Education Has Become 'Marks-Wadi', Rote Learning Needs To Go: Pralhad Joshi

Pralhad Joshi said rote learning needs to be replaced with experiential learning and anxious parents also need to stop being too focused on their ward scoring marks anyhow.

27 Oct 2026, 17:28 · NDTV

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Union Minister Pralhad Joshi criticized the obsession with scoring marks in education and parenting
Joshi called for replacing rote learning with experiential learning to enhance understanding
He highlighted the pressure to score marks reduces students' confidence and practical knowledge

How will CBSE change how students are evaluated?
New Delhi:

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday asserted that the education system and anxious parents have become "marks wadi" being overly fixated about their wards scoring marks, as he called for replacing rote learning with experiential learning.

The minister made the comments in his address at the inauguration of an "Experience Centre" at Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)'s integrated office complex in Dwarka.

"Much of a student's time goes into memorising and planning how to score marks. Parents, too, often feel the marks must be scored somehow. I often say that people have become a different kind of 'marks-wadi'. The ideology, is another matter, but the mindset has taken hold of nearly every parent.

"The cost is that a child's understanding, learning capacity and interests go unexamined. The pressure to score also leaves students short on confidence... knowledge that stays in books and cannot be applied when needed serves little purpose. This is the thinking behind the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020," he said.

The minister said rote learning needs to be replaced with experiential learning and anxious parents also need to stop being too focused on their ward scoring marks anyhow.

Joshi inaugurated the CBSE Experience Centre which takes visitors through the changing story of education in India.

Housing 12 broad zones and 21 exhibits spread across 6,000 square feet, the centre connects ancient traditions with modern learning and new career opportunities.

A special section tracks the rise of CBSE through historical photographs and archival material including records from 1935 and provides a glimpse into the role of the board's evolution of the school education system.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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