Education prepares you for life or job?

-Tania Verma For an Individual- Education is the means of overall development in the pursuit of excellence;for a Society the path towards obtaining a Just and organized social order; and for a nation, the first pre requisite towards development. For those of us fortunate enough to have access to this elixir of life- Vidyaamritmashanute, as the Vedas believe it to be(Through knowledge, one attains immortality), Education does not mean acquiring an academic degree or a qualification. It transcends beyond the sharpening of the intellect and liberates us from being slaves to our senses. It takes us from acquiring to becoming and to use our discretion in making choices as we move forward with our life. True education is not limited to teaching us lessons in love, harmony and peace , but should also instil in us the courage to fight against wrong, tyranny and injustice. The objective should not be to train one to amass worldly knowledge and wealth but to make one capable enough of adding to the vast pool of knowledge instead of merely benefitting from it. From being the ancient seat of learning , India is once again emerging as the intellectual capital of the world. The system of sending students to Gurukuls for learning helped them develop respect for the Guru .The values of honesty, integrity , discipline , hardwork and self awareness were deeply embedded in the minds of the youngsters. This system died a natural death with the introduction of Macaulays new education policy in 1835, that focussed on teaching Indians to be suitable slaves to the British. A majority of the educational institutions resemble factories churning out academically qualified students like pins-mechanical , stereotyped, and rushing blindly towards success without understanding its true meaning. What we need now is thus an Education system that combines Eastern ethos and Western efficiency- the Eastern ethos to define the purpose of education and the western efficiency that makes the transmission more effective. The advent of Information Technology gives us great opportunities in this area. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has started the system of OpenCourseWare options for free cost online learning , revolutionizing the access and delivery of education and making it available to those who may not be able to otherwise afford it. Additionally , students should no longer be treated as inert receptacles of knowledge, but need to develop the ability to think for themselves. Ethically, students should be impressed deeply and influenced profoundly so that they may take education as a spiritual and moral quest for the higher perfection in life. Technical education and the development of a scientific temperament will be of great utility to the society and needs to be given emphasis.

Thus, true education prepares one for life, though through a microscopic lens and with the current connotation , it may appear that education simply prepares one for a job.