Exclusive! Darshan: Education has to be about showing children a means to a livelihood

In only two weeks, Kannada cinema’s Challenging Star, Darshan is bringing his next, Kranti to theatres. The film, as he has been saying, is about the state of government schools and why people don’t send their children to these institutions. The trailer of the film, which came out on January 7, also shone light on the subject, which deals with the dangers of privatisation of schools.

Ever since he began promoting Kranti, Darshan has been constantly talking about education is a business and that privatisation has made it exorbitantly expensive. Government schools, he reckons, are languishing because of apathy from powers that be, which he adds is because most politicians run private educational institutions. Lack of quality infrastructure and teachers has been a constant in most of his interviews, so we decided to check in with him on what he thinks education should be about.

“More than education, children should be shown a means to a livelihood,” he says, adding, “There is so much competition in every field and that is only growing by the day. Look at the sheer number of engineers who have diversified into different streams that have nothing to do with anything they studied. Earning should be the focus. You should be able to win your bread and butter. Else, what is the point of those eight semesters and exams every six months? Parents should be open-minded and understand the interests and aptitudes of their children and let them follow streams accordingly. You will literally see them shine. For instance, director Milana Prakash’s son is focusing solely on a career in golf. That’s his interest and his parents have let him follow that passion. If you force a child to study something that he/she has no interest in, they will not reach anywhere.”

Kranti, produced by Shylaja Nag and B Suresha, and directed by V Harikrishna, is set to release in theatres on Republic Day, January 26.