Beyond Textbook

A 12-year-old takes his own life because a parent refused to buy a new mobile phone. An 8-year-old dives into a swimming pool and saves a grown man from drowning.

When we read these headlines, we have to ask: Who is to blame, and who takes the credit?

Is it the parents? The society? The education system? Or the child themselves?

The Unasked Question : We live in a world where we can calculate the trajectory of a rocket, but we rarely ask a child a simple, fundamental question: “What is the biggest fear hiding inside you?”

Our current education system is designed to gauge intellect. We rely on textbooks and exams to measure strength in Physics, Chemical Equations, and Grammar. But unfortunately, there are no “lessons” to ascertain resentment, anger management, or the most critical skill of all: Failure Management.

Needless to say, spiritual growth remains a distant dream on this list.

The imbalance in our curriculum is such that we are pushing for Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Advanced Mathematics. But where is the push for Human Intelligence?

Training in empathy, managing complex feelings,understanding the self, co-operative growth are few of the “subjects” that needs serious introspection.

We need to address flaws like entitlement, self-obsession, narcissism, and low tolerance with the same urgency that we address an inability to understand math concepts.

The backbone of the future, an emotionally stable child does not just understand themselves; they manage the vagaries of life. They become the backbone of a family, a society, a nation, and the world.

These are the children who will eventually support the underprivileged sections of society where education itself is a mirage. We need a policy that fosters the importance of “self” in harmony with the wider world—implemented in schools for those who will one day lead communities, build cities, patent medicines, and enact laws.

We often worry that our next generation will face a scarcity of natural resources.

We need to ensure that human emotions, harmony, and co-existence do not become one of them.