“Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” ¯ Martin Luther King Jr.

In its simplest terms, a person is defined as literate if he/she can read or write. If we expand this definition it would mean a well-informed, educated person.

The literacy rate of India has increased from 12 per cent at the end of British rule in 1947 to 74.07 per cent in 2011. So, isn’t this cause for celebration? Isn’t this an opportunity for us to feel pride that more than half the population is no longer in the darkness of the unknown?

Let’s evaluate ourselves. An educated mind lives a life of purpose, so, are we living one? With a chunk of the population fighting for survival, be it rural or an urban, the purpose of life becomes to survive rather than the other way round.

An educated mind must have broad horizons, so, do we? With caste, gender differences, dowry, and various social evils still prevalent, it is no surprise that we do not get a tick mark against this checkbox.

And the most important of all, an educated mind seeks truth, so, do we fit in here? With any instance of rape, we, as a society, shamelessly put the blame on the victim without any pursuance of truth; corruption is rampant but none seeks to trace the roots of it. So sadly, no tick here either.

As the quote perfectly states, an educated mind without character serves no purpose. Let’s build an educated population which leaves our country in a better state than they find it.

(Sunwinder is a first year PG student at the Bharatidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Trichy.)

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