SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS IS AN EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Fr. P. P. George SDB

“Throughout history and in virtually every part of the earth men have lived and multiplied, and have created some form of culture. Always and everywhere they found their means of subsistence and something to spare. Civilizations have been built up, have flourished, and, in most cases, have declined and perished. This is not the place to discuss why they have perished; but we can say: there must have been some failure of resources. In most instances new civilization have arisen, on the same ground, which would be quiet incomprehensible if it had been simply the material resources that had given out before. How could such resources have reconstituted themselves”?

“All history –as well as all current experience-points to the fact that it is man, not nature, who provides the primary resources: that the key factor of all economic development comes out of the mind of man. Suddenly there is an outburst of daring, initiative, invention, constructive activity, not in one field alone, but in many fields all at once. No one able to say where it came from in the first place; but we can see how it maintains and even strengthens itself: through various kinds of schools, in other words, through education. In a very real sense, therefore, we can say that education is the most vital of all resources”, [Small Is Beautiful, E.F. Schumacher]

For this, there are four essential conditions. First, there must be motivation; second, there must be some know –how; third, there must be some capital; and fourth, there must be an outlet: additional output requires additional markets.

Far as the motivation is concerned, what is education for? Is education to be a “passport to privilege” or is it something which people take upon themselves almost like a monastic vow.

As a Christian, I may be permitted to quote from the Bible, St. Luke Ch: 12, 48: “Much will be expected of the man to whom much has been given. More will be asked of him because he was entrusted with more.” It is, you might well say, an elementary matter of justice.

If this ideology does not prevail, if it is taken for granted that education is a passport to privilege then the content of education will not primarily something to serve the people, but something to serve ourselves, the educated. The privileged minority will wish to be educated in a manner that sets them apart and will inevitable learn and teach the wrong things, that is to say, things that do set them apart, with the contempt for manual labour, a contempt for primary education, a contempt for rural life, etc. etc. Unless virtually all educated people see themselves as servants of their country – and that means after all are servants of the common people – there cannot possibly be enough leadership and enough communication of know how.

1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rev.Dr.M.Sebastian Stanislaus Memorial Lecture – V, delivered on 09.01.2010 at National College,Tiruchirapalli.

Communitization of Education

Communitization of education means making the Community responsible for the education of its members, as well as the beneficiary of the education its members receive.

Education is meant to be a means of development both for the individual and the community. Unfortunately it is often noticed that while the individual is developed, the community fails to receive any substantial benefit from the education imparted to the individuals. Because of this, the community does not feel motivated to support education. Hence, the challenge before us is to ensure the integrated development of the entire community.

If the community is to be developed and not just the individuals, our concern for education should go beyond running schools alone. Hence we need to think of a variety of community-based Programmes, including adult literacy, non-formal education, etc. We also need to help our students reflect on the needs of the community. It was observed that our Education often uproots the individual from his/her culture and social setup. On completion of their education, the students are often unwilling to go back to their communities. This makes us realize that we need to prepare our students to become good social and political leaders who work for the upliftment of their own communities.

Education often lays stress only on the rights of the individual but fails to emphasize his/her duties, especially towards society. Hence the need to develop the social consciousness of students who are part of society and have the obligation to give back to society what they have received. They should be made to realize that a good education is not only a passport to success but also an opportunity to serve society. Organizing Programmes of “Community Service” is a practical means of furthering social commitment.

In this context of communitization of education we should bear in mind that the UNSECO has declared 2005-2014 as the “Decade of Education for Sustainable Development”. Communitization of education in fact stresses the need for an education that promotes the sustainable development of the entire community.

In India the imparting of education is considered the greatest gift - 'Vidyadanam mahadanam', the one who imparts education, guru is respected as God. The disciple should touch the feet of the guru before he touches God's feet. The Indian society has elevated the educator and educational institutions to divine heights, "Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheswara ".

2

      Learning is the true imperishable riches,

      All other things are not riches (Thirukkural, 400).

However, the distribution of these riches has been a cause for concern through the ages including the present one.  

Myron Weiner echoes the same view when he says that, "despite impressive official rhetoric in favour of universal literacy there is no political will to make this goal come true. There is amazing apathy and indifference in government officials, social activists, trade unionists, social researchers, religious leaders, party workers, educationists and even parents. In many parts of the world religious organizations played a big role in the diffusion of mass education. It did not happen in India. In some countries, secular ideologies stood for a system of national education favouring social equality. In India, on the contrary, education has been largely an instrument of differentiation by separating children according to social class "(The Child and the State in India).

Challenge 

Faced with over 350 million people in our country who are illiterate, universalization of elementary education is indeed a major challenge. Naturally, it is the marginalized that are often denied rightful access to education. Hence, making quality education accessible to the marginalized is a crucial issue that we have to respond to. The marginalized include both the economically and socially marginalized. In our Indian context, it would include the poor, Dalits, tribals, women in general, rural women in particular, slum dwellers, child labourers, unorganized workers, etc. The poor deserve our educational services more than the rich. They need to be educated to take up the challenge of hard mental work, becoming independent and to be ambitious about their life and future. We have to be empathetic of their non-conducive academic environment and work out means and strategies to enhance their self-image as well as performance.  

Conclusion

Our vision of Education must include the recommendation of Mahatma Gandhi. He dreamt of an India in which every individual discovers and realizes his or her talent and potential by working with others towards restructuring India and the world which continue to be characterized by conflicts within and outside society.  

Social consciousness is an educational responsibility. What do you propose that we should do to make our students realize that a good education is not only a passport to success but also an opportunity to serve society? How far have our Alumni become partners in realizing our vision of education?

The MHRD's 2004 data show that only 11 per cent of students enrolled in class I pass a Public Examination. And more than 80 per

3

cent who fail in a Public Examination fail in Mathematics and Science. What measures do you propose to remedy such a situation?

4