Towards New Frontiers in Education
The Salesians of Don Bosco reflect on their educational ministry as they prepare to celebrate the centenary of their arrival in India.
The Salesians of Don Bosco are presently preparing to celebrate the centenary of their arrival in India. The first Salesians arrived in India from Italy way back in 1906. Hence, 2006 marks a hundred years of Salesian presence in India. As a run up to the centenary the Salesians have organized five National Seminars to reflect on various aspects of their ministry here in this country.
The first of the seminars, the National Education Seminar, was held at Don Bosco Provincial House, Matunga, Mumbai, from November 18th to 20th, 2004. Three representatives from each of the provinces (the Salesians have 10 provinces in India) participated in this seminar which had as its theme ‘Towards New Frontiers in Education’. The Keynote Address was delivered by Professor A. K. Sharma, former Director of NCERT. Each of the provinces presented a paper on the educational ministry being carried out in the respective province. Besides this there were three Panel Discussions on the themes: Reaching the Un-reached Child, Networking in the field of Education, and Public Advocacy for Education.
The seminar focused its attention on two basic questions: 1. What are the critical challenges presently facing our country in the field of education? 2. How can we, as Salesian Educators, respond to these challenges? These questions provided the context for the discussions as well as the basis for the final resolutions.
Challenges facing our country in the field of education
Undoubtedly India is facing several major challenges in the field of education. However, after a careful reflection and serious discussion on this issue, the participants of the seminar focused their attention on three challenges which, according to them, call for immediate attention.
1. Mass illiteracy is indisputably one of the ugliest blots on our country. Almost six decades after independence about 40 percent of our population continues to be illiterate.
The fact that we are still struggling with admission and retention of children in schools only aggravates this problem. Naturally then, universalization of elementary education is the primary challenge that we need to address. In this context, we are painfully aware that it is the marginalized who are normally denied rightful access to education. Hence, making quality education accessible to the marginalized is a crucial issue that we have to respond to.
2. Mass unemployment is yet another disturbing phenomenon that stares us in the face. One of the precise reasons why the marginalized shy away from education is because they are convinced that it will not provide them a livelihood. Hence, vocationalization of secondary education is yet another major challenge. This would imply making education skill based which in turn would enable the marginalized to pursue suitable and sustainable livelihoods
3. Education is a meant to be a means of development both for the individual as well as for the community. Unfortunately it is often noticed that while the individual is developed, the community fails to receive any substantial benefit from the education imparted to the individuals. Hence, ensuring the integrated development of the entire community through the means of education is another important challenge.
Our responses as Salesian Educators
1. The problems that India is facing in the filed of education are far too huge for any organization to tackle single handedly. Keenly aware that even our best efforts by themselves would be insufficient to address the above challenges, we realize that ‘Networking’ is an indispensable strategy. This implies networking among the provinces in the first place, as also networking with other NGOs and government agencies. Accordingly, the Salesians will now take steps to build partnerships with other organizations and promote collaborative efforts to eradicate the stigma of illiteracy in India.
2. The second strategy proposed by the seminar is ‘Communitization of Education’, i.e. empowering the community to take responsibility for the education of its children. This would imply forming community based organizations and making them aware of their rights and responsibilities in the field of education. Communitization of education is probably the best means of guaranteeing the success of educational programmes. Ofcourse, not only is the community responsible for the education of its members, but it should also be the beneficiary of the education its members receive.
3. To have a significant impact on the macro level, the third strategy proposed by the seminar was ‘Public Advocacy’, i.e. influencing government policies so as to bring about structural solutions to the problem of education in our country. This would be people centered advocacy – the people themselves being in the forefront to demand for their rights. In this context it was felt that since education is the responsibility of the government, our Advocacy should in the first place, ensure that there is a proper Public System of Education in place, which provides quality education to the marginalized.
This Seminar saw a paradigm shift in our ministry of education. Our focus has now moved from our own institutions to the broader challenges faced by our county in the field of education. A decisive change also marks our approach to education – no longer will it be a largely institutional approach but rather a non-institutional approach characterized by networking and advocacy so as to empower marginalized communities to receive their rightful facilities for education from the government.
Fr. Savio Silveira sdb
(Convener, National Education Seminar)
