3rd J.C.Anand
Memorial Lecture held at PU
One of the
important functions of the education system in India has been in selection of
the elites, who become the office-bearers of the state apparatus, and this is a
continuing legacy of the colonial state in Independent India, said Padamshri
Prof Krishan Kumar, a renowned academician, and former Director of NCERT while
delivering the 3rd J.C. Anand Memorial Lecture at Panjab University
today.
Education system
in India is focussed on the examination system through which the selection
process takes place with the idea of meritocracy, which is not the main public
role of education, he argued.
Drawing from
Ambedkar’s critique of the caste system which does not allow for different knowledges
to have a common space, Professor Kumar averred
that the specific public role of education is that it creates pre-dispositions resulting
in socialising us into specific ways of thinking and approaching the world.
But this process
of socialisation, where education is part of the secondary institution of
socialisation with the family being the primary one, also creates the possibility
of change in society, he said.
Prof. Krishan
Kumar delivered the annual 3rd J.C.Anand Memorial Lecture organised by the
Department of Political Science, Panjab University, here today.
The three bureaucrat
daughters of late Prof J.C. Anand, namely Urvashi Gulati, IAS, former Chief Information Commissioner, Meenaxi Anand Chaudhery, IAS former Chief
Secretary Haryana, and Keshni Anand Arora, IAS, Addl Chief Secretary, Revenue, were
present on the occasion.
Remembering
her father, Urvashi Gulati said that what better example could be of women
empowerment that he made sure and encouraged his daughters to get into the Civil
Services.
Professor
Kumar while speaking on the ‘Public Significance of Education’, started his
lecture by distinguishing the question of public significance from that of
private significance where education is associated with social mobility and
participation in the modern economy.
He also noted
that the issue in a South Asian context also requires reflection on the nature
of the public sphere including who it includes and its regional variations given
the legacy of colonialism.
Professor Kumar’s lecture was a scintillating
account of the philosophy and practices of education and was listened to in
rapt attention by a large audience.
Prof.
Bhupinder Brar, Prof. Emeritus in Panjab University chaired the session, and
many senior officers including Alok Nigam, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary,
Haryana, Prof Ranbir Chaudhary, Centre
for Social Sciences, Delhi, Neerja Sekhar, Addl Chief Secretary, Haryana, Navraj
Sindhu, Addl Chief Secretary Haryana, academician Ms Pam Rajput, and many other
bureaucrats from Government of Haryana, PU Fellows, faculty, researchers and
students participated.
