Skip to main content

Education Must Help In Meeting The Other

 You are at the threshold of a ‘new you’. At a juncture like this, mixed emotions of excitement, anticipation, and maybe even a little bit of nervousness are perfectly normal. Be open to the new—a new you is possible.

There have been many National Education Commissions in India, starting from Radhakrishnan Commission in 1948. The Third, perhaps the most popular, education commission was the Kothari Commission in 1964. It was known for 10+2+3 structure, three language formula, scholarships, co-curricular activities, etc. The first sentence of its long report started with the sentence, the destiny of a nation is shaped in her classrooms. India/nation etc. seem very distant and far realities, they seem to be for the politicians and the bureaucrats. Let me slightly rephrase it, the destiny of a person is shaped in her/his classrooms. Classrooms are a place where ideas are generated, character is shaped, connections are formed, and once destiny is written.

We enter a classroom, a campus, or a new stage of education like you are doing today; there we meet new people, new friends, new teachers, new books, new ideas, and new perspectives. I would replace ‘new’ with ‘other’ for something new could be fancy and happy, and just something more convenient, but need not be challenging. Meeting the other is challenging. When we enter a new stage of education there must be possibility of meeting other people, other teachers, other books, other ideas, and other perspectives. That gives sense and relevance to a new stage of education.

Martin Heidegger, a modern philosopher, famously said, your destiny can’t be changed, but can be challenged. Every time we begin a new study, and for that matter begin anything, that challenges the way we had been so far, we are challenging our density.

Education in the age of AI is challenging. We live in an age of fake news, misinformation, repeated lies, propaganda, post truth, fundamentalism, and with the advent of the Internet and now AI we are flooded with information which are at times falsehood and distractions. With smartphones in our hands there is no dearth of information and knowledge. After the popularity of the printing press and spread of information in the 15th century, it was English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) who had said, information / knowledge is power’. Now that we have plenty of it in our hands, we are becoming more and more confused, powerless, and vulnerable. Toady we are not able to decide whether the information and knowledge that we have is true or not, whether to believe it or not. Yuval Noah Harari corrects Francis Bacon in his book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. He says, “In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.”

education, best quotes

Education today is an exercise in creating clarity. Every student must open up a debate, a research, with the mindset, I have heard this, but I must test this knowledge, I want to meet those people first hand, question that information myself, scrutinize them, etc. Deciphering truth from falsehood is a sacred act—and that is education.

Ratan Tata is the talk of the social media today. On 9 October 2024 India lost one of its finest citizens and industrialists, Ratan Tata; and in the same breath, he was perhaps India’s finest philanthropist too. As the news about his demise and condolences poured in on every social media and broadcast media, there was another face that was appearing on the margins and even being highlighted by many—Shantanu Naidu. They met in 2014, when Shantanu Naidu was just 21; their common interest was love for dogs.

Shantanu Naidu, as living and working with Ratan Tata has written a book of his experience with Ratan Tata, I Came Upon a Lighthouse: A Short Memoir of Life with Ratan Tata. In it he explains, how the entire universes conspires to make something happen; so many events, people, and in his case even dogs have to work together for two individuals to cross paths. And that happened in his meeting with Ratan Tata. Shantanu continues saying, when we see a lighthouse move towards it with all your force, and never away from it. Shantanu just moved towards Ratan Tata; and the rest is history.

education, lighthouse, best quotes

As we begin this new academic year I wish and pray that you come upon many lighthouses, in the library, in books and ideas, in peers, in teachers, on corridor, in canteen; and may you have the courage to walk towards it. Welcome to the lighthouse experience called education.

From the speech given at the opening of the academic year for post graduate courses at IIPR 2024.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Year, New Beginning

 The past year was different to different people. Some of us were very successful, won every battle we fought. Some others of us did not win every battle that we fought, might have found difficult even to get up from bed everyday, we just survived. But for both it is a new year. For those very successful, it is time to stand on the ground and not be overconfident, complacent, arrogant and egoistic. And it is also time to give back. And for those of us not very successful we have another new year with 365 blank pages, 365 blank days. It is a fresh new beginning. Start your dream and go all the way. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth—not going all the way, and not starting”, said Buddha. Every New Year tells that we cannot eternally postpone important things in our lives. We must begin somewhere. How many lives do we have on this earth? One, two, three, four, or more? One of the foremost thinkers and philosophers of China, Confucius, four centuries before ...

2025 Must Create Its Own Art

  People are afraid of art, because real art brings the question and the answer into your house.   Tonight’s art becomes inadequate
and useless when the sun rises in
the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and
each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it
is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create
its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space
for new ways of...

Inter-religious Sensitivity in the Time of Covid-19

  I was religiously pleased and humanly excited to read the story of a Hindu doctor reciting Kalima Shahada for a dying Muslim Covid patient in Kerala. Beevathu, 56 year old, was all isolated from her family in a covid ward. She had been there for 17 days, she was on a ventilator, and it was increasingly clear that there was no hope. After the consent from her family she was taken off from the ventilator. Beevathu lies there between life and death. Nothing more to happen. But like any good dying Muslim, she perhaps wanted to hear the Kalima Shahada (the Islamic oath of faith) to be chanted to her by one of her family members; but there was none, the situation made it so. Dr. Rekha, a Hindu doctor, was attending to her all these days. She knew what was happening, and she also knew what was not happening. Dr. Rekha knew the words of Kalima Shahada , thanks to her upbringing in UAE. She went close to Beevathu’s bed chanted into her ears, “ La ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah...

