Himalayan Times (1957)

Ootober 20, 1967

S.T.B

culatea only 2 go up to
the Universities and gra-
duate. If we compare the
figurea of the output of
graduates in our country
with those of other coun-
tries we would find that
we are very far behind.
For - instanoe, in 1 Japan
there are 686 graduates
per one lakh of popula-
tion, in U. 8. A. 174 in
U. K. 39 and in India
only 17.

After independence
our Sooiety has broken
out of the stagnation in
which it was held during
the last two hundred
years. A dynamic social
order is emerging. A
rapidly expanding *oo
noniy is creating oppor-
tunities which in their
number and varieties were
perhaps never known be-
lore, fheie are' nuw calls
on the youth of the na-
tion from the fields of
industry, technology, so-
cial aervioes, agriculture
and scientific research
On this dynamio age, it
is no longer possible for
the Universities to func-
tion on a Bystem of as-
sumptions which belong to
a stagnant society '1 he
eduoation system has to
be attuned to the needs
and requirements of the
sooiety whioh is emerging
before our eyes. -

New Perspective
Of reoent years, much
earnest thought is being

given to the discussions
of the aims and purposes
of education in general
and of high education in
particular. In the West,
the development during
the war and post-war
years has vividly brought
home to thoughtful peo-
ple the realisation that in
spite of the tremendous
material progress achieved,
there is some fatal flaw
in human nature whioh
must be repaired if human
raoe is to survive. The
secluded tenor, of life of
the Universities has felt
the impact of new ele-
ments. In the East, a new
awakening has quiokened
the minds of the people
as they aroused them-
selves with freedom fr >m
centuries of servitude.

The problems of po-
verty, malnutrition, illi-
teracy and ignorance have
to be solved and solved
quickly. The resources
which scientific knowledge
has placed at our dispo-
sal have to be used for
the solution of these pro-
blems. Education has,
"therefore, ceased to be an
academio subject of dis-
cussion. It has beoome a
vital factor in the growth
of a nation and even the
survival of human raoe.
The scope of the eduoation
has to be ooterminus with
life itself, with all its
richness and variety.

Life oannot be ar-
ranged into air-tight com-

partments. Every part is
impinging on all other
parts. It is no longer
possible to act as if the
politioal aspect of life was
something different' from
the economic or that the
political and economic
activities could be pursued
outside the, influence of
art and culture. All our
activities, political, econo-
mic, social, cultural and
spiritual, are inextricably
bound up together. They
must be inspired by the
same ideals and be sub-
ject to the same judg-
ments of value. Where
this dynamic and ever-
flowing life is sought to
b e compartmentalised,
with different sets of
values for each aotivity,
disharmony results.

The endeavour to find
the inner balances whioh
would be free from the
changes and chances of
particular oiroumstanoss
is the history of the
spiritual progress of a na-
tion. Eduoation, therefore,
must be in-vital rapport
with the compulsions of a
dynamic sooiety. The re-
lationship between an edu-
oational system and sooiety
is two-fold; an educational
system will have no ideals
if the sooiety has no
ideals, and the ideals of
a sooiety are shaped by
the intellectual and spiri-
tual ferment which is
imparted by the eduoa.
tional system If sooiety