Education and skill are two sides of the same coin. To succeed in the race of life, a person needs to have a degree of education along with the skill. Education without the skill would be as empty as the skill without education. Both need to go hand in hand in order to corroborate the concept of the survival of the fittest. Education is nothing but the certified documentation of the skill within the individual. Every person having the skill may not manage to attain the education. Similarly, every degree holder is not necessarily skilled. The requirement of education or skill depends upon the organisation, the nature of post etc. Education gives an authentic certificate that the person applying for the post is having the knowledge of the work requirement and the ability to manage the functioning and justify the post. Education makes a person more confident in his approach and outlook. These things are an essential part of the personality development.
The great people in history were all skilled people, but they did not have any certificate regarding their knowledge. In this context, it is the skill which attracts the employers, clients and management which select or drops the person and helps him attain success.
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”. All the knowledge in the world is useless unless you are able to use information in creative ways. Knowledge is what other people have created. Understanding is all about what you think about something. Everybody
sees, hears, feels, and thinks differently. No two people in the world have the same understanding of the same thing. It is impossible to take tests on a point of view. Because of this, tests are illogical.
The only reason why tests exist is to label students as ‘smart’ or ‘stupid’. There are many kinds of intelligence, however. Unfortunately, tests only measure one type of intelligence. In the modern world, skills are more important than knowledge. If a person knows many facts, it is impressive, but not very useful. It is of much greater importance to be able to find information quickly, organise that information, analyse and understand the main ideas, put different pieces of information together and create new information. Together these skills make what we call information management and innovation, the skills which are most desired in the business world.
Education for the sake of attaining a degree is not desirable considering the increase in educated unemployment in the country which calls for a greater reflection at what guides the aims and objectives of education at individual and national levels. Attaining a degree is surely a sign of formal education but merely attaining a degree no more guarantees individual growth, social stability or financial security. While the need for skill inculcation has always found space in various educational policy documents churned out in the country since Independence, current discussions in the arena of both
school education and higher education have increasingly emphasised outcome-based learning leading to skill development.
Education and particularly higher education must respond to a broader set of goals and must necessarily
help learners in attaining larger ideas of life. Its role in nation-building and human progress should be acknowledged and must not be overlooked. Though skill education is important, higher education must be meant for knowledge
acquisition, generation, creativity and innovation.
Education for the sake of knowledge and its creation leading to self-actualisation of learners must be at the heart of longer goals of learning, which must also reflect in its finer objectives. It must not only correspond to the individual, communal, domestic or national needs but also effectively respond to global reality and aspirations of the learners.
In a nutshell, attaining a degree is a sign of formal education but it no more guarantees individual growth, social stability or financial security. Skill education is need of the hour for outcome-based learning that responds to global reality and the learner’s aspiration. Hence, we can summarise by saying that education is the first step in the ladder of skills which leads to success in life.