Dr KR Srivathsan
BHAGAVAN Sri Satya Sai Baba often stated that, “The End of Education is Character. The End of Knowledge is Love.” Our present day education is very weak in imparting good character in our students. Our universities and their colleges largely fail to develop the good character of the students. Formal education is mostly reduced to a 'factory' approach. It has been reduced to conducting admissions and coaching students for university examinations. Subjects are taught in isolation from each other. There is no connection between what is taught and the capacity of the students to face the real world and apply themselves in problems of society or industry. Without the right values, skills and proficiency in the subjects they learn, our graduates are unable to get quality employment, nor face life with the sense of reality and responsibility.
Alvin Toffler states, “The illiterates of tomorrow are not those who can not read or write; but those who can not learn, unlearn and relearn.” Good education imparts this capacity in the learner to understand, master and also be sensitively aware of the limits within which what we learn is applicable and where it is not applicable. Our present formal education we undergo in the schools and colleges is unfortunately too buried in note learning and examinations, and goes against what true ‘man-making’ education should be. We must distinguish therefore between the kind of worldly restrictive education that we undergo and the true liberating education nurtured by the right attitude in our life. In today's complex and connected world, education must impart this capacity for learning, unlearning and relearning.
Swami Vivekananda stated that, “We want that education by which character is formed, the strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded and by which one can stand on one's own feet.” Quality education will equip students to both become proficient with higher order thinking and application skills within and across subject areas, as well as nurture the good character of students. Even worse is that even after 60 + years of planned development, our Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER – the percentage of students in the college going age) has not crossed 14%. China has achieved 24% and in advanced countries like USA it is more like 34%. Our education system is largely a failure in these measures of quality and inclusion. Our industry and professional bodies complain that even at essential skills not even 20% of our graduates are unemployable.
Our 12th Plan vision intends to achieve 'faster, inclusive and sustainable development'. This is impossible until we address on how we enhance both quality and GER very substantially. Nor does the education— system builds the inner character that comes from cultivating the right values like truthfulness, righteousness, true love towards all, living in and promoting harmony in the communities we live in and practice of Ahimsa. We may say that there are two aspects to education. One is education for a living. The other is education for life. The two are not conflicting, but they reinforce each other. When education nurtures good character, we shall also find that we produce high quality graduates as well. Unless we get out of the bureaucratically regulated and governed system of education by the present government bodies and affiliating universities and build a system of self accountable and quality nurturing system of education that leverages upon modern ICT and technology augmented systems of learning and learner-centriceducation that is governed by academicians and social leaders, it is unlikely we shall achieve this dream of 12th Plan vision of faster more inclusur and sustainable development.
Neither the organised industry nor government touch the livelihood of more than 70% of India's population. Hence we need to reinvent and repurpose our education system. The biggest 'brain loss' is the disconnect between our education system and the development needs of vast population in the interior and small towns of India. In repurposing education we need to bring in the vast latent talent and expertise of the students and teachers in the education system to connect closely with the development needs of society and environment This also implies that the value system of education needs to be realigned with the needs imparting quality education with character in the students.
Here below we state the basis of values that every youth inside and outside of college must cultivate to nurture their character and to achieve what Swami Vivekananda stated and quoted earlier. He further stated that, “The world is a great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong”. A gym is a special kind of school. Being in this world, every moment of our conscious daily life provides the opportunity to live with such inner attitude of learning and unlearning in ways that foster our fortitude and nurture true love towards all in this world. The first lesson that every youth should undertake is to develop the right attitude of learning and living in this world. Such right attitude will come if one is clear about what we wish to do with this precious gift of life and the span of a lifetime given to us when we were born in this world.
So let us first understand the nature of this fleeting life itself.
Having been born in this world, we need to be aware of the limited life span we have within which we have to discover a role for ourselves to function in this world. We will discover that role if we develop the right inner attitude to harmonise our thinking, expression and action in the daily tasks we do. That is why Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba repeatedly emphasized the ‘TriKarana-Suddhi’, i.e., the purity and harmony of Mano (thinking) – Vaak (expression) – Kaaya (actions using the body) as the basis conducting our everyday life. This is the underlying saadhana, the constant endeavor to achieve this triple purity an integral part of our daily life that is essential to be true life-long learners. Such attitude-driven life-long learning and service to all will also liberate us from the worldly bondages as well. Mahatma Gandhi was a living exemple of this triple purity.
H.W. Longfellow writes, “Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime; and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.” If one carefully looks beneath the greatness of great men and women who have left their imprints, we realise that they have steeped themselves to some extent in this triple purity even as they carried out their daily tasks. When we nurture this triple purity and apply ourselves to such tasks as suited to our innate nature and competencies, life indeed blossoms and reveals the beauty and power that is innate in everything in and around us.
Without this triple purity and harmony of thought, word and action, life becomes a series of anxieties, worries and agitation of our mind that end up leaving us nowhere and confused. An agitated mind slows down or blocks us from learning. Swami Viveka-nanda states that, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.” This implies that each of us has the perfection already in us. True education leads us to realising this perfection that is already in us. Thus a good education system should establish and manage such processes of engaging the learners to understand their own conditionings that are limiting their true understanding of the subjects they are studying. Unfortunately, our education system, instead of liberating us, binds us more and more in restrictive thinking and conditioning. In later years of our life, we often have to struggle to unlearn and get out of this conditioning to progress in our lives.
Albert Einstein stated that, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” It is because he cultivated the habit of questioning that he was taught and perceived the inherent contradictions in what he studied, he came up with some of the most sublime and profound scientific theories. He reinforced his theories by constructing ‘thought experiments’ that brought out the contradictions of the earlier theories and also paved the way for constructing his new theory. Hence a good student is one who strives constantly to understand the limitation of what he is being taught. He/she must constantly question whatever is taught and understand its limitations well particularly in the context of applying it in real life problems. A good education system is also the one that makes the learner appreciate the limits within which what is taught is applicable. Worldly education, if taught in that spirit opens up the learner to appreciate deeper interconnections that lie beyond the narrow confines of any subject. Such education is liberating to both the learner and the teacher.
Our first lesson therefore is to understand what true education is about and distinguish it from the poor quality worldly education that we get in our schools. When one is truly educated, it expresses itself as the good character brought about by the triple purity of thought, word and action. Constant endeavor to achieve and live in this triple purity and leading a life of service in the tasks we do is the true hallmark of a life-long learner. This is the saadhana that makes ‘Maanava Sewa’ (i.e. service to man) the true ‘Madhava Sewa’ (i.e. service to God).
Let us hope that we reinvent and repurpose our education along with bringing in quality and inclusion and cultrate such attitude of service to society in our youth. This is the way to pave the road forward for India's glorious future.
(The write is (Retd) Head of Dept. Electrical Eng. IIT, Kanpur, Email: srivathsan.kr@gmail.com)
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