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 15^th 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 21^st Century. He says, “In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.”

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.

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.

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