New Year Postcard-1: A new beginning in school

Dear Prime Minister

For the last 20 years, I have been a teacher at a government school in Dadri. A resident of Jarcha village in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, I never saw my district make the headlines until last year.

In 2015, the lynching incident in Bisara village was a wake-up call not just for Dadri but for the entire country. I am 57 years old and in my lifetime, I have not witnessed a more shameful incident here where Muslims and Hindus have lived in harmony for decades. The incident was shameful enough but the manner in which it has been used for political interests is even worse. Not just one district but the entire country has been shamed.

I don’t know what really happened, whether or not a cow was slaughtered — what I know I have learnt from media reports. But even if they (Akhlaq and his son Daanish) had killed a cow, no one has the right to take the law into their own hands. The Indian Constitution applies to everyone. If such an incident did take place, a case should have been registered against them by the police. All I know is, we need to uphold the basic values of humanity and brotherhood. No religion — mazhab, deen, dharma — speaks of bringing an end to brotherhood. When brotherhood ends, so does humanity. One of the most critical tenets of Islam stresses the importance of brotherhood.

As headmaster of the government-run Junior High School in Khangoda village, Dadri and a teacher for two decades, I feel that the only way in which we can combat these attempts to tear apart the social fabric of our country is through education. Our children need to be taught the values of communal harmony, brotherhood and tolerance. After the incident in Bisara, we talked of these values to our pupils.

I hope that we do not witness or hear about such an incident in 2016.

Pradhan Mantriji, another serious concern, which has crippled schools like ours in rural areas, is a lack of facilities and resources. Against a student strength of 64, my school currently has just two teachers, including me. While I teach science and mathematics to children of Classes VI to VIII, I am also the headmaster of the school. Most of my time goes in administrative work and I get only an hour or so each day to teach.

Government schools have an acute shortage of staff. There have been times when my school has operated with just one teacher. In rural areas, the government should provide more facilities to students and teachers. Most teachers don’t want to work in schools in rural areas, which lack basic facilities of transportation and housing.

Our primary goal should be to provide education to as many children as possible. However, government teachers are regularly given other work like election duty and drawing up voters’ lists. Education has taken a backseat. The government should spend more on education. We should perform our duties for which we draw salaries from the government. We need more facilities: Classrooms, labs, vocational courses.

The state, the administration should encourage village folk to send their children to school. Around 80 per cent do enrol their children but they don’t care whether or not their children attend school. Often, we have to visit the students’ homes to ensure that they do not drop out.

With the implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, there has been progress in the enrolment ratio. Almost 90 per cent of children are enrolled in schools now. However, the issue of drop-outs is still serious. We need more awareness campaigns by the government to ensure that children don’t drop out of school.

I hope more parents are encouraged to send their children to school and that the standard of education in government schools is raised so that parents admit their children to them instead of private schools. Many parents, especially from the poorer sections, struggle to make ends meet in order to send their children to private schools. These private schools are run like businesses — poor people cannot get their wards enrolled in them.

Even in this modern age, there are no schools for girls, especially in areas with a large Muslim population. In Jarcha, there is not even a higher secondary or inter-college institution for boys. Girls face more problems — there are no decent transport facilities for them. I urge you, please let minorities have better access to education in the coming year.

In the next year, I hope the government helps set up “vikas samitis” in villages. These committees should have representatives from all communities as well as women representatives. They should meet at least once a month to discuss social issues and devise way to maintain communal harmony.

I am a teacher, first and last. My main goal is ilm (knowledge): Taleem lena aur taleem dena (to nurture and to be nurtured) is of primary importance. There is no greater gift than that of learning.

Even if a single child is successful in life, the teacher’s life’s goal has been fulfilled.

From Dadri

Source: Indian Express, 1-1-2016