http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/showEE.asp?newsid=1418Vice Presidents address at Dr.Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture
Monday, March 02, 2009
New Delhi: Following is the text of the address of Vice President of India
Shri M. Hamid Ansari at the Dr. Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture organized by
Zakir Husain College here today :
"One cannot come to this College without a realization of its place in
Delhi's intellectual history. The Madrasa Ghaziuddin of the Moghul era has
indeed been witness to, and participant in, a good deal of what transpired
in a period of great change; it nevertheless retained its focus on education
relevant to the times. A footnote to the story indicates that a minor matter
of protocol came in the way of the College counting among its teachers none
other than the poet Asadullah Khan Ghalib! The occasion of my visit is
exciting as well as humbling. To deliver a memorial lecture instituted in
honour of a great son of India is a privilege to be cherished.
Zakir Hussian was an exemplary human being. I was an undergraduate at
Aligarh when he was the Vice Chancellor. One evening some of us were
returning from a hockey match when, in the narrow pathways of the campus, he
drove past at a slow pace. The car stopped a few yards ahead, he
disembarked, came towards us and said: 'Kya aap logon ko ghar par yeh nahin
bataya gaya ki buzurgoan ko salaam kar te hain? While most were stunned into
silence, one of the group did respond: Buzurgoan ko salaam kar ne ka kya
faaida jab woh salaam ka jawaab nahin dete'. Zakir saheb's response was
typical of the man: Maire bhai, agar moojh se kabhi aisi ghalti hui ho to
maaf karna'.
A generation later, Zakir Hussain is remembered by most people as a
distinguished and erudite President of the Republic, and an embodiment of
the old world courtesy and charm. Few but very few today bother to recall
his work as a thinker and an educationist. His thinking was not an ivory
tower exercise. His ideas evolved in practice; his laboratory was the
institution in Okhla that is today a vibrant university. I refer, of course,
to Jamia Millia Islamia.
Inspired by the Gandhian ideal, Zakir Hussain's focus was on training of the
mind, body and soul to bring forth a complete human being. An essay in 1938
shed light on his perception of Jamia's primary purpose: to focus on
challenging the perceived dichotomy between the requirement of faith and
those of developing an Indian cultural identity in the most comprehensive
sense.
Nor was he alone in this quest. The question of education of the youth was
addressed by many of our leaders during the freedom movement. The most
significant initiative in this regard was the Wardha Scheme of Education
proposed after the All India National Education Conference held in October
1937 under the presidentship of Gandhiji, and the Nai Talim that emerged
from there.
It is useful to recall the Resolutions passed at this Conference:
First, that free and compulsory education be provided on a nation wide
scale;
Second, that the medium of instruction be the mother tongue;
Third, that the process of education throughout this period centre around
some form of manual and productive work and that all the abilities to be
developed from the training to be given should, as far as possible, be
integrally related to the central handicraft chosen with due regard to the
environment of the child;
Fourth, that this system of education will be gradually able to cover the
remuneration of the teachers.
The first two Resolutions of the Wardha Scheme were incorporated into the
Constitution of the Republic. The Right to Education is yet to be
operationalised six decades after Independence. Adequate facilities for
instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education do not
exist in all parts of the country. The last two Resolutions of the Wardha
Scheme continue to remain an unimplemented component of the vision of our
founding fathers. The Nai Talim is, for all purposes, dead. Even Gandhian
institutions in the country do not follow the Nai Talim in letter and
spirit. Far from being self-sufficient, education has either become state
supported, with questionable quality, or commercialized and elitist, out of
the reach of common citizens.
The need for vocational training and skill development to facilitate
employment is axiomatic for a country of our size and population. The need
is more acute due to peculiarities of our demography, economy and the labour
market. Let me mention a few of these.
In the first place, over 60 per cent of the total population is in the
working age group with the child dependency ratio of over 30 per cent and
old age dependency ratio of over 5 per cent. This indicates a predominantly
youth profile.
Secondly, a majority of the work force have poor skill sets and levels of
educational attainment. It is estimated that only 5 per cent of our labour
force in the 20-24 age group has received vocational training compared to
levels of 60-80 per cent in industrialized countries. Around 65 per cent of
the work force is either illiterate or has only obtained literacy up to the
primary level. Among those unemployed, around 70 per cent constitute those
who are educated but without requisite professional skills. This illustrates
the difference between possessing educational qualifications as distinct
from skill sets required for jobs.
