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The End of The
Love of Wisdom
Is
This The End of Religious Studies In The Land of the Gurus?
Sach Kanwal Singh
 PATIALA/AMRITSAR:
In an intensely material world, will no one ever bother a bout
questions that have agitated human minds over centuries? In a
neo-liberal economy, will no one bother about philosophical
questions? Will our children now only study because studies will
lead to a job that will lead to a good salary that will lead to a
good life? Do all paths to good life now pass through an economic
construct of the world?
Answers to such
questions seem to be frightening if you look at the way certain
disciplines of study in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and
Punjabi University in Patiala are being managed. Student interest in
areas like religious studies, comparative religion, and philosophy
has turned out to be zilch, and while that says a lot about the kind
of world we have created, it is also a comment on the way our
educational institutes are being managed and the vibrancy of the
academic world.
In the Religious
Studies Department of Patiala's
Punjabi
University,
the seven teachers this year do not have a single student to teach.
In the GNDU at Amritsar, the MA courses in religious studies and
philosophy are on the verge of closure for want of students. There
are also no takers for M.Phil in Philosophy. The department needs at
least five students to keep running, or the course cannot continue.
So far, the numbers are not more than two. There are 15 seats each
in these courses. Last year was no different when religious studies
attracted only the bare minimum, five students.
In Punjabi
University, of the 80 seats available in the department — ranging
from Sikhism and Hinduism to Jain and Buddhist studies — not one has
been filled up this year, a situation much worse than last year when
at least half of these were taken up.
Head of the
department Rajinder Kaur Rohi says, “Our discipline is not linked to
the job market. And in these recessionary times, everyone wants a
job.” But that is not a convincing explanation. People in a cut
throat economy like the US continue to study Philosophical strains
and other courses in humanities. And there is never a dearth of
those for whom education is more than a route to an assured fat-sum
salaried job.
In any case, the
society needs to look beyond the immediate and quick fix
explanations to understand why humanities as a whole are suffering.
Since the SGPC offers a stipend of Rs 2,000 per month to students of
religious studies, it also needs to engage with the larger academic
debate.
The fact remains
that even in the current rush in
India
to create more and more Central Universities, the entire focus is on
job-related courses. The National Knowledge Commission, a brainchild
of Dr Manmohan Singh and run by corporate child Sam Pitroda has
woefully failed to address how to allow the humanities to bloom in
the larger scheme of things. Most talk about higher education does
not move beyond a plane higher than the job market, and Vice
Chancellors of universities feel no hesitation in saying that their
decisions are based on the fact that students are opting for
professional courses over social sciences, as their ultimate goal is
to get jobs. The fact that universities are supposed to be
battlegrounds and nurseries for ideas seems to have been a lost
thought even for the vice chancellors.
12
August 2009
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