By Barnes L Mawrie
Education is such an important and conscientious act of a society that it needs to be discussed threadbare when it comes to its quality and praxis. The quality of our future generation will very much depend on the efficacy of our educational system. Education is more about character formation, about empowering a person with basic life skills so as to become an effective member of the society. Of late, our education has turned out to be a “commercial commodity”. This is evident from the mushrooming of private schools, colleges and even universities in Shillong and elsewhere in North-east India. Most of these institutions offer just degrees and nothing else worthwhile. It is unfortunate to see how our society has deviated from the noble goals of education and it is clinging on to peripheral and glamorous tit bits.
In my previous two articles, I have discussed on some of the missing links in our education like the absence of cultural and moral values. In this article I would like to refer to another missing link in our education and that is “lack of civic education”. It is not uncommon to see in India respectable or so called “educated” persons who behave worse than a savage when it comes to mannerism. We must have witnessed such persons spitting or blowing their noses on the road, littering public places, raising their voices in silence zones or rubbing lime on public places etc. We also see school or college students who litter the roads or even school compounds with papers and plastics. There are many cases of students being involved in destroying public properties or disrespecting public sentiments. I may mention a few more examples of such uncivic behaviours like; irresponsible parking on public roads, dumping of construction materials like sand, stones etc on public places which inconvenience the commuters; non-maintenance of government or public buildings by the occupants, dumping of garbage on roadsides or in public drains. These are some of the glaring examples of lack of civic sense among the people.
The above leave us with a big question mark. What civic sense have our educational institutions imparted to our youth? What do they teach in Social Sciences? School is the place where children right from their early years, can be taught civic duties and be infused with civic sense. Respect for public property, responsibility towards society, sensitivity to other’s needs, sense of common welfare, cleanliness and orderliness etc, are what constitute our civic sense. If we judge the efficacy of our education with regard to civic sense by the standard of cleanliness, then Shillong (the educational city) proves that we have failed miserably. Shillong of yesteryears (when educated people were fewer) was a well known clean, beautiful and healthy city. Shillong of today (where educated men and women abound) is gradually turning into a dumping ground of toxic wastes and garbage. The renowned Wah Umkhrah bears witness to the utter lack of civic sense that our “educated” citizens display. It is common to find in public parks or in picnic spots a heap of garbage or waste after every picnic party. This happens because the revelry makers love to utilize the places but hate to exercise their civic responsibility of disposing the garbage properly. We often behave like animals who leave their stinking trails behind them. Unfortunately, even the army and security personnel who are supposed to be well disciplined, fail to exhibit exemplary civic sense on their part. We must have seen how the army people cause traffic jam on our roads just because they disrespect the traffic rules.
Civic sense is an essential virtue for every citizen because it builds not only people’s character but it moulds the country into a humane and civilized nation. Where civic sense runs high in the citizens’ consciousness, that nation has progressed steadily but where civic sense is low, like in our country, progress and development come at a snail’s pace. This is because civic sense generates solidarity and collaboration with the authority. It strengthens a sense of common responsibility towards nation building and it infuses a strong sense of common well being which is so fundamental for the holistic growth of the nation.
Our country India, is such a great nation, with a potentiality beyond our imagination. But what we see today is pure “under-performance” by the nation. Our lack of civic sense has become a hurdle on our path towards progress and development. What India needs today is an education that fosters a strong civic sense in all her citizens right from their childhood and then all the rest will fall in line. Our education has to take a serious look at this aspect. I would not hesitate to say that our children and youth must be indoctrinated with civic sense. For this purpose, schools and colleges should integrate into their daily curriculum programmes and activities that will generate civic sense in the students. If the ultimate goal of education is to build persons and the nation, then there is no escape from this sacred duty.
(The author is a scholar and Salesian priest)