What should education mean to us?

We take recourse to policy making to address our needs that always keep on changing. I feel those behind the new education policy must have felt some thing amiss in the present education system. The flaws as perceived by them apropos of the existing policy might have prompted them to go for a new one.
Truly speaking, I don't know for certain what exactly are these flaws as perceived by them and in what way the new one seeks to eliminate or rectify them to say the least. Nevertheless I should have reason to believe that since any policy is formulated by the best minds employed by government in power, the new education policy should fulfill the need and expectations of the people of India in general and stakeholders in particulars.
Be what it may, but I cannot desist myself from saying that
1.the basic purpose of education is character building in ways more than one.
          "सा विद्या या विमुक्तये"
I mean to say only that brand of learning is meaningful that helps us liberate. The term 'liberation' shouldn't be taken to mean  merely in religio-philosophical sense. Rather its meaning is to be imbibed in the most practical sense. It means freedom from ignorance, deterrence against greed, tolerance against opposite thoughts and belief etc.
2. The second purpose of education is to enrich it with such qualities that enable us to become an earning member of the society for serving not only our families but also kith and kins and society at large if capabilities permit.
But what happens to be seen is that education has become self serving in character. We are 'educated' only to serve ourselves to the exclusion of others. Even parents who make us 'educated' by their limited means are conveniently ignored when they fall in need of our financial or even emotional support. Rising numbers of old age homes which once happened to be foreign to us is now a commonplace in even the towns of nondescript urbanization. What is the use of such education that fails miserably on the count of co-operation & compassion? It appears that the 'education' makes us smarter in such a way that mutual cooperation has given to mutual exploitation.
3.The present education system doesn't militate against the moral turpitude  found generally across all the sections of our society. We have in our society quite a number of so called educated officers, bureaucrats, engineers, politicians who are either surreptitiously corrupt or brazenly scamsters and if not either of the two; they are concealed 'commission-eaters' to say the least. 
Educated politicians have become highly skilled to prevaricate people by their politics learnt through their education and political training of sorts.
Education has taught a businessman smarter ways and means to become a profiteer, hoarder etc. Teachers do everything save teaching; doctors treat to fleece the patient in the most blatant way. Treatment today is tantamount to making oneself impoverished to the point of being pauper.
The list is endless to make one feel listless.
4.The purpose of education should essentially be exploration.
       Exploration outside as well as inside. While exploration outside must result in discoveries and invention giving us stocks of scientists, engineers, doctors, social scientists, economists etc etc.; exploration inside enables us remain human beings while still being a scientist or engineer so. Had there been a focus on this inside exploration in our educational scheme of things we would not have a terrorist-doctor or terrorist-engineer or someone like that.
       Exploration Inside equips us with better life-skills and wisdom to control our boundless yearnings for creature comforts. It helps brave our trials and tribulations that a competitive world throws upon us every now and then.
                I am pained to mention that it is the 'educated ones' rather than common people who resort to suicide to escape hardships or frustration-real or imaginary.
5.Also the purpose of education can never be indoctrination. Indoctrination accounts for a plethora of strifes in the name of religion and religious practices. The indoctrination in highest doze results in intoxication. Has the present policy or the new one any safeguard against indoctrination in the name of education? Can't say.
               Indoctrination is an anathema for the development of scientific temper and  spirit of enquiry. Indoctrination militates against acquisition of knowledge and systematic learning.
        As a matter of fact, human beings have a number of needs. Some of these needs are basic called lower order needs. These needs can be fulfilled by development of skills of hands properly trained on any trade. But the basic needs of lower order must not eliminate the higher order needs by any formulations in the name of policy making.
A true education must enable us to develop these three which can exist in an individual in various combinations. The education policy must identify which individual needs the following in what proportion.
  A. Skill- to address lower order needs of feeding ourselves by being proficient in some hand and/or foot driven skill.
  B. Knowledge--to address our middle order needs. Through acquisition of specialised or generalised knowledge imparted formally we should hope to become financially strong by getting job of choice.
B. Wisdom--- the soft life-skill born out of introspection, observation and meditation to keep the vices at bay. These vices have overshadowed our persona shaped by the education policy-new or existing.
I think the above components should be the Sine-qua-non of any education policy.
     Let us hope for the better.
R.R.Prabhakar.
10.08.2020.