vision
Honouring Life,
I
Loynpo Thakur S Powdyel Minister of Education, Bhutan
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had often thought - this was it! The light was retreating. Learning was rapidly becoming an irksome afterthought. I have often wondered why everything else takes the centre-stage but the very source of light should be consigned to the back-stage! It still worries me that almost everything else makes news but the noble sector only becomes relevant when something goes wrong in the society. I have often wondered what might have been the state of our world if Education had received its due. As a soft pillow beneath my aching head comes the first ever Global Education Summit. It should have happened a thousand years ago! But ‘the flag flies still and the city has not fallen’! Here, I have found a ray of hope. We can still redeem the sector noble and launch a new civilization. I would like to offer my deepest tributes to the enlightened minds that saw the reason for this event whose time has truly come. I commend the initiative taken by the Indira Gandhi National Open University, the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, and Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. to host this historic Summit. It is a blessing to the world. Its value and its symbolism speak for themselves. Education may not be as newsworthy as the stock market or sports or tsunami. It may be less dramatic than HIV/AIDS or bush-fire or earthquake. But given its due and pursued with honour, the light of learning can redeem the world. I am deeply heartened that the Summit creates a precious space for the meeting of minds and sharing of dreams dedicated to making our world a better place for our children and our children’s children and beyond. Education is at the crossroads of a complex kind today. The attitude to learning and the outlook of the learner often call into question the viability of the whole educational mission. With the rapid ‘mercantilization of knowledge’ and commercialization of learning, the core function of the noble sector is coming to be governed by the laws of corporations and the employment market.