Mr. Sushil Tripathi and Mr. Ajit Doval

Mr. Sushil Tripathi, former Secretary Education spoke on the subject of “Education as a Fundamental Right and Means to Nation Building”, at the VIF Auditorium on 28 September 2010. Introducing the speaker and the subject, the Director, Mr. Doval said the real power of a nation today is measured in terms of knowledge. Education bridges the gap between being and becoming. Today, the country is seized with the idea of giving a new impetus to education.

Mr. Tripathi highlighted that every citizen is a stakeholder in our educational process – whether as a student, teacher or parent. In ancient India, education was given a very high priority and the teacher or the Guru was worshipped. Lord Macaulay wanted to demolish the traditional system. So, we have today an educational system that is disconnected from our roots. Today, we need education to impart life skills. The ability of our regional states to take on the educational process was limited due to lack of resources. Hence, it was put on the concurrent list. However, in the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’ we are raising expectations that we perhaps cannot fulfill. Our education must relate to our local environment. China has not changed its calendar. He highlighted the case of Japan, which modernized without acquiring English language skills. He spoke of the neighbourhood concept wherein even upper crust schools will have to take 25% underprivileged children. The talk was followed by an animated interaction with the audience.