Motivational speaker, educationist Dr. Gururaj Karajagi speaks on parental pressure on kids

Mysore/Mysuru: Motivational speaker and Chairman of the Academy for Creative Teaching Dr. Gururaj Karajagi called upon parents and teachers not to impose their unfulfilled dreams on children. “Let them grow freely and do not exert pressure on them. Parents should not force their choices on their children. He said they should let them choose their career based on their interests.

The noted educationist and orator was speaking at the ‘Nypunya Dasara Award Ceremony’ organised by Nypunya School of Excellence at Bunts Convention Hall, Vijayanagar Third Stage recently. 

“There are several gifts of life including unaddressed love, kindness, imbibing values, valuing one’s culture and the belief in the concept of God, which could make life beautiful. It is the duty of elders to encourage children for their good deeds. Teach them values so that they become assets to society,” he said.

Teaching values

Values are important in everyone’s life and they could be imbibed among children not by teaching but by demonstrating. “If you want your children to be ethical, you become ethical first and the child follows you,” he said. At the same time, one has to value one’s culture. If the youth need to be strong, the culture of India should be deep-rooted and strong. Teach culture to children, Dr. Gururaj Karajagi  said.

“If values are taught in a way they must be taught, children will never forget and remember them for the rest of their lives. Therefore, parents should understand that marks are not important rather teaching values to the children is important,” he opined.

“Corruption in religious, economic, social, and educational fields is rampant. We come across many social evils in society. Children due to their exposure to mass media are turning into juvenile delinquents. Due to a lack of values, they adhere to whatever is shown on the  TV and the internet, ruining their life,” he regretted.

Parental – teacher pressure

“Usually, parents and teachers exert pressure on students to achieve academically good scores. The push for higher test scores and the demand that all students exhibit high proficiency in reading, maths, and science. This has resulted in stressed-out, violent and attention-deficit children who have had their childhoods stripped away from them.

In a word of advice to the teachers, Dr. Gururaj Karajagi said that teachers must have healthy attitudes and should possess rich values. “Teaching is all about positive attitude towards their job of imparting quality education. The teacher should act as a friend, philosopher and guide. A teacher is not only a source of information but is also a mentor and a guardian. For this, a teacher must respect the teaching profession and love the subjects and students.  Students will seek inspiration from teachers who have high self-esteem,” he noted. 

India a resourceful nation

In his address, Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Founder of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), Mysuru, who is now a member of the Capacity Building Commission (CBC), Government of India, said that India is a very resourceful country and children are the next resources.

“Let the children be free and do not put pressure on them. We are happy that Indians are doing extremely well and many of them have headed and are at the helm of global organisations, companies and conglomerates. If we bring up our children without any pressure, in the next 15 years, organisations like Google and Amazon will be built in India,” he said. Dr. Balasubramaniam asked students to develop the habit of reading and reading books from various academic disciplines. “This will introduce you to interesting fields of study and help you choose your area of interest,” he added.

Chairman of Nypunya School of Excellence R. Raghu Kautilya and Principal Shilpa Prashanth were present.