Monday, January 24 2005 20:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

When we look at India today in its length and breadth we get the message that it is now a "work in progress" country. We are not sure if we are going towards world leadership of producer of manpower for the world, which understands instructions well and executes as per the expectations of the designer. In any case, we are making good progress as per the financial gurus. We are trying to take decisions that may alter the very shape of the society. We, for example, are investing more on the infrastructure that can produce skilled workers in a large scale and trying to export the services of those workers to the world. Because of this, our investments on innovation are suffering but that is a decision.

The current leading generation came out of a society that was changing rather slowly and has a mix of exporting and innovation. So it is not very difficult for that generation to understand, reflect and make judgments. We do have a value system against which we compare the current events and make judgments.

The new generation will be a "work in progress" generation. They are passing through the days of adjustment. The changes in the country's economic, social and cultural aspects are not only faster and higher but are fundamental in nature. We are trying to touch the foundations of our society and rebuild new value system. Because we are in a race we only can perceive the financial status as the basis of measurement.

From these conditions we have to bring up new generation that should touch the heights of the world.

How can we help our kids formulate a value system using which they can make judgments?
How can we teach our kids the fundamentals of leadership when it is becoming an endangered quality here?
How can we teach our kids about innovation when we are deciding to go slow on investments for innovation?
How can we teach our kids that going towards better financial status should be associated with some efforts to make ourselves better citizens?


The confusion parents are nursing in the middle of this work in progress has led to many directions in the education sector. Investments in the education sector started growing from the private sector and individual spending on education is growing to meet this increasing private sector investments.

In these chaotic conditions many schools of thought are emerging. High voltage discussions are taking place in and out of media about determining new system of education for different levels. Some are critical of the burden school children need to take and others speak about building up the endurance power in kids to handle the information overflow in the country because of many players in press and media and globalisation of our businesses.

Some were suggesting a going back into the days of Gurukul where the teacher focuses on overall development of the kid without any artificial measurements like the current examination system. Some others were suggesting about adopting international standards such as IB to make our kids globally challenging.

In the middle of all this, the average parent is stranded with the kids and is struggling to find a way.

If you go towards Gurukul system and keep your kids in hostels you are not sure about the values taught to the kids. They may be exposed to hypocrisy and aggression and thus learn the same as their basic values.

If you are sending kids to IB schools the problem of measurement creeps in. It becomes difficult for the parents to understand the progress their kids are making and make comparisons with the kids of their relatives, friends or colleagues if they are passing through the traditional examination system.

Because the current generation parents came from examination system they can judge the progress in that system very well but if the children go to an IB school or any other international system where the pressure of examinations were taken off from the children, judging the progress is becoming very difficult.

The new generations parents thus should follow some basics and allow the confusion to prevail until a holistic solution emerges out of the confusion. Generally confusion arises out of unsuccessful attempts to understand and interpret the situation but it often leads to good solutions eventually.

The parents however should make sure that;
Their children get a value system using which they can make judgment of the current happenings pragmatically rather than fixing themselves in the trap of comparisons.

Their children gets sufficient attention to know, understand and interpret the happenings relating to the knowledge and education sectors.

As the kids grow from primary years with some fundamental strengths and move into High School they should be explained about the confusion prevalent in the society about the learning models and allow them to draw good amount of knowledge about some basic issues required for their growth and maturity through additional reading.

Expose them to the fundamentals of arts and culture of the country that has very strong value system embedded into it. The new age arts of movies and music videos cannot impact the character of the youngsters and may lead to aggression and frivolousness. Traditional arts have soothing effect because they were formulated during a slow changing society and so appear to be undeterred by the noise of the new confusion.

Formulate basic value system for yourself about beliefs and analysis. If you believe God, explain the concept of God not as a basic belief but as a concept required for the human kind. If we cannot create a belief system, probably we are depriving our kids from having a system of stress management. If you do not believe God, give education to the kids about the God concept and your own stand and provide alternate system where they can focus their helplessness and release stress to stay positive and confident.

Teach your kids about the sacrifice our soldiers at borders were offering for our own safety. I have noticed many occasions where soldiers were treated with disrespect in our society, which I could never notice in many countries I visited.

Teach your kids the fundamental respect towards fellow human being. We notice people misbehaving in parking lots, train stations and any other public place and the evident trait behind such behaviour often appears to be disrespect towards fellow citizen. I have noticed some kids taking negative opinion about a particular religious belief such as Hindu kids disliking Muslim kids and vice versa.

In one of the seminars of kids I have noticed kids mentioning about thrashing Pakistan without understanding any of the international politics. These are alarming directions we are giving to our kids.

Let us hope that the leadership of the Country also takes the issue of making responsible next generation with enough seriousness and formulate appropriate policies but until then we cannot sit blaming the administrators keeping our kids future and well-being at stake.

Lets try providing our own contribution for making better country at least in coming decades.