Gandhi
Jayanthi celebration is on this week [02
to 08 October]. Unfortunately the college cleaning programme which the teacher trainees of my college undertake
every year is likely to be postponed as many of them have gone on a Study Tour.
Usually a speaker from the local Gandhi Bhavan addresses the students of the college this week. And on such occasions we are reminded of the
relevance of the teachings of Gandhiji.
As
a teacher educator, I have tried my best
to nurture in my trainees certain Gandhian values, particularly the ones
related to the seven social sins which Gandhiji insisted we should abstain
from: Politics without principles;
Wealth without work; Commerce without morality; Education without character;
Pleasure without conscience; Science without humanity and Worship without
sacrifice.
Now... teachers, do we really ensure that our
new generation learners imbibe Gandhian values?
In
July 2011, Dr.Shashi Tharoor MP,
delivered a special lecture organized by the Kerala Gandhi Smarak Nidhi,
College of Gandhian Thought, Research and Action. The Lecture was entitled Emerging Kerala : Some Candid Thoughts.
The
programme was organized by the Gandhi Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram. In the
course of his lecture, several facts and
figures were presented by the honourable MP to support his line of
argument. It made the audience feel that what we need is a sustainable model of
development.
Given below are some facts and figures which would interest a teacher-cum-curriculum developer in God’s Own
Country, Kerala:
· *
Our social development
indicator is remarkable...Life expectancy in the United
States is 72 and in Kerala 70 ; Literacy in the US is 98% and in Kerala 96%
States is 72 and in Kerala 70 ; Literacy in the US is 98% and in Kerala 96%
·
* *
It is a ‘Malayalee
miracle’: Rights have been given to
workers and to women.
Yet Kerala
failed to move...The best in the country flee, migrate...
·
* Kerala records the
highest suicide rate and alcohol consumption rate.
·
* * We import work
force from Orissa and Bihar and we speak
of the educated unemployed.
·
* * The two crore eggs
and the tonnes of vegetables we
consume everyday comes from Tamilnadu.
·
* * We dump waste in places
of pristine natural beauty.
Before
concluding his lecture, Dr. Shashi Tharoor insisted on the need for developing
a competency in the English language. To illustrate the necessity of becoming fluent in English, the honourable MP narrated a story about cats
and rats which his parents told him as a
child:
Once there
were some cats who used to be troubled by rats. [or cats that troubled rats?...my memory fails
me] One day, a new cat joined the fold.
On seeing the fold, scamper after
hearing a squeaking sound, the new cat cleared its throat and barked ‘Bow Wow’...
and the rats fled. When a member of the fold asked the cat what was that, it
said: “You’ll never know when a new
language would become handy!”.
Well,...
I must confess that I am incapable
of capturing the impressive style of delivery of the
highly acclaimed writer, Dr. Shashi Tharoor. What I have done is to recall from memory
certain facts and figures that got imprinted in my mind which I am sharing now.
Well
readers.., if you are a
teacher-cum-curriculum developer what
course of action or development of our
State would you take? How can Gandhian values be incorporated in the course of
action you intend to take?
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