FORMER PRINCIPAL director of Social and Human Sciences wing of UNESCO, Prof Yogesh Atal emphasised the need to rethink the strategies related to education and development in India.
He was delivering a lecture on `Education and Development’ at the Social Science faculty in Banaras Hindu University here on Wednesday. Social Work Unit of Sociology department had organised the lecture.
Prof Atal, also member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and National Institute of Health and Family Planning, said that development process started after the country got Independence around 50 years ago and the situation was much different now.
“Despite economic development, there has been a deficit in social development in the country”, he said and added that unemployment, poverty and social disorganisation were still prevailing in the country.
He said the strategy of development that India adopted from the US could not help to eradicate social problems in the last five decades. “There are various common problem that require uncommon solutions in India”, he said, adding “The relationship between poverty and education, and education and unemployment should be rethought”. He observed that uneducated persons alone are not poor and similarly education alone can not solve the problem of unemployment.
“Education as an index of development is okay but education alone can not solve the social problems”, he said, and added that there was a rise in crime rate, corruption, religious fundamentalism, terrorism and very highly educated persons were involved in these activities. Prof Atal said that formal education system had failed in our country and that was why a parallel surrogate education system like coaching classes and other such institutions had flourished. He stressed the need of education reform that could serve a cross section of society as a whole. Vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Prof Surendra Singh Kushwaha, was the guest of honour on the occasion. He dwelt upon as how science and technology had contributed in the development process of the country.
{{/usCountry}}“Education as an index of development is okay but education alone can not solve the social problems”, he said, and added that there was a rise in crime rate, corruption, religious fundamentalism, terrorism and very highly educated persons were involved in these activities. Prof Atal said that formal education system had failed in our country and that was why a parallel surrogate education system like coaching classes and other such institutions had flourished. He stressed the need of education reform that could serve a cross section of society as a whole. Vice-chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Prof Surendra Singh Kushwaha, was the guest of honour on the occasion. He dwelt upon as how science and technology had contributed in the development process of the country.
{{/usCountry}}Coordinator of Social Work Unit, Prof Sohan Ram Yadav, introduced the speaker to the audience and established the theme of the lecture. He said that educated persons were more unemployed than the uneducated persons.
“Development is not possible without education”, he said.