A small thought on education....
Saturday afternoon,
Was packing up for the day .
While shutting down I remembered about an article that I had spotted over the week on problems of higher education sector in the country. I pulled out the article and started reading it.
The article carried a no. of interviews with students, teachers and parents who lamented on the general lack of infrastructure in the public education sector and dealt with how that affected the morale and motivation of the students. Incidentally the sample selected by the survey mostly consisted of people from the metros or the near to metro cities. I was immediately struck by the thought that if this is the case with the relatively well to do ‘big cities ‘of the country what would be the actual plight of the schools in the rural areas and the small towns. With the turbulence sowed by the facts mentioned in the article still volatile in my brain I came out of the institute. While walking out I saw children of the neighbourhood playing around. I suddenly remembered something which prompted me to write this.
Yesterday while leaving I saw two children from the same group- children of the construction labourers in the next compound- eagerly waiting at the gate of our Institute. They were waiting for their classes to start. [OUR students had started evening classes for these children, five days in a week in the institute premises. In fact last year also they had successfully completed a similar project HATS OFF to them for their intend and effort.] Two of the several million children [if not billion] whose nos. that we -the privileged elites of the world- have been trying to halve as part of the so called millennium development goals!!! They were in their school uniforms, bare footed, signs of malnutrition showing on their beings, dark circles around their eyes.
But what caught my attention was the sheer sparkle in their eyes, which clearly reflected their strong urge and desire to learn which I believe is common to any child in this universe. They were not seemingly bothered that they didn’t have a proper roof to sleep under, a proper sandal to walk on, a proper diet to nurture them and may be most of the things that they should have had as a natural right... I could feel the vibrant energy of innate curiosity of childhood - that I am so familiar with these days, all credits to our four year old son. I believe education would serve its purpose in society if it attempts to nourish this inborn curiosity of the child and enable her to utilise it for social good. Personal good I believe, as an end result of education can’t be mutually exclusive to the social good. I wish these children the very best in their lives and once again salute the efforts of our students to have started something like this.