3
HARMONY AS THE HORIZON
OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Paulachan Kochappilly3.1 Introduction
In a world of cutthroat competition, education has almost become a
business aimed at ‘making money’; and the more, the better. In order to
survive in this highly competitive sector, institutions and individuals
play the game of money-spinning. Campus placement opportunity is the
criterion of a best school, and character formation is almost a bygone
ideal of education. The trend in education seems to be in producing or
supplying the demands of the market. While some developed countries
have made the concerted decision to increase student numbers, they
employ a variety of practices including considerable investments of
resources in foreign universities in developing countries. Education has
become a booming industry, often at the cost of the values of education.
Such an unbridled multiplying of educational institutions needs to be
checked, lest the future of humanity be in jeopardy. The need is to pump
the values of life into the veins of education in order to avert the
impending danger of the extinction of diversity, democracy, and the
dignity of community. Higher education should give adequate
importance to holistic and integral formation of persons along with
rigorous research and sincere commitment to address the manifold
issues of our times.