Traditional education systems, for decades, have demanded rote memorisation, encouraging students to cram facts and figures without engaging their understanding or emotional faculties. In contrast, the modern, tech-driven educational landscape offers pre-packaged digital content-easily accessible, but largely impersonal. In both models, a critical component of holistic human development, emotional intelligence (EI), is conspicuously absent. The absence of EI, as theorised by Daniel Goleman, refers to a deficit in one’s ability to perceive, regulate, and constructively use emotional information. This lack leads to a mechanical and often desensitised approach to life and human interactions. Learners, trained merely to pass exams or achieve grades, may struggle profoundly with empathy, ethical reasoning, or emotional resilience.

In the age of artificial intelligence and digital revolution, the problem deepens. Students are provided with “cooked-up” materials-standardised solutions to complex problems-ready to be regurgitated in exams. This process bypasses both critical thinking and emotional engagement, creating emotionally disengaged individuals who may excel academically but lack human sensitivity. Compounding this educational crisis is the dismantling of the joint family system, especially in regions where communal living once nurtured emotional understanding across generations. The rise of nuclear families, isolated lives, and technology-mediated interactions has significantly weakened our ability to understand........

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