It will also be beneficial as disciplined youth will be able to contribute significantly in various fields.
NEW DELHI: The central government made an important announcement to provide employment to one million people, but only 44,000 of them are under political fire over the “Agnipath Seva” scheme for recruitment in the army every year. The intention is good, but before that, there are dangers of such disputes due to lack of preparation at various levels. It is a bit difficult in society to change the old style. An army job is challenging and full of dangers. But lakhs of people are recruited into the army, paramilitary forces, and police. There is no shortage in their salaries, allowances, pensions, and other facilities. There seems misunderstanding about the proposal of leading a disciplined and honest life in other areas only after four years as envisaged in the Agnipath scheme. The process of analysis of profit, loss, and support, and opposition to this scheme is going to go on for some time. The goal of society and government, or army and judiciary, is that the new generation of the country should be prepared for honesty and service to the nation. But the expectation through the army itself does not seem reasonable. The real need is to get discipline and culture from education to work in any field. Then the dangers of engaging in unprovoked frenzy, violence, crime, and terrorism on the streets can be greatly reduced.
The British has long gone, but our education system has not been Indianised. Father was a teacher and mother was associated with adult education. Like him, India continued to progress with the contribution of lakhs of teachers, but the revolutionary Maha Yagya to make the India of his dreams is to begin now. Earlier, people like us were questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his ministers, secretaries: when will the new education policy finally come? The new education policy was announced recently after a thorough deliberation with academicians. The most importance has been given in the new policy to making the mother tongue and Indian languages the basis of education and to make education useful from the point of view of earning a living. Instead of competing to move forward on the basis of marks, arrangements have been made to decide the future of the new generation through all-round development. With the knowledge of Sanskrit and Indian languages, the future generation can be connected to the uplift of the entire society by rising above caste, religion, regionalism in the true sense. There can be no objection to learning English and other languages of the world, given their benefits to the country and the world. Connecting with your mother tongue and Indian languages from childhood will strengthen the feeling of national unity and self-reliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken this biggest revolutionary decision after freeing Kashmir from Article 370. Despite saying everything is well, some parties, leaders, or organizations have raised questions and doubts on the education policy. If some regulatory system is not maintained, then there will be chaos. Which country of the world has different courses and colours in the name of the rights of the states? Due to the misuse of regional autonomy, children of many states were left behind. Similarly, well-known people are also arguing for increasing privatization. Why do they forget that even in countries like Britain, Germany, and America, school education is dependent on the government system? Private institutions are also exempt, but most people study in low-cost schools. Only then there is no class distinction. No one feels bad to feed the worker and the driver sitting at the table together. Yes, this is what was taught in the Gurukuls of India. The king and the rook were considered equal.
Yes, this argument is correct: from where will the government bring funds for the implementation of the new education policy and whether there is adequate arrangement of teachers or not? A government report has accepted that there is a need for about one million teachers in the country. Schools were opened in different states, kutcha pucca buildings were also built, but there is a huge shortage of teachers. Last month, an announcement has been made for the recruitment of about 59,000 new teachers. This number cannot be said to be sufficient. That’s why first the country needs an army of teachers. Some people are saying that the Agnipath scheme is in line with the military education in some countries like Israel. A small change in the Indian situation can serve many far-reaching national interests. NCC has been an important contributor to the culture of discipline at an early age of academic life. Following the 1962 Sino-Indian war, to meet the nation’s requirements, NCC was made compulsory in 1963, but this was discontinued in 1968 and made voluntary. The NCC’s mottos are discipline and unity, which give values since childhood and benefit society and the nation. A major basis of the life and success of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former President Pratibha Patil is considered to be their stay in NCC.
The problem is that it has not yet been made mandatory in the country. The provision of NCC is more in government schools and colleges. Cricket has been made lucrative in a big way. In NCC, there is a facility of initial training for all the three parts of the army—land, water, air. In student life, the youth prepared from any field of NCC are successful in various fields, not only in the army. Similarly, there is also an NSS (National Service Scheme). This also understands the importance of service in the social sector in student life. In a thriving democratic country like Germany, no youth gets a college education degree unless he has done a year of military training or authentic social service during his education. I myself have been discussing this issue in many forums or with leaders and officials. Officers associated with NCC or Army also argue that the NCC organization does not have enough budget for the provision of NCC in all the educational institutions. Then I would argue that in order to strengthen the foundation and future of the country, in addition to the central and state governments, economic progress is booming with the financial support of corporate companies, business institutions, and some of the state’s very rich religious trusts in any given time period. Arrangements may be made to implement the requirements of NCC. It will also be beneficial for army recruitment in the future and disciplined youth will be able to contribute significantly in various fields.
(The author is Editorial Director of ITV Network-India News and Aaj Samaj Dainik)