elaborates on the one thing that can eliminate all problems from the face of Earth

It has been widely recognised around the world that social services — in areas such as health, education, water and sanitation — can enhance individual well-being and contribute to overall quality of life. Now, no one would deny that providing food, shelter, clothing and health-care to the needy are various kinds of social service and that these are needed to relieve a person from the pain of starvation or some ailment. Similarly, no one can deny that along with this short-term remedy, we also need to find a long-term cure to human sufferings. This was true and is still true but, gradually, public opinion is giving more and more importance to short-term and long-term measures.

It is now being realised that mere immediate remedies, however necessary, are not enough, for it does not eradicate the problems which ultimately go out of hand or do not abate in occurrence, extent and acuteness. Furthermore, an important development that is now taking place is that opinion-leaders are speaking of how education in values, and for proper diet and behaviour, is the most important and effective — if not the only — ultimate remedy. It would be noticed, in this connection, that in recent past, persons of the stature of the director general of the World Health Organisation, the surgeon general of the United States, as well as the secretary general of the United Nations have made statements which clearly indicate these trends. Statements along the lines of, “Most of the world’s major health problems and premature deaths are preventable through change in human behaviour and at low cost,” clearly show that the problem of disease is not being looked at in this new light and it is now being increasingly realised that education is the main tool to prevent disease and to eliminate them. Top-ranking health-scientists across the globe have been highlighting how most of the world’s major diseases are preventable through changes in human behaviour.

It is a fundamental thing for all to realise that almost all problems that we are experiencing currently, have been created by human action. So, in order to set right the situation, human behaviour will have to be changed. Let us be clear in our mind that all kinds of sufferings are a kind of punishment for our misdeeds, misbehaviour or anti-nature acts. So, the real remedy for the eradication of such problems lies in imparting the right type of education which will result in people changing their ways. If a person continues to have mental and physical lethargy to action or is confused and incompetent to do something which can enable him to earn for his livelihood, how can poverty be removed from the face of the earth? It is in this context that the utmost importance of education — that cultivates values — can be realised. And, finally, that is when the importance of education as a tool of social change and social service can be properly understood.