Ujjain: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said the prevailing western thought about education is business-oriented and they consider the Indian education system to be a sector worth "USD 3 trillion".
Bhagwat was speaking in Madhya Pradesh at the inauguration of Samrat Vikramaditya Bhawan, the regional office of Vidya Bharati, the RSS's education wing, which will also serve as teachers' training and research centre. The RSS chief said education and health are now part of basic needs along with food, clothes and house, with people ensuring a good education for their wards even by starving themselves and living in rented accommodation.
He said western business-oriented thought about education is prevailing these days, and they consider the Indian education system to be worth "USD 3 trillion". They believe this is a profitable area and profit can be earned by increasing supply, Bhagwat added.
However, Vidya Bharati, which runs a vast network of schools in the country, doesn't talk about profit and works to take education to every Indian, he asserted. Stressing on the right use of education, Bhagwat cited the Hindu epic Ramayana and said demon king Ravana was a scholar and possessed vast wealth, but it is Lord Shri Ram who is worshipped today and considered an epitome of morality, truth and social behaviour.
Bhagwat said a child gets true knowledge only when he/she is taught by teachers like their own son/daughter. He said it is ironic that at times the importance of education in the mother tongue is also explained in English. The RSS chief hoped that Samrat Vikramaditya Bhawan will emerge as a centre of social development and expressed confidence that Vidya Bharati will venture into higher education in the future. Vidya Bharti's national chief D Ramakrishna Rao said the new facility will help in implementing the Centre's new education policy and all-around development of children.
The sprawling building, spread across 20,000 sq feet, can accommodate 2,000 teachers and is equipped with smart classrooms, a library, laboratories, an auditorium with seating capacity for 400 people, meeting rooms, an open-air theatre and a temple, among other facilities, Saraswati Vidya Pratishthan's Malwa Prant secretary Prakash Dhangar said. He said 20,000 teachers will be given training every year at the newly set up centre. They will also conduct research on challenges being faced during teaching, he said. Earlier in the day, Bhagwat unveiled a portrait of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur at the local Sangh office.
(PTI)
