तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

Inspiring leadership, efficient bureaucracy, world level scientists and artists, decision makers who could combine efficacy with compassion – are some of the elements which are considered vital for the sustenance of a nation. Sadly, India of today does not possess any of these in the requisite amount. What we have are opportunist leaders, corrupt bureaucrats and the phenomenon of policy paralysis. Moreover, the respect that Indian scientific community once commanded is on decline and various art forms are fading away into oblivion. The causes behind our present problems, are indeed multiple, yet the most important factor has been the difference between – what education is and what it should be.

The purpose of education is to develop one’s mental faculties, so that he can lead a meaningful life, a life guided by reason and compassion. Education has to be an enabler for life, it has to promote scientific temper and motivate people to question the established facts. Instead of clipping the wings of the students, education has to give them the fuel to fly high and far. Education has to be an instrument in achievement of the values enshrined in our Preamble. Education should help us in becoming a better citizen and a better human.

Current Scenario – Goal Displacement

A natural corollary of this is that education which deviates from the above mentioned characteristic is bound to lead to a society that is stagnant, ridden with conflicts and corrupt. Sadly the current state of affairs in India are not very different. Out current system of education is wired in a manner that focuses on only limited fields of study. While science is being promoted over arts as it is more conducive to a stable employment in a society that is industrialising fast,ironically,scientific temper has been thrown out the window. Students are forced to mug up the established facts , without questioning. They are dumped with so much of information that they hardly have any time to think and imagine. Further, besides being limited to few areas of study and neglecting other, the education system in India has become a prized possession of few. A large part of the society finds itself unable to afford studying in good institutions, thus shattering the dream of our forefathers to establish an egalitarian society.

India currently operates in a limited vision of education. Education is seen as something imparted in schools and colleges and we tend to conveniently ignore the other sources of education like elders, life lessons, nature etc. while our ancestors valued the most. Education has been confined to the time period between reading a book and writing an exam. The result is that in our real lives we operate as uneducated as a person who has never seen the face of the school. The obvious results are apparent in our society. We witness ethical bankruptcy, lack of citizenship values and symptoms of frustration.

A bird eye’s view of our education system would reveal that we are suffering from goal displacement.Education, which was supposed to be a process of invigoration of our mental faculties and help us in leading a more fuller life, has become merely a step that leads to employment. Instead acting as a guiding star through out our lives, education system of today is acting like a ignorant step mother whose only concern is that we are able to get two square meals a day. Hence a rethinking is required so that the education system can be reinvented to achieve its original purpose.

Education – the original purpose!

Socrates, the great greek philosopher has said that man’s capacity to reason is what distinguishes him from other animals.The original purpose of education was to enhance our capacity to reason. This fact has been restated by the great physicist Albert Einstein, who once said that,”education is not learning of the facts, but training of the mind to think”. Hence the first and foremost purpose of education should be to develop scientific temper in every human being. Further in the current modern era when democratic ideals are held in high esteem, the goals and values enshrined in our Preamble should also be the purpose of education. Each person should possess these values and internalise them in full measure. Being a social being, we should also incorporate elements in our education system that help us live in harmony with others. Hence, the capabilities of conflict management and emotional intelligence should also be incorporated in our system of education.

Scientific Temper

Education is traditionally seen as imparting of he established knowledge. However as pointed out by Karl Popper –‘all knowledge is provisional and permanently provisional’. This simple means that established facts are fallible and they are accepted as truth because they have not been proven false yet. Hence the purpose of education should be to promote people to question rather than mug-up facts. Education should act as a facilitator to combine science and fantasy and lead to true progress of human race. A flight of imagination when combined with the fundamentals of rationality can do wonders which are truly unprecedented. Development of many scientific instruments in 20th century, which were once described by Jules Verne in his science fiction novel in 19th century , is a testimony to the fact that to achieve something you have to start dreaming. The recent invention of a optimal microscope that has overcome the diffraction limit ( a limit imposed almost 100 years ago that it is not possible for optical microscopes to achieve resolution higher than 0.2 micrometers) clearly shows that questioning established facts does lead to breakthrough inventions. Even in our daily lives, if we don’t questions the values of family and society that we are being taught, our society will not be able to move forwards and practices which have lost relevance will carry on and impede true progress. Every substantial social reform in history started with the simple question of ‘why?’. Hence it is imperative that education promotes the attitude of questioning and being open to questioned by others about the beliefs that we hold as true. Prima facie, questioning appears as presence of friction among people, but if it was not for friction we would not have been able to discover fire.

