“Taare Zameen Par” – Movie brings out some serious defects in the Indian education system

“Taare Zameen Par” (meaning Stars on Earth) is an Indian movie which tells the story of a dyslexic boy who grows up to be eight years old without anyone around him recognizing that he is dyslexic. The boy shows above average intelligence in every other area except in the written language. And because the school system relies on the written language to test the child’s level of intelligence in every other discipline, the boy is not able to show his progress in any other subject area as well. The movie portrays the pathetic state of the Indian education system which compounds the boy’s  problems by constantly criticizing his inability to do well at school. As a result of this he also suffers from very low self-esteem. Luckily he encounters a new teacher in his school who recognizes his disability and offers him special therapy and training to help him learn how to read and write. Once he catches up on his reading and writing skills, he blends easily into his academic curriculum.

The movie tells the story of millions of dyslexic people all over the world, It is estimated that in U.S alone, about three to ten percent of the school-aged children are dyslexic. While there doesn’t seem to be any official figure on the number of dyslexic children in India, I would assume that the percentages are something similar to U.S – which puts the number of dyslexic children in India in the order of many millions.
The problem of dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and spoken language. Some of the difficulties that result from dyslexia are – confusion with before/after,right/left,  difficulty with spelling and reading, difficulty with handwriting, difficulty in organization skills and so on. While there is no cure for dyslexia, dyslexic children/adults can be treated by giving specialized phonics instruction which can mitigate the reading deficits. Access to written material in a variety of other formats (eg: audio) and fonts can also help dyslexic children learn better.
It is also important to note that dyslexic children can be integrated into mainstream classrooms quite easily if dyslexia is detected early enough and treated. Because most schools impart education and test children in the written language, it is mandatorily required to have all children learn to process written language – which is exactly what a dyslexic child cannot do. But once the dyslexic children are trained in special ways to process written language, they can integrate easily into mainstream classrooms.

During my school years, growing up in India, there was very little awareness about dyslexia and other learning disabilities. With large class sizes in every classroom and a teacher training program that didn’t address how to recognize learning disabilities in children, many children who were dyslexic often fell through the cracks of the school system. The Indian educational system is very competitive with children who secure good grades in the examinations are often encouraged by everyone around them and are labelled as gifted. Other children who score average grades in the exams, while not valued by the society as up to the same level as the so called “gifted children”, often make it through the education system and if lucky eventually find their “calling” in life and pursue their passion quite successfully. It is the children who score below average in the examinations who have a tough time in the Indian society. Often criticized by the society for not being “intelligent” because they don’t score well in academic subjects, many of them suffer from very low self-esteem. What is even worse is that many of them may be suffering from a learning disability conditions like dyslexia which, if detected, can be treated – but no one may have detected this condition in them.
Worse still is the state of many families of dyslexic children in India who not only are unaware of this learning disability but are also not able to share their child’s learning problems publicly due to the fear of their child being labeled by the society as “mentally retarded”. Dyslexia is not a condition of mental retardation. From what I’ve observed in the U.S, adults talk freely about their and their children’s problems related to dyslexia or other learning disabilities. Because they are able to share their problems with others, they are also able to access support groups and special help to address the problem. In addition, the public education system in the U.S has provisions in place to train teachers to recognize these kinds of problems in children and offer dyslexic children special help to treat the conditions. Hence I feel that the dyslexic children in U.S have a much better chance of doing well in life than children in India.

I came across an article in Washington Post which talked about how the movie “Taare Zameen Par” drastically raised the awareness about dyslexia in India. After seeing the movie, many families and parents of dyslexic children, came out of their shell and were able to share their stories in the public and were also able to get help for their children.
One wonders what it will take to have all children in this world with learning disabilities learn at the same pace as a normal child. The choice of most educational systems in the world to educate and test children is written language. What if children were taught and tested orally? What if they were taught through music or through visual aids? What if all teachers in this world were trained to recognize these disabilities in children? What if appropriate remedial action was taken for all these children on time? What if the world thought of every child born into this world as equally capable? What if the whole world recognized that it is mainly through the child’s experiences during her childhood that she develops her intelligences. What if every child’s caregiver (eg: family, teachers etc) recognized that it is largely up to them to have their children grow up to be responsible citizens of this world? What if… What if….
Whenever I watch movies such as “Taare Zameen Par”, my thought train is endless….

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