Tulsi Prajna 1997 04

Author(s): Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 185

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TULSI-PRAJNA
harbinger of New Times. His writings lighten the new Path, show the glow of Freedom and Faith. He speaks of the highest Citizen. shih which is also the highest Ethics. Here we may agree with the poet that
"A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honour, men who will not lie; Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog,
In public duty and in private thinking." But man is not entirely a rational animal. Besides reason, he is governed by instincts, emotions, prejudices. predilections, genes, in short, samskaras. This brings us to the importance of education, formal, informal, non-formal, education to mould a person, to polish his psyche, not merely to impart skills or dexterity. Problems facing the youth
Recently, I had an opportunity to meet a group of young teachers, under the acgis of the Academic Staff College, Aligarh Muslim University. They had been called from various Universities from all over India to undergo an orientation programme, instituted in the wake of the New Education Policy. It was a very lively, vibrant and socially awakend group. I asked them to identify national problems facing the country and perplexing "them, in the context of the objectives of the programme, which was meant to enable the newly appointed teachers to understand amongst others : (a) the significance of education in general, and higher education in particular, in the global and Indian context; and () the linkages between education and economic and socio-cultural development with particular reference to the Indian polity where secularism and egalitarianism are the basic tenets of society.
The young teachers, who came from varying backgrounds listed the problems in the following order of priority : (1) Threats to National Integration; (2) Linguistic Problems; (3) The band of Political Pollution; (4) Crisis of character; (5) Over-population and unemployment; (6) Adult illiteracy and lack of access to education; (7) Low Status of Womon;