“ Education is the key to unlocking the world, passport to freedom” Oprah Winfrey What separates humans from animals is the ability of humans to write, read, learn and teach . This centuries-old accrued knowledge is called “ education ”, which makes humans the smartest creatures on the planet earth. The basic measurement for education is called the rate of ‘literacy’. The global adult literacy rate is 86%. 75%of the world’s illiterate population lives in South Asia,West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Women account for two - third so fall the illiterate adults of the world.The literacy rate of India is 77.7%(2017-18). In the modern world, the meaning of ‘education’ is structured knowledge of our society in various disciplines – history, mathematics, polity, economics, various streams of science and arts, craftsmanship. Education is the tool that helps us choose right from wrong, good from bad and ethical from unethical. A
“Education is the key to unlocking the world, passport to freedom” Oprah Winfrey
What separates humans from animals is the ability of humans to write, read, learn and teach. This centuries-old accrued knowledge is called “education”, which makes humans the smartest creatures on the planet earth. The basic measurement for education is called the rate of ‘literacy’. The global adult literacy rate is 86%. 75%of the world’s illiterate population lives in South Asia,West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Women account for two - third so fall the illiterate adults of the world.The literacy rate of India is 77.7%(2017-18). In the modern world, the meaning of ‘education’ is structured knowledge of our society in various disciplines – history, mathematics, polity, economics, various streams of science and arts, craftsmanship. Education is the tool that helps us choose right from wrong, good from bad and ethical from unethical. An educated citizen is the building block of a civilized society.
Historically, educated nations have shaped our society be it the Vedic period India, 8th- 14thcentury Arab World or the post-Renaissance Western World, making education the eternal currency of the geo-political economy.
Educated societies explored the world, discovered new places and mapped our planet. Education gave birth to ‘Science and Technology’ and made new discoveries and innovations possible – the discovery of “Shunya”, nuclear power, radio communication, life-saving drugs.
It is said that ignorance is the root of all evils. The societies stilll agging in the field of education are at the receiving end of exploitation – colonization of Asia and Africa by the West, extreme poverty in South Asia, West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and continuous civil wars in the Arab world. On the other hand, the countries with the highest literacy rates have been dominating the world’s geo-political and economic landscape.
As discussed in the preceding paragraphs, education is the biggest driver of innovation, prosperity and dominance and has the potential to transform any society. Education gives birth to new Jobs and businesses, Innovation and reduces crime.
It is no surprise that almost every sector of the world economy is dominated by the companies run by highly educated societies and nations from German and Japanese automakers, European clothing brands, Chineses mart phone manufacturers to American internet companies. Even as societies lagging in their educational journey are still dependent on agriculture, don't produce anything worth exporting (worthy of exports), and are still struggling with their poverty alleviation programs.
In the backdrop of these Facts, the Government of India(GoI) has enacted the “Right to Free and Compulsory Education” (RTE) act on 04thAugust, 2009, in which children aged 6-14 years are given free compulsory education, making education a fundamental right in the country. This act in itself has to be a breakthrough measur in the Government’s quest to build a modern-educated society in India.
Furthermore,several skill enhancement programs run by the Government – the Pradhan Mantri Kaushalya Vika Yojana (PMKVY), Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) Programs – have proven (to be) instrumental in building a skilled workforce that will help India become the factory of the world. The dominance of India’s IT and pharma sector are perfect example of this phenomenon.With the help of ₹1000-crore ‘Start-up India Program’ of the GoI, a start-up culture is in a booming stage in India.
History gives us not only a glimpse of the past but also lessons for the future.The journey of the superpowers of any era is driven by deliberate investments in the education of its citizenry.In case of India,it
means special programs and investments in the educational sector, access to education for the unprivileged, radical changes in the government educational infrastructure, a new skill-based education policy. An educated modern society can help become India the “Golden Sparrow” of the world again.
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