LEADER ARTICLE:
Awaken Their Minds by Pratibha Devi Singh,
The President of India in Times of India,
05.09.2008 on Teachers Day
Dnyaneshwara, the great Marathi saint, des-cribed
education as knowledge poured from one heart
to the other. Our society has always valued
the importance of knowledge, learning and
scholarship. The ancient Indian system of
guru-shishya parampara is one that
illustrates the traditional approach of
holistic education, where it moves beyond
the confines of imparting knowledge and
becomes a process that leads to
enlightenment. Education rouses the mind
from the slumber of ignorance and it is only
when provided with the nourishment of
education that the mind of a person is truly
awake.
This metamorphosis through education plays a
crucial role in our life as it awakens the
minds of people and turns them into thinking
beings. The irresistible power of human
thought is what shapes not only our
consciousness but also our perception of the
world around us. It is only a thinking
population that can truly participate and
therein transform the society we live in.
Hence education, with its power of awakening
the minds of a billion people, can play a
critical role in determining the destiny of
our great nation.
The social context, within which education
as a tool of empowerment functions, is also
equally important as it helps in
understanding the dynamics of its impact on
the process of nation-building. In a
democratic and secular country that revels
in its diversity and spirit of tolerance it
is essential that education upholds and
imparts these values to successive
generations to strengthen and protect such
traditions. Education is the path to
knowledge and know-ledge is the path to
truth. No education can be truly
enlightening if it fails to instil in people
a respect for truth and purity of purpose
and with it the nobleness of humanism.
The issue of providing education to every
child in this country is very close to me. I
have emphasised my desire to see every
person to be touched by the light of modern
education. Education must teach the lesson
of gender equality to both boys and girls
and negate the deep-rooted influence of
gender bias which forms the bedrock of
social prejudices. With determination and
popular participation the vision of
universal education can be realised.
The government is committed to providing
elementary education to all under the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan. Our concerted efforts
towards universal elementary education have
resulted in a manifold increase in
educational institutions and student
enrolment. However, there are still many
impediments and we need to put in place
practical solutions to make our education
system more effective.
Poverty remains the biggest hurdle in the
path towards universal education. Our drive
towards educating the nation must focus on
poor and remote areas and be sensitive to
local problems that come in the way of
families sending their children to school.
The high rate of school dropouts in
economically backward regions and tribal
areas is directly linked to economic
compulsions where girls and boys have to
often work to earn a living for their
families. Even though laws are in place to
deal with the evil of child labour, it is
still present. Only through increased
awareness and sensitivity can we succeed in
ensuring that every child is taken away from
the grip of exploitation and delivered to
the doorsteps of a school. It is also
important that the education imparted is
relevant to their needs.
Education, particularly the imparting of
life-skills to students, cannot be
one-dimensional. Every student must be
exposed to all fields of knowledge so that
he or she can choose and participate in
different sectors. We need to pay special
attention to vocational skills needed to
modernise our economy. Vocational education
itself needs to be revamped in a manner that
encourages our youth to develop
entrepreneurship and self-employment skills.
We also need to expand opportunities in
higher education. We must impart quality
education and make our institutions world
class. Collaboration with other universities
within the country and abroad and the
creation of networks for “knowledge sharing”
could open a whole range of possibilities.
There is perhaps no greater hindrance to the
path of progress than social prejudices. The
girl-child in India is still, in many cases,
born into a dismal life of prejudices.
Educating the girl-child and empowering her
remains the litmus test for our nation in
its commitment to equality of education. The
2007 ‘Education for All’ report published by
UNESCO observed that a child whose mother is
illiterate is twice as likely to be out of
school as one whose mother is educated.
Sensitising the people about the importance
of educating the girl-child through
effective awareness campaigns is crucial in
driving away such notions. The male-female
gap in literacy rates continues to be
unacceptably high and this
divide is sharper in rural areas.
We must move ahead purposefully to realise
the dream and vision of universal education.
It is a process in which we must all
participate and recognise our individual
capacity in contributing to this national
effort. Each one of us who has been a
student is also a potential teacher.
Education after all is the strand that links
one generation to another and therein
maintains the continuity of the traditions
of learning and knowledge that form the very
essence of human civilisation. We are at a
turning point in our history where our
decisions today will shape the India of the
future. Education is the tool which will
usher in this great awakening and help us
build a stronger and more prosperous India.
The writer
is the president of India.
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