Dr.Farooq Ahmad Peer
Education is a pursuit which trains, humanizes, civilizes and refines the human beings in every age. Rabindranath Tagore believes that “It is by education that our reasoning faculties have to be nourished in order to allow our mind its freedom in the world of truth, our imagination for the world which belongs to art and our sympathies for the world of human relationships.” These touching and dear ideals which have been fostered by almost all aficionados of education from antique ages to the at hand times have shown rewarding results not only in terms of promotion of education and enlightenment but also have pushed the mankind towards advancement and stability.In the field of education, particularly at higher level, the numbers of Schools, Colleges and Universities have increased to a large extent during the last few decades. Education earlier would be available only to the elite class of society but in today’s democratic and changing scenario; it has been the priority of the respective Governments in the world and in the country to burnish the minds and souls of lower strata of the society also by the candle of education. Equalization of educational and employment opportunities have been the cherished goals of the modern democratic systems with the aim to bring about social and economic reforms. The national and State Governments experience tremendous pressure from public to establish more and more colleges and universities and even though much expansion has been made of the educational system and institutions of learning but still a huge number of aspirants of education remain outside the training process of education mainly due to the fact that the institutions of learning have restricted number of seats and infrastructure to handle the flow of students for admissions. This problem is more complicated in our state and particularly in the Kashmir Valley where the students due to uneasy environment for the thirty years and also due to geographical and climatic conditions are the worst sufferers to pursue their further studies. It is has been witnessed in our Vale that no institutions of higher learning particularly universities and fully equipped medical and other professional colleges have been established. Not to speak of these types of institutions, the institutions for traditional courses are in less in number and there is only two University which tries to cater to the demand of the students. The newly established Central University may take years to get fully equipped to absorb the rush of students. There only some courses have been introduced till date. In order to mitigate this problem either the desirous students are to be discouraged to pursue education and push this society towards more illiteracy and backwardness or they are to be provided other ways and means to fulfil their dreams.
To have a better system of education, policy of education is necessary so that it becomes a road map for the administration, teachers, students and society.
Education is considered as an ultimate objective of a disciplined society. Its final aim is the all round development of the individuals and since society is the sum total of the individuals, transformation of the society is also included in its aim. The political, economic, social and scientific changes, which have been responsible for the upliftment of the society, have occurred only due to education. In the world of today, it has been the quest of mankind to acquire an objective and comprehensive knowledge of reality through analytical study and the process of induction – deduction approach, free from bias and prejudice. The aim is to produce ideal human resource as cultured, wise, tolerant, and knowledgeable and to inculcate the minds and souls with ethical values and virtues. The planning of education is important in order to achieve excellence and quality in education. It is a known fact without education and knowledge; we are like a rudderless ship not knowing which way to go. To have a better system of education, policy of education is necessary so that it becomes a road map for the administration, teachers, students and society.
( The author is Director Academics at the J&K Board of School Education. Views are his own) [email protected]
