The Lucknow Express

 India’s Young People Need More Opportunities to Speak — Not More Coaching 

- by Pranav Mittal

Walk into an Indian classroom and ask a question. A few hands may rise, many students will look
down, and some will quietly hope the teacher calls on someone else. Yet ask those same students to
prepare for an examination, and many will spend hours memorising definitions, formulas and model
answers.

This contradiction reveals a problem with our education system: we spend enormous amounts of time
teaching students what to know, but far less time teaching them how to express what they know. For
many Indian students, public speaking is treated as an extracurricular skill. If you want to debate, join
a debate club. If you want to improve your communication, attend a workshop. If you want to become
comfortable presenting, hire a coach.

But communication should not be an optional skill available mainly to students whose schools or
families can provide these opportunities. It should be part of education itself. The National Education
Policy 2020 already emphasises critical thinking, discussion, inquiry and experiential learning. The
challenge is turning those principles from policy into everyday classroom practice.
A student can score exceptionally well without ever having to defend an idea aloud. An economics
student can memorise a theory without explaining why it matters. A history student can learn about
democracy without ever having to disagree respectfully with a classmate. This does not necessarily
reflect a failure by teachers. Teachers themselves operate under intense curricular and examination
pressures. When success is measured primarily through written examinations, classroom discussion
can easily become secondary.

The solution, however, is not another coaching industry. India is already remarkably good at turning
educational anxiety into an industry. We have coaching centres for examinations, competitive tests
and increasingly even college applications. Communication should not become the next expensive
service families feel compelled to purchase.
Instead, schools should give students opportunities to practise speaking as part of ordinary learning. A
science student could explain a concept to classmates. An economics student could defend a position
on a policy. A history student could argue from the perspective of a historical figure. A mathematics
student could explain why an answer is correct, rather than simply providing it. The objective is not to
turn every student into a professional public speaker. It is to make speaking, listening and reasoning
normal parts of learning.

This is particularly important for quieter students. Confidence is rarely produced by simply being told
to “be confident.
” It develops through repetition. The first presentation may be intimidating; the tenth
is usually easier. Students need safe environments where making mistakes is treated as part of learning
rather than something embarrassing.Communication is more than a career skill. It is a civic skill. Democracies need citizens who can
articulate their views, question authority, listen to opposing arguments and change their minds when
confronted with better evidence.

India does not need another generation of students who can simply produce the right answer. It needs
young people who can ask better questions, defend their ideas and listen when someone challenges
them. That kind of confidence cannot be memorised for an examination. It has to be practised. And
the best place to start is not another coaching centre. It is the classroom.