A man without education is considered to be an animal ‘Vidya Viheenaha Pasuhu’ says a Sanskrit saying. But hundreds and thousand of men and women in developing and under-developed countries are still illiterate. They are also living, eating, sleeping, mating and leading their normal lives. Then ‘Why Education?’ is the question.
To know the answer to the question, one should know the meaning of ‘Education’ which means ‘to bring up’ or ‘to bring out’. Every man is born with certain inherent talents. These talents are to be brought out and made use of. Then only they shine. Education leads a man from darkness to light- ignorance to knowledge.
There are two kinds of activities which a man performs. The first is to satisfy the instincts like hunger, thirst, sex, gregariousness etc. There are certain other activities which a man performs to satisfy the mental desires and social needs. They are to develop reason, imagination, curiosity, creativity, adjustment ability, friendship, leadership, working skills, social behavior, moral behavior, spiritual quest and finally salvation. The second kind is developed through education. We can observe this difference between education and an uneducated person. The one who is an educated is social, knowledgeable, skilful and full of confidence. In one way, it can be said that he has an integrated personality.
Education does not mean only reading, writing and arithmetic. It has different aims to be achieved. The most important among them are;
ADVERTISEMENTS:
1) Economic:
A man who is educated should be able to earn his living and should be economically self-sufficient. Education should help the man to achieve this.
2) Vocational:
The second aim is to develop the skill to do a professional job – may be agriculture, carpentry, pottery or even sophisticated jobs like engineering, teaching, medical practice etc.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
3) Knowledge:
Education helps a man to develop a scientific outlook and to learn many things from nature. To be rational in outlook and not to be led away by superstitious and blind beliefs scientific thinking is a must. It is this scientific outlook that has helped man to invent electricity and discover law of gravity, law of relativity, laws of motion etc. and March forward as a scientist and conquer nature. Today man can sit in his drawing room and see and listen to what is happening in all parts of the world through T.V. By innumerable inventions the scientist has made life more comfortable, worth-living and easy.
4) Social:
Man is gregarious by instinct. He cannot live in isolation. Living in a family and in a society, is a necessity for him. If he has to live peacefully in a society he has to observe certain laws of society. This is possible only through education.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Moral and spiritual aims:
Man does not live for worldly comforts alone. He has certain religious and spiritual needs. He can fulfill these only by living in society.
India is a democracy. Democracy means rule by the people. It is on scientific reasoning, political maturity and the welfare of all; if not it will lead to chaos. Every voter should be educated and know not only the value of his vote but also his duties and responsibilities towards the State. Therefore education of every citizen is an inevitable need in democracy.
Though India is a democratic country, it still has nearly 49% illiterates (according to 1991 census). One can argue we are not enjoying all the blessings and benefits of a true democracy. Many evils of our democracy may be attributed to illiteracy of our voters, although these voters have demonstrated their profound commonsense while voting in the elections. Still political education alone plays an important role in making democracy effective.