How to solve our education puzzzle?
Girls education
When we invest in girls’ education
Investing in girls' secondary education has far-reaching benefits that extend beyond individual gains. When girls are provided with equal opportunities to pursue education, their lifetime earnings significantly increase, breaking the cycle of poverty and empowering them to contribute to their communities and nations. National growth rates rise as a result of a more educated and skilled workforce. Additionally, social issues such as child marriage, child mortality, maternal mortality, and child stunting decline, leading to healthier and more prosperous communities. Despite these proven advantages, girls' education is often undervalued, especially in poorer families, due to societal norms and the misconception that girls will not contribute financially to their parents. By investing in girls' secondary education, we not only empower individual girls but also create a ripple effect of positive change that transforms societies and drives global progress.
Bullying
In India, the concern is not just about bullying by classmates or seniors, but sometimes teachers act like a bully. This issue transcends verbal or emotional abuse, as instances have been reported where teachers resort to extreme measures for punishment. e.g. In some alarming instances, teachers in India have resorted to extreme measures such as hanging students upside down from buildings, imposing a punishment of performing squats a hundred times, or even resorting to physical beatings with sticks. Children can suffer emotionally due to the power game of the management and teacher.
Emotional Intelligence
Metal health has become a pandemic. Children with high emotional intelligence reduce stress, take responsibility for their actions, treat friends and family members with empathy and compassion.
Poverty
Education develops skills and abilities to earn a living. Not everyone who is uneducated is in extreme poverty, but those living in extreme poverty do lack basic education.
Biases and stereotypes
For example, Girls are good at biology and boys are good at maths. We always have a tendency or prejudice toward or against something or someone. With proper scientific education, we can make better decisions and fall less towards biases.
Reservation
Our education system is designed as a scarce resource. Quality education doesn't scale, as a result, we have limited seats, which leads to the reservation for lower caste to give them a chance for upliftment.
Costly education
Privatization of schools and colleges has made education costly and inaccessible to a significant portion of the population. The shift towards privatization has resulted in a growing disparity between those who can afford quality education and those who cannot. This has led to a two-tiered system where the wealthy have access to superior resources and opportunities, while the less fortunate are left behind. The high cost of private education often forces families to make difficult choices, such as taking on significant debt or sacrificing other necessities to afford tuition fees. Furthermore, privatization can lead to a focus on profit over educational quality, with schools and colleges becoming businesses that prioritize financial gain over the well-being and success of their students
Grades
Though competition keeps our focus on our goal, many times it turns toxic for grades that leads to "teaching to test" type of education. Thousands of students end their lives every year in India due to the toxic competition culture.
Outdated syllabus
Due to the centralized and bureaucratic nature of education, it's so difficult to update the curriculum as no one is accountable for it and the curriculum is not updated for many decades.
Unemployment
We have an education where 80% of engineers are unemployable in India. They lack the knowledge of new-edge technology that is needed for jobs.
Child Labour
A total of 152 million children – 64 million girls and 88 million boys – are estimated to be in child labour globally, accounting for almost one in ten of all children worldwide. In India Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group (5-14) years is 259.6 million. Of these, 10.1 million (3.9% of total child population) are working, either as ‘main worker’ or as ‘marginal worker’.
We can eliminate child labor providing income for learning.
So, how can Avrit solve these problems?
Work in progress, currently busy in builiding an experimental governance
A decentralized platform for earning by designing and reviewing the study material or content, assignments, projects, practicals, and assessments.
Avrit has evidence of learning as explainer videos. Instead of the teacher, the student will explain. The explainer script can be prepared by the teacher with the student's collaboration. Explainer script must meet the review guidelines and can be in both English and the native language, making sure the student has understood whatever they are saying. As students do the work, they participate in active learning and there is an increase in engagement. Making explainer videos has so many benefits, it works on multiple skills like critical thinking, improving their vocabulary, communication skills, and comprehension.
Making explainer videos can be hectic for both teachers and students because it causes repetition of work and slows down the process. But repetition and slowing down causes brain to exercise which is key to comprehension and learning. Students engage actively rather than becoming passive listeners of lecture and don't get bored by learning. But it's a one time work for teacher, because explainer script can be used again and again among the students.
Evidence of learning is not limited to explainer videos, it can be anything like practice assignments, real-world projects, or volunteering work like making the neighborhood garbage free.
All are validated by Schelling game, so there is minimal chance of corruption.
