Forget C for ‘Cat’, it’s caste…
3 min read
We all know, how we learn, learnt and going to learn English alphabets in our elementary years. It begins with A for apple, B for ball, C for cat, D for dog, E for elephant and it goes on to make learning a mix of joy and easy for the tiny tots who will be acclimatised with such things daily.
It was all about several years ago in convent education, when most were in the hedge. By then the Indian society had started to overcome aristocracy, where it was widely presumed that ‘ being literate is the preserve of a select few’. As the years passed, conventional education got a push further with the onset of CBSE schools that was earlier the norm in northern part of the country.
Now, we cannot imagine a School without a tagline- central school. Let’s not go deep into the advantages and disadvantages of learning in State and Central schools, as it’s a matter of debate for any other day.
During the prevailing condition, it has become so easy for even tiny tots to get to know the jargon of complexity. When we were kids we were unaware for certain years about many things- be it religion, caste, hindutva, fundamentalism, rightist, leftist, etc.,
Take for example sedition case slapped against seven people in relation to the staging of anti- CAA play at Shaheen Educational Institutions in Bidar. Head mistress and widowed mother of the girl child were arrested and remanded to judicial custody till they were released on bail recently ( As the case is in the court of law, let’s not discuss about the case in detail), but the manner in which it was dealt by the stakeholders will leave a lasting impression on the students of the school. The fellow students were also interrogated by the investigators and the photos of kids seated on small chairs with investigators on the other side had gone viral.
After a certain number of years, they will form the majority of chunk of younger denizens as the country India holds the credit of most number of youths population up to 60 percent in the age group of 26 and above.
In the case of Bidar, the child in this case, who is in her nascent stage, acted at the insistence of her mother while staging the play during annual day celebration at the school. When her mother was jailed, she was under the care of her neighbours for sometime till the latter came out on bail. By then, the damage had been done and imagine the psyche of the student who had to garner attention of the nation, at a time when she has to be oblivious to many.
As she grows, it’s anybody’s guess, she will recall the moment and the harrowing times and how bad it could be, if she starts cleaving people in the name of religion.
It still echoes in my ears, what a professor had told me once- even during and after post- independent era, it was only a very few people, the size of your palm, who knew about caste, religion and whatsoever related to it. Now, we cannot imagine the depth it has reached.
– Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
