Southasia enjoys a strong history of learning through formal and informal systems of education, but the system of education introduced during the colonial period was somewhat alien to the cultural ethos of the region. The crisis in education and its functional uses, however, emerged conclusively during the postcolonial period. Our failure to find timely solutions to this crisis has unleashed violent, anarchic and parochial responses from the new generation, which is rapidly developing a bias in favour of social-fascist and fundamentalist ideologies.
Ironically, education is yet to be recognised as a valid factor in conflict resolution in Southasia. Nor has it been understood that the negation of a liberal education in the postcolonial period has been a major impediment, which has produced a vertically divided society. Humanising and democratising education through the liberal arts should thus be seen as a remedial strategy in the process of restructuring the future education policy in multicultural Southasia. Such a process will ultimately sustain an intellectually independent next generation of Southasians, who will represent the best of humanistic traditions and values as citizens of the world.
Just as we have borrowed the environment from the future generations, it is incumbent upon us to pass down the best elements of our inherited culture to the youth of Southasia. We must respect their aspirations, place greater confidence in their judgment, and provide them with all the space they require to express themselves. There is yet much soul-searching to be done as to why several generations in Southasia took up arms against the existing socio-political and economic system, and sacrificed their lives to realise a dream of creating their own space and culture. Not only has the older generation failed to come up with answers, but we have miserably failed even to understand the problem, as well as the crucial fact that each individual from the upcoming generation is a non-renewable resource.
Students in modern Southasia suffer from multiple tragedies, foisted upon them by their elders. They are entrapped within a vicious and sub-standard tuition market. They are crushed under a curriculum that is dreadfully boring, inaccurate, irrelevant and overloaded with unimaginative information. They suffer from a depraved, knowledge-murdering, intelligence-purging examination system, in which the student is forced to regurgitate memorised 'information' – certainly not actual knowledge. Critical and creative thinking is an alien concept to most teachers at any level, who fear the inquiring mind and resent any intellectual initiative on the part of the student. Finally, when the burnt-out pupils reach the level of higher education, they are hung out to dry, with no assurance of a seat in the university, and without being offered appropriate professional opportunities.