The new generation mom and dad need to educate their children to compete with themselves and not with others, Former Vice-Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and former Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman Dr K S Radhakrishnan said. He was speaking to the students and parents during the annual day celebration of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Kuwait.
Bhavan Middle East chairman Sri M K Ramachandra Menan, Bhavans Middle East Director Mr Sooraj Ramachandran, Director Divya Ramachandran, IES Principal Mr T Premkumar, SIS Principal Mr Mahesh Iyer etc attended the annual celebration. "I am so happy that in gulf countries also there are takers for the vision set forward by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan", Dr K S Radhakrishnan said.
Education is not for separating a man from nature or from the family. It is never expected to exclude anyone from the society. The aim is to make an inclusive personality - one who is able to accommodate the voice of others, he said.
Everyone knows the limit of minimum, but nobody knows the horizons of the maximum. Our education should be to fit to help our kids to fix their minimum. They should get training to share everything with the rest. That really is the soul of education, he said.
We believe in uniqueness rather than uniformity. India is the land of diversity. Each individual is unique and so is each child. Please don’t try to compare your child with the rest. "Suppose the moms and ladies sitting here are being compared to Aishwarya Rai by their husband, that would be the end of the peace and harmonies, right?” he asked.
Competition should always be a self-competition. We have to realise our defects and compete with our self to rectify those defects. Children should forget about the pressure they are faced from others. Just forget it and put your faith in yourself. Don’t lose faith in yourself. You are with talents. Your duty is to realise it. You will be self-confident once you realise your strengths. Those who have self-confidence will get success in life.
"In our times, we used to participate in all performances, be it a youth festival or any other program, but today we are calling them as contests. When a child is contesting in an item, he is competing with others and the other children will become his or her enemy. This should not be the case. Participant and contestant represents two different mind-sets. He should be able to see all children as participant and compete with himself", Dr K S Radhakrishnan said.
Parents should let their child realise his / her talents. Ask your kid to analyse it and know his limitation. Ask your kid to overcome the limitations through constant practice. This is what is meant by ‘Siddhi’ and ‘Sadhana’, he concluded.