Sunday 7 November 2021

Gurukuls. Not Shishyakuls.

Educational institutions are Gurukuls, not Shishyakuls!

Perhaps the most misunderstood phrase today is "Student Centric Institutions".

All this phrase means, all it means, is that educational institutions are to stay focused on what is in the best interests of students and offer them all possibility of obtaining an excellent education in subjects that interest them. That's all. And that's quite enough!

It does not, by an stretch of imagination, mean that students are in any kind of control of educational institutions. That's a fundamentally meaningless proposition.

By definition: Students are called students because they don't yet know enough to be called anything else. Hence the need to "study". Hence the word "student".

Again, by definition: Teachers and professors are called so because they know enough to be able to teach and profess.

Common sense.

Yes, one comes across "bad apples" in the community of teachers and professors as well. And there are feedback mechanisms to spot them, and if necessary, remove them. These mechanisms need to stay active.

But this does not, by any stretch of imagination, contradict the basic premise and principle on which educational institutions are based:

Teachers and Professors are in control. They govern. They teach.

Students study. If they are wise enough to know what's in their best interests.

Pity, Isn't it? That an educator who has received six letters of commendation for exemplary teaching and has featured in Annual Teaching Excellence awards twice had to actually sit down and write this post.

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