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My Column
Floodgates of memory are wide open. In front of my eyes are many friends and teachers , happy and not so happy events.I am back to my school days…specially the early days of the nursery education; when even reciting a new nursery rhyme was not less exciting and enchanting than a magical fairy tale and the small squabbles in playgrounds used to be more heart wrenching than any lovers'tiff. If emotions and experiences are part of growing up, learning from them and handling them properly is part of a good education. What is an education after all? Why so much importance is given to it , that it consumes one fourth of one's life! Are schools merely reduced to a prevelleged networking clubs only or should we expect some character building and strengthening also from it? We do not need institutions for mere data collection in present times. Schools contribution demands much more than that. Mackalay wanted the puppets of western civilization and he succeeded, but it is high time again that we return to our roots for a flourishing and fruitful society. This rot of greed and corruption...manipulation ; needs to be stopped and exposed. Should Schools adhere to a strict regime or should teachers be more kind and sympathetic towards pupil.! Should there be strict approach and attitude towards educatin, or should it be conducted in a friendly and informal atmosphere; are universal questions educationist have tackled again and again and will keep on doing so because education itself is a changing need of a changing and developing society.. Definitely an easy atmosphere is more productive with small kids as it shakes off all fear and inhibitions and a good teacher is a good friend and a guardian also. We had no strict timetable in our nursery school.. There were just rooms- like maths room, art room, playroom, even a sleeping room, where we four girls danced all afternoon instead of sleeping. Our class consisted sixteen boys and four girls and boys and girls used to sleep in different rooms. Though there were three teachers and two attendant, there were no restrictions. A child would go to the room of his or her own choice only and did whatever he or she wanted. Those memories are still engraved in my mind , when we learned, played and laughed all day along. This expression of free will laid a solid foundation for our future and developed each child's own natural interest and talent , at least brought it to the forefront.. It was a Theosophical Society School, founded by Anne Besant and Mahatma Gandhi, which took a holistic attitude towards education. An educated persons' heart and mind should follow each other . There should not be any contradiction. If one is at peace with oneself, one will be at peace with outer world too- a lesson my early education taught me at the age of four; for which I am grateful even today. , Education has different meanings to different people; some lay the emphasis on the harmony and balance …a total development of personality while for others it is an achievement of a particular skill. However, a wholesome education is one, which benefits both individual and society. Any education to be fully effective has to be modelled according to the changing needs of the time. In a today’s high tech world, computers have to be placed by the side of the blackboards or the notepads. Space is the part of our geography now and eventually word ‘world’ may be replaced by the expression of ‘one big village’. John F kennedy in his adress to the nation once said" Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation. " An individual should have the free will to choose his or her own path and unravel it in his or her own way. Latin dictionary give the meaning of the word 'educate' as bringing up children physically and mentally and basically one understands the word ‘education’ as ‘ taking the instructions from the school’. Nevertheless, we all know education is not just that. Along with self-enlightenment, it equips us to integrate into society and it enables us to deliver our duties towards the society and world we live in. Duty as in any ‘give and take’ is a two way process. Society, and individual, both has to be equally tolerant and understanding towards each other. Along with learning and developing ourselves ,the word education has also been used in a very broad sense, where nature or wise men (gurus) designate or exercise their influences on our intelligence or will…discipline or direct us to teach us a specific skill. - Shail Agrawal | ||
Summer vacations are over and kids are back to school .All the excitement of new books , new teachers, and new friends is written all over at every boy's and girl's face ; eight or eighteen. Universities are buzzing with the anxiety and laughters and the planning of the forthcoming refresher weeks are at its peak everywhere in all student unions as well as in their rooms .. 
