A different type of education needed

Dr.R.S.Tiwari

Whatever we may Modi may say, India is not moving in the direction to
which it needs to. The economy is showing resilience of very moderate degree
short of growth hovering around 5% , no harmony in society, opposition is getting
united for their benefit not for the nation, terrorism is not only continuing
but
showing signs of spreading, intolerance increasing,
instead of development
political parties are indulging in anti social activities on the name of religion , all
types of crimes are escalating in a big way by adults and juveniles , & so on. Most
of the intellectuals are blaming education system rightly for various socio economic
ills of the country but the things are boiling down to
skill development,
employability and competitiveness. No body talks about a good citizen, formation of
a real civil society or a good human being. What we are witnessing is a society full
of criminals, shrewd and cunning politicians, A number of political leaders of
various parties have a track record of all types of crimes including rape, kidnapping,
murder, frauds, corruption, exploitation of poor and weak, children and women This
is being replicated by their followers making society a hell for the general public.
Violation of law and order is the sign of individual power and political backing. The
people are deprived of the human values, democratic values and nationality
conviction. Kennedy in 1961 suggested Americans Ask not what your country can
do for you - ask what you can do for your country. And we must ask to our people.
There are big guns who are critiquing Modis Swathh Bharat Abhiyan, & alarge
number of youths are supporting terrorist in bomb blasting , leaking strategic
information to our enemies, distorting process of fair elections, indulging heinous
crimes of rape and murder. Obviously there are laws, police and CPC to deal with
all these. Knowing well even good people do nothing against this. As Edmund
Burked observed ="All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people
to do nothing." We blame the system but system does not choose the leaders
which results in electing representatives who are not our most capable leaders and
who are corrupt, dishonest, inefficient and criminals while most of us don't vote.
Every nation faces economic, social, environmental, security, educational, legal,
health, etc. challenges. The solutions to these challenges are most effective when a
great number of citizens are involved in making them for which we can look at
politician, religious authorities, bureaucracy, social reformers, etc. but each has
several limitations.
The solution ultimately lies in appropriate education
which in itself proved
Pandoras box In the field of education thousands experiments have been
undertaken & proved futile exercise. The issues are hovering around quantity,
quality, subjects, skill development, balancing between region and groups,

financial and other resources without achieving any unanimity. In the field of
education thousands experiments have been undertaken & proved futile exercise.
The issues are hovering around quantity, quality, subjects, skill development,
balancing between region and groups, financial and other resources without
achieving any unanimity. The content part be left to academics but some emotional
charging is right away . We must inculcate atleast 3 types of feeling, and
comprehension among our younger ones to adult at various levels of education
irrespective of stream ,medium of instruction, community and region. First loyalty
to nation. Which is called patriotism. The allegiance to people of India, the every
inch piece of land, resources. Loyalty is so valuable asset which can not be
negotiated at any price. Every action must be evaluated against the norms and
standards of national security, find out the persons who are trying to destroy or
disturb the peace of the people irrespective of their position and status. Protection
of our mother land and people is our first priority. Consider oneself as an army man
jo hahan par hai wo lam par hai.. Why cant we teach to our children from the
beginning that we have room for but one flag, the Tirana and we have room for but
one sole loyalty i.e. loyalty to India.
Secondly, we have wedded to democracy however we did not make any effort to
teach, educate people about the democratic values. Ask a common man even
having education, it is very difficult to find out even 20% of people who understand
the real meaning of democracy. Since democracy is a way of living together, it is
not simply confined to election and voting. No surprise since in schools at lower
level democracy is being taught as a system of governance without explaining the
core philosophy and values of democracy. It is responsible for many ills in the
society including communal riots to booth capturing. equality, respect for others
rights, justice, tolerance for diversity, social bias are some of the democratic
values which need to be imbibed in the minds of the young ones.
The third is Human values . Although no one comes in life with any values yet
human life is integrated with human values. Knowingly or otherwise certain values
are imbibed in us and we are being guided by those values- some values are
socially desirable & some are catastrophic for the society. It is the duty of parents,
teachers, society, government, etc. to provide environment to a person since his
childhood to develop desirable in a good proportion in it. Self education too is
possible provided one is interested and understand the value of these values.
Honesty, Compassion, Integrity, Forgiveness, Love, peace, avoidance of violence,
generosity, justice, are some of the important values which must be inculcated in
the minds of the people. These are nearer to ethical behavior too. One should
always remember that his inner conscious is observing his attitude and behavior
when no body else is watching therefore he must behave logically and emotionally.
There are various types of people First, who behave in a manner that show them
a conscientious member of civil society whereas from the inner side they tend to
behave otherwise provided nobody is watching them. Secondly, those who are

