A Teacher's Character Underpins Our Cultural Identity: Shri RK Saraswat, Psychologist and Director, Indian Institute of Psychology, NOIDA

Online, September 9, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Indian Institute of Psychology (IIP) today organized a seminar to commemorate the birthday of the great visionary, thinker and India's 2nd President, Dr. Shri Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. The topic of the seminar was "Who can be called a true teacher?" and was held on the occasion of Teacher's Day, which is 5th September. The seminar commenced with a welcome note presented by India's renowned senior psychologist Dr. RK Saraswat, who thanked the many psychologists who were present on the occasion.

Shedding light on the objectives of the seminar, Dr Saraswat said, "the sorry state of affairs that our Indian culture finds itself in today can be attributed directly to our teacher and self-styled spiritual 'gurus'." He opined that in the absence of adequate understanding of psychology, it was not possible for anyone to guide and develop society along new paths and directions. He further said that since each student's brain has a unique shape and capability, any attempt to impart knowledge to the student without understanding this aspect is akin to prescribing treatment without a correct diagnosis. Highlighting the issue of falling standards amongst teachers in society today, Dr Pablin Das said, "Teachers today have become less spiritual and more commercial. These teachers are fast forgetting basic values and today the age old and priceless heritage of guru-shishya practice is getting soiled and spoiled by the so-called gurus."

The program saw participation by some senior executives from the corporate world in addition to teachers and academicians. Poonam Mathur, one of the directors of the organization and also a CEO of an established company raised questions on the parameters whereby education can be evaluated. Responding o queries, Shri Kanti Bajpai, Chairman, IIP, said, "Since time immemorial, the responsibility of shaping and molding society has vested with teachers and spiritual leaders. To be effective, education needs both teachers as well as students to be disciplined and morally upright. It is the greater responsibility of the teacher rather than that of the student to honor these two boundaries."

The seminar saw active and enthusiastic participation from amongst the students of IIP and raised valid issues relating to the controversial spiritual 'guru' Asaram. The psychologists were unanimous in their opinion that each person who has a key role in the shaping of our society, to wit: teachers, law enforcement authorities, lawyers, spiritual gurus, etc, all must be provided with a sound grounding and education in psychology. This will help these people to impart a healthy environment to society at large. The seminar also saw discussions on the relationships between teacher-students, teacher-guardians and guru-disciples.