Educational reforms for cultural and spiritual integration in India

Introduction

India is one of the most diverse nations on this planet where people from many different cultural backgrounds live and work together. Tamil Nadu in the south is very different from Kashmir in the north, and Gujarat in the west is very different from Assam in the East. Even people from neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala speak very different languages (Tamil and Malayalam, respectively) and have several cultural differences. Despite these diversities, there has been a civilizational continuity in India at least for the past few thousand years and the major unifying force has been the Vedic tradition. Great Vedic saints and scholars have been born in all parts of the Indian subcontinent ranging from Swami Rama in Garhwal Himalayas (north), Adi Sankaracharya in Kerala (south), Swami Vivekananda in Bengal (east) and Saint Tukaram in Maharashtra (west).

One teacher at a time

Ravi has been a school teacher at Indore since the last 5 years and is quite popular among the students for his lucid explanations and warm disposition. Though just in his late 20s, he exudes wisdom beyond his years while at the same time maintaining a boyish charm. When he enrolled for BSc in Physics at one of the most reputed college of India, his primary aim was to become a world-renowned scientist like CV Raman. However, interactions with some of the best teachers in college made him get seriously interested in teaching as a profession. Ravi thought that research is surely very attractive with the possibility of becoming world famous, but teaching could offer him a deeper level of satisfaction. Being able to positively impact the lives of young minds started looking very promising. Finally, in his final year of BSc, Ravi gave up the idea of research and decided to get into physics teaching. At first, he thought of doing a PhD and becoming a college teacher. But later, he started feeling that in order to groom students into becoming good citizens, one needs to start from the school level. Hence, he finally decided to do an MSc in Physics and then a B.Ed., so that he could become a school teacher. There was some reluctance shown by his parents initially, but they finally accepted their son’s idea after some discussions. Ravi was not just smart at studies but also good at convincing others, especially those he deeply cared about!