Is Educational qualification necessary for Politicians?

 In Favor:-

• There should be a minimum education to the politicians because a politician is a representative of the people of society from where he is been elected and he must have all sort of knowledge related to the problem being faced by his voters.
• Without any proper education how can a politician address the problems of the society and how he can carry out development in any aspect?
• If a politician is not well educated he will not have the right to voice for education for others.
• Education is a viable and most important aspect in our current world scenario. We look upon the politician as an able person who can guide us and make proper and appropriate decisions. But if the politicians do not have proper academic background what impact he will have at local or national or international level.
• Low qualified politicians cannot cope up with global changes and will not able to understand the diplomatic situations with other countries of the world.

Against:-

• It could be a misconception that only educated one can develop the country. Because education is not an ultimate source for gaining knowledge.
• Making it mandatory to have educational qualification for eligibility for contesting elections , in a country like India ,where about 40% of the population is illiterate may have a negative effect on democracy.
• Around 60% of Indian population resides in villages where literacy rate is very low which may become hindrance to the local citizens to participate in elections.
• Political knowledge matters a lot rather attaining academic one. The intelligence of someone doesn’t depend on degrees but on his political achievements.

Situation in India:-

• There is no education required to become an MP or MLA in our country. The Constitution while mentioning the various eligibility conditions does not mention anything about educational qualification.
• ‘Rajasthan‘ is the first State to fix a minimum educational qualification for contesting elections to Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Situation in other countries:-

• Most of the Chinese politicians are have engineering degrees similarly majority of politicians in Asian countries like South Korea, Malaysia, even Taiwan have well qualified politicians.
• The presidents of U.S.A. and Russia Obama and Putin were among the world’s most educated political leaders.

Conclusion:-

There is no relation between the commitment and education. But in the modern world, education definitely helps in understanding about the world and society. But we cannot say that only formal education will fulfill the purpose.

Afterwords :- What are your views on this topic? Express your opinion in the comment section below.

Photo Credits : Tony Mitra

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