Recently on 26th August 2020, the Rotaract club of N.M. College of district 3141 in collaboration with MUNDPSC. This panel discussion was a part of the eclectic event called ‘EHSAAS’. The preliminary objective of the event was to make the general public aware of their privileges in the society. The panel discussion included three incisive personalities Farrhad Acidwala, A Media and Tech Entrepreneur, a three-time TEDx speaker, Mental Health Advocate, influencer. Hem Parikh, The founder of Controversial Pathshala, and Hridya Sharma, The founder of Of lore, they indeed raised their concerns and voices towards various social issues in regard to education policies.
"There is a difference between a well-filled and a well-formed mind"-Shashi Tharoor and to highlight the same the panel discussion mainly revolved around the topic ‘Education and privilege’ where the panelists firstly discussed upon reservation as a policy in India and the reason why such a policy had seen been existing for more than seventy years now, all the panelists felt the need of reservation as the discrimination faced by these communities which is still prevalent, the panelists deliberated how this kind of discrimination can sometimes turn flagitious. The panelists pointed out minor observations through which one could conclude that discrimination has not yet been decimated. One such example was a glass of water which in many households may be separate for the household staff which adequately represented a parochial mindset. They wanted the audience to think and imagine the worsening situation in rural areas regarding the same issue where many people would not even be educated enough to understand this issue. The panelists also pondered upon the question that whether reservation was a result or cause of social-disparity, they came to the conclusion that it indeed was the cause of social-disparity. The panelist felt that these communities had faced injustice and oppression for many generations and reservation was a privilege which these communities deserved while keeping in mind that many people from these communities still remained in deplorable conditions.
The panelists went further on to discuss various policies of the existing education system in India and even analyzed the conditions in which schools operate throughout the country. They discussed the steps taken by the government to improve education through allocation of funds, policies, subsidies, and various incentives given to citizens, considering education to remain a major solution to pave a path for a brighter future. Various aspects of the new educational policy were also analyzed and deliberated upon. The panelists had an enlightening discussion on whether regional languages should be made compulsory in a diverse country like India and how regulation of this sort can have a colossal impact on every individual. The inclusion of various extra-curricular activities in the syllabus and the flexibility of subjects that a student will now be able to choose was also discussed. Panelists expressed how in their opinion such a policy could be implemented in such a way that even the rural population would also have access to these facilities. They came to the conclusion that the success of this entire policy was dependent on its implementation. They also guided the audience and provided them with effective advice to start taking an initiative on an individual level in order to make a change in society for future generations.
At the end of the discussion, the panelist took some interesting questions for the audience where many students interacted with the panelist to help and maneuver them for their future goals. This discussion was really insightful and helped spread the message of the importance of education among many people. It was really a great experiment and we would like to thank everyone involved in the discussion from the sponsors, organizers, panelists to the audience who made this event a success.
Comments