Background Paper for the Workshop
"Creativity in Education"
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture
Kolkata, India
14 and 15 November 2009
Creativity plays a significant role in every aspect of life.
Creativity is one of the signs of manifesting our inherent potentialities.
Education can stimulate creativity by preparing the mind for innovative thinking.
A major objective in education is, in fact, to spur the creative process.
But, thanks in part to the absence of creativity,
our modern-day educational system is deteriorating.
Education has become a business, designating knowledge as a tool for gaining jobs and career.
Students are often trained and motivated only to earn money;
Teachers are often satisfied only to impart information.
The concept of education that requires the conversion of information into knowledge,
and knowledge into wisdom, is missing in many educational institutions.
If educational methods and approaches are not improved,
we will soon face a time when brilliant young minds simply turn dull and dense.
The need to change educational inadequacies calls for a new vision of education.
How can creativity be reintroduced into the educational system?
How can education become creativity-oriented, focused on developing students' creative thinking and living?
To address these pressing questions, the workshop “Creativity in Education” is proposed
at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park, Kolkata.
Educationists and students from varied disciplines will be invited to set up a platform
from which future activities in this direction may proceed.
©Surya Green 2011