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  • Writer's picturebrillopedia
    • Jul 1, 2022
    • 3 min read

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS: A NECESSITY FOR POLITICIANS

Author: Yogini Vinodbhai Pithiya, I year of B.B.A.,LL.B. from Navrachna University, Vadodara


NECESSITY OF EDUCATION

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”. This quote by Nelson Mandela gives us an insight into how with the help of education we can better understand the world where we live in.For any developing country, education is the most crucial aspect in every area may it be human development or mechanical development[i].Seeing the present day situation of Indian politicians, the need of educated ones can be seen as they are unaware about the history of politics and have knowledge limited to their regions and constituencies. Also, we cannot expect illiterate politicians to understand global politics. They don’t have any knowledge regarding global economy and how things run in advance countries. They focus more on short term benefits[ii].Uneducated politicians cannot face global changes and will have difficulty in understanding diplomatic situations with other countries of the world. It will also increase the overall level of education in country as more and more people will get motivated to get literate. Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the “educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.” So if we wish to serve our country, education provides a great benefit to an individual.


SITUTATION IN INDIA

The main issue which arises here is that there is no minimum educational qualification required in India to become a politician. The only qualification required is that the candidate should be the citizen of India and of minimum age that is 25 years. A country’s political structure plays a very crucial role in the growth of country.Atleast minimum education is required for politicians as they are the representatives of the society upon whom people rely[iii].We often say that India has dirty politics, it is because of the lack of education. In order to slander the opposition party, provocative speeches are spoken, illegal practices are done and fake news are spread. The power makes them so powerful that can get away from any crime .We often come across the news of political families getting involved in illegal activities and scams. Amongst this, overall development of the country is sidelined and the essence of politics is degraded. The root cause of such problems is lack of education. When inexperienced ministers are ruling the country, development and growth of the country cannot be expected. It will not be wrong to say that, political parties are full of undeserving candidates who misuse their power.


WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE

  • A law should be passed in the country about minimum educational qualification required for a person to become politician. Politicians should atleasthave a universal degree whether it be in any field. This will lessen the party based monopoly and also give a appropriate candidate which will benefit us.[iv]

  • A leader should be matured, kind, educated, experienced and should understand peoples feelings, thinking and vision. And that all comes from education it self and our moral life. Leaders with no education can notcope up with change hence it hinders country’s development.

  • Many countries have implemented this law, for example Azerbaijan and Indonesia where it is compulsory for a person to have a universal degree in order to contest for election.

  • Religion based discrimination and caste problem are very common in our country and in order to give some light and guide us right in such problems, a intelligent and educated mind is needed. Still in many places of India, sati, female foeticide and infanticide are practised.


CONCLUSION

Only educated minds can understand how unfair these customs are. People who are into such traditions and are less educated cannot be expected to feel in the same way. Also, to maintain a synchronization between law enforcement system and society, politicians should be well educated to provide proper guidance.Educated politicians will better understand the work related to administration which is generally delegated to the bureaucracy. The policy and decision making power will also improve if we select literate leaders. These educated leaders will handle things more efficiently. In shortwe need to get rid of these uneducated and corrupt politicians who are like parasites eating away the growth of the country. How can we expect a person to take better decisions when he is not having the basic and prior knowledge of that field.We live in a democratic government which is by the people, for the people and of the people. So, there is some kind of responsibility on politicians to serve the country which is only possible if they are educated enough to understand our problems and then come up with effective solutions.

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