When Education Forgot the Hands

June 25, 2014, Flashback

"We had adopted the liberal model of education in which we gave much preference to knowledge and neglected the importance of skills... we scissor the importance of the dignity of labour and the teachings of Lord Krishna and Shri Guru Nanak Dev." 

— Sudhir Singh

Twelve years later, this flashback feels less like a memory and more like a prophecy.

We did exactly what I already talked about. We built an education system that taught our children how to describe work, but not how to do work. Degrees became more valuable than dexterity. A child who could write a 500-word essay on a carpenter was considered more educated than the carpenter himself!

And the biggest adversity is that no one wants to do menial work anymore.

Not because the work is undignified, but because we made education undignified for work. We taught productivity as a PowerPoint slide, not as sweat on the forehead.

This is where we cut ourselves off from our own roots:

1. Lord Krishna as the Karmayogi: In the Gita, Krishna never glorifies mere contemplation. He glorifies nishkam karma - skilled, dedicated action. Arjuna was not asked to just read about archery, he was asked to pick up the Gandiva and fight.

2. Shri Guru Nanak Dev as the Kirti Karni: "Kirat Karo" i.e. earn through honest labour - was placed alongside Naam Japo and Vand Chhako. Labour was not menial; it was spiritual. The langar was not served by degrees, it was served by hands.

Our old, skill-based model of education understood this. The liberal model we adopted replaced the Aashrams based on pragmatic approach with the classroom, and the guru with the textbook. Yes, now textbooks are more important than the Guru because their first responsibility is to complete syllabus. Syllabus!

Today, as India talks about Skill India, NEP 2020, and vocational training from Class 6, we are essentially trying to go back to what we left. We are trying to re-stitch the dignity of labour that we once scissored away.

The question I raised in 2014 remains in 2026: Will we produce well informed clerks, or will we produce those who can elevate the society to its fullest? 

But to produce the latter, we need to work on individuality first...