THE HEART OF EDUCATION

Potential Unlimited | Ethics, principles and values that guide ordinary people to do extraordinary work in eternal India

- RAMASUBRAMANIAN O.B.

"What is purpose of Intelligence?" Whether this is a rhetoric or a genuine question depends upon the context in which it is asked, who asks it, and who is asked.

Once, a nonagenarian in a town in Southern Tamil Nadu asked me this question! The town has been educating most of its children free of cost through several schemes. As part of my research I was in that town to understand what motivated this particular community to subsidise education for the entire town and even its neighbouring villages. The nonagenarian was one of the senior most members of the community and had seen the growth of the small habitat into a major trading town in his life time. I was told that he may be able to articulate the motivations of the community far better than others. He himself was illiterate because education was denied to people of his community. The hardworking community members became traders, went from town to town trading, saved money, and build their own education institutions so that their children would get education. The community elder I met was among the pioneers who had established some of the leading education institutions in the town. When I visited the town, there were more than 25 educational institutions managed by the community alone, and they had made sure that no child in the district was denied education.