Education for All

Everyone knows the importance of education, yet somewhere we are lacking in giving a proper and quality education to the less privileged ones. In this post I would like to discuss about educating to all children of all age groups irrespective of whether they are poor, underprivileged or going through the formal education. Education should never be about preparing these children to get marks in schools, but it should transform these individuals to become better citizens. We all need to ask some fundamental questions before we can proceed to imparting quality education.

What is Education?

How much importance has been given to Education?

Is it just about obtaining a degree from a School, College, Institution or University?

Is the present system of education in India enough?

What actually should Education achieve?

Potential Solution - What we can do?

What is Education?

“The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life” – Dictionary.com

As seen from the definition, education is not just about acquiring knowledge. It is much more than that. It goes beyond preparing oneself for a job or a career. It should foster reasoning and analytical ability. Education should not have any boundaries and there should not be any kind of restriction while imparting it.

How much importance has been given to Education?

• The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002, inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right.

• 2% Education Cess and 1% Secondary and Higher Education Cess paid by all the taxpayers would directly go towards providing education.

Is it just about obtaining a degree from a School, College, Institution or University?

Even though this should not be the case but yet this is what currently is happening in India. There is a fear among prospective employers, academicians and professors that education has become just about obtaining a degree. If this is the trend then sadly we will end up as a country producing only degree holders without any knowledge and practical application.

Is the present system of education in India enough?

Sadly the present education narrows one’s thinking rather than enhancing it. The school education stresses more on the grades than on the overall development of a child. Too much importance is being given to marks and grades rather than the overall upbringing of a child. We don’t need schools producing thousands of students every year without instilling any confidence in them. Otherwise it would become like a manufacturing factory just producing same goods every single year. There is a disconnect between what is taught at schools and what is required in practical life.

What actually should Education achieve?

The true meaning of education is one where it allows someone to broaden his/her thinking ability and doesn’t narrow one’s thinking. It’s just not about getting a degree or a qualification from any school or college. It is very important particularly for a country like us, where the young population is more than some country’s total population. It should teach or at least help students to lead a better life. 

There is no point in giving education, if there is no quality aspect in it. It should act a catalyst in connecting the haves and the have-nots. Like any other social cause, child development, malnutrition, violence against women, sexual abuse, education plays an important role and it is at the heart of all these. It is integrally connected to all the other social causes. Lack of proper education is the major cause.

Education should help to broaden the vision and should instill the questioning ability in students. Education should be at the core of any child’s development. Education is much more than just about obtaining a degree or qualification. It is about how we think, how we adapt and how one can change things that is ought to be changed.

Potential Solution - What we can do?

According to me, it is everyone’s responsibility to help in someway or the other by educating others who don’t have the privilege to going to schools or colleges. We all have gone through the same system hence we are in a better position to help the less privileged ones.

Our Government can’t do everything. We all can in our own small way help these kids and students to learn things in a better manner. I personally feel that, if there is one thing that is acting, as a hindrance for our country to grow better is the poor quality of education. Let's all take a pledge to impart quality education and make our nation a truly educated one.

I would like to thank IndiBlogger and ISB for giving me an opportunity to express my views about a social cause. Please do check out this link (http://www.isb.edu/idiya/).

Prashanth

Image Courtesy: Google Images