QUALITY EDUCATION FOR NATION BUILDING

QUALITY EDUCATION FOR NATION BUILDING

The quality and standard of higher education imparted plays a key role in development of any nation in varied spheres; be it living standards, indigenous defence preparedness or infrastructure development etc.

·                Education and innovative research provide an impetus to technological advancements which along with societal needs form the basis for education. Therefore, a combination of education and technology is a key to the human resource development.

·               Thus, it isn't arduous to fathom that in order to develop; a nation must put out all the stops for redefining the system of education so that the desired pace of indigenous technological development can be attained and thereon sustained.

CURRENT SCENARIO

·               Presently, our education system is based on “progressive” western knowledge, science and technology.

·               It is pertinent to bethink that this system was forced on us by a concerted effort of British colonizers after Lord Macaulay submitted his report to the British Crown in 1835.

THE MAIN EXCERPT OF THE LORD MACAULAY’S REPORT

"I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage.

Therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self- culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation"

IMPACT

·                 Perhaps this is the reason why the line between literacy and education is blurred for us even after 68 years of independence.

·                 The system satisfies itself by terming a literate person as an educated person.

·                 The variable notion of 'Literacy' has only enabled us to vaguely image the western system of education and import technology.

·                 This system of education has in fact has made us a nation of "followers and mental slaves".

·                 The present system hasn't been able to keep pace with the dynamic and diverse societal & technological needs of the country.

·                 Our education system has failed to make the nation walk on the path of progress and development.

SOME CURRENT DRAWBACKS

·                 Non-availability of books reflective of the needs of Indian society. A plethora of books are based entirely on western fundamentals.

·                 Plagiarized and manipulated information, statistics and data. The race is for number of publications and not for quality research (or its industrial utility).

·                 Lack of drive to lead.

·                 Inferiority complex.

·                 Use of imported equipment & software and training mind for near replication is projected as research. Therefore Nation won’t be able to get advantage of real intellectual capability of our researchers.

·                 Undermining research by viewing it through the prism of western literature surveys.

·                 Engineering education based on western technology and books.

·                 Challenging and application based problems and case studies based on resource person's experience are seldom discussed. There's practically no brain storming.

·                 Stereo-type assessment procedures.

·                 Selection criteria for a resource person / faculty are far from realizing objectives.

·                 The systems in place as a matter of fact are promoting pseudo-intellectualism.

·                 "Quality" presently is on a back-burner.

·                 Interference and recommendations be it from any quarter / corrupt practices (financial, moral, ethical) are also the reason for killing excellence in education and research.

·                 Selection criteria / recruitment rules for the selection of faculty are not uniformly applied. This system of selection hasn't been able to deliver and needs to be revamped completely. Existing norms are also assisting the mediocre applicants to get through.

·                 Perks to faculty and staff are not performance linked.

·                 Most engineering graduates in Indian industries are like fish out of water.

·                 Owing to bad curriculum planning, higher educational institutions produce largely un- employable graduates.

The main reason, probably, for not having a single world class university is the absence of a strong and healthy higher education system in place.

·                 It is time we abandon the present system and redefine national goals so as to regain our "self-esteem & self- confidence".

·                 It is right time to identify pseudo intellectuals on priority and not let them continue to damage the education sector.

·                 On the other hand, we also need to identify and eliminate all hindrances in developing grass root technology through education and research.

·                 We need to produce only "Ranchos" and not the "Chatur Ramalingams", the two distinct characters of famous Bollywood Hindi movie "Three Idiots".

·                 Unfortunately our education system is presently in the clutches of "Chatur Ramalingams" and our determination should be to change the long persistent status-quo.