Curriculum entails ‘Critical Thinking’ not ‘Borrowing’, says Vice President

NEW DELHI, MARCH 5: The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for revamping the University Curriculum by inculcating ‘critical thinking’ rather than ‘borrowing’ in the aspects of curriculum and evaluation.

“Today, we have enormous challenges in education. We are talking about the demographic dividend from a greater percentage of young people who will be crucial to the nation’s progress in the next twenty years. But how can we really equip the young people – which includes the young students present here – to contribute in the best way?” he said while speaking at the 67th Convocation of Panjab University.

The Vice President said that it can be possible only if we turn our system around, including aspects of curriculum and evaluation, towards critical thinking rather than borrowing.

Stressing the importance of critical thinking he said that we have an information overload from many sources, but these cannot be a substitute for thinking and critical interpretation. Again, what Vivekananda says is most relevant in the contemporary context: `We consider a man or woman educated if only they can pass some examinations and deliver good lectures. The education which does not help the common mass of people to equip themselves for life, which does not bring out the strength of character, spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a lion – is it worth the name?

“Real education is not for working like machines merely, and living a jellyfish existence. No-one can teach anybody. Within one there is all knowledge, even in a child it is so, and it requires only an awakening, and that much is the role of a teacher. But our pedagogues are making parrots of our children and ruining their brains by cramming a lot of subjects in them,” Naidu said.

He went to say, “What a fuss and fury about graduating, and after a few days all cools down! At last they cannot keep the wolf from the door!’ This is an important message for today. If we have degrees, and have a way of life which indulges in blind consumerism or outdated social practices, we will have lost the benefit of our education. If educated people, especially women, do not speak up for their rights, tolerate or even practice injustices such as female foeticide and violence, then the degree has not really contributed to their quality of life.”