Purpose Of Education

“Progression” seems to have taken over all other established basic human needs in 21 century for the urban dwellers. The other day during a discussion with a small group of parents, the focus of education seem to be coming back on emphasis to make child highly competitive so that he progresses in life and amasses wealth. Wealth accumulation will make child earn respect and attain happiness which is sought by all human beings.

While wealth creation is critical to success of any society and nation, since it develops economy and creates employment, it seems that the underlying role of education is getting traversed to mere professional success.

The role of education (not literacy) I feel is to impact mind, character and physical activity of child.

Develop mind so as the child inculcates capability of learning throughout one’s life. This will ensure ones openness to new ideas, ideologies and adapt to fast pace changes that world is experiencing since past decade. As we may have noticed, the dynamism has entered in all walks of life and new inventions/progressions are happening at a pace which has never been experienced earlier. The fact remains that this progression shall only fast pace in future and we need to prepare our children to be able to cope up with dynamism of environment that we live in.

Building character is of even higher importance since this will make individuals socially responsible and would drive them to give back to society that has helped them pave out path of success. Strong character will assist them in taxing times and evaluate repercussion of their actions on their organization, society, country and world at large. Only people with strong character will be able to take prudent decisions in taxing times. Character will also ensure that individuals are able to respect other cultures (an essential to endure in global economic environment) while living their own.

Significance of physical activeness is no less than above two fundamentals of education. As the saying goes “A sound mind is found in a sound body”, it is important that the child learns to respect the importance of physical well being. Health possibly is the second most important desire (after wealth) yearned by all human beings. Consciousness towards ones physical fitness will facilitate better emotional control (especially in times of distress), a competitive approach towards tasks undertaken and above all a sense of well being that will add happiness to life.

All three prerequisites of education need to be approached with equal focus to be able to provide better education to our children and ensuring a happier life for them.


~ Aman