basically honest, sincere and ethical , thirdly those who are basically unethical and
having negative values. Fourth those who are always in a fix and behave as others
do or they find some allurement and are swayed by it. Fifth , those who are being
indoctrinated and brainwashed on the basis of some ideology. All of them can be
persuaded through education to follow right path. Education can even clean the
mind of those whose minds have already been infected. The ball lies in the court
of stakeholders in educating their follower.
The young ones are living under confusion, goalless and hope less. They are
not able to distinguish between right and wrong, desirable and condemnable,
ethical and criminal, and simply good and bad. The global culture sponsored by
Anglo Saxon culture, is making them self centered to selfish, profit oriented to
greedy, pleasure mongering to materialistic human being to shylock. In absence of
clear cut guidance they are not able to develop conviction and are easily swayed
away by their contacts. In this big country with extreme diversity, diverse opinions
are floating freely. If there are 20% good people, there are other 80% are otherwise
and alluring these 20% to become like them.
The Young should be able to make distinguish between right and wrong, to
feel it and act accordingly. This type of value education will make them not only
pro social or polite or become one part of various traits, it will build their
character and become integral element of their personality. The morality,
amicability, nationality, responsibility, rationality and emotional clarity will be
imbibed in them firmly.
They will respect diversity, recognise
multiple
perspectives ,welcome curiosity & appreciate critical thinking. This will avoid
internal division and conflicts & foster social harmony. This necessitates a
uniform nature and pattern of education emphasizing on above 3 issues. There
are no ifs and buts in this case. This has nothing to do with secularism or
communalism, right wing or left wing, Hinduism or Islamism. Now it is the job
of all the stakeholders to think deeply and evolve the modus operandi for
providing this type of education. Once we are successful in this, we will be much
happier, likeable and desirable globally.
Providing space for diversity and considering national level environment it
would be better that instead of teaching Gita in schools and colleges, the
values prescribed and socially desirable behavior given in Gita and other such
literature, are taught. Practically who can reject or condemn values like
truthfulness, purity, compassion, poise , patience, restrain, simplicity, etc.
Everybody may not follow it but everyone will agree that one should have
courage to protest against injustice, be assertive and fearless, cooperative and
committed to goal, love and loyal to his land, faithful to God & so on. The moral
behavior is guided by the basic principle that your inner conscious should
dominate over all pervasive environment inviting you to activities and thoughts
which are immoral, criminal or horrible. One should imbibe the basic approach
that you are being watched by God even when nobody is observing you.

The inner voice should be loud enough to check you when you are unable to
decide the appropriate path for moving. There are rare chances of going astray
once one develop the capacity to identify right and wrong. Politics is never
regarded superior to philosophy and in Indian philosophy, human capacity is
considered more important than capacity of machines and modernization of man
is more important than modernization of technology. Always remember the
words of Arnold Toynbee- the great historian- It is already becoming clear that a
chapter which had a Western Beginning in business management , will have to
have an Indian ending, when the world adopts rich thoughts of Indian ethos and
wisdom.
Dr.R.S.Tiwari, Sr. MIG 15, E-3, Arera colony,Bhopal.