Should Educational Qualification be Made Compulsory for Politicians? Since the advent of India's independent era, the country has seen both extremely educated as well as uneducated leaders. This has stirred a huge debate as to whether education should be deemed as a necessary precondition for politicians in this day and age. In India, there is no minimum educational qualification required to become a minister; but, there is a minimum educational requirement to become a peon. However, a string of past events prove that even the well educated politicians use their education to satisfy their selfish desires. There have been a number of politicians involved in scams and corruption. The high amount of funds with the government has always been meddled with.
"Education
is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
- Nelson Mandela
Since
the advent of India's independent era, the country has seen both extremely
educated as well as uneducated leaders. This has stirred a huge debate as to
whether education should be deemed as a necessary precondition for politicians
in this day and age. In India, there is no minimum educational qualification
required to become a minister; but, there is a minimum educational requirement
to become a peon. However, a string of past events prove that even the well
educated politicians use their education to satisfy their selfish desires.
There have been a number of politicians involved in scams and corruption. The
high amount of funds with the government has always been meddled with.
Therefore, superior educational skills do not guarantee the presence of moral
and ethical values in politicians; it is just a statement of how literate they
are as they can use the same expertise to carry out illegal activities.
There
is a thin line between literacy and education but these terms are often used
interchangeably. More often than not, we get swayed by how "literate” a
person is. Literacy is about acquiring skills and learning; whereas, education
is about the application of these skills, knowledge, values, beliefs and habits
that the individual has acquired over the years, for the betterment of self and
others. Literacy can be seen as a means to education but not education in
itself. “By education, I mean an all-around drawing of the best in child and
man in body, mind and spirit" was a statement made by Gandhi and is the
main driving force behind the Gandhi Philosophy of Education. He recognized the
importance of education in all spheres of life. Therefore, education is a
necessary the consolidation of a democracy and is essential to ensure an
effective democratic rule.
The
emphasis on the importance of education is often contradicted when the educated
leaders and politicians get involved in a number of scams and controversies
related to the government's finances. Not only this, political corruption
exists in many forms and at all levels of the government. The nation has
witnessed many such acts of corruption in the form of tax evasion, forcing the
electorate to vote for a particular candidate, accumulation of black money with
politicians and funding of electoral campaigns. There have been a number of
scams like the common wealth games scam, Indian coal allocation scam and fodder
scam that witnessed the embezzlement of funds worth thousands of crores.
Presence of corruption is a classic example of how educated politicians can use
their expertise for selfish gains. Therefore, to make education the ONLY basis
for electing leaders is also wrong.
However,
these educated leaders also possess the technical prowess to ensure that the
nation experiences positive growth in all spheres. A few politicians have
displayed impeccable skills in their area of expertise that has aided the process
of development. One such example is the development of the railway sector and
the techniques employed were discussed and analyzed extensively at the
international platform. With the risk of a financial collapse of the railway
sector, the politicians worked together and came up with dynamic solutions to
counteract and ratify the issue. The economy has also experienced boom periods
due to the efforts put in by these politicians.
Being
the holder of a certain degree, does not guarantee that the candidate concerned
will be a good leader. Therefore, being inflexible in terms of who contests
elections is also ensuring the murder of the political system. With a literacy
rate of 74.04% and a ranking of 105 out of the 127 countries in UNESCO's
Education for all development Index (EDI), putting an education qualification
as the minimum basic requirement would mean depriving a number of deserving
candidates from availing this opportunity, who might end up being better
leaders as compared to the educated politicians who have spent the majority of
their lives locked up in classrooms and being distant from the happenings of
the world around them. A good leader is the one who understands the needs of a
society and does his best to make life easier for the country's citizens.
It
is, however, important to ensure that the candidate chosen must be educated in
the field of Public Administration and certain basic philosophies. He/she must
be aware of the needs of a multicultural and diverse society to ensure that the
socio-economic hierarchy that is present in society is abolished. An educated
person can help better in aiding the developmental process of our country and
in changing its status to that of a developed country. In addition to this, an
educated person can aid in the attainment of the Education for all (EFA) goal
of 100% enrolment in primary schools, one of UN's Millennium Development Goals.
Many
leadership attributes are gained through acquiring formal education. By being a
part of an educational institution and interacting with people on a daily basis
paves the way for innovative thinking as an individual is open to the thoughts
and opinions of a number of people. Due to these interactions a person also
faces a number of situations on a daily basis which require them to think
innovatively and creatively. This is also the essence of a democracy which requires
the proactive participation of its citizens. We live in a country where
education has been deemed as a fundamental right. Education is one of the five
fundamental rights mentioned in the Constitution of India and if violated a
person can seek judicial review by appealing to the courts, i.e. the Right to
Education is justifable.
An educated
politician won't be misguided easily by their educated counterparts like the
Bureaucrats. They will apply an analytical approach when confronted by any
issue being faced by the public. Educated politicians can be better
policymakers, executors and can guide and control bureaucrats intelligently for
the Welfare of the nation. Educated politician can conclude in a better way
from the advice on any issue given by advisors. Therefore, educated politicians
can prove to be better administrator, Statesmen, foreign ministers, international
political negotiators, etc.
Therefore,
there is a need to set a basic minimum education criterion in order to avoid
senseless legislation and drain of wealth which are very important aspects in
the development of operation because efficient availability of funds will
ensure the smooth operation and application of the various schemes started by
the government to aid development. Despite this it is important that the
candidate is not solely judged by the degree that they have earned. A well rounded
leader is the one who possesses the required positive will power, intelligence,
efficiency vision, creativity and also has a dynamic and charismatic
personality for development of society and the nation.
Just
like possessing certain skills makes you a more deserving candidate for a job,
acquiring educational qualifications will only help a person to grow as an
individual. Education will not harm a person in any way but will only help them
grow and nurture their potential. It will also help them to identify their
strengths and weaknesses as an individual. Therefore, the role of education
must not be disregarded altogether. Being a leader calls for acquiring
practical knowledge and ability to make quality decisions and these aspects of
a leader are directly influenced by the education that they have acquired.
However, a politician must not be judged solely on how much education they have
received because in the end, the will power of a politician pushes them to
work. We live in a country which has not yet achieved cent per cent literacy
and to impose an educational qualification to contest elections would mean
depriving a huge fraction of the nation from achieving its political rights and
this would in turn mean the violation of the essence of democracy.
Admin


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