Chaterji presents his perspective on education in India, referring to it as one of the greatest challenges of contemporary times. He begins the paper by highlighting the significant role of Universities across the world in the process of development, particularly in their role as the breeding grounds of culture, intellectual capital and specialised knowledge.
Chatterji highlights that the disparity in the cultural and social endowments in our country indicates the need for adequate schools in number and quality. The right to education is a step in that direction. He also emphasises the need for quality secondary education and the disparity in the quality of secondary schooling across rural and urban areas in the country. He points out that the dependence on schooling for continuation of society has increased with families playing lesser role in stortytelling from epics and folk tales. He goes on to present a set of ideals that can guide the education system.
Drawing upon the ideas of Whitehead, and Einstein, he proposes that school education at the primary level should be only about giving a few ideas that build curiosity rather than cluttering a child’s mind with too much information. He also reflects on the difficulty of providing primary education in mother tongue in a multilingual country like India. He stresses the benefits of multilingualism as it resists “the tyranny of linguistic majoritarianism” which leads to “identity politics”, along with widening learning. The three language formula has been a step towards achieving this goal. At the senior secondary level, Chaterji stresses the significance of teaching “humanities” as it helps in developing an understanding of human condition and living an “examined life”.
In nurturing such a school, teachers who are passionate and skilled in pedagogic innovation that foes beyond textbooks, are required. Quite pertinently, he adds that the teachers be given maximum freedom so that they can work towards building curiosity and creativity in children. Chatterji draws upon an example of teaching History through collecting information from local markets rather than through memorising dates and locations.
At the university level, he highlights the need to think fearlessly and interact with other minds “within a culture of argument and dissent”. Tracing the history of “modern universities”, he goes back to 1857 when Hindu College (later known as Presidency college) in Calcutta, and Cotton college
in Guwahati were established. It was in these universities that were established by the British that voices of dissent rose in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Post independence, the ideals of equality and social inclusiveness led to “mass universities”. Universities became more socially inclusive although, till date, this inclusion has been driven by government and sociopolitical movements. Universities have thus been instituted in the absence of adequate infrastructural and human resources. This points to the need to reflect on balancing between social inclusion and academic excellence.
Contemporary times point towards a market driven system of knowledge generation that neglects the humanities. This has serious consequences for society and social values. He refers to Nussbaum’s assertion on the importance of humanities for a healthy democracy. He also speaks about the increasing bureaucratization of higher education institutions, leading to restriction on autonomy of the universities.
He concludes the paper by once again emphasising the need for openness and a culture of conversation, dissent and inclusion.