Human Empowerment Vs Technological Determinism

 This article, Seeking truth in a barrage of biases , presents an inspiring call to action for maintaining our intellectual autonomy in the digital age. Written by J Jehoson Jiresh, it addresses the critical challenge of navigating through algorithmic biases and misinformation while offering hope and practical solutions. The author beautifully frames our modern predicament - how even a simple online search for running shoes can shape our digital landscape - and transforms this everyday observation into a powerful message about reclaiming our agency in the digital world. What's particularly inspiring is the article's emphasis on human empowerment rather than technological determinism. The article presents three key strategies for hope and change: Active critical engagement to question assumptions and challenge biases Seeking diverse perspectives to break free from our echo chambers Demanding transparency and accountability in algorithmic systems Most uplifting is the article...

Fine Ways of Disregarding Vital Issues

 Observing the preoccupations of Pharisees, scribes and religious leaders of his time (Mark 7: 1-23) Jesus commended that they have fine ways of disregarding the commandments of God in order to maintain human traditions and interests. They put aside weightier matters to uphold human decrees. In modern politics we hear the jargon, ‘politics of distraction’. In a country of mass illiteracy and unemployment, farmers’ suicide, etc. politicians and other key people divert public attention by discussing building temples, girls wearing hijab to college, etc. Noam Chomsky, an American social commentator says, “The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.” The corrupt politicians must have learned this strategy from the pickpockets (or is it visa versa): they di...

Religion Must Help Greater Acceptance And Not Control

  What if you see people who never came to your church or never were part of the universal Church found with God; forgiven by god, loved by god, helped by god, and even pampered by god? Our average human spirit and mind will feel a bit of discomfort and repulsion. That exactly is what is happening with apostle John in Mark 9: 38-41. Membership in a religion in many phases in history, and religious practices like praying, church-going etc. has become tools and means of exercising superiority and control over others, or it becomes a means to exclude people. In the name of religion and religious practices we take control of what can be done, who can do it, what is good and bad, what is moral and what is immoral. This approach creates an exclusive moral, good, pure, and authentic race or people or group. We keep doing it as individuals and institutions for the fear of losing control over others. And that is the end of humanity. Stopping others from doing good comes from a sickening clo...

Awesomeness Vs. Negativity

 Some people are awesome. You know them by their presence. They bring happiness wherever they go. They stand with those who do good. They promote and recognise others’ thoughts and contribution. They appreciate people. They attempt to find answers and solutions to questions and problems. Others doing better and bigger things do not threaten or make them insecure. The opposite of awesomeness in social conduct is negativity. Stay away from people who have a question for every answer; and has a problem with every solution you find. Jesus went around doing good in every possible manner: he healed the sick, he fed the hungry. The Pharisees definitely felt threatened and insecure. They try to act out their authority (Mark 8:11-13); and asked Jesus for a heavenly sign. Jesus’ mind and ministry did not get stuck in the negativities around him. He did not get sucked into the drama the Pharisees were staging. He sighed and got on to the other shore. There he continued to do good. Jesus giv...

Zacchaeus’ Last Will

 Zacchaeus, as we know, was a chief tax collector and a rich man (Luke 19: 1-10). He, as any tax collectors of his time would do, used to collect much more than due, even by force and violence. Now we might say, in a very self-justifying manner, that I am not a tax collector, thus this gospel does not concern my life and me. The figures of a survey done on taxes; taxpayers and tax collectors could be quite embarrassing. 72% people do not pay taxes fully or partially. They cheat the country and the government. 26% of people pay the full tax, not because they love their country and its development but because of fear of being caught and punished; they are in a search of completely safe ways of evading taxes. The rest 2% are involved in collecting taxes. They cheat the country and people by collecting more and not correctly accounting for it. That leaves us with a 100% of ‘Zacchaeuses’ in our societies. Thus most of us stand in need of salvation for our families and ourselves. Zacchae...

Great Teachers Create Vocal Students

 Picture a classroom where questions are met with impatience, where unique perspectives are dismissed, where vulnerable thoughts are cut short. Gradually, hands stop rising, eyes avoid contact, and the once-vibrant space becomes a vacuum of missed opportunities and untapped potential. This silence is not respect—it is retreat, it is a silent protest, and it is dissent. When teachers fail to listen, they unwittingly construct invisible barriers. Students quickly sense when their contributions hold no value, when their voices are merely tolerated rather than treasured. The natural response is self-preservation through silence. Why risk sharing when no one is truly receiving? This silent classroom is a warning sign. A teacher who does not listen will soon be surrounded by students who do not speak. Andy Stanley has spoken about it on leadership, "a leader who does not listen will gradually  be surrounded by people who do not speak." It is true in every field, including educatio...