“IF THE PEOPLE ARE TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GOVERNMENT THEN THAT COUNTRY CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL”

Eastern Panorama met with Shri Atul Kothari, General Secretary of Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (Trust for the Uplift of Education and Culture) and also former General Secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and co-convenor of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti The Nyas, founded on 18 May 2007, works in collaboration with a sister organisation Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti (Campaign Committee for Saving Education), which was also founded byDinanath Batra, a Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the former Director of its Education wing Vidya Bharati. The mission of the Nyas is to find and establish alternatives to the present education system in India by changing its “syllabus, system, methods and policy” .

On the sidelines of National Conference on Revisiting Indology and Sanskrit in India held at NEHU (North Eastern Hill University) by the Department of Linguistics under the able Cordination of the Chairperson Prof Sailendra Kumar Singh , Editor Harsh Jhunjhunwala met Mr. Atul Kothari. The excerpts of the interview are reproduced for the readers. 

Please explain you mission and what changes and why changes?

To change the country we have to change our education. The kind of country and society we want will come form the education we impart. So basic change in education is our first prerogative.

Secondly, Instead of problem we need to discuss the solution. Everybody knows the problem, some may be little more. But I have been seeing since last 40 yrs that all seminars discussions that take place discuss only problems and not the solution.

Thirdly, Mother, Motherland and Mother tounge there is no alternative.

Fourthly, In a country with democracy, if the people are totally dependent on government then that country cannot be successful and education is a field in which the involvement of people from the society, people concerned with education has to be more than that of the government.

In a democratic country, the role of government and that of the society is equal for creating a positive change, so both have to work collectively.

The change in education is that since last 70yrs we have not been able to decide what is the aim of our education? What is the crux of education that we are imparting?

Swami Vivekananada said, “Man making and character building is the primary purpose of education.” The personality and psychological development of a child should be as such that they can decide by themselves whether they want to be a doctor, engineer, industrialist, professor, etc. The proper development is what education should do. So this primary concept should come into our education system. In education our Indian knowledge system is no where to be found. Before five years not only India but the whole world was celebrating Srinivasa Ramanujan’s 25yrs of birth anniversary. During that time there was international conference in Delhi. Though I was not able to go, my friend from mathematics field had visited. He was telling me that mathematicians had come from all over the world including America, Europe, Australia and enquired from him has to why the Indians were not working on Ramanujan when the whole world was? Ramanujan was such a great mathematician. In 2011, when we were celebrating his life, people in our country did not know that Ramanujan belong to the field of mathematics. It is not their fault but the fault of the system. Ramanujan does not exists in our system. There are three hand-written diaries of this great mathematician whose solution no mathematician in the whole world is able to find. Such a great mathematician of our country but not in our system!! So this Indian knowledge, sciences of our own is missing in our education. Today, the world is moving with such great pace and great scientific research is taking place but our syllabus since decades is the same. Then how our children will be able to compete in the world. There should be communication of both. Similarly,the education system that we have has nothing to do with the society. People have done B.A.,M.A.,B.COM., but have u asked people if there is any help in your job? Nothing. Very less useful things in our present education system that will help in a person’s personal life or social life or nation building.