FOCUS EDUCATION Dr Amarendra Das
If medical research helps us strengthen our physical immune system, social science helps us strengthen social resilience
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Should we value the importance of a subject merely by looking at its employability and ability to generate income? No, definitely not. The significance of any subject should be measured by gauging its overall contribution to the society
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With examination results out, students as also parents are finding it difficult to choose subjects for the next stage of education. After the completion of Class 10 with good marks, the first choice of any student is obviously Science subjects. After 10+2 Science, students seek a seat either in a medical college or in any of the engineering colleges. The second preference is for Commerce subject and the last alternative is Social Science. For, in these days, no one really cares for non-science, non-technical, non-commerce subjects.
Last month, there were reports about the dwindling number of applications for post graduate courses in Social Science subjects in Utkal University, while there is a rising trend for Commerce and Science subjects. Subjects like Philosophy, History, Ancient Indian History and Oriya, or even English, have been receiving lesser number of applications compared to the figures a decade ago. The reluctance to pursue Social Science is not only seen among the ordinary citizens but also in the attitude of our welfare state. When it comes to fund allocations for Social Science subjects, governments give it the least priority. Governments are the prime source of funding for higher education. This explains the crisis that Social Science is facing in recent years.
No doubt, pursuing science, engineering and medical subjects is crucial for the material and tangible progress of a society. Learning in medical science would help the society remain healthy, engineering subjects would bring in better technology and reduce human effort; and pursuing Science provides the way forward for material innovations. But, how do social sciences and humanities subjects fit in the society’s scheme of things? From the existing social attitude to these subjects, one would likely surmise that their contribution to social well-being is negligible. People often argue that learning literature, philosophy, history or political science is not going to help their children get a job. Period. The value of a subject is judged by the probability of getting a job or the scope to make money and have a better living. Thus, no parent wants to send their wards to a college or university to learn such subjects that might be of little help in these respects.
Without understanding the interest and ability of students, parents enroll their wards into any government or private engineering college. They have no problem paying huge admission fees. In such a situation, there is little wonder that students take recourse to unfair means to clear the examination. However, while these students somehonw get an engineering degree, they are unable to deliver their role as an engineer. Later on, we witness a phenomenon in which these engineering graduates join the same queue like the Social Science students for getting non-technical jobs. According to the Aspiring Minds’ National Employability Report for Engineering Graduates, only 18.43 per cent of students who graduate as engineers are employable for, say, software jobs. A part of the blame for this is on the poor quality of teaching and syllabi. Based on this statistics, the expenditure incurred by parents, and governments too, on about 80 per cent of engineering students is going waste. Nonetheless, the social hype on the demand for engineering degrees sees no end.
Should we value the importance of a subject merely by looking at its employability and ability to generate income? No, definitely not. The significance of any subject should be measured by gauging its overall contribution to the society.
What will be the value of a poem or a story that inspires thousands of youths to work for the society and fight against corruption? What would be the value of a poem that gives us joy and solace? What would be the value of philosophy which provides us the idea of social justice, importance of equality, equity, fairness and so on? What will be the value of fine arts that provides the idea to a scientist to do something beyond his imagination? What will be the market price of the pleasure that we derive from watching a melodrama in a theatre? No market force can determine the true social value of social science subjects and humanities. As the name itself suggests, studies in social sciences help one observe the functioning of the society and suggest measures as to how to evolve a just society.
If science is important to develop technologies, social science is important to channel the benefits of technology to all sections of the society. If medical science is important for keeping the society healthy, social science is important to understand the need for providing affordable health care to all sections of the society. Science and engineering may provide us the idea as to how to make huge profits by retaining the monopoly rights over new technology, while Social Science would guide us as to how to maximise social welfare by making it accessible to each social and economic strata.
While science and engineering subjects are important in achieving material progress for a society, Social Science and Humanities subjects are important for the intangible — cultural and social — progress of the society. If science provides us the engine to achieve rapid economic progress, Social Science shows us the direction of that progress. If the innovations made to missile technology provide us added military strength, pursuing the fields of literature, fine arts, culture and Social Sciences gives us the moral strength to stand firm on the global stage. If medical research helps us strengthen our physical immune system, social science helps us strengthen social resilience.
Even if the gains from learning Social Science and Humanities are intangible, they provide the bedrock on which science and engineering subjects can erect their edifice. Belittling the role of Social Science subjects would make the economic progress less meaningful, more unjust and more unsustainable. It is time the society as also governments realised the significance of Social Science and Humanities subjects for the achieving balanced social, economic and cultural progress. In order to ensure a balanced social progress, Social Science subjects need be taught along with the engineering, medicine and science subjects. This will in no way affect the nation’s cause of scientific advancement. Rather, this would make our endeavour more socially productive.
Translating all the scientific development into all regional languages is necessary for the making it accessible to all sections of the society. This would also help revive the dying languages and lead to inclusive growth. This would also generate a large number of employment opportunities for literature students. Both governments and corporate houses would do well to provide more scholarships for social science research. As Mao Tse-Tung famously said, “Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend.”
The writer is an Assistant Professor in Economics at Utkal University