Why the future we want demands a radical rethink of education today

What kind of individuals do we hope to nurture, what kind of society do we wish to build, and what role can education play in shaping that future? These questions invite us to introspect and reflect upon not just how far we have come, but how we choose to move forward from here.

The last century witnessed remarkable progress in the quality of human life. Whether it is the global literacy rate increasing from 20 percent in 1900 to 85 percent in 2025, or life expectancy rising from 32 years to 73 years, these are unprecedented changes driven by advances in science and technology. Education has played a key role in fuelling this progress.

As we look ahead, with nearly all children now enrolled in formal schooling, the role of education becomes increasingly significant. The universalisation of formal schooling has been accompanied by a narrowing of education’s purpose. Mainstream education systems prize uniformity, competition, and academic achievement. Our collective imagination of ‘the future we want’ must shape the education we provide to our children today – one that lays the foundation of citizenship, nurtures human possibility, and prepares us to live responsibly.

The Indian Constitution, crafted after years of social churn and the freedom struggle, offers a vision of a society committed to liberty, equality, and justice for every citizen. This is the societal ideal that education must serve. Beyond the acquisition of knowledge and skills, education must help students cultivate what American philosopher and educator John Dewey refers to as the “social spirit.” Nurturing this social spirit helps individuals be aware of, and emotionally invested in, the collective vision and common goals, and take ownership of their roles within the global community.

The roots of such education must be planted early, in the formative years when the foundations of learning are laid. Traditionally, as many of us have experienced, the approach was to cover a broad range of topics and materials – to ‘dig wide’. The idea was that with enough breadth, depth and focus would naturally follow. Today, with vast knowledge available at our fingertips, the inadequacy of information-centred education has never been more evident. We do not need children to memorise facts but to think, imagine, question and care. Care for others and the planet.

Excessive focus on growth, without recognising the limits of the planet, has endangered the very existence of life on Earth. E. F. Schumacher’s critique of unbridled growth in Small Is Beautiful, a book which considers economics through the lens of a world where people matter, resonates with great urgency today. If the twentieth century was obsessed with growth, the twenty-first must reckon with its limits.

Ecological literacy cannot remain a niche elective. It must become a central tenet guiding educational reform, helping children understand that the Earth’s resources are finite and that stewardship is essential for our shared future. To quote E.F. Schumacher, wisdom demands “a new orientation of science and technology toward the organic, the gentle, the elegant, and the beautiful.” A curriculum that does not embed climate literacy, biodiversity, or regenerative practices fails to prepare learners for survival itself.

Lastly, as Mahatma Gandhi highlighted a century ago, education must balance the three interwoven domains of human development: the cognitive or “head,” the emotional and ethical or “heart,” and the practical or “hand.” This triad was never about romantic simplicity. It was about building self-reliant, responsible citizens in a world hurtling toward climate crises, fractured politics, and shrinking attention spans-and rightly so.

‘The future we want’ begins at home and in the classroom. It begins when we dare to move beyond the narrow logic of growth and competition, and harness the role of education as the most powerful means of shaping the society and the planet, we will hand over to generations yet to come. The challenges are undeniable. But the point is not merely to prepare children for the future – it is to empower them with the imagination and courage to shape it.

(Amrita Patwardhan is the Head of Education at Tata Trusts)