Recently a gory episode in Kerala emitting foul odour of black magic, superstition and cannibalism has created sensation throughout the country. The most common reaction being heard “How can such a thing happen in a State as educated as Kerala?” Hardly surprising because in our society mere academic degree/certificate from school/college/university gets treated as only/final “proof” of being “educated.”
Now a question being asked very humbly and firmly – “Can there be any relationship between (a+b)^2 /Latitude-Longitude /Archimedes principle /Mendel’s law /Panipat war with ethics, values, humanity, morality, common sense and rationality?”
Yet why do the people in general get shuddered on witnessing any wrong perpetrated by “educated” people or happening in an “educated” State?
It is high time we learn to appreciate the meaning of education instead of equating it with mere academic certificates and degrees.
And one can also become truly educated without completing school education, attending college or pursuing higher education. There exist innumerable “educated” persons in the society who are racist, casteist, and intolerant to the utmost, get engaged in “honour” killings, regard the fairer sex as “inferior” to the menfolk or superstitious.
The think-tank of all terrorist organisations consist of “educated” persons possessing respectable degrees from prestigious institutions. In many reputed engineering, medical and management institutions of the country; along with the “best” brains who are the “future” of this country, even professors and readers taunt the poor students who belong to certain castes or tribes and go all-out to humiliate them and indirectly leading them to take the extreme step of committing suicide.
Recently in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, a commercial painter named Kajal Sheikh, noticed a blood donation camp on his way to the bride’s home for his own marriage. After taking the permission of the family of the bride and assuring them of his quick return, Sheikh travelled 6 km to the campsite, donated blood while sporting his marriage attire and thereafter returned to complete his wedding rituals. What is the academic degree of Sheikh? A “mere” Class VIII dropout. Yet who is more educated than highly socially responsible Kajal Sheikh who was much concerned about the crisis in blood supply during the festive season. Only a humanitarian can be called educated, nobody else.
The crimes and sins of innumerable “educated” folks bear proof enough that mere attainment of university degree is neither the path of enlightenment nor the be-all and end-all of life and so there lies nothing surprising in the Kerala horror.
Yes, only that person is truly educated who values human rights, remains humble and courteous, knows the difference between right and wrong with scientific temper and also practically practise it in daily life. No wonder this is the very reason why many degree-holders used to seek advice of a certain degree-less Ramakrishna Paramahansa or follow the philosophical path of another ‘certificate-less’ Rabindranath Tagore.