It's based on the competition collaboration algorithm:
The Competitive Collaboration Algorithm
When you upload your evidence of learning based on meeting the guidelines of avrit learning by staking, and no one challenges it, you earn 1 AVRIT token.
The apps like proof of humanity have proved that you can earn passive income just by validating that you are a real human.
Here, in Avrit learning, your evidence of learning is validated and you earn an income.
As it's decentralized in nature and you earn for learning, girls' education will not be a problem. It will be run by the local community with few students in a group, so chances of bullying are rare. The curriculum will be up to date due to the evidence-based learning strategy guidelines and due to the competition collaboration algorithm. Here teachers have the responsibility to update the curriculum by learning from other teachers rather than any central bureaucratic authority. We can also have teachers' governance that will provide recommendations for curriculum, learning content, and best practices.
Quality education is no more a scarce resource and is scalable, so reservation is unnecessary, students are evaluated by evidence of learning, which also makes grades unnecessary.
It's all open-source and as it's on the blockchain, it's not owned by anybody, so no predatory practices by some private ed-tech company. Currently, governance system is build here.
The only problem we need the execution, where govts, NGOs and edupreneurs can come together for building learning hubs.
Can Avrit protocol be called homeschooling?
Homeschooling is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Its depends on definition of homeschooling. You can set up avrit centers or avrit learning hubs at your home, or neighbor's homes, but also in school like building, or in school itself. We do require an educated tutor for educating the children. It's about self-managed, decentralized schooling without power games, private or government ownership of schools, but rather, public ownership. Avrit protocol is not limited to school-aged children but also for college going adults.
Can Avrit schooling be misused to provide religious teaching to children by parents?
Avrit protocol can be run by decentralized governance, and evidence of learning is evaluated collectively, and protected by game theory. So, it's hardly possible to do such things.
Will it disadvantage the poor? Is it sustainable?
Avrit protocol has its own cryptocurrency token with robust token economics and can be further improved. With the increase in popularity, the market cap of the token will rise, a market cap of $1 Billion can provide about 10-100 Million funds per year for students and teachers.
Is it experimental or lack evidence?
Self-managed organizations are not experimental. You can go through the book about teal organizations in the book (Link) for more details.
"The Avrit protocol is based on already existing evidence. The platform can also help in running experiments and demonstrating its validation. It's still in active development, and there is always scope for improvement. Designing governance in blockchain has its own challenges. One needs to codify the governance design into a computer program so that it can be scaled.
Does it mean deregulation of the education system?
It will limit the power of centralized governments and bureaucracy. Being on crypto or blockchain doesn't mean there are no rules and regulations. It will function under the purview of decentralized governance and rules of the smart contract.
Is India a homeschooling country?
India, by its educational practices, can be considered a quasi-homeschooling country, as a significant majority of children spend more than 50% of their study time in home tuition classes. They are still in school because it provides the curriculum, systemization, and guidance on what to study and what not to study. Schools put children in a feedback loop of study, with homework assigned every day to be completed in tuition, and they also conduct exams.
Although the practices of schools are questionable and not optimal, it can be chaotic without them. It's not optimal because the rigid structure and focus on rote learning may hinder a more holistic development of students, raising concerns about the overall quality of education in school. It's chaotic without it because homeschooling is unlikely to provide a systematic, structured, and evidence-based education that truly works.
Parents and tuition teachers, although dedicated, are not necessarily experts in curriculum design. This gap in expertise underscores the need for a centralized board or governance structure to provide comprehensive recommendations and guidelines. What we need is a redesign of the curriculum framework and governance to keep students in the feedback loop.
Homeschooling during COVID-19 times was a dystopian chaos
Homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a dystopian chaos for many families. The conventional school experience, characterized by lively classrooms and face-to-face interactions, underwent a stark transformation. With children confined to their homes, a significant portion of their daily lives revolved around staring at screens, primarily mobile devices, for extended periods. This shift not only altered the nature of education but also disrupted the fundamental aspects of childhood.
Gone were the days of personal communication with friends during breaks or in the hallways. Socialization became a virtual affair, limited to online interactions that lacked the spontaneity and authenticity of in-person connections. The absence of physical presence meant missing out on the subtleties of non-verbal communication and the shared experiences that contribute to the richness of friendships.