Moving out of Schools and Colleges

Attitude of questioning can only be developed if the education system moves out of schools and colleges and interacts with the society and nature. The limited scope of education that is being imparted in the schools and colleges need a through revision as they are leading to standing of our minds instead of invigoration. Instead of merely being confide to classrooms education should be seen to exist everywhere. Everyone should be seen as a person who can teach us something.President of United States, Woodrow Wilson, has once said that even a murder who is sharpening his knife is a potential teacher as we can learn from him the way to sharp knife, but we must be careful to be influenced by his intention to murder. Hence Schools need to let the students interact freely with their environment after imparting to them the basic principles so that they can distinguish right from wrong. Colleges need to focus more on flexibility of curriculum, hence leading to cross dimensional studies. Students should not be only worried about the employment opportunities while picking their field of study, they should chose fields that appeal to their intellect. This will ensure that education can maintain a higher level of motivation for longer periods and they will be able to contribute positively to the field of their choice. If such an approach can lead tomerger of profession and hobby , life would be simple, easy and fulfilling for everyone.

Democratic Values

A happy individual can only exist in an happy society, and for society to be happy every one should have citizenship values. The values that form the bedrock of modern societies are -democracy, secularism, fraternity, equality and justice. These values have been enshrined in almost all progressive constitutions of the world, including ours. Education should not merely teach these values as part of ‘Civics’ curriculum but should focus on inculcation of these values in sac individual. Everyone’s character should develop these values as a moral compass to guide them in their daily life. If education system is able to achieve this goal , a lot many problems of our society would be automatically solves. The spirit of scientificism will ward of fundamentalism, secularism will fight tolerance, equality will lead to a society in which everyone gets his due and democracy will lead to a government that is of the people and works for it. Hence, in a way education can prove to be the panacea for all problems that are facing the society today. However this goal cannot be achieved by force, it will have to be done by reformation of educational system so that fresh minds are given doses of these values right from the start

Generating a global outlooks

These modern values cannon be developed in a parochial sense, they , by definition, have to be global. Education should lead to development of global outlook in the people of every country so that they neither see themselves as inferior to some other country or treat citizens of other nations with contempt. This will lead to realisation of true goal of equality of every human being. The doctrine of ‘Vashudhaiv Kutumbakam’ – the whole world is one family, enshrined in our Vedas will be realised in true sense. Education can thus lead to development of international citizens like Pandit Nehru and Mahatama Gandhi, whose vision and principles transcended national boundaries.

Faster and better decisions

A natural outcome of education system, that works with right tools towards right goals, will be development of inspirational leaders. Education would not just produce tall leaders who can lead the nation but also develop leadership qualities in every citizen. This will natural produce better decision makers and efficient administrators. In a society ridden with conflicts and where slow movement of reforms have become a norm, faster and better decisions are much in need. Education should lead to development of understanding of how conflicts take place, what people can do in the cases of conflict. Education should develop a inherent sense of justice in each human being, so that they can distinguish right from wrong and good from bad.

Ability to see and do justice in a situation of conflict require people to develop a greater understanding of the factors involved, assess possible courses of action and have ability to perceive the emotions of others. Real education will not only develop people who are intelligent but people who are emotionally intelligent. Such people will have ability to better manage their own emotions and the emotions of the others.

Hence Real education should focus on development of citizenship values, promote basic principles of humanity and most importantly allow people to take flight of imagination. It has to be multidimensional and would focus on all types of learning- art and science, theoretical and practical, philosophical and societal. Every subject should be seen as equally important and people should be promoted to evolve their own areas of interest and work in them. Education should act as an enabler for life, gives us freedom to explore uncharted territories while serving as a guiding star so that we don’t get lost in the wilderness. To achieve the real goal of education we need a mental revolution in the field of education. From being a steamer service, which takes its passengers on predetermined and old routes, education should act as nature does, it should provide man with a river and pieces of wood so that he can build his own both and explore the gift of life.

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

Lead us from the Darkness to the Light

Lumbini – Buddha’s own Country!

The fog of the Past!

Gazing at the Moon!

Abstract – Let your Imagination take a flight

Wildlife – They share our World

Ranthambore – Green and Beautiful

Varanasi – The City of Magic

India China Relation

Education – as it should be !

Restoring the dignity to Indian Women – Issues and Challenges