Missing Lessons in Our Classrooms

In public debates on education, we often speak with pride about high-scoring students, competitive examination toppers, and the technical brilliance of India’s young professionals. We celebrate intellect, analytical power, and career success. But in this celebration, we tend to overlook something far more fundamental: education of the heart. True education is not merely about sharpening the brain; it is about nurturing compassion, empathy, emotional understanding, and a sense of connection with society. Without these softer, deeper values, even the brightest minds can become vulnerable to dangerous ideologies. The recent terror blast in Delhi, in which several well-educated medical professionals were arrested, is a disturbing reminder of this gap.

A Disconnect Behind Degrees

For decades, policymakers have believed that education acts as a shield against radicalisation. The assumption has been simple: a person equipped with knowledge, logic, and professional prospects is less likely to be misled. However, the Delhi blast case has exposed the cracks in this belief. Investigations revealed that the terror cell behind the attack was not made up solely of underprivileged or disaffected youth. Instead, it included doctors and other white-collar professionals—people who had undergone rigorous academic training, who had years of medical education behind them, and who were entrusted with saving lives. Yet, they became instruments of death.

Their technical qualifications could not stop radicalisation because radicalisation does not operate at the level of the brain alone. It enters through emotions—hurt, grievance, alienation, identity confusion, or the pull of belonging to a closed group. It thrives in spaces where empathy, reflection, and social responsibility are weak. A highly intelligent but emotionally unanchored individual is, in fact, easier to manipulate. A sharp brain without a compassionate heart becomes a tool, not a safeguard.

Radicalisation begins subtly—often with a sense of disconnect. A young person may feel ignored by society, undervalued, or misunderstood. They may perceive real or imagined injustices with no emotional support to process them. Into this psychological vacuum enters propaganda—packaged cleverly, targeting emotional vulnerabilities.

What prevents a young mind from sliding down this path is not just knowledge, but connection: connection with family, connection with community, connection with national identity and connection with humanitarian values across religions. Compassion and empathy act as shields. They create a moral hesitation before violence. They encourage the young person to question hateful narratives. They cultivate an instinctive rejection of anything that harms innocent lives.

In schools across India, children are often taught equations, grammar rules, and historical dates. But many are not taught how to handle anger, how to understand others’ pain, or how to bridge differences. Teachers, pressed for syllabus completion, rarely have the time to focus on emotional literacy. Parents, overwhelmed by competition, prioritise achievement over character. The result is predictable: we produce individuals who know how to think, but not how to feel.

The Delhi Blast Case: A Warning Society Cannot Ignore

The involvement of medical professionals in the recent terror blast must be viewed in this larger context. Doctors represent one of the most trusted and emotionally demanding professions. Their very calling is built on empathy, patience, and respect for the sanctity of life. Yet, the fact that a group of them could allegedly participate in a terror operation exposes the depth of their emotional disconnect.

Here were individuals trained in anatomy, surgery, and healing—but untrained in compassion for society. Their white coats and degrees did not shield them from narratives of hatred. Their education equipped their minds, but left their hearts unattended. The true teaching of every religion—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism—is rooted in compassion, mercy, and non-violence. No scripture permits the killing of innocents. Yet, when interpreted through an extremist lens, religious verses are distorted into weapons. Only a morally educated heart can recognise this distortion and reject it.

In this case, the professionals involved are believed to have been influenced by extremist ideology that claimed to be religious but violated the very essence of faith. This disconnection from the true spirit of religion was possible because they lacked grounding in empathy, reflection, and humane values. In short, their emotional education was missing.

What Must Change Now

India must urgently rethink its educational priorities. Moral education cannot be a one-period-a-week ritual. Compassion cannot be outsourced to NGOs. Emotional literacy cannot be left to chance. We must place empathy and values at the centre of learning, not at its fringes.

* Schools must encourage dialogue, not rote learning.

* Teachers must be trained to identify emotional distress and isolation.

* Universities must create spaces for interfaith and intercultural engagement.

* Family conversations must include values, not just marks and achievements.

* Religious institutions must emphasise compassion, the true essence of every scripture.

When a society teaches children to care, to question hate, and to value life, radicalisation has no space to grow. The Delhi blast case is not just a security issue; it is a societal alarm bell. It tells us that we must stop equating education with degrees and marks. Education must produce human beings who are emotionally balanced, morally responsible, and spiritually grounded.

A society becomes unsafe not because brains become sharper, but because hearts become harder. If India truly wants to counter radicalisation, it must invest not only in intelligence agencies and counter-terror operations, but in something far more powerful—the emotional education of its children and youth. When hearts are educated, minds cannot be misled. When empathy is strong, hatred finds no place to hide. And when compassion becomes the core of education, the path to peace becomes clearer, stronger, and lasting.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is President & CEO, Indian Police Foundation