I teach a bunch of kids in
the evening, and as is my practice after the lesson asked them to write an
essay on what else, Independence Day. One takes so much for granted. I thought
it would be easy peasey, you know the regular lines to write, after all we all
know about this one. Imagine, and this is no ode to John Lennon, and nothing of
the regular lines about independence, freedom, a country where mind is held
high, free all that.
“Independence for them is a
festival in a country where there are many festivals like Diwali, holi ,
shivratri. It is a festival like that. Independence day is got after freedom
fighter quarrel with British.”
Reading all these lines, in
the same fashion conveying, sheer ignorance has left me sad. Is this the
future? Was the fight worth it? Did the freedom fighters, martyrs envision
this? Why is patriotism not taught? Why are children of today, the future of
tomorrow not taught about the struggle, the fight and the win? And, here I am
not talking about the elite schools of the country but of the real India. Real
India can only progress, when we educate them. This is the only way we can
become advanced and all the ills are finished, not over night but gradually.
The economic bus, which we should have boarded fifteen years ago, has been
missed not because of opportunities but lack of education. Imagine, one
generation missing out just because they are illiterate; all stuck in the yoke
of life, just eking out subsistence barely.
This episode today has left
me sad , disappointed in ;not the children but in the teachers who just follow
a curriculum , not even stepping out of the boundary a teeny weeny bit .
Can there be a change/…..
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