Imparting ‘balanced’ education is the need of the hour: Dr Jagdish Gandhi

• 08-04-2019 10:02:57
• Edtech

“We must teach ‘God is one’ to our children as nowadays, people are fighting in the name of religion, caste, creed and colour. It is because of the fact that schools have become the place to teach only maths, science, physics and chemistry – giving material education. And that’s all. Parents are happy about it. They don’t complaint. They are happy saying – my child is getting good marks, he speaks good English, he is becoming smart. Though, it is important because every human being needs to earn his/her livelihood in life ahead. He should be well-versed so that he can get a good job,” said Dr Jagdish Gandhi, Founder Manager, City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow.

Dr Gandhi shared his thoughts while speaking at the 10 th School Leadership Summit 2019, Lucknow. For the uninitiated, School Leadership Summit is a flagship event of Elets Technomedia, organised by digitalLEARNING with an endeavour to bring together the education stakeholders under one roof to deliberate on finest practices and innovations empowered by technological interventions.

Dr Gandhi enlightened audience in the summit about meaning of true education and what can be derived out of it. “Education is a continuous and creative process. Its aim is to develop the capacities which are latent in human nature and coordinate their expression for the enrichment and progress of the society by equipping children with material, human and divine knowledge. The true education releases the hidden capabilities of human beings and helps in developing analytical abilities, confidence in oneself, willpower and goal setting competencies.”

During his speech, Dr Gandhi highlighted the importance of imparting balanced education to the students. Quoting Victor Hugo he said, “Victor Hugo once said, there is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come. We know it’s time for a balanced education for all the three realities of life – Material being, human being and divine being. All the three realities are needed to be developed from the childhood by both the teachers and parents.”

Further elaborating his vision, he said, “All of us here are the teachers. Parents are the primary source of empowerment. Educators are the secondary source of empowerment and society itself is the third source of empowerment. The child learns from three places, home, school and society. They have to be sanctified. But unfortunately, at home, parents are only concerned about marks and not whether child is becoming smart or not. We need to make child a balanced human being.”

“What is good? Good means good qualities. And these qualities come from god. It is revealed in the books of God – Bhagvat Gita, Bible, Kuran Sharif, Guru Granth Sahib. These are the revered books of God,” he added.

Expressing concerns over the future of children, Dr Gandhi said, “In older times, schools were not only guiding the students but parents also. There were teacher who were guiding the society. We need to restore schools again because the things have gone so haywire. The life of our children has become endangered in this world.”

“The future of over 2.5 billion children and the generation which is yet to be born has become progressively more unsecure and unprotected during past seven decades. Since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, recent spread of global terrorism, global warming, environmental degradation, stock piling of arms and ammunitions, fear of third world war and nuclear holocaust, and ever increasing expenditure on military research, are among the major reasons behind it. In this situation, which kind of education should be imparted?” he further stated.
Thereafter quoting the great leaders of the world Dr Gandhi explained exactly what is lacking in the present education system, “Mahatma Gandhi said if we are to teach real peace in the world, if we have to carry war against war, we shall begin with the children. Nelson Mandela said Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Paulo Freire said education changes people and people change the world. “
“Let us make our children both good and smart. And teach this to parents and the society. Being good and smart in education is not going to help him, even if he tops in class. Blnaced education is important – of all the three realities of life – material, human and divine. It will make a child a good human being, useful member of the society. Whatever is hidden in their nature should be brought out and the society will be benefited,” Dr Gandhi said.
Read Full Article: https://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2019/05/imparting-balanced-education-is-the-need-of-the-hour-dr-jagdish-gandhi/

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