Education and schools

Prof. Santosh Bhan
It was not the abode of Sri Ramakrishna or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; the place sheltered an old lady belonging very much to this mundane world of ours, as any other person. She looked calm and composed wearing a charm around her. Her motivating voice, the low pitch and her behaviour looked internalized for there was free flow of ideas and her deeds spoke for her thoughts as well. Our association of seconds materialized into the relation of ages, the moment she enquired about me, not forgetting to show concern about my welfare as well.
Curiosity had driven me to the place, having gained prominence due to its own merits. The incident looks to be quite recent, yet it happened some years ago. I wondered as to what of hers made everybody feel at home. She touched the upperside of sixty’s and her schooling apparently seemed remote. But was she really uneducated? No, pat came the answer she seemed real educated which even the best schools in the world would not do. What is expected and needed of a woman is to cope up with realities of life, adjust with the environment, show care and concern about people on a broader spectrum? Her mannerism and expression of the feelings was far more refined and polished that one was led to think about the present, educational set-up and schools.
The job of transmission of knowledge fell to the lot of family, community and society in ancient times. As per the need of the hour, people received education, accordingly “Charity begins at home”, and this really was given a practical shape. Even now, we believe that family background of a child, is enough to speak for his education, barring few exceptions. Mother is still the first teacher of the child as it is in her lap only that the child picks up the first lesson of life. In the times gone by, what life had to offer to the child, the same was communicated through the informal agencies, viz, family, community and society. The child grasped from the action, behavior, mode, attitude and what not of those with whom he interacted.
Gradually life became more organized. Knowledge explosion due to technological and scientific development outpaced the possibility of passing on the same to the rising generations through the informal agencies. And was felt the need of an organized media which could cope up with the job of passing on knowledge to the children, and in this way, schools came into being.
It was the privileged class only who had access to the formal agencies, viz, educational institutions. Children mainly from priestly class and royal families could gain entry to the educational institutions. Common man had no access to them and thus they learnt from what life had to offer through informal agencies. However the consciousness of spreading literacy among masses picked up speed and schools were thrown open to people like you and me and everybody, gradually. Hence, the job of imparting knowledge and information from one to the other was taken over by educational institutions. These evolved their own system but the infrastructure was provided by the society and thus the family, community and the society acted as a guiding factor. Schools as such interacted with different social forces but enjoyed the internal freedom of executing the plan in their own functional way.
Schools share the maximum burden. It is in the educational institutions that the child picks up the 3 R,s which help in attaining economic independence ultimately. Economic viability helps in providing bread and butter without which life is impossible.
It is in the schools that the personality based on physical fitness, mental growth, character and such other variables grow and sprout to the maximum limit. The child develops in the company of others especially the peers which he gets in school to the full. Values, norms, codes in short the culture and all other such requisites, the inheritance of the past, is carried on to the future citizens of  a country, so that the past merges into present. The preservation of past alone does not fall to the domain of schools, but present also has to be taken care of, as it contributes to the culture, so that what emerges is surely to make us feel proud of the fund at our disposal. Unless something is added to the old, we may find our treasures emptying one day leaving us bankrupt. There is always pruning of old and pinning for new. It is the job of the schools to add to our heritage which gives moral boost to be able to keep pace with future. An individual gives only when he is groomed for that process. And it is in the schools that a child gets equipped to face the challenges of life, to come out with solution, to lead to the growth of the culture. It is in the educational institutions that individuals learn to rise to the occasion to bring changes, for better societies flourish due to imagination of few and efforts of many. These few and those many get cultivated in educational institutions. Children are the pillars of a nation, but the pillars get strengthened in the cascades of schools. The role of the schools is constructive one which leads to a nation’s progress, or the consequences get reversed, if it is destructive. Children entrusted to the care of schools work wonders and show their real potential to the ordeals in future. It is in the schools only that they learn to come to grips with the problems of life. The higher values of life, viz; self-realization, salvation and all such ideals cherished by saints and seers, can be inculcated, talked about and known and learnt in school environs. But how far do the schools cater to the execution of penned down views is a soup for any body’s cup to be tasted.
The plight of our educational institutions can be judged from the turnover of schools in the form of integrated and disintegrated youth. By and large , these individuals, a gift to society from schools are unable to cope up with the need of the time; unable to adjust with and in the society and unfit for the competitive race in the world going on at all fronts. There are people who make concerted efforts to come open with the facts and thus decry:-
To quote a few:- Ivan Illich, finds that societies should be deschooled. Hence the slogan ‘The Deschooled Society’ and ‘Education without schools’. Since, the schools as per them do not perform and achieve what they ought to, people question their existence. They feel that “School is dead”. Others opine that there is “Compulsory miseducation”.
Ian Lister in a topic “Getting there from Here” quotes W. Senteza Kajubi of Uganda thus, “The school system is regarded by many political and educational leaders as a means of disorienting children from the realities of life as it is. Arugues, Julins, K. Nyerere, President of Tazania, that education in his country was such ‘as to divorce its participants from the society it was preparing them for’ quotes I am lister in his topic entitled “Getting There from Here”.
Do these really pose a threat or do these throw open the avenues, of thinking?
One would like to muse as brief as possible, over the situation due to the trends emerging in our country. Lawlessness, disorder, confusion, chaos and conflict; Are these attributes of school or they are outcome of an emerging social order provided to schools as an infrastructure. There are yet more and more probable channels of thinking getting revealed and coming to fore which should be a thought provoker for at least, the elitist class.
(The author  served the field of education for more than 30 years of Education)
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