Articles

Destiny of a Nation Is Shaped in It’s Classrooms

by Prachi Dash

Destiny is the hidden power believed to control future events. Classrooms are a nation’s palm lines that connect the threads of the present to the future. They are temples of learning and knowledge acquisition. Martin Luther King Jr rightly said, “Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education”. And it’s fascinating that this universal goal can be achieved within the four creamy walls of a classroom.

Let’s look at the Indian scenario. With the disruption in education due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown, learning has shifted to online platforms. Online classes are the ‘new normal’. Although this has resulted in reduced interactions between teachers and students, digital platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, etc. can set the stage for a revolution in how education is traditionally viewed.  ‘Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think’ as is rightly said by Albert Einstein. Digitalization can help us move away from the memory-based rote learning mindset and open up our minds toward understanding core concepts through various new features that can make learning more interesting. In this way, we can create skilled individuals who can provide an impetus to our skill-based industries and thereby, be conferred with more employment opportunities.

Classrooms are places where young individuals eventually blossom to become legislators, decision-makers, and even Prime Ministers and Presidents! Values like a heightened sense of empathy, cooperation, assertiveness, openness to opposite views, belief in equality etc. are created in these safe havens which helps create empowered citizens who have the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Exposing children to a diverse curriculum helps in inculcating a multidisciplinary approach to education. The scrapping of Dalit feminist writers’ texts and Mahasweta Devi’s feminist text ‘Draupadi’ from the DU syllabus is contrary to this goal.

Various government initiatives like The National Education Policy 2020, the POSHAN Abhiyaan(Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment), and the Right to Education Act which made elementary education from 6-14 years compulsory a step forward in order to provide every individual a chance to avail of myriad opportunities.

Classrooms create stupendous wax statues i.e. educated and aware individuals from raw, molten wax. In a nutshell, with a dynamic approach towards transforming education, policy initiatives, and their effective implementation, and with the help of empowered citizens, India can become one of those nations that can write and shape its own destiny.

About the Author:

Prachee Dash is a young college student from Delhi with a keen interest in creative writing.

5 Comments

  1. Nice thought and agree to what you say .

  2. Pertinent points. Excellent write up. Congratulations

  3. Very well written. Keep up the good work. God bless you.

  4. Put one passionate step forward,the universe will bless you with your wish fulfilment.
    Kudos
    Keep it up, excellent work

  5. Hi Prachee
    Your Inspiring thoughts no doubt
    Shall Inspire others.
    Hope you continue to do so.
    CONGRATULATIONS.