India has one of the youngest population in today’s world.According to ‘World Population Prospects, India has the world’s highest number of 10 to 24-year-olds, with 242 million—despite having a smaller population than China, which has 185 million young people. India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian become 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan; and, by 2030, India’s dependency ratio should be just over 0.4.
Youth represents the present status of a country. Young ones who are guided properly spread fragrance where they go but if not guided properly or neglected erupt like a volcano. Proper guidance and direction can bring the youth in forefront of National Development.The energy and passion of the youth if used properly, can bring huge positive change to the society and progress to the nation.However today’s youth are trapped into violence by many factors like political,economical, social, historical and ideological. Youth have been manipulated by extremist factions to demonize an entire group of people and choose violence as their only option.They have been brainwashed used as tools of violence ,and left with futures ruined.In India it is often seen that political protests turn violent causing severe damage to public property. At the slightest provocation it is a common scene that buses ,trains and other vehicles are burnt and buildings are destroyed. These types of youth violence not only harms its victims, but also their families,friends,communities and nation. The young people have the mental elasticity to think against the grains and physical ability to perform tremendous task. But it is sad that these young people are doing lone-wolf attacks ,destroying public property and life of others in the name of skeptical ideologies. Apart from this other factors like economic instability,poverty,drug & alcohol use, emotional disorders, insufficient parental supervision,parental substance abuse,family criminality, delinquent friends and contacts are positively linked with youth violence. Mass media is another major cause of violence among youth. It plays an important role in honing and shaping the personality of the youth.Certainly a lot of violence and vulgarity can see in today’s media which badly affects the behaviour of youth. Moreover the excess use of social media cause loss of social activities, distracted mind and loss of creativity among youth. In addition, the root cause of violence among youth is the lack of moral values . Parents and Educational Institutions can play a dominant role in imparting moral values which molds the attitude of children in their life.
Our education system fails to impart moral and ethical values among today’s youth for various reasons.Swami Vivekanada who was a nationalist spiritual leader was able to integrate the best in western thought into his teaching ,without doing violence to the essence of Indian thinking. He was highly appreciative of the cultural freedom and the science based education system practiced by the west.However he was very critical about the British education implemented in India.He pointed out very strong language that the country has failed to develop “an education rooted in Indian thinking”.The situation has not changed even after years since Swami Vivekanada made his critical assessment of Indian education.India has the legacies of Ashoka,Buddha,Swami Vivekanada, Mahatma Gandhi and many other renowned sages who practiced spirituality and non violence. Our culture is all about non violence. But it is high time to think why the youth are so violent. It could have avoided if Indian education was more related to the classics of Indian thoughts like Mahabharatha ,Upanishads and other great epics of India.In India the education system needs to seriously think about changing the syllabus and include our great Epics like Mahabharata, Upanishads, Panchatantra Stories ,kautilya’s Arthashastra and even kamasutra in curriculum.
Epics can act as a teaching tool for ‘dharma‘ and helps the young ones to learn the moral values of life. The epics furnish with knowledge and wisdom highlights the duties of a human being towards its nation.It provides an opportunity for children to learn important social skills,critical thinking skills and problem solving strategies.The shanti parva of Mahabharata, the Book of peace must be studied from the point of view of their applicability to modern conditions as these epics have a rich source of learning conflict resolution. Shanti parva is a treatise on duties of a king and his government, dharma (laws and rules), proper governance, rights, justice and describes how these create prosperity & peace in a Nation. The Upanishads is the Sacred Scriptures of Sanatana Dharma and Hinduism. The Upanishads contain the highest spiritual and moral truths, which all of us can practice in daily life. Upa means near, ni means down, shad means sit. . It teaches us to submit “myself” in front of Guru with modesty and seat down nearby guru. Upanishad does not describe the mean of discrimination. Upanishad gives us the feeling of: every person is god in his own view. The Panchatantra is the best guide to ingrain moral values in children. Pancha means five and Tantra means technique or strategy. It was narrated to teach the five strategies of Politics, Public administration and Nitisastra (wisely code of conduct).It has extraordinary tales that are loved by not only children but also people of every age group. Arthashastra is an ancient treatise on economic, political and military administration of the state which was written by Chanakya .It is a complete treatise which is relevant for solving the problems of present day society. Arthashastra related to various measures of education, training, management and administration in running the government successfully. In India there is a rise in rape and sexual violence. Hence it is need of the hour to provide proper sex education through kamasutra in schools and colleges. Britain’s History Curriculum Association (HCA) included a link on the part of history curriculum containing the Kamasutra. The Kamasutra is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. It helps to gain the information, skills and motivation to make healthy decisions about sex and sexuality. Apart from giving answers to sex-related problems, the book has lot more things about different arts and human psychology.
The objective of education is not simply gaining the knowledge but its application in the real life situations. This is partially or completely absent in the new generation. It can be achieved by adopting ancient ideals of education to modern conditions .Institutions which can provide value based education through the great Indian culture and traditions in early childhood helps the youth to keep moral values which in turn protect them from falling into violence. It also helps them to understand the perspective of life in a better way and lead a successful life as a responsible citizen.Thus we can uphold the youth by providing a value based education through our epics, ancient treatise and stories which helps them to lead a violence free and disciplined life.
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