________________
296
Dawoodbhai Ghanchi
Firstly, the concept of education should be redefined in terms of the three domains, namely the individual and his needs, the society and the global environment and their needs.
Secondly, the role of the central agencies like the university, the state government, the central government and regulating agencies like the UGC should be circumscribed and limited only to their core functions, powers and authority. The nuts and bolts and the nitty gritty of the entire enterprise should be within the jurisdiction of institutions concerned.
Thirdly, the constituents and players must enjoy maximum autonomy to work out their programmes and activities and should be held responsible for all their decisions.
Fourthly, capacity building programmes should be a permanent feature. of the working of the system operating regularly all throughout the year. They should apply to all players and stake holders involved. They should be thus recurrently empowered through their exposure to training.
Fifthly, there should be built-in arrangement for monitoring, evaluation and regulatory mechanism. The system should ensure smart regulation with light oversight with a human face and it must mean business with a zero tolerance for any sort of negativity.
Sixthly, innovativeness and cutting edge quality should be the soul and spirit to move the system spirally upward with a liberal provision for facilitation on one hand and on the other for acceleration of excellence on a constantly rising learning curve.
Seventhly, through synergized education, both vertically and horizontally, the vision should be to make a fundamental paradigm shift in the very concept of the institution which should ultimately graduate from being a laboratory of life, to a workshop of life, and from there to be a nursery of life and ultimately to be a prototype of life itself - a pinnacle of existence in all its glory.
The strategy itself can be conceived of as a flux which will continue to flow, to change and to assume newer, more vibrant forms.
Conclusion : The 21st century is a unique period of time in human history, which can either spell doom for the human race, given the piles of negative lethal forces accumulated over years by man - the atomic energy, armaments, greed, disregard for values, particularly, of harmony, coexistence and regard for life itself, gross consumerism, crass materialism, extreme poverty and destitution, or can lift the human race to unforeseen heights of prosperity, wellness, security, brotherhood, fellow feeling and cultural heights
