A comment by the name of Suresh Krishnamoorthy on education in India has provoked this column to say that something is really not fine in this front. This particular commentator stated that the ‘government should think of India’s glorious past, keep in mind the universities like Nalanda and Takshashila and liberalise education to allow…’ These ancient centers of learning used to be the moral temples and also the conscience keepers. The downward spiral of the concerns for human values needs to be addressed to save our society from disorganization. When we say human values we are also talking about moral values. This column has been touching this line on several occasions. When we say about disorganization of our society we are also talking about moral decay. Sadly, due to over emphasis given to the so called academic excellence our system has failed to promote human values. For a long time now experts have been expressing that skill and ‘fact learning’ will see their full meanings and purposes when values are considered as frames. Sadly again, the people at the helm who talk of bringing egalitarianism and quality education are insensitive to the voices of the commentators. Someone has said that ‘man-values-education is a sacred triangle, where education is a vital medium to imbibe, foster and perpetuate values in man.’ However, due to faulty strategies we do not give value to these ‘values’. Because of this fact our concept of education is always correlated with jobs today. According to eminent educationist V R Taneja, for failure to reach situations of profit and power, the students condemn education as irrelevant. Such people resort to deplorable means to achieve success even at the cost of their self-respect and dignity, V R Taneja added. Because of these reasons violent discords have become parts of our life. Hence, our society disintegrates in want of a moral order. What we don’t understand is—the Human Resource Development (HRD) spending huge amount of money with its top think tanks scratching their heads all these years trying to refine our education system, is still unable to prove its worth. From all indications, inspite of these efforts our education system spirals downward. The urgent need to dilate on the issue at the appropriate platforms arises today. Hot debates and more debates should be encouraged and the Human Resource Department should work on war footing to arrest the worsening situation.
