Successive HRD Ministers have been obsessed about "improving" the quality of education in India. The current minister seems to be most competent in last decade and has the zeal and vision to make a difference. But instead of attempting to create a 100 IITs (which will only serve to dilute the brand of existing ones) or import 20 Harvards (they will be the Cartier of education - taking bundles from Nouveau riche of Patiala back to Cambridge, MA), he will be better served by starting with an issue much closer at hand - creating a sense of history amongst the emerging generation.
That Indians have no sense of their own history - is an understatement. The situation is exacerbated by the loss of the sense with each successive generation. Today we either have (A) the Hindu fanatics for whom history consists of delusions of a grand India of 1000 years ago which invented flying chariots and ruled the subcontinent till villainous mughals came and destroyed the temples or (B) Mobile phone obsessed 20 somethings who couldn't tell the name of the last president (no, the answer isn't Atal Bihari Vajpayee!), let alone know about history of the country. This of course is an exaggerated view - there are journalists (Shekhar Gupta, Ram Guha, Vir Sanghvi, Swapan Dasgupta), even politicians (Mani Iyer, Abhishek Singhvi, Pranab Mukherjee) who have an understanding of who we are and how we got here. But such people are far and few, and certainly given the intellectual quotient of the majority, the discussions and debates are NOT framed by them in a historical context.
Why is history important & Which part of history is important ? ?
History or rather the "sense of it" is not defined by knowing the dates of Battle of Panipet or name of the 1st emperor of the Maurya Empire. It is rather defined by knowing how we got to the point where we are, that is why Indian politics, culture, constitution, economy or administration is structured the way it is.
What factors (good or bad), what people (good or bad in your personal view) played a role in all this ? The bottom line is that we need to know how we got here, before we can find out how to get there ("there" being whatever superpower, souped up vision of India you have 20 years hence).
The inane debates about the Chinese model of development or adoption of American policies or whether to have subsidies on fertilizers are just framed by an individuals point of view. They are not framed in the context of "what would work for India given its socio-economic-political structure". This is akin to prescribing coaching tips to Yuvraj Singh based on what Ricky Ponting does, without looking at Yuvraj's past performance, his successes & failures and his strengths & weaknesses.
The other part of not knowing history is that we have few role models (few know of or understand the role of a Mahatma Gandhi or a Jawaharlal Nehru or even of Ashoka in shaping the country). Characters such as Babar are stereotyped without understanding how a ruler of a Mongol tribe came all the way from frigid planes of Central Asia to India and established an empire here. If we understood this, we could maybe comprehend better the churning in Afganistan today and its impact on us.
Contrast this with the Chinese or the Japanese, people with a very strong sense of identity with their histories and which is clearly reflected in their policies and vision. It gives a sense of confidence in their approach to policy and programs, which we could certainly do with.
Who is to blame & how can it be fixed ?
Our primary education teaches history as a colorless dates based subject from sanitized politically correct textbooks. The system ignores the most important part of our history - the period from 1947 onwards, the period that is most heavily reflected in today's paradigm. This part is covered in an even more boring manner in a subject called Civics, the textbooks of which are probably written by planning commissioners of North Korea.
The first step towards fixing this malaise is to take a fresh look at content and the manner of teaching history at a school level. This is an area where looking at the western education system may actually help (as opposed to getting Oxfords of the world to set up SHOP in India).
The second step is to have media content that is actually readable and watchable in a fun entertaining way. Search for a book on De Gaulle and you will find a zillion options, look for a book on Nehru and your options will be very limited. Look for documentaries on Pearl Harbor & you will have a 100s to choose from, do the same for Indian Partition and you are likely to be disappointed. In the 80s, Indian Television ran a series titled Bharat Ek Khoj (Discovery of India, based on Nehru's book of the same name) - the series was actually quite illuminating. We need more of such content (hopefully some Ekta Kapoor clone will take note). This step is harder than the 1st one but I believe by doing the 1st you will pave way for the 2nd.
Oh and by the way, someone could try and maintain, upgrade the Indian national museums. They could do with the creative input of a somewhat intellectually inclined media personality (Aamir Khan take note).
Footnote: I highly recommend this book in case you are interested in learning about the post-1947 period. It is very well structured and is an easy read -
http://www.amazon.com/India-After-Gandhi-History-Democracy/dp/0060958588/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256235028&sr=8-1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment