Bihar has been the world centre for learning, from the times of Takshila, Nalanda, and Vikramshila. Historically I feel much of India’s legacy can be attributed to Bihar, like the Ashoka Chakra, now known as Ashoka Stambh, the holy site of Bodhgaya, and so on.
But, the later decades of the twentieth century saw the rise of casteism and the monopolisation of education by the so-called ‘education mafia‘ that led to a decline in the quality of education and the opening of ‘dummy’ colleges that don’t even dispense authentic degrees. This led to many cases of ‘fake toppers’ too. So, I feel that education is key here and that education can help with the progress of Bihar.
Lately, a social consensus is taking shape, that education can reduce the social ‘backwardness’ of Bihar, and that there are many contributing factors that can help make education the ‘USP’ of Bihar.
- Bihar has proper infrastructure in its urban centres, enough to accommodate a lot of students. Investment in the rural infrastructure can help lead to an increase in the quality of schools, at par with Kerala.
- I feel Bihar has well-formed minds, highly good in analytical skills, which can be a big asset to companies. People only need training in modern skills that companies need today.
- Bihar has a cosmopolitan culture that can allow easy cultural mixing of different people, I feel. So, the government should launch a ‘study in Bihar’ program, at the school and college levels, to attract investment and student exchanges in Bihar, that will also help in raising the revenue of Bihar, and will lead to the creation of a ‘global culture’ in Bihar’s education.
- Bihar’s education system is kind of dormant, so an improvement of this system can lead to the infusion of quality into Bihar’s education system, and we will become leaders rather than followers in the education system.