Positive Parivartan stands for positive change. The objective of this blog is to change the world in a positive and sustainable way. This blog entry is to introduce the most important tool necessary to change the world for the better: education.
Political leaders have implied the power of education, where Nelson Mandela, the political leader and philanthropist from South Africa, even stipulates that “education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world.”
The power of education is often underestimated with the impact it can have on all social issues. Yes, I mean all social issues.
Terrorism, political instability, extremism, violence and radical hatred, climate change and its environmental consequences, global trade issues impacting local economies negatively and more can be solved through education in a sustainable manner.
A pioneering spirit in this matter is taken by the implementation of a new and modernized education model in Delhi, the Capital city of India. The key success factor to the implementation of a new and positively impactful education system is the thought spent on the objective and purpose of education. Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister of Delhi, has written a book on this thought process, called “Shiksha”, (= ‘education’ in Hindi). He describes in his book, “the purpose of education is not just to help people improve their earning capabilities or to contribute to the country’s economic development. Education can also help raise the counsciousness of the country and society.”
A positive strategy on education policy is key to any political party intending positive development and growth. One should question the activities of any political party across all nations that does not include any clear policy on how improvements in education can contribute to significant growth of the country.
Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, have worked hard to create an environment in the Delhi public schools, which ensures, that children “do[es] not participate in any kind of violence, do[es] not contribute to pollution, do[es] not spread hatred [and] do[es] not spread corruption.” Education is not only for children: the addition of structured parent teacher conferences are part of the package to make sure the children are provided with a studious environment at home and parents understand the importance of their support towards the education of their children.
Two outstanding additions to the education modules of Manish Sisodia need to be mentioned in this article:
The first one is the happiness class: Mindfulness and the study of inner peace and happiness are key factors of attaining world peace, as Dalai Lama states, and important to taking course away from the negative trends taking shape in the current political environment. Within the business environment, this is nothing new. More and more stigmas are being broken about mental health and the cost impact on businesses of increasing burn out cases of employees in the private sector. Deepika Padukone, a renowned Indian actress, has received awards about her outspoken position on mental health and depression at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020. More needs to be done, but Sisodia and Kejriwal’s leadership in integrating this into the education system in Delhi is an important step. These modules look into the impact of happiness towards long term success. Google engineer and writer, Chade-Meng Tan, writes in his book “Search Inside Yourself” on how the study of mindfulness, neuroscience and emotional intelligence can enhance success throughout one’s life and work. Other governments should learn from this and integrate this module into their education systems, and even into continuous learning programs of current governmental officials. It is long overdue that education systems include this study early on. Hats off to the Delhi Government for joining this positive movement and making it a reality for the now promising and bright future of Delhi public school children. More nations need to keep up with these trends of leadership and business development from the private sector.
The second one is the entrepreneurship class: it is an impressive insight from Manish Sisodia identifying that the Indian society creates more job seekers than job providers. How can India, the world’s biggest democracy uphold economic development without creation of future job providers enabling innovation both in business models and in technology? Manish Sisodia rightly integrates this issue in the education platform by teaching children independence, responsibility, courage, creative thinking and an entrepreneurial mindset. Teaching this mentality from an early age on can create immense advancement for the entire society and impact a growth mindset throughout humanity. The integration of this module in the education system early on can also provide children with more clarity on future career plans. An entrepreneurial mindset is also benevolent for the creation of a more solution finding society, rather than allowing the continuation of political tit-for-tat and scapegoat dialogues.
Both modules, happiness and entrepreneurship, are important for a solid base education in all nations. This can ensure an increase in compassion within each individual creating an empathetic society.
Ravinder Issar, an Indian entrepreneur based in Germany and my father, explains the importance of an educative mindset: “Governments need to learn more from businesses, and businesses need to learn more from governments. Businesses can do with more social welfare, and governments can do with more efficiency creation.” The future children from the Delhi public schools have the potential to understand this and become the leaders of a more compassionate tomorrow.
The amount of hatred and violence needs to be addressed with love and compassion. Integrating this into the education systems is an important step in the right direction.
UI
Komentarze