I wish you to share the following concerns with our teachers in the school so that when we meet next we will be able to dwell upon them for more holistic development of the children under our responsibility.

We need to consciously realize that education is a multi-dimensional process, in the same way as a human being is a multi-dimensional being. Education, therefore, must take into account the various dimensions of the human, individually.

The first important consideration in any educational process is to ensure the physical well-being of the student which is the base of an educational process. The human body is generally looked down as somewhat inferior to the mind. It is, however, becoming increasingly clear now that the psychosomatic relationship is much deeper than people generally realize.

The nurturance of the human intellect is another dimension of education. The capacity to learn is more important than what is really learned because knowledge is ever increasing in the present age of scientific and technological advances. Our educational system lends too much stress upon the content of education and not enough upon the process of education and upon the process of developing the capacity to learn.

Another aspect is the artistic or aesthetic dimension of human personality, that is, the ability to develop in the child the capacity to perceive beauty. Music, for instance, is not an intellectual activity that can come through the mind; it is an artistic sensibility. This aspect has got to be integrated into the whole educational system without necessarily becoming a part of the formal curriculum.

The introduction of moral and social values in the educational system is a cardinal concern. Values must be woven into the curriculum, not necessarily as a separate subject. They can be integrated with the teaching of other subjects which will lend more meaning to this important aspect of the educational process.

It is equally important to draw attention to the spiritual dimension which is more abstract, and hence, perhaps slightly more difficult to define. We are now in a stage where divergence between wisdom and knowledge is very great. Knowledge is growing but the growth of wisdom is not keeping pace. This may not be possible to teach at the school level but certainly, the possibility of spiritual transcendence has got to be there and children have got to become aware of it.

A few thoughts of reflection.

A.K Sharma
Chairman, Local Managing Committee