Indian education system.

Education with value system has to be so designed that the righteousness in the heart is
developed in young minds.
The prime learning environment is five to seventeen years of age for over 25,000 hours.
there is a great quote from greek philosopher regarding teacher,
"Give me a child for seven years; afterwards, let God or devil take the child. They cannot
change the child".
there is nothing like a good student, average student or poor student. The whole school and
teacher system is involved in generating students who perform the best.teach the theory with practicles.
Normally people will be discussing the performance of the school in terms of percentage of
passes with distinction. 100% will be considered outstanding. 90% very good, 80% good. This is
the present method of evaluation of the schools by the parents, by the govt by the management.
I feel that there is a need for paradigm shift in thinking in the evaluation process.
According to me, the best school is one where the students complete the school up to 10+2
after 25000 hours of education in the campus. The student has to become full-fledged
responsible citizen for the nation who will be able to realize his dreams and not be
frightened of any problem. He should be groomed to be physically fit, academically sound with
capacities for research and inquiry, innovation, use of high technology, moral and
entrepreneurial leadership. He should be emotionally mature and spiritually awakened. For
nurturing such an individual, what is the role and what should be the vision of the
principals. Principals should have a one line statement of vision “my vision is to give to the
student’s all-round capability that is always creative, observant, aim to acquire knowledge
continuously leading to the generation of an excellent performer with sterling character built
with the unique tradition of the school”. In this process, the education system has to develop
the five minds as described in the book “Five Minds” for the future by Howard Gardner.
a) The disciplinary mind: mastery of mind in different schools of thought including science
mathematics and history and proficiency in at least one professional craft.
b) The synthesizing mind: ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres
into a coherent whole and to communicate to others.
c) The creative mind: capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomenon.
d) The respectful mind: awareness of and application for differences among human beings.
e) The ethical mind: fulfillment of one’s responsibility as a worker and a citizen.
To develop these five minds, one need not change the syllabus of the school. The culture of
the school and vision of the school and the teacher’s way of life will imbibe these five minds
among the students.

Dynamics of Smile :
When we see a child, we see the innocent smile of the child. When we come across, the child in
the Primary School, the smile is reduced, since the child has to carry a heavy school bag.
When we see the child in their teens, their smile slowly fades away and the sign of concern
appears. This is because of the anxiety about the future. When they complete their education,
the question uppermost in their mind is, what will I do after my education? Will I get an
employment? Will I get a proper employment? Can the Principals see this dynamics of smiles of
the child and preserve the smile in their faces when they complete their school education. The
Student should be confident that “he can do it”, the student should have the self esteem and
the capability to become an employment generator rather being an employment seeker. This
transformation can only be brought about by a Principal who has a vision to transform, who has
the ability to take risk against all challenges, who is a good listener, who is a good
innovator, who maintains a cordial inter-personal or intrapersonal relationship and who has
the ability to carry the parents, community, media and the teachers for accomplishing the
vision of generating an enlightened citizen for the nation. Now let me share my views of an
ideal principal.

An ideal principal :
Some time back, I met a principal who have become a role model to all his students. I asked
the Principal what was the secret of his success. He told me the following:
a) He has been able to adopt himself to the age of the student.
b) As a principal, he makes sure that he also takes two to three classes per week.
c) He considers that he is a teacher first and a principal later.
d) He practices everything he expects his students to do. His real life itself is a medium to
the students.
e) He ensures transparency in all his transactions and treats all students alike, irrespective
of their religion, caste, language and economic status.
f) He has a foresight and visualizes the student’s growth in long term perspective.
g) During the 11 years of his tenure, he has ensured that at least 2000 students who were
average performers have been groomed to excel in their studies.
I am sure many principals assembled here would reflect these characteristics and also add few
more important traits.

Knowledge and its components :
Principals have to consider at the end of the education what the students will be carrying
with them. They should carry knowledge. Knowledge has three components, creativity,
righteousness and courage. That the combination of these characteristics can generate
enlightened citizens. Let us look at the first component creativity:
Creativity :
“Learning gives creativity
Creativity leads to thinking
Thinking provides knowledge
Knowledge makes you great”
The next component of knowledge is righteousness. The power of Righteousness is described in a divine hymn, which is as follows:
Righteousness:
"Where there is righteousness in the heartThere is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,There is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.There is order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,There is peace in the world."
Who will give the righteousness, only three people can give. Who are they? They are: Father,
Mother and a primary school teacher.
The third component is courage, which is defined as follows:
Courage:
"Courage to think different,
Courage to invent,
Courage to travel into an unexplored path,
Courage to discover the impossible,
Courage to combat the problemsAnd Succeed, Are the unique qualities of the youth.
As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all the missions."
As Principals, you have to ensure that the system instills the courage in the minds of
students. Hence friends, now you realize, knowledge is equal to creativity + righteousness +
Courage. Now the Principals may like to see, how they can impart real knowledge among the
students

Mission in Life :
I have seen three dreams which have taken shape as vision, mission and realization
a. Wherever there is a dream in life, that transforms into a vision and vision takes shape as
many missions.
b. The necessity of high level thinking to transform the Vision into Missions.
c. Acquisition of knowledge from all sources.
d. Working and working without boundary conditions till the realization of the mission.
e. Leader absorbs the failure and takes the responsibility and gives the credit for success to
his team while executing the Mission.

Eleven Point Oath for Teachers:
1. First and foremost, I will love teaching. Teaching will be my soul.
2. I realize that I am responsible for shaping not just students but ignited youths who are
the most powerful resource under the earth, on the earth and above the earth. I will be fully
committed for the great mission of teaching.
3. I will consider myself to be a great teacher for I can lift the average to the best
performance by way of my special teaching.
4. All my actions with my students will be with kindness and affection like a mother, sister,
father or brother.
5. I will organize and conduct my life, in such a way that my life itself is a message for my
students.
6. I will encourage my students to ask questions and develop the spirit of enquiry, so that
they blossom into creative enlightened citizens.
7. I will treat all the students equally and will not support any differentiation on account
of religion, community or language.
8. I will continuously build the capacities in teaching so that I can impart quality education
to my students.
9. I will celebrate the success of my students, with great élan.
10. I realize by being a teacher, I am making an important contribution to all the national
development initiatives.
11. I will constantly Endeavour to fill my mind, with great thoughts and spread the nobility
in thinking and action.

Lets enlight the young minds of india with this goal..

~satish.p