Education: The Right way

For a moment forget that you are all teachers. You are members of a great republic, fathers and mothers of your children.All of you have lived through 32 years of independence.Is there anyone in this assembly who is satisfied with the progress this country has made,anyone among us who feels proud that we are preparing a world for our children that we feel fit to give as a heritage? Ours is a chaotic nation screaming at all times,with no feeling of nationalism abiding in our hearts.In such an atmosphere can any college or school function smoothly ? It is our leaders who are fermenting this disaster, and all for what? Votes. Millions of fathers and mothers must be viewing this situation with depair and gloom.I too would like to join the depairers and slowly sink into the abyss of helless dejection.For one single individual cannot improve it all, however clearly he may see the situation. An easy course for one to adopt would be to conduct a parellel revolution,found and sustain a party even if it be at the cost of many lives! The alternate course would be the constructive though gradual process,the evolutionary one. How does one go about this? Todays middle-aged people are busy amassing wealth for their own security.The innocent children grow up this cess-pool and watch the frenzied despair all around. The first eruption from this contagion of despair is indiscipline.Unable to cope with the outside situation,they take recourse to drugs. The only sane method to solve this problemis to educate these children in the right way,instilling in them feelings of self respect and national pride.And the only ones who can do it are dedicatedsacrificing teachers who work selflessly in the theatre of school to perform this delicate and all-important operations.And the work must be done at the primary school level for by the time the youngsters reach the high school,their ideas and values are set. We are cautious in picking our students since one bad apple is enough to spoil the entire box.As far our teachers,we have never insisted that they should have a spiritual background,only that they should complete and pass the lesson course within three years of joining. Now the time has to come to share this vision of mine with you .Until now what we made our schools and colleges different was solely the physical aspects-the idols,the altars and celebrations of auspicious days. This in itself is incomplete.If in the name of secularism our own culture is being choked up,we have to resort to other means to revive it. In our institutions we wont have classes in religion or moral instructions; we will have exercises in meditation,japa,mantra,prayers,and explain the psychological need for all these.Through these students minds will quitened ,power of concentration will increase and consequently ,their performance will improve .Later,at the college level,we explain to them the application of vedanta for improved efficiency in work. But this can be done only when you know it your self.Books this can be done only when you know it yourself.Books like Meditation and life will explain everything.Study them in your leaisure hours and teach it to students .Call it Meditation 1,Meditation 2,etc., like we have

Standard 1,etc.Meditation does indoubtedly have a tremendous psychological effect. Te Brahmins of yor were forced to do japa,and so long as they did it, they were the most brilliant in the academic field. The so-called progressive ones have given have given it all up-first the thread,then the japa-and where are they ?It was not for anything that they were made to chant the Gayatri-mantra.Mental training is imperative for concentration.Let us introduce this for the weaker students first,the ones who find it difficult to concentrate.Work on those students highlighting their achievements before other students.Students suffering from psycological epilepsy- calm one week,unpredictably violent the next-to them such mental training will have the effect of quiteneing their mind. Our vidyalayas were started with the idea of giving youngsters the traditional values of our Dharma and to mould them into a productive force in society .Shouting slogans and burning buses is not socialism.To remove poverty we have to evoke the God of wealth.This cannot be done by sitting down and ranting.Only strength can remove weakness.These are the values which must guide the youth. Such values can be practiced only by an efficient and posied mind.Our objective should be to inculcate values into the lives of our youngsters. To open schools is only a state of obligation,a job for for the government.But we should do this with nobler motives in mind. We may not be applauded if We succeed,but we shall have the mental satisfaction of having done our duty.We may even be harassed,kicked around and laughed at. But we should develop the inner strength to bear it all and carry on undaunted.I myself have no formal experience in academic teaching,so on all of you who know the situation clearly to work on these ideas and formulate a viable scheme in the next 10 days. Apart from the chanting of hymns and other aspects which make our institutions unique, I suggest an active parent-teacher association.Request the mother to just walk down the corridors of the classrooms.Develop such intimacy.The school becomes a backyard, an extension of the home.This intimate atmosphere is very conducive to personality development.Try to eliminate negative criticism and thereby the inferiority complex in the child. Pump up his little plus points and achievements and earn his love and repect. Things picked up at that stage will always come out later. Cyclones and storms of the nature which you have braved to get here will always be there- if not arising from Mother nature, then from other sources,political too. We must brave it all and carry out this great mission to restore a glorious culture to its pristine spledour .If we are able to fulfill a fraction of this vision ,we must consider ourselves blessed ,A s you communicate these noble ideas in all your secular teachings in schools, you must grow in stature yourself with the glow of perfection of one who has served in the best tradition.