Recently, a news item on a TV channel attracted my attention. It was about a person, who had spent all his childhood in an underdeveloped and remote village of Andhra Pradesh. Later, he moved out of his village for his higher education and became a management graduate. Now, he holds a top position in an MNC. What is interesting is  that he has not forgotten his native village. He spends 20 per cent of his salary every month for the development of his village as a token of gratitude, love, sense of responsibility, or whatever one would like to call it. He has set up a small hospital in the village and is organising weekly medical camps for the benefit of the villagers.

How many such citizens do we find now? Not even a handful. If every village of our country can produce at least one such responsible citizen, most of our miseries will vanish. This made me think about the factors that contribute to the generation of such responsible citizens.

How do we shape our youngsters into responsible citizens? Here comes the role of education in the economic development of a nation.

Education plays a key role in realising the potential of our young people. The mushrooming growth of educational institutions in various fields establishes this fact. Now, the Indian economy has almost transformed itself into a knowledge economy that creates, disseminates and uses knowledge to enhance its growth and development.

The growth of KPOs and BPOs speak about this. India is currently producing a large number of knowledge workers in all the fields and the country needs many more. On the other hand, we still have all the miseries right from poverty to terrorism and crime.

Education is an investment in human resource development and all the future development essentially revolves around the quality of the human resource. It can be met to a certain extent by judiciously utilising community resources. All of us in society are stakeholders of the education system and we can demand greater accountability. There is certainly a need to instill quality in the education system now. There are certain issues to be addressed as a measure of quality assurance.

Quality is most talked about by everyone and least understood in the system of education now. Quality in the output comes only when it is maintained throughout the process.

What determines the success of education is not just employability. Its success lies in inculcating human values and in building democratic and civilised societies. These aspects need to be integrated with education at all levels. The inability of education to inculcate good human values has become a matter of serious concern.
The  four pillars of learning must form the basis of the present day education right from the primary stages, under the able guidance and stewardship of a teacher.

There are a few issues that have to be addressed for quality assurance in education. First and foremost is:

Need for a good teacher:

The role of a teacher in improving the quality of lives through education cannot be ignored. Today, people are opting to take up the teaching profession not by choice but by chance, many times because the job demands more but the pay is poor. Today, a serious shortage of faculty is felt in most engineering and management institutions which is seriously undermining the quality of our technical and management education.

Workforce development:

A significant achievement of this century is that we have realised education is a critical input for economic development and more so for human resource development. It not only develops basic skills and abilities but also fosters a value system conducive to long term and immediate national development. Education is not merely a means to get a good job. A value system must be embedded in the process which is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

Bringing about social entrepreneurship:

Our nation has generated great thinkers, academicians and entrepreneurs. But now, the number of such individuals is almost nil. We lack people who have a great vision and who dare to care for the nation in a selfless manner. Our achievement in the field of education and literacy is just producing workers, who can slog for a few bucks in MNCs. Youngsters are being passed through the moulds called management institutions/technical institutions and given a beautiful nomenclature called professionals and are sold in the market to work for MNCs and earn fat salaries. But how many of these students have a vision for the future of the nation? Our education system must develop traits that encourage self confidence, spirit of initiative and help people to work independently. Special focus on promotion of entrepreneurship therefore must be embedded in the curriculum right from the early stages.

Focus on research and development:

Similarly, there is also a need to enlarge the adaptive capacity of the education system so as to make it more responsive to the changing world of work. It must be able to meet the diversified needs of the economy, both domestic and global. Focus on R&D is like a chain reaction. Each new innovation triggers another. It underscores scientific research in the modern economy. Countries like China and the US have had continued economic growth for several decades as they recognised the importance of research in science and technology and innovations. We spend a paltry amount on scientific research as compared to the developed economies. Even very small countries like the Netherlands have large research publications when compared to India. There is a need for the education system to inculcate a scientific temper among the younger generation right from a tender age.

Spiritual fervour:

Education should not be perceived as an acquisition of a degree to earn a livelihood, but an instrument to obtain sufficient knowledge and skills so as to develop productive members in society. Many foreign universities have realised the importance of spiritual knowledge and have already introduced such courses as a part of their regular curriculum. Today we preach about EQ, stress release, team work, corporate governance, etc at the corporate level allocating lakhs of rupees in the corporate budget. These buzzwords can be brought into practice with great ease through education. 

Quality in the education sector must be assured not at the end, when the tree is ready to bear fruit, but right from the time the seeds are sown. A child must be made to think frequently about,  “What is my contribution to society”. The system should give citizens a selfless disposition and foster civic sense among them.

FOUR PILLARS OF LEARNING

According to UNESCO’s Report of the International Commission on Education for the 21st century, Education must be organised around 4 fundamental types of learning.

*Learning to know: It may be regarded as both a means and an end of human existence. People have to learn to understand the world around them.

*Learning to do: Learning must transform certified skills into personal competence. It is assessed by looking at a mix of skills and talents, social behaviour, personal initiative and a willingness to work. These are often referred to as interpersonal skills or peoples’ skills by employers. Knowledge along with other qualities like communication, teambuilding  and problem solving skills is most demanded by the service sector these days.

People must learn to act appropriately in any kind of situation and they must become involved in shaping the future.

*Learning to live together: Education should help in inculcating a spirit of empathy in students so that it can have a positive effect on their social behaviour throughout their lives. Understanding each other, resolving conflicts through dialogue and discussion should be the essential tools of present day education.

*Learning to be: The aim of development is the complete fulfillment of man and his development in a holistic way as an individual, member of a family and community and as a responsible citizen.