When students’ mind is filled with the information that ‘Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra’, they listen, memorize and repeat the sentence after the teacher. But students’ critical thinking that ‘what does mean by capital city’ and ‘why is that particular city is made as capital city’ is suppressed. In the traditional education system, students are seen as mere containers in which teachers can store information.
‘Banking concept of Education’ was termed by Paulo Friere. He criticized the traditional education system by comparing the teachers and students with depositors and containers. In our education system, students are perceived as ignorant and empty containers.
Banking Education is a tool used by the authority or oppressors to turn the citizens into manageable and adaptable entities. Banking education minimizes the creative and logical thinking in students and thereby students only see the fragmented view of reality and learns to adapt to the world, they were imposed on.
There is a circular relationship between the education system and the power system. Authoritarians use their power to impose their viewpoints on the people through the misguided education system. This education brainwashes students to accept the authority of oppressors and turns them into adaptable. So the power system imposes wrong education and this banking education reinforces the power and economic inequalities.
Leo Tolstoy argued that teachers’ role should be limited to guide students to explore the real world. And he also opined that the content and the method of education must be decided by the parents and community as a whole.