The Hindu : Karnataka News : `Education should stimulate the intellect'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Others

`Education should stimulate the intellect'

By Our Staff Correspondent

HAMPI, NOV. 24. A meaningful education should stimulate all aspects of the human intellect, V.N. Rajashekaran Pillai, Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), has said.

He was speaking at the 13th "Nudi habba" (convocation) of the Kannada University here on Wednesday.

Prof. Pillai said education should not only emphasise access to global knowledge but should also uphold the richness of local cultures and values supported by the humanities and social sciences disciplines.

Decline

He said there had been a decline in interest in humanities, social sciences, and languages with the increasing importance of technology and related areas.

This was an "undesirable" trend. Promotion of education and training in these areas was essential.

Re-structuring the curriculum and adopting new and ingenious methods for imparting and receiving knowledge in these subjects would enhance the relevance of the courses, he added.

Multi-faculty university

The concept of a unitary multi-faculty university with all areas of knowledge, skills, and professions with the objective of universal knowledge had to be promoted. The universities should pursue the generation, transmission, storage, retrieval, and utilisation of knowledge, Prof. Pillai said.

He was of the view that universities could play a significant role in knowledge-driven economic growth strategies and in the construction of democratic and socially cohesive societies. Higher education was a critical pillar of human development, he said. To fulfil the educational, research, extension, and information functions, the universities and other higher education institutes had to respond effectively to the changing education and training needs, adopt to a rapidly shifting tertiary education landscape, and introduce a more flexible mode of organisation and operation, Prof. Pillai said. Institutions were transforming themselves to respond to the evolving educational needs, particularly in the context of a borderless market. New forms of competition and changing information and communication technologies emerged to be a part of this, he added.

Purposes

He was also of the view that higher education had many purposes, beyond the acquisition of concrete skills. It also involved developing a person's ability to reason systematically about critical questions and issues, place facts in a broader context, consider the moral implications of actions and choices, communicate knowledge and question effectively, and nurture habits that promoted life-long learning behaviours outside the formal academic setting.

The skills of formulation, synthesis, analysis, and argumentation could be developed in a curriculum with a mix of pedagogical approaches.

Stating that conferment of a degree might not be considered as the culmination of education, he said, "It is not the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning. A degree is only a licence for further education."

Globalisation

He said that with the development of the information and communication network, physical barriers were diminishing. Globalisation was not only the disappearance of barriers, but also "internationalisation of ideas, knowledge, and opportunities."

Any approach towards modernity had to be balanced and blended with traditional systems and practices.

Prof. Pillai said that education and refinement were inter-related. "We are endowed with an ancient education system of our own. `Unity in diversity' is the essence of India's existence as a nation and as a civilisation. Teachers and students must join together in leading the fight to eliminate the narrow considerations of caste, creed, and religion. They have to show the path that liberates the mind, and inspires faith in us and the future as a strong and self-reliant nation," he said.

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