Education - the Corner Stone for a Confident Society

Mrs. K. Elizabeth Manoramabai,

Principal, AC College.

India is the second largest democratic country of the world, with an excellent track record of more than 60 years as an independent nation. Most of the people on the campus are born in free India. None of us know how our nation was when it went through the birth pangs, but are enjoying the fruits of the labour of our fore fathers. We thank the Lord our God for their sacrifices. On the eve of the first independence day, Pt. Nehru in his address to the nation, pointed out that the main task of independent India is to end poverty, disease and inequality. Since then, even though several measures are taken to reach these goals, they still remain unfulfilled. Education plays a key role in scaling these mountains. Does education mean graduating, landing up in fat paying jobs or flying off to distant lands of greener pastures?

There is no second thought of the unique and central role of education in realizing a free, fair and confident society. The problems we are facing in our nation look immense. But borrowing from the confidence of Pt. Nehru, we can overcome them with our strong will and determination. We have to transform our country by creating a knowledge-based society. We may not always be able to build the future for our youth - but we should build our youth to face the future. We should not produce just job seekers - we should instead, produce job creators.
gaining knowledge is an integral part of human life and culture. We traversed a very long way from "Guru sishya parampara" of old vedic ages to this present day of making fun of teachers! Teaching is considered to be a noble and pious duty as it enlightens the innocent child. Education gives to a person, knowledge, skill and above all, the very attitude of life. It is a life long process designed to mould one's behavior into a socially acceptable one. It leads a person in learning ethical values. Ethics is about right and wrong - the basic code of civilised bahaviour. These ethical values are formed as a result of training and willful conviction and so are different from emotional desires. Gandhiji enumerated seven sins:

A committed teacher tries to help his/her students to lead a life devoid of these sins. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan said, "Teaching profession is both heaven and hell!" It is heaven for those who command respect and hell for those who demand respect. ACC has a proud history to have a galaxy of such highly respected teachers. The present facult humbly takes up this mantle from its predecessors, in shaping the future India and the world.