Education & Nation Building

EDUCATION/ SOCIETY/ ETHICS

• GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. 

Education & Nation Building

In News: Mahatma Gandhi, once remarked, “Youth are agents for transformation”. The history of modern India would be incomplete without acknowledging the role played by students and youth of this country.

Role of Students in Nation Building

• Many social revolutions and changes were brought about through politically conscious and socially responsible students, who raised their voices against existing inequities. 
• Students have been the face of the Indian independence movement. In fact, the youth have often taken up certain causes and inspired many political parties to take up the same subsequently.
• Students are guardians of freedom, justice, equality, ethics, and social equilibrium.
• The importance of students’ participation in a modern democracy ensures active & deliberative Democracy that sustains for longer time period.
• After all, political consciousness and well-informed debates can steer the nation into a glorious future as envisioned by our Constitution. A responsive youth is vital for strengthening democracy.
• When the youth become socially and politically conscious, the basic issues of education, food, clothing, healthcare, shelter, etc. would come into focus in the national discourse. 

Role of Education & Youth

• Education has a social agenda. The agenda is to develop our human resources, which meet the requirements of society. 
• An educated citizenry is the greatest asset for any democratic society. Students are known for their readiness to fight for all the right causes because their thoughts are pure and honest. They are always at the forefront, questioning injustice.

Present day Challenges with Youth vis-à-vis Education 

• Only about 27% of those in the age group of university students are enrolling for university education. 
• While most of them leave these institutes with degrees and titles, they remain self-centred.
• The focus nowadays is on professional courses to the total neglect of equally important subjects such as humanities and natural sciences. 
• The harsh reality is that even after the students enter professional universities, the focus is on classroom learning, and not on the world beyond the classroom.
• There is diminished participation of students in social causes after liberalisation. 
• Students are no more realising the importance of their relationship with society. The educated youth have remained aloof from social reality and their energies are not properly streamlined to enhance their social & political consciousness.
• As a result, no big leader has emerged from the student community.
• Lack of student participation has allowed narrow and partisan issues to dominate the nation’s thought process.

Way Forward

• The youth of today is driven by idealism and ambition. Idealism without ambition may not achieve any positive results. Ambition without idealism can be dangerous.
• While it is not wrong to choose a life of convenience, students should also choose a life of service, for the future of this nation.

• Students should be aware of prevailing inequities and ask themselves how they can be a part of the solution. Particularly, in a country like India, students need to be social architects.
• Every student should remember the quote of US President John F Kennedy “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

Connecting the dots:

• National Education Policy, 2020
• Right to Education Act