A new roadmap for higher education

U. E. Perera

Soon after the Republic Day celebrations in 1954, the then Indian President Dr. Rajendra Prasad invited Sir C. V. Raman to be his personal guest at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi, to participate in the first batch of Bharat Ratna awardees.

However, although the invitation personally came and originated from the President of India, Sir C.V. Raman was reluctant to participate in the glittering ceremony, associated with the highest honour and wrote a convincing and a very polite letter to the President regretting his inability to come to Delhi and attend the grand ceremony.

He gave a very unique reason for not attending this ceremony and explained to the President that he was actively involved in guiding a Ph.D student for his thesis and is in the stage of giving final touches to the script. Sir Raman felt that at this critical moment, he had to be on the side of his pupil and see that the thesis was finished, sign it as the guide and then have it submitted.

A similar incident was repeated and came to light in Delhi in 2005.

On March 15, 2005 there was a grand function, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi attended by eminent educationists in India, South Asia and rest of the world. This historic occasion which was given a wide coverage in the Indian Press was convened to pay national honours to Nobel Laureate Professor Norman E. Borlaug, a well-known agricultural scientist and also an active partner in India’s first Green Revolution. All the speakers who were on the platform highlighted the various contributions made by Professor Borlaug in theory and practice for the economic development of India and truly speaking he was in the midst of all the praise showered on him by everyone gathered there.

When his turn came up Professor Borlaug, did a surprise. He called the scientists sitting in the third, fifth and eighth row in the audience by name and identified and introduced to the audience Dr. Raja Ram, a specialist on wheat; Dr S. K. Vasal, a specialist on maize; DR B. R. Barwale, a specialist on seed.

He thrilled the audience by announcing that all these scientists by their credible innovations have contributed immensely to the agricultural science and there by ignited the productive processes and agrarian reforms in India and Asia. He asked the scientists to stand up and ensured the audience cheered and greeted the scientists with great respect and enthusiasm.

I thought as a journalist, I should relate these two incidents, just before the convening of the SAARC Education Ministers Conference scheduled to be held from 26 to 27 at Hotel Hilton, Colombo.

These two incidents show, the value of education sealed in the Indian society. India has become an industrial giant and its economic miracle is being felt in every sphere of social life.

The secret behind this success is the enormous investments made by India during the last few decades in research and development. Starting a number of Indian institutes of science education and research is definitely a good effort made by India towards attracting youth towards science as a career.

Indian education system is globally acclaimed because of pockets of excellence such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

India is being increasingly seen as a manufacturing and knowledge hub.

In his well-researched article, titled Knowledge Into Power, former President of India Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam says that one of the major crises today is un-employability.

Inspite of receiving a formal education, the vast majority of youth in India suffer from a lack of adequate applied knowledge to take up jobs with confidence and effectiveness. One of the main reasons for this drawback is the widening gap between academic knowledge and its applicability.

To overcome this loophole, professionals in emerging countries points out that university curricula should be re-structured to meet the growing domestic and international demand for human resources with world class skills. This goal can be reached only when there is a strong interface between what is taught in the classroom and the actual requirements of the economy. Otherwise our education system will continue to produce unfinished products, leading to an even greater crisis of un-employability.

Of course, education is not just about getting a job, it is also about becoming a useful and better person for the forward march of the society. A degree, should not be merely a passport to a lucrative career but to life itself and the art of living a happy and contended life. The spirit of initiation, inquiry, experimentation, problem-solving and truth seeking should once again be made to flourish on our campuses, instead of blood-baths, criminal assaults and unwanted ragging.

Education Ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are meeting for the first time since the inception of SAARC in 1985 to carve out a strategy for a higher education policy that can be put into force in the SAARC region. Professor Wiswa Warnapala, our Higher Education Minister will submit a concept paper to achieve this target at this conference. The drafting of a concept paper for the entire region is not an easy

task as SAARC is a region of contrast........with significant disparities, in Gross Domestic Product, income levels, national resources, budgetary allocations for education and population. We have two nuclear powers within the region but even in these countries, wealth disparities are immense and level of poverty lines are visible.

Illiteracy is a major impediment to economic development and social emancipation in the region. Eradication of illiteracy in the region by utilizing cooperative endeavours within SAARC must be pursued resolutely.

Devising of appropriate strategies for raising the quality of education through exchange of information among the universities in the region should be pursued. While recognizing the importance of mutual recognition of the educational institutions, necessary inputs should be geared for the realization of a common regional education standard through uniform methods of instructions and teaching methods.

The writer is the Media Secretary/Ministry of Higher Education.