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Articles
Annual Day Speech - April 2011

Dear Board of Trustees present here, my colleagues, parents and most of all my dearest students, 

I hope you figured out my introduction speech in Marathi. 

That was to join in the spirit of Maharashtra, Pune, the theme for today’s celebration. 

I am going to tell you a story – story that my generation grew up with, hearing from our grandparents. 

A mythological story. 

Story which connects the subjective with the objective world of truth

Today’s generation may hear and see it through the animation film – the little Ganesha. 

The story goes like this: ………………………

Ganesha has given us the mirror. 

Our educational system can borrow the wisdom from Ganesha and learn from the foolish, narrow interpretation of  Kubera – about the needs, desires and wants of our learners. 

60 years since we are on our own but we still can’t shackle the hangover syndrome. On the contrary we are perpetuating the syndrome of the ruling class over the masses through a dysfunctional education system. This has not addressed our national agenda. The highly learned go off to greener, freer land to build the Silicon Valley and the Wall Street. 

The rest is in front of us. 

India that has one of the most illiterate population that can be manipulated , coerced  and ruled just like the British did. 

Dark comedy Peepli Live captured it all. We paid money to laugh at ourselves. 

The audience sitting here may not recognize this as we belong to the 5 % of the highly privileged. But we got to remember that we are not insulated and isolated from the rest. It stares at us every day on our face; meet us in every walk of our life. 

For the Management that should look at “feeding” their employees beyond a good package. 

People come to work place for various reasons.

Money is definitely the motivation but everyone does not stay put in a place for money factor alone. 

Team longs for freedom for creativity. 

Only healthy and sound management systems can provide this. I hear stories in various forum- on how managements stifle the freedom of the principals and reduce them to churners of good balance sheets. 

This chain links with the leaders. 

Leaders who have to “feed”  the employees by creating a respectful, challenging and inter- connecting work climate. Leaders have to redefine their roles. Otherwise our team members’ hunger will never be appeased. 

For the teachers, educators, facilitators, Ganesha has a piece of advise. 

He is asking for the “whole, balanced “menu card from  our educational restaurants. So he can digest the food served to him and grow healthy in his mind and body. 

We owe to our learners – the learning process that will be relevant for their lives. 

While we focus on the physics, chemistry, language, mathematics from the text books as prescribed by the system, we mostly give an immunization shot and booster dose of art, life skills, physical education, mental health programmes.  Real life is more complex than the marks in 10th grade, JEE, IITs, IIMs……

Hence our “Ganeshas” are hungry and underfed forever. Most school children have no spark left in their eyes by the time they complete their school education. They have very little motivation to learn (different from study). 

For parents Ganesha gives an important perspective. 

Don’t feed them with material goodies. The “hunger” won’t go. It will manifest in some other form , some other ailments. 

Don’t equate quality, happiness with excessive feeding – of everything – obsession with physical security and safety, over protection, over bearing, over supplying, over providing…..

Children have other needs that we as parents have overlooked. 

They need to live their own lives, in their own terms, with their own DNA ( even if we share some composition of it). Give them what they need (figure out , listen to them) and step back. 

Watch them deal with everyday life challenges.  Guide them if you can.

Lastly and most importantly for our young learners, Ganesha gives the most valuable lesson. 

Be hungry. 

For life.

For eternal learning. 

Don’t be satisfied with “junk food” given to you by the system. 

Ask for the real stuff of life. You need to navigate life in your own terms. 

So demand for skills and attitude, in addition to knowledge and content. 

You know when you have problems with your friends and peers, or when you face stressful situation, or when your family is facing crisis, or when you need to perform this show, or when you are going to work in teams, or for that matter any situation, you need the correct attitude, mental disposition, passion, compassion, managerial skills, mind reading capabilities …..which are beyond text books. 

So, while you mug up the text books and give it in your exams, which are necessary to get into good colleges and B-schools, don’t lose opportunity to meet people, listen to their life stories, dialogue with them  for in that lie the “ holistic” learning. 

My dear students, you may ask for it because you deserve it. 

We – the system, the management, the educational leaders, the teachers, your parents and all significant adults - better give it to you, because we owe it to you. 

Thank you, everyone, for entrusting your future with us. We pledge to a sincere job. 

Lakshmi Di. 

April, 2011.