Day one of ThinkEdu Conclave ended with a power-packed session on ‘The politicisation of education’. It was also witness to a rare unanimity between Congress and BJP leaders — all of them agreed that students must be taught three languages and not only English and Hindi.
Helmed by BJP stalwart, LK Advani, Sheila Dikshit, Delhi’s Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Vijay Bahuguna, Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister, Jayanthi Natarajan, Union minister for environment and forests, Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Congress chief, and Rajnath Singh, BJP’s president. Natarajan spoke about how increasingly the political class is giving importance to education policies. A case in point is the Right to Education Act, which she described as a “truly game-changing policy of UPA.” She admitted that work is not complete with regards to universalisation and quality education as there are schools with zero toilet facilities and said “all parties should take education to the last Indian.”
Badal drew the audience’s attention to the fact that all states have different scenarios and it would be unfair to have a common system of education. He also rued the fact that it is easier to get a party ticket than a school admission. Bahuguna cautioned that “we should not use education to fan regionalism and for our political gains.” He also highlighted the challenges his hill state is facing as teachers don’t want to work in remote areas.
Dikshit urged that we should not politicise education and frame it in accordance to the tenets of our Constitution. “The 21st Century demands quality education, skill development and a higher education that leads to innovation. Character and moral building are an integral part of education,” she said.
Ramesh Chennithala drew our attention to the fact that a lot of technical institutions are mushrooming and are not being warned. “Some colleges are charging an exorbitant fee and there is no uniformity,” he said. Advani concluded, “the objective of education should be to inculcate not only a high EQ (education quotient) and IQ but also a very very high spiritual quotient.”
Nithya@newindianexpress.com