It seems that the conceiving of the national curriculum development process for G.C.E. (A/L) has taken place and the foetus has been growing with utmost prenatal care in the ministry womb and at last the baby has been delivered with much labour pain. The writer who is very enthusiastic about the happenings of national importance happened to see the baby in the national press. Electronic media too made me aware of the status quo regarding the crucial matter that would affect far-reaching changes.
The multi-faceted result-oriented approach to the above matter by the learned veterans in the sphere of education is most welcome. Yet, the focal point of the whole endeavour seems to be lacking one aspect, in my view from the point of view of a practicing teacher at tertiary level. My primary concern here is that in the long run substantially effective solutions could be found to the problems of the ailing nation through far-sighted curriculum development catering to the nation’s crying needs. This aspect has been a far cry and a long-felt need in the country, yet poignantly pushed into oblivion by the educational policy planning segments.
Suicide attempt
To set the setting for my humble argument, I would like to digress your attention to the alarming rate of suicidal deaths. Many a well-dressed celebrity seems to take their lives visibly due to their undressed minds. The crux of the matter is that they knowingly or unknowingly establish a cult and their number of fans multiply by leaps and bounds.
I had a very burning sensation the other day when a very young age immature boy told me that he would commit suicide. My first attempt was to SPEND A MINUTE AND PREVENT A DEATH. It was very poignant. I felt sympathy for the whole young generation. He told me that his most favourite celebrity had died recently and he had no aim or desire to live even a minute. Then I reminded him his mother in particular and the family members in general. I was able to stop his suicide attempt.
The incident gave me food for thought. I write this article in order to make a request from the general public to heed the people in the vicinity and lend a helping hand for the nation to come out of this treacherous bog of moral paralysis. It seems to me the need of the hour.
Sociology as a subject in which the problem of suicide and related issues are extensively explored could come to our rescue in the long run. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines Sociology as follows,
‘The scientific study of nature and the development of society and social behaviour.’
Its definition itself throws much light for us to reconsider the value of the subject in curriculum development. Its subject area explores the crucial aspect of human behaviour. Committing suicide is an expression of an abnormal social behaviour. Yet we should not forget that even Ernest Hemmingway committed suicide. I read in a paper Tagore had once tried to do the same. The list could be added with another great name. That is Silvia Plath, one of the great poetesses. In the modern context, the recent spate of deaths from committing suicide could be considered as the tip of the iceberg; an elephantine social problem of moral decay in spite of the presence of the noblest religions on land.
Young generation
An overall analysis of the situation in our country drives home the idea that the society has been weakened by numerous social factors. This subject also brings social organisations, marriages, social problems, social thoughts, social thinkers and almost all the spheres of living under investigation. The learners could study social systems and it offers the students many an avenue to do surveys and research.
To conclude, the biographies of the great social thinkers could do away with the low taste of the young generation corrupted by extensive exposure to the social media. Almost all the universities produce quite a large number of graduates on this much-needed discipline every year.
I met an energetic and very resourceful young graduate the other day who is an enthusiastic teacher just fresh from the university, on askance he told me that he taught Buddhism in Grade Nine in that school. He further told me that some schools had a lot of graduates who had specialized the subject, sociology.
The principles of sociology could be inculcated in the tender mind very effectively by efficient teachers. This could be geared very easily without much effort. The late professor Dr. Nandasena Rathnapala tried his level best to introduce this subject to the national curriculum, but it was in vain. His researches were ridiculed by some pundits of the land those days, but their validity is felt in the country now.
In our country, most of the time students are taken as guinea pigs for seemingly unimportant experiments may be for the World Bank projects or to appease the hunger of the maverick educationists. Yet, the introduction of sociology could be given a trial.
There is no time like the present!
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