field of it''s education system. One really great problem in our system is that everyone has to, some way or the other, be a part of the rat race. We students have to mug up long chapters ,even if we have no understanding.The only focus is to get the best of grades. Plus,our education system focuses only on academics.But for there are so many other aspects to someone''s personality too. This is where India needs to lndia really needs to learn alot.

Bhavana Jaison Atomic Energy Central School No 2

Yes , the major problem faced by state govt school''s are more students in class (70 minimum) , less recess time, no good infrastructure for PT, lack of open space etc . If this is solved Indian schools will be the best .

Himanshi Dhawan Saffron Public School

Indian education system is all about cramming things up so that one can earn bread and butter. There are innumerable parameters where India requires improvement. For instance-Competition. In our country, cut-offs almost reach 99.9%. Sadly, the graduate students are still not clear with a basic concept. Secondly exams such as AIIMS, JEE etc. are conducted which makes a student quite depressed because of his inability to qualify. I am still optimistic about the future of the education system.

Om Badiyani Sandipani

Yes...... India can learn ,any things from the Finland educational system. The pressure of studies and more amount of homework doesn''t allow children to play , rest and be fresh.

Darshil Shah ST. XAVIERS - LOYOLLA -2 LOYOLLA 2

Indian schools give a lot of pressure to students as well as parents. Students are pressurized due to the homework and exams while parents are pressurized due to the fees. Indian schools are way behind the Finland schools. If I get a chance I would definitely love to go in the Finland schools.

Aditi Sahi D C MODEL SCH PKL-SEC-7

There is room for improvement but I don''t think India is ready for such drastic changes in education system because we have different situtation as compared to Finland.

Brenda Marshal PADUA HIGH SCHOOL-MANKHURD

Yes, obviously India can learn a lot from Finland. The problem in India is that there are minimum 60 students in one class, secondly, the grading thing. Grades encourage as well as discourage. If good grades encouragement is necessary, if bad discouragement is there. Because of the bad grades the hope of students loose the level. If this doesn''t happen then there can be education peacefully ^_^.

Pallavi singh PRESENTATION CONVENT(RED FORT)

Yes, there is a lot to learn form finland as our education sysstem is in grip of commercialisation. Education system should be such that it can motivate learning instead of judging students. The environment of the classroom should be such that children feel it to be a home instead of an imprisonment.

Vandana Subash City International School Wanowrie

Amazing!I have read this earlier in a Whatsapp message..All the points which are much regarded by children and hated by teachers in India,are followed in Finland..

Nishi Upadhyay BHARTI PUBLIC SCHOOL (SWASTHYA VHR)

there is a long way for India to make its education system similar to Finland''s. But if you read this article carefully you will see that this is not feasible in India . For example providing state funded education to such a large population is not possible. Moreover Finland is a small nation with around 5.5 million population.So rather than following it we need to find solutions to our unique problems.

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