DH NEWS SERVICE
new delhi, june 17
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said India’s education must align with the country’s traditional Gurukul system that finds its place in one amongst 22 miniatures in the Indian Constitution and precedence is given to it. Addressing students and faculty members at the Pondicherry University, Dhankhar expressed concern over the commercialisation of education. He said there was a time when education and health were meant to give back to society. “These were never thought to be profit-making ventures,” the Vice-President said.
Dhankhar said education as a service stands at odds with the current commercial model that is fast emerging. “We should not be driven by commodification and commercialisation of education. Our education must align with India’s traditional Gurukul system that finds a place amongst 22 miniatures in the Indian Constitution,” he said. “Further, we must emphasize on character development because only then will knowledge acquisition get cutting-edge quality,” the Vice-President said.
“I appeal for a mindset change among the corporates. Corporate leaders must pool CSR resources to create, by converging, institutes of global eminence as green field projects, away from the concept of balance sheets,” he said. Stressing that languages of India indicate inclusivity, Dhankhar underlined, “How can we be divided on languages? No country in the world is as rich when it comes to languages as our ‘Bharat’ and just imagine, Sanskrit is important globally — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Bengali, Assamese — I name these 11 because they are our classical languages.”
The Vice-President said in Parliament, discourse is allowed by the members in 22 languages.
“Boys and girls, our languages indicate inclusivity. Sanatan teaches us nothing but to be in togetherness for the same sublime purpose. So, what has flown out of inclusivity? What is responsible for inclusivity — can it be a premise of divisiveness? I appeal to everyone to soul-search, be reflective, rise to the occasion, marvel at our great accomplishments, look at our destination, take into account the future of boys and girls, and let us get over this storm,” he said.
