Indian Ruler's Predicament Limits their Understanding of Education’s Wider Role

Mr. Fadnavis, Dy. CM of Maharashtra has exhorted the youth to come forward in foiling the attempts of urban naxals from getting into universities. Since anyone differing from the establishment is being called urban naxal these days, this is a call to curb dissent in the
universities.

Earlier, Delhi’s Lt. Governor V K Saxena is reported to have said, “… degreeyan toh padahi ke kharch ki raseedein hoti hain. …” (… degrees are mere receipts of money spent on studies …). This was in response to the Delhi CM, Kejriwal’s reported barb that India needs an “… educated PM for the nation’s well-being”. So, the educational qualifications of leaders have become an issue.

These statements reflect the current Indian rulers’ skewed vision of education. For one dissent is not acceptable and for the other education is only about money spent and not the larger role it plays in society.

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Arun Kumar

Professor Arun Kumar, Distinguished Fellow at TPF, is the Malcolm Adisheshiah Chair Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi and was formerly professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University from 1984 to 2015. He has an MA (Physics) from Princeton University, USA and PhD (Economics) from JNU. His recent book (published in Dec 2020), Indian Economy's Greatest Crisis:Impact of The Corona Virus and The road Ahead, has generated great interest and discussion.