Outdoor activities and games, once an integral part of a child's routine, took a back seat during this period. The lack of physical engagement and exposure to nature not only impacted physical health but also contributed to a sense of confinement and monotony. The inability to enjoy the simple pleasures of outdoor playtime added to the challenges of this unique homeschooling experience.
Moreover, the prolonged period of isolation and the constant reliance on digital devices had adverse effects on children's mental health. The absence of regular social interactions, coupled with the uncertainties of the global health crisis, led to increased stress and anxiety levels. The inability to escape the virtual realm and engage in real-world activities contributed to a sense of detachment and, in some cases, exacerbated mental health problems among students.
In essence, the shift to homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic created a challenging and surreal environment, deviating significantly from the normative, well-rounded educational and social experiences that children typically undergo.
Who benefits from current homeschooling?
The privatization of schools has already resulted in high and unaffordable fees for middle-class and poor parents. Homeschooling may only lead to the emergence of another set of private and capitalist entities offering closed-source, high-priced online tutorials that are often less effective than private schools. As mentioned earlier, parents cannot homeschool their children by themselves; they need support. Capitalistic advertising companies are likely to take advantage of this and sell services with predatory practices and pricing.
Education is not something that we can fix in a silo
Education is a multifaceted entity that extends far beyond the confines of a classroom or a curriculum. It is a dynamic force that permeates every aspect of our society, influencing the way we live, the values we uphold, and even the political landscape we navigate. The impact of education is not restricted to academic institutions; it echoes through our workplaces and study environments, shaping the way we interact with one another and contribute to the world. In a broader context, education acts as a catalyst for societal progress, fostering innovation, critical thinking, and a collective sense of responsibility.
e.g. One cannot anticipate an improved curriculum if our workforce, comprising teachers, engineers, or doctors etc., is selected primarily through teaching-to-test entrances. Relying on such assessments often prioritizes exam-oriented teaching, emphasizing memorization over fostering critical thinking and practical skills. To enhance the curriculum, reforming the selection processes for professionals is crucial, aligning them with broader educational goals for a more well-rounded and capable workforce.
Additionally, one cannot expect a socialist curriculum if the workforce is structured to serve capitalism. Furthermore, proper curriculum reform cannot be anticipated if politics is highly centralized.
Furthermore, the interconnectedness of education spans across various fields, illustrating its flexibility and adaptability. Interdisciplinary education seamlessly integrates knowledge from diverse fields, fostering a holistic understanding that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the realms of medicine, infrastructure, and engineering, interdisciplinary education acts as a catalyst for innovation by encouraging collaboration between experts from various fields, leading to comprehensive solutions and advancements. For instance, the concept of 15-minute cities, where residents can access essential services within a short radius, relies on innovative urban planning and infrastructure design that stems from a well-educated and forward-thinking society. Education, therefore, is not a standalone entity but a dynamic force that weaves its threads into the fabric of our daily lives, influencing our perspectives, decisions, and the very structure of the world we inhabit.
Challenges that need to be overcome to scale education
Scaling education across districts and countries is indeed a complex and challenging endeavor that requires the collaboration of various stakeholders and sufficient resources. One of the key challenges is the need for substantial infrastructure development, which demands significant financial investment. However, with the advent of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, innovative funding mechanisms using smart contracts can be leveraged to support the necessary infrastructure without solely relying on governmental or wealthy sources.
Nonetheless, establishing a decentralized governance system that effectively manages and optimizes educational processes is a daunting task. It entails iterative algorithm optimization based on new evidence, experimentation, advocacy, and the implementation of improved curriculum and evaluation systems.
As a tuition teacher for few years with a unique professional background in interdisciplinary research, spanning computational biology and computer science, I had the valuable opportunity to evaluate the diverse needs of students from various backgrounds and learning levels. Each student brings their own set of experiences, and understanding these differences is crucial to tailoring effective teaching methods. However, creating systemic change in education and ensuring that every student receives a quality education goes beyond the efforts of a single teacher. It demands the collective dedication and collaboration of an entire teacher workforce.
Managing and coordinating such a labor force adds another layer of complexity to the challenge of scaling education. It is important to acknowledge that addressing these challenges requires a multi-faceted approach involving technological innovation, financial resources, and the active participation of educators and stakeholders.
The goal is to start small, with a few teachers at the table, and establish a suitable governance model built on smart contracts. We will iterate, improve, and scale as we go. Experiments in education tend to take longer, as learning is a years-long process. Completing a single book or course can take several months or even years of time.