It was a breaking news when an ex chief minister cleared his board exams for class 10. It was more news worthy because the man was in jail when he achieved this laudable distinction. At last,being in jail provided him with enough time to introspect and accept the need for education. Had he been a free bird, he might have been busy trying to be the CM again or making the life of incumbent CM tough.
As it happened, the news was broken by the family and lapped up by media, details were lost, missed, not sought or thought unnecessary. Like proud parents, the good news was shared ina moment of rejoice. Only, here is a case of kids feeling proud of achievement of a parent. The happy announcement made me wonder about a couple of things –Indian electorate believes more in wisdom and persona than in qualification,and later, are not bothered whether the persona and wisdom deliver or not.
May be people are more in awe of world famous school dropouts and want to experiment and have same kind of leadership. But they fail to differentiate between restrictive and burden theories of dropping out of school. Dell, Microsoft and Apple were developed by individuals whose creativity was being restricted by school curriculum whereas the lots we vote for, perceived schooling as burden and abandoned it to do nothing.
We Indians are adventurous and fun loving lot. We have had illiterate Ministers of Education at State level as well as undergraduates at National level. Maybe we want to see the heights a school-ly challenged person can achieve. If this model succeeds, perhaps we can do away with education system. After all, we have had successful kings in the past when education was not in vogue. Messages were written in pictorial form on the cave walls. We want to send our kids to the best of schools with best faculty, but when it comes to electing ministers who will frame education policies for these very kids, we vote for the uneducated lot.
But then, more often than not, the time comes full circle. And in this case, why the guy was sent to jail in first place? Because he messed up selection process for teachers!!! What else to expect when a school dropout is empowered to select teachers!!
June 28,2017.