ADDRESS OF SHRI B.A. MANDLOI, CHIEF MINISTER, MADHYA PRADESH
Shri B.A Mandloi, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, delivered the following, adress:
"Dr. Shrimaliji, Dr. Sharma, Ladies and Gentlemen,
After the warm welcome and the comprehensive survey of the main issues for your deliberations which my colleague has given you, there is little that I, as a layman, need add, except to join my Education Minister in the cordial welcome that we extend to all of you, both in my personal capacity and as the Chief Minister of this State. Rarely do we get such an impressive gathering of eminent experts in the field of education, and it is our good fortune that you are assembled here, at Pachmarhi whose serene and invigorating air should help your deliberations.
I am aware of the warning given by Dr. Arnold that "no one ought to meddle with education who does not know it well and love it well", and yet I venture to give expression to a few thoughts in the belief that though I may not know all about education, I do certainly love it well. The present crisis in Education--if you will permit my using this term-arises from the absence of a clear recognition of the values and objectives that should govern education. On the one hand we have an irresistible demand for a quantitative expansion in educational facilities which is perhaps inevitable in a developing State. On the other hand, the sensational triumphs of applied science in the last few decades, bringing with it a new power of transforming the conditions of life, constitute a turning point in our traditional sense of values. The pressing demands of the people for employment and a means of making a living tend to give to education a utilitarian aim and education comes to be looked upon not as a liberalising process but as a passport for a job. As a result of this a vicious spirit of competition and jealousies, and a feeling of exclusiveness based on self-interest poisons the free air that should breathe in our educational field.
I am sure you as wise educationists are aware of the dangers that lie in what I have called the present crisis in education. From this point of view I consider that the subject of emotional integration, as my friend Dr. Sharma pointed out, calls for your earnest attention. If education does not raise the individual above the level of narrow, provincial regional prejudices, if it does not give him a larger vision and a higher sense of values, then, I think, education has failed in its objective.
How this higher sense of values is to be instilled into the young mind, how his intellect and emotions are to be liberalised and enlarged, it is for the experts to decide. The subjects of study, the right balance between the humanities and the sciences, the proper understanding and interpretation of history, these have to. be carefully-planned. I am sure these and other subjects of an allied nature will be engaging your attention during the next few days. It seems to me that one of the recommendations of the Committee presided over by Dr. Sampurnand, relating to the exchange of students and professors between different universities and different
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States needs consideration. This matter was, I remember, discussed at one of the meeting of the National Integration Council, and the general feeling was clearly in favour of implementing this. A free exchange of eminent professors in the different subjects between one State and another, between one university and another would lead to a healthy interplay of mind with mind and should necessarily lead to, a deeper mutual understanding and a deeper sense of national unity.
I see the Ministry of Education of the Government of India has recently introduced a National Loan Scholarship Scheme which appears to be eminently suited to our needs. I should like to congratulate Dr. Shrimali for having conceived of this beneficial scheme which should prove to be a boon to students. Poverty need no longer be a bar in the path of the meritorious towards attaining the highest education. I am particularly happy about the provisions in this scheme by which the scholar is proportionately exempted from repayment of /the loan if he takes employment as: a teacher. In this connection, I might suggest to the Union Education Minister and to the Government of India that they might further expand this scheme, and prescribe certain scholarships-they may be as loan. or as outright payment to meritorious students of one State who wish to study in a college or a university of another State. This would help the Inter- State exchange of students and thus help the cause of emotional integration.
I am happy that the Chief Ministers of two States are with us, and they are from the two extremities of the country-from the Punjab and Kerala. I should like to commend to them this suggestion which I hope, they will consider as a practical and effective method of bringing about a closer integration of the people. I assure them that in-working out such a scheme of exchange of students and teachers between different States, we in Madhya Pradesh shall be very happy to do our part. If the National Loan Scholarships Scheme could be extended so as to enable students of one State to prosecute their higher studies in another State, the benefit derived by them in academic and in emotional level will be of permanent value.
Another matter which appears to need your consideration is the appaling fall in the standards at every stage of education. It is a common foible for every generation to, decry the standards and performance of the generation that comes after it. But I am not speaking in this fashion. I think it is being widely recognised that the level of general information, of mental growth, of proficiency in any subject among the students is alarmingly low, and is getting even lower every day. How are we going to stem this evil? How shall we impart courses? How are we to restore to our teachers and to our educational institutions something of the reverance, attached to them in the past? These are questions which you, as experts. are best qualified to answer. I am only posing these questions, familiar though they may be to you.
I am afraid I have taken more time than I intended to do. I once again extend to all of you a most warm welcome to our State, and I hope that you will enjoy your stay at Pachmarhi, and also that you will decide to visit this place again."