There was this boy clutching onto his granddad who was selling cane furniture on the roadside;
i gave him a chocolate bar; i saw him take his little pet kitten from the chair i was looking at; i held his hand, let him hold me with his tiny fingers and we went to the next pottery stall; he didn’t speak a word; i was told he was already 3 and a half; he was, according to my thought process, not in school but made to sit with grandparents; he was, according to me, wasting his initial high potential years that’ll become the foundation for higher studies…!
“Really?” : a voice said inside me.
I got him a colouring book and a crayon next time around; his grandparents had this look – “another sympathiser?”
i’m supposed to feel good; but i wasn’t- because i knew that that was not the solution; it is simply not about education for all; even if he gets to go to some school, will he learn the right things in the right way with the right understanding?
i should say “maybe not” with a heavy heart; i gained a few years of experience with an after school program that had excellent materials and it was repetitive work, practice oriented model; for young children rote does work but a good explanation of what they’re storing in their heads and that too early on, really helps as a strong foundation; we see parents running to every place possible for giving the education that is current, education that’ll fetch jobs and secure a future; apart from schools big and small and franchises and tutoring centres for everything – right from handwriting correction to college project work and thesis assistance, we have it all!
yet, we needed to engage that lone high school graduate from a remote village around big cities, to impart his knowledge for the rest of his fellow village kids; he had to be called into teaching which he himself
got very insufficiently! we call this set up “Single teacher school”.
what is happening?
in india, we are desperately getting onto the global super power race and trying our hands at everything, clamber into that coveted spot somehow; we have big corporates running schools; they’re no Robinhoods; education is a business, we all know that, whether it is Stanford or SRM institutes for learning; Quality is the key! we mass produce engineers like chinese factories mass producing plastics for the world! if education comes with a clear conscience and with quality, India or Bharat will have carved its name in the field of education long ago! True, we have given the world great philosophies and sastras to borrow from, which means there were great minds thriving in this very soil! That should be the very touchstone for our capacity to excel in the field of relevant education and for all!
Education does not mean simply being literate or getting to finishing line after three/ four years to earn a degree; it is more than that! it is really enlightening not for the spirit but for the development of mankind, a contribution from India to the world!
Arise Awake and Stop Not – was the lament and urge of a very great personality who imbibed everything that Indian education and philosophy had to offer : Swami Vivekananda!
i’m looking forward to the education that is a joyful experience to school goers of all age! Such education when imparted to young minds will lead every other development needed for this country! This – explains my unease with that little child i saw in the cane shop. Asatthoma Sat Gamaya – which can happen only with empowering ourselves with knowledge of the right kind! Brihadharanyaka Upanishad rightly included the other two that have to be surmounted – and that which will happen if Truth is known : Ignorance and Death.
We usher in the era of artificial intelligence; We pledge to eradicate the malice of ignorance and illiteracy with the latest in technology !! Poverty will be taken care of as a consequence!!
Author
Mrs Vidhyalekshmi
