Shiv Kumar Padha
The involvement of our politicians, bureaucrats and police in the scandals, scams, rackets, kickbacks, loot and wastages occupy front pages and become headlines of the news media these days. The tax evasion, possession of assets disproportionate to the sources of income by the bureaucrats and the politicians, criminal nexus of police and the politicians with the national and international mafia, custodial deaths in police captivity, collapsing of newly or under construction structures, involvement of doctors in the human organ trade rackets selling of the degrees by the fake universities and involvement of ministers and the politicians in the sex rackets has become a common feature of social and political life of the nation. Theses pseudo educated high profile criminals have showcased morality, ethics, loyalties, conscience for sale. Let us, as a nation, explore about these persons. Are they literate, qualified or educated? During the pre-post-independence period education up to degree level was the prerogative of the elite class. With the passage of time the mushrooming of the universities and that of the degree colleges started taking place both in the private and public sectors which produced only the literates and qualified and not the educated. There are around 270 state levels, 45 central and 140 deemed universities in the country which include teaching, technical, central and agriculture universities. There are 20,000 degree colleges both in the private and public sector which is more than the number of high and higher secondary schools ever existed in the country.
The swarms of the youth, emerging every year from these colleges and universities add to the already existing army of white collars in the country. The majority of them are unawakening, unenlightened, unregenerate, and irrational. They are undemocratic, dishonest, disrespectful, disloyal and disobedient in their behaviour and are least interested in the welfare and development of the country as a result of which they indulge in such activities which in no way conform to the moral character expected of a true, loyal and dedicated citizen of the country.
Comparing literacy, qualification and education we come to the conclusion that they are poles apart from each other as regards their meaning and goals are concerned. There is a thin line between literacy and education. While literacy talks about imparting of 3three Rs i.e reading writing and arithmetic or of literacy, numeracy and technocracy (science), education is a lifelong process and power of acting with body, power of thinking with mind and the powerof feeling with heart.We confuse qualification and literacy with education. A person who is highly qualified and literate can be less educated and vice versa. We often come across persons called as highly qualified in different subjects but lacking in basic ingredients of life, like being honest, being helpful, respecting elders, spiritual attitude and working for some good cause. The values cannot be imbibed only by going to school, colleges, studying text books or by filling one’s mind with information, technical skills and useless material only which creates more problems than solutions but can be imbibed by inheritance, by inspiration and educative values. According to Swami VivekaNand” Education is not the amount of information that is put into brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life.” If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages in the world and encyclopedias are the Rishis says Swami VivekaNand. The qualification trains only our intellect but does not bring grace to our heart because the present system of education revolves round the subjects only.
From the philosophical point of view Swami Ji said, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.” Knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside it is all inside. The education is right belief, right feeling and right action which is a right passage from quantitative accumulation to qualitative emergence. So far as the meaning of the education is concerned it is a lifelong process which starts from the womb of the mother and ends in the tomb. According to the University Education Commission report “Education is not merely a means of earning a living. It is a training of human souls in the pursuit of truth and practice of virtue. It is a second birth”. According to Gandhi ji education stands for balanced and harmonious development of personality of man. Milton considers complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously all the offices both private and public of peace and war. Education becomes purposeful if it inculcates moral, spiritual, aesthetic, cultural and social values among the students otherwise the literacy and acquiring of higher qualifications have no civic and disciplinary values. Kothari Commission and National Policy Of Education speak in unison that “Education should be for fostering love for the country and the countrymen, pride in India’s cultural heritage, maintain national integrity, honesty, dignity of labor, respect for national symbols and Indian constitution”. Therefor the disciplinary education is that which educates the common student to respect their elders, do mental exercise, do meditation as it was used in the previous educational system like Guru Kula.
Even more than six decades after independence we as a nation couldn’t provide the type of education to the youth which could make them honest, disciplined, dedicated, loyal,and democratic and patriot to the backbone.In the absence of these needed values the terrorists, divisive, disrupting and antinational forces are raising their heads and are striking at the targets fearlessly. The politicians and the bureaucrats spare no chance in minting money and becoming multimillionaire overnight. The high profile criminals are gradually eating into the vitals of society and the country. We have plenty of time left to correct our educational set up so that our educational institutions produce the citizens who are honest and sincere to the backbone and are accountable for their deeds before the countrymen. These high ranking bureaucrats and politicians should keep the interests of the nation above their never ending greed because ‘there is sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed’.
