Mr. H. D. Kumaraswamy was the 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka from (3 February 2006 – 9 October 2007). Here are excerpts of a brief conversation we had with him on his school days and his current views on school education.
My School
I studied in Kannada medium school in Holenarasipura, my village. There was respect and fear between teachers and students at that time. It was something unique that can’t be seen today. There was an opportunity to build the human values in schools. They were insisting on us how to behave with others. But now the things have changed a lot! In this competitive world, more than cultural values students are taught how to survive in future. It is a very narrow approach.
Village versus City Schools
It is very difficult to give the facilities to the students in village to compete with city students. There are many corporation schools in Bangalore now, but why it is not possible for the government to grow these corporation schools to the level of convent schools? Today we have to pay Rs. 1-2 lakhs donation to convent school. Every month we have to pay Rs. 10-20 thousand fees. 80% people cannot bear this fee structure. We will consider that a person gets Rs. 15-20 thousand salary. He will have the desire to make his children to study in a good school and to give proper foundation to them. In village side also we are not seeing proper arrangements in schools. There are no buildings at all in some of the schools and if they have building they will not have benches to sit! We do say computer education in villages, but we won’t give them computers. So there are many kinds of problems for the children studying in village schools.
There are many examples where the children who have studied in village schools also have made great names and have achieved greater positions. Let’s take the example of Narayan Murthy, Infosys. He studied in Madhugiri, and I have seen that school. There is no roof in that school. In that small village he has studied and has achieved so much for himself and the country. He got a great name in this whole world. It might be one or two students to reach to his level but the probability exists.
In cities too, the government school children have the difficulty to compete with convent going children. If you see the success graph, there are many examples where the children who have studied in village schools also have made great names and have achieved greater positions. Let’s take the example of Narayan Murthy, Infosys. He studied in Madhugiri, and I have seen that school. There is no roof in that school. In that small village he has studied and has achieved so much for himself and the country. He got a great name in this whole world. It might be one or two students to reach to his level but the probability exists.
The party which is running the government should give more priority to health and education at present situation. There is 40% of younger generation now, and they will be the future of our country and they may mislead their life. They might get involved and influenced by anti national activities if they do not get good jobs in their future. This is the situation happening at present. So each and every student should learn humanity, how to behave, and the capability of competing with rich background children and to get good infrastructure in villages.
Young people should take an interest in politics
I feel that the younger generation should keep aside the thought of just running their family and leading a life and think in broader sense. Younger generation should think what is happening in my country, and what is the future of it? We are just seeing the rich people and very poor people. They should think what is the future if it happens like this? What is the reality here! Everything is not true that is showed by the media these days. Media is very much into marketing. So each and every individual should think what is my contribution in the country’s growth?
If youth thinks that politics is full of corruption and bad people, then in future also more corrupted people will join to politics and it will become a lethal to the country.
If youth thinks that politics is full of corruption and bad people, then in future also more corrupted people will join to politics and it will become a lethal to the country. So the people who are little committed and have knowledge should come into politics so they can bring a new change in the politics. Besides everyone is not bad who are in politics. They should be involved in politics but let them not take this as a profession. Work anywhere but also be involved in development of politics. They must watch negative and positive, and should think what is the contribution from my side to turn negative into positive as citizen of India!
As told to Kartik Isvarmurti, Managing Editor, India School News. Tel: 080-46621600 kartik@vmg.net
Profile
Mr. H. D. Kumaraswamy is an Indian politician. He was the 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka from (3 February 2006 – 9 October 2007). He is President of Karnataka State Janata Dal (Secular). Prior to becoming the politician he had been a noted film producer, distributor and exhibitor in the Kannada film industry. He is popularly known as ‘KumarAnna’ amongst his friends and followers. His is son of former Prime Minister Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda. He was born on 16 December 1959 to Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda and Mrs. Chennamma. His birth place is Haradanahalli, Holenarasipura Taluk, Hassan District, Karnataka. He completed his entire education from Bangalore, schooling from MES Educational Institution in Jayanagar, PUC from Vijaya College and B. Sc from National College in Jayanagar.