The recent conversation on Minister of HRD, Smriti Irani's educational qualification sparked by Congress leader's assertion that she is not even a 12th pass to handle such a ministry and the continuous harping of few political leaders to keep this issue alive so that they can embarrass BJP in general and the HRD minister in particular proves one point that either the political intellectuals have not yet understood, what education means or they deliberately perpetuate this controversy to score some points.
This degeneration of thought that to call oneself as educated it is essential to possess a degree from a university is worrying. And then comes the distinction between the regular universities and distance or open university education. As far as I have observed the slur that was thrown at Minister Irani was not only on
whether she has a degree or not but also on that she merely attended distance education\open university. My personal stand on the real education is here which I have scribbled few years ago.
To start this philosophically I shall quote Sri Sathya SaiBaba who went one step ahead of common nomenclature on education and called it as educare that nurtures character along with worldly knowledge. Someone with mere university degree and no culture cannot call himself as educated in its truest sense. If people want degrees they should read William sapphire, Paramacharya of Kanchi who never went to university and Karunanidhi the topics which he has written are researched in top universities of the world, people write dissertations on the literature he produced. And most of the political philosophers of Ancient India and so many great political philosophers of medieval Europe never went to universities to earn a degree to fill one's stomach or to acquire leadership skills. So this myth of the requirement of a university degree to call someone educated is busted with out much pain.
And on the question of degrees from open universities or through distance education, there are umpteen number of best minds globally who are qualified through online education, distance education or open university. There are great professors who have studied in open university of UK and also other universities through distance education.
Few years ago when IIT Madras was celebrating its 50 years, there was an open session in all departments ie., all departments were open to public and there were few lectures organized for those who are outside of IIT. Enthusiastically I too have peeped in and I cannot recall the name of that teacher who was giving a lecture on open & E-learning who had a doctorate in chemistry from university of Madras and was asking few general questions to the students who came from Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh and for most of those questions I rose and answered, one of them included, do you know how much US is spending to bail out the large banks of US? It was 2008 I think during that financial crisis. Audience in that hall, it seems have thought I am someone greatly educated or doctorate or something like that because some have asked such questions after the session. No, I have a degree from a university through distance education, I said. They were not ready to believe it. I thought they were unnecessarily exaggerating. The major part of that lecture included on open learning where the teacher was highlighting exactly what I have been thinking on education, ie., it is not about certificates but what you know. Also he talked about NPTEL a project by all IIT's to popularize self learning.
Now going back to our original discussion, people who call Smriti less educated because she either has no degree or has a degree from school of open learning are the ones with no idea on what education is all about. Before ending I shall quote the British politician Michael Foot who said "Men of power have not time to read; yet the men who do not read are unfit for power". If someone has the ability and interest to READ then implement\apply based on what was read then he/she is fit for power. In that sense Irani fits the bill and her response was scholarly, ie., she should be judged by her work, which is beyond the mental faculties of Congress propagandists to understand.
This degeneration of thought that to call oneself as educated it is essential to possess a degree from a university is worrying. And then comes the distinction between the regular universities and distance or open university education. As far as I have observed the slur that was thrown at Minister Irani was not only on
whether she has a degree or not but also on that she merely attended distance education\open university. My personal stand on the real education is here which I have scribbled few years ago.
To start this philosophically I shall quote Sri Sathya SaiBaba who went one step ahead of common nomenclature on education and called it as educare that nurtures character along with worldly knowledge. Someone with mere university degree and no culture cannot call himself as educated in its truest sense. If people want degrees they should read William sapphire, Paramacharya of Kanchi who never went to university and Karunanidhi the topics which he has written are researched in top universities of the world, people write dissertations on the literature he produced. And most of the political philosophers of Ancient India and so many great political philosophers of medieval Europe never went to universities to earn a degree to fill one's stomach or to acquire leadership skills. So this myth of the requirement of a university degree to call someone educated is busted with out much pain.
And on the question of degrees from open universities or through distance education, there are umpteen number of best minds globally who are qualified through online education, distance education or open university. There are great professors who have studied in open university of UK and also other universities through distance education.
Few years ago when IIT Madras was celebrating its 50 years, there was an open session in all departments ie., all departments were open to public and there were few lectures organized for those who are outside of IIT. Enthusiastically I too have peeped in and I cannot recall the name of that teacher who was giving a lecture on open & E-learning who had a doctorate in chemistry from university of Madras and was asking few general questions to the students who came from Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh and for most of those questions I rose and answered, one of them included, do you know how much US is spending to bail out the large banks of US? It was 2008 I think during that financial crisis. Audience in that hall, it seems have thought I am someone greatly educated or doctorate or something like that because some have asked such questions after the session. No, I have a degree from a university through distance education, I said. They were not ready to believe it. I thought they were unnecessarily exaggerating. The major part of that lecture included on open learning where the teacher was highlighting exactly what I have been thinking on education, ie., it is not about certificates but what you know. Also he talked about NPTEL a project by all IIT's to popularize self learning.
Now going back to our original discussion, people who call Smriti less educated because she either has no degree or has a degree from school of open learning are the ones with no idea on what education is all about. Before ending I shall quote the British politician Michael Foot who said "Men of power have not time to read; yet the men who do not read are unfit for power". If someone has the ability and interest to READ then implement\apply based on what was read then he/she is fit for power. In that sense Irani fits the bill and her response was scholarly, ie., she should be judged by her work, which is beyond the mental faculties of Congress propagandists to understand.
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