Shiksha: My Experiments as an Education Minister

by Manish Sisodia

Today, we see civilizational problems such as terrorism, violence, hatred, rampant greed and pollution all around us. The society’s understanding of the solution is that with the spread of education, there will emerge well-educated people who as officers or administrators will create strict laws and execute them to root out crime. They will end violence, fill people with compassion, put a stop to rape and exploitation and find solutions for issues such as pollution. If that’s how we think, we think wrong, but unfortunately, for now, that’s how we think. That is the bitter truth.

All countries in the world wish to prosper. They desire a certain kind of order, societal or otherwise. However, hardly any countries are utilizing their education systems to achieve it. Everyone wants to utilize the skills of an educated human being, but the utilization of education has not been understood by many yet, and there is a big difference between the two. We need to create educated people who can become resources and not officers or administrators.

In this book, I am writing about imagining, planning and creating a system where on seeing an increase in violence in a city, the chief minister not only directs his chief of police to end the violence in two days but also directs his chief of education to make a plan for ending violent tendencies in people in two years. If we cannot use education to this end, then it essentially means that we do not understand the power education can wield. It shows that our understanding of education is limited to ending poverty or providing employment. Education is capable of doing more, much more.

during the summer break of 2016, teachers of different subjects and schools got together to conduct subject-specific workshops for four days. Teachers spoke about their needs and specific requirements. They also contributed to the discussion from the perspective of their own knowledge of a subject. A team of teachers gave finishing touches to these support materials on the basis of their learnings from these discussions. These support materials, titled Pragati, were published by the Directorate of Education

Guru Gobind Dou Khade, Kake lagun paye? Balihari Guru aapne Govind diyo bataye. Both God and my teacher stand in front of me, whom do I bow to? I am indebted to you, Teacher, for you have shown me the way to God.

Without the teacher no one can obtain knowledge or achieve salvation. Without the teacher no one can see the truth or have his doubts removed.

Teachers are institutions that convey the knowledge of one generation to another, point out the faults of the previous system to the next generation and develop new knowledge. Their responsibility also includes teaching students the skill of questioning the knowledge and opinions of previous generations.

While we have to find a solution, we cry over the problem being a problem.

the current model of education is competitive, where every student is taught that the biggest proof of their learning is their ability to race ahead, leaving all their classmates behind. On paper, we are giving education in classrooms but in reality, these are war rooms. This is the reason why every child is put in the rat race to leave the others behind. And after school, he/she is stuck in this race. In this model, either every person is working under someone or trying to get someone else to work under them. Here the basis for progress is conflict or exploitation. There is no scope to make it wholesome or to coexist. This is a model to raise children for

the market to develop human resource. That is probably the reason why in our country we do not have an education ministry but education is looked after by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The other state education departments in the country also suffer from the same malady. There too, in the name of education, men and women are being raised as resources.

Resource being used as a tool: The problem with tools is that they don’t have a vision of their own. They can only be of use to someone. They don’t have an understanding of good or bad. Tools can be put to any use. They can’t express themselves. They can only be used. This in spite of the fact that expression is what makes us human. To express is to be human. What I am trying to say here is that being a tool or being skilled is just a part of their personality but being human who can live with reason and sensitivity is a greate...

In the coexistence model, it is important to develop a child’s thought processes. Being a resource is just a part of his personality. The element of competition is there in this model too but it is not about leaving others behind to make a name for self. That is because the competition is not with others but with the self. In the coexistence model, competition means increasing the usefulness of oneself: ‘We knew a lot yesterday but we will know more today. We will do better than yesterday.’ This means you compete with yourself and be inspired to better yourself, which is the basis for progress. The purpose of competition in the coexistence model is for our continue...

Let’s take the example of self-confidence. When we talk about it, we find that we have faith in others but not in the self, meaning it is comparative. I study and there is only one way to assess how much I have understood—by giving exams and seeing how well I have scored in comparison to others. We might understand something well and very deeply but the assessment of our understanding doesn’t come from us but is derived as a reaction from others. The kind of house we live in, the kind of jobs we do, the kind of clothes we wear, the kind of food we eat, the locality we live in, the luxuries we have. We don’t derive happiness from these things but from comparing them with what our friends, relatives and neighbours have. Is this self-confidence or belief in others or lack of faith in the self?

Our behaviour, restlessness, anger, fear are all dependent on the behaviour of others, which decides whether we are calm or unsettled. Others’ success or failure decides the parameters of our success and failure. The material well-being of others decides the basis of our material wealth. Nothing of ours depends on us.

We discussed the doubling of the education budget in the first year and spending 25–26 per cent of the overall budget every year on education, building modern facilities in schools, making buildings clean, training teachers, modifying the examination pattern, reducing the syllabus by one fourth, promoting music and sports, promoting labs and libraries, starting the happiness class and entrepreneurship mindset curriculum (EMC),