Thirdly, the overall labour productivity in India is much lower, even in
comparison to other developing countries. Labour productivity in India, for
example, is estimated at a quarter of the figure for Mexico.
In the fourth place, high dropout rates characterize our primary and
secondary education. It is estimated that 90 per cent of school students who
enter Grade I drop out by the time they reach Grade 12, accounting for over
180 million students. Yet, we only have around 3 million vocational training
slots available in the country for a total labour force of over 400 million
and the annual entry of 7-8 million new workers. Very few of these
vocational training opportunities are available to school drops outs.
Finally, India is unique amongst developing countries that 93 per cent of
its work force is employed in the unorganized sector producing around 60 per
cent of the GDP. The structure of the formal vocational training system in
our country is geared for the educated and does not cater to those with
limited educational attainment working in the unorganized sector. The
diagnosis, ladies and gentlemen, is clear. The question now is about the
proposed treatment. Its urgency is evident.
Skill training and employability cannot be addressed as standalone
themes. Efforts
towards vocational training must be geared towards increasing employability
in the organised sector and improving the quality of jobs in the unorganized
sector. The Draft National Employment Policy issued last year calls for
linking skill training with the educational system and offering vocational
education as an option at high school level of Grade 9. It also calls for
extending functional literacy programmes to the majority of work force who
have poor educational attainments. More importantly, the Policy seeks to
make skill training an important component of large scale public programmes
such as NREGA, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, National Rural Health Mission and
ICDS.
The National Knowledge Commission has suggested four alternate delivery
models for vocational training and for capacity expansion.
First, institution of a public private partnership framework to benefit from
private sector delivery in training and to benefit from increased linkages
between vocational training institutes and industry.
Second, a decentralized model that is inexpensive and scaleable and would
focus on low intensity and low cost programmes at the local level based on
existing infrastructure.
Third, distance learning modules for continuing education and skill
upgradation of workers.
Fourth, computerised vocational training courses to leverage ICT platforms
and dovetail with similar efforts in areas of literacy and agriculture.
We need to reorganize and reorient our fragmented vocational educational
system that is currently spread over 17 different organisations and
departments. We also need to ensure the framework of skill standards,
assessment and certifications that allows for mobility of credits and
qualifications. Our accreditation and certification norms must align with
global standards to empower our work force seeking employment abroad.
There is awareness in Government of the need for improving the access to,
and scope of, vocational training in the country. The Prime Minister has
noted that supply shortages of skills can constrain growth and that this
shortage is felt not only in high-tech skills but also in basic skills, such
as plumbers, electricians and nurses. To meet this skill shortage, the
government is committed to opening new institutions at various levels of the
knowledge pyramid, with particular emphasis on a Vocational Education
Mission.
Given his close knowledge of matters educational, Zakir Hussain was candid
about the limitations of what had been achieved. Addressing the Bombay
University in 1967, he characterized education as the most powerful
instrument of national development: 'What we need most urgently, therefore,
is revolution in education which can trigger off the cultural, economic and
social revolution we need'. He attributed failure to 'proper type of
educational leadership' and suggested that in addition to the traditional
functions of teaching, research and leadership training, universities should
pay attention to community service and adult education. Three decades later
there is evidence of some evolution; a revolution, however, is still
awaited.
Zakir Hussain personified the quest for change. A younger collegue of his
wrote that Zakir saheb undoubtedly subscribed to Mohammad Iqbal's advice:
Qanaat na kar aalam-e-rang o boo par
Chaman aur bhi aashiyan aur bhi hain
Tu shaheen hai parwaz hai kaam tera
Tere saamne aasman aur bhi hain
Isi rooz-o-shab main ulajh kar na rehja
Ki tere zamaan aur makaan aur bhi hain
I am confident that some young minds in this audience would come forth to
provide this leadership and realize the vision of Zakir Hussain.I thank Dr.
Aslam Parvaiz for inviting me today."
--
Afzal Usmani
M.Sc.Engg.(Electronics)-1997
Austin TX
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