Education Reflects Philosophy of Society

Today I read an interesting note on education. As obvious, education is meant to develop learners in the areas of skills, knowledge and attitudes. But this depends on what a society (in a wider sense) consider desirable. Some societies promote communism while others favour democracy. So the desires of a society differ. Therefore, any educational institution is a reflection of educational philosophy. 

CENSUS 1981: LANGUAGES OF GUJARAT

Today I read K. S. Singh’s book on Gujarat and he gave interesting language information.

In 1981, the state’s population was 340,85,799 (3.4 crore). The following is the languages and speakers according to that decade. Gujarat is the largest language in the state.

LANGUAGES	POPULATION
Gujarati	30,817,185
Hindi	746,659
Sindhi	745,182
Urdu	643,926
Marathi	413,697
Khandeshi/Ahirani	85,557
Konkani	28,662
Bhili	NA
Nepali	5,542
English	3,581
Total	33,489,991

Another note was the bilingual ability of each language in other languages. Good analysis as it gives the overall picture, which language/s is learnt most, after the mother tongue.

	GUJARATI	HINDI	SINDHI	MARATHI	SANSKRIT	BHILI	URDU
Gujarati	x	4,823,788	53,924	20,789	6,173	1,606	NA
Hindi	246,936	x	NA	3,053	1,283	NA	NA
Sindhi	2,666,202	72,329	X	NA	NA	NA	4,987
Urdu	229,420	73,492	NA	NA	NA	NA	X
Marathi	107,937	91,876	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Khandeshi/Ahirani	19,084		NA	4,003	NA	NA	NA
Konkani	8,367	1,564	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Bhili	130,189	3,922	NA	6,429	NA	NA	NA
Nepali	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
English	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Total	3,408,135	5,066,971	53,924	34,274	7,456	1,606	4,987
Percentage	10.18%	15.13%	0.16%	0.10%	0.02%	0.00%	0.01%

Information on particular language can be looked at. For example, Gujarati speakers are bilingual in Hindi, Sindhi, then Marathi and so on.

This also give overall bilingual information on the state. At the end of the table an overall percentage of bilingual people are given. In that most people are bilingual are in Hindi (15.13%) and followed by Gujarati (10.18%).

Source: Singh, K.S. 2003. Gujarat Part 3 (People of India series, Volume xxii). Mumbai: Anthropological Survey of India and Popular Prakashan PVT. LTD. Page: Forward xvii.

Difficult Decade for Gujarat

I randomly heard about Gujarat. Today is the first time I read a series of difficulties Gujarat faced in the last decade. It has endured and I am very happy the state is now has the fastest growing economy in India. Events that were trying moments for the people of Gujarat:

DROUGHT: News and other info show scary situation about the drought in 2000. Its intensity is huge that happen only after 100 years. 17 districts, 25 million people and 7.1 million cattle were affected. The rainfall was -38%.  

EARTHQUAKE: This earthquake on 26 January 2001 was too cruel. Within 2 minutes of earthquake 20,000 people were killed, 167,000 injured, 400,000 homes destroyed and 600,000 left homeless. Its epicenter was in Kutch district but spread to neighboring districts as well. There must be great pain at the lost of may precious wealth and lives in this incident.

RIOT: The riot at Godhra Railway station created huge communal disturbance. The 58 Kar Sevak who were returning from Ayodhya were killed in Sabarmati Express on 27 February 2002. A report says that as many as 500 were killed as a result of this incident.

This verse from the Bible comes to mind after learning about these incidents: The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Learning about Gujarat

As I read about Gujarat, few interesting facts have come up.

• Gujarat comes from Gujjars, who ruled in the seventh and eighth century.
• In 2003, 92% of the world’s diamonds were cut and polished in Surat.
• It is the only state in India with surplus electricity. The surplus is sold to 12 states.
• The state is the only home for Asiatic Lions outside Africa, found in Gir Forest.
• About 50 sites of Indus Valley Civilizations are found here. Most notable sites are Lothal, Dholama and Gola Dharo.
• World’s cheapest car, Tata Nano, was manufactured in Sanand.

Source: Wikipedia

I remember a parable

This evening electricity cut in our area and we went for evening walk. Its full moon and quite a pleasant moment. As we walk, we found many new building constructions began. Many workers’ temporary shed are built. A family was having dinner, outdoors. And a men’s group was out chatting loudly. Some were playing songs on their mobile phones.

Then the Parable of the workers in the vineyard came to my mind (Matthew 20:1-16). Here are a group of people hired to work in a house construction.

Two years ago, I happen to visit morning hours at Kamnahalli, Bangalore. I saw many workers with their implements waiting to be hired.

Then I realize there are job markets like naukri.com among others, where employers and employees find their match.

Even in Christian ministries, we have lots of advertisements. Forerunner comes to mind as the top list on this area.

After reflecting on this, I began to appreciate the ability of our Lord to teach about the Kingdom of God from an extremely relevant example in life.