An illiterate man cannot understand anything in the modern world. He is unaware of the progress being made at a rapid rate for the advancement of mankind. The importance of education cannot be over estimated.
What is the difference between a literate and an educated person? A literate person has basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic. An educated person is many steps ahead of a merely literate person. He usually has a college or university graduation.
In a broader sense, an educated person has qualities beyond academic qualifications. He has a broadness of attitude and outlook, and noble ideas.
The Indian education system suffers from several defects:
(1) Too much stress is laid on humanities and little importance is given to science and commerce.
(2) Too few technology and management courses are there. Often students have to do courses in which they have little interest.
(3) The classes are over crowded leading to indiscipline and poor learning. There are too many tests and examinations marring the true spirit of education.
(4) The quality of teachers is usually poor and many enter the teaching field through recommendations or bribes and often lack the proper qualifications.
(5) Moral education is often not imparted so students are often devoid of qualities such as compassion and cooperation.
(6) At school level there are broadly two types of education. The education for the poor in government schools and the education for the rich in public schools. The poorer students grow up with a sense of inferiority whereas the richer students have an air of superiority about themselves. Thus two classes of people are created, those who are the masters and those with a slavish will and spirit. This will result in the economic gap between the two classes to continue to widen more and more spelling doom for India’s democratic setup.