Society needs to have "Zero Tolerance" towards anything "Wrong"
Let's throw certain questions open to students to ponder in every school. Please remember the purpose of this “Solidarity” should also be to teach every child to protest against every wrong. Society to day is not able to realize success in various protests people have been making, be it Sri Anna Hazare or Mr. Kejriwal perhaps because of they too having certain amount of grey history in their life. Whenever they have tried, Government has dug up an issue and shown them their mirror. They could not make much headway although the issue of “Corruption’ was pertinent and had immense following.
Lets imagine why the steam subsided? We can attribute many reasons but the most reasonable what comes to my mind is because of their fickle principles in life prior to their realisation to do something good for the society. Some day in their life they suddenly realized that people were being wronged but prior to that day of their realisation they too were either part of “corruption” or ambivalent towards its consequences. Schools never taught them to protest with questions “what, why, when and where”. Schools never taught them what was ideally right and wrong. If you look back, Schools never gave any of us except for one period in Moral Science.
We were told that whatever teacher said was sacrosanct and should not be challenged. I don’t believe in this theory of “sacrosanct”. As students we should respect or may be in some cases worship our teachers but always suspect what is being taught. Respect in students should be for teachers but not for what he or she is teaching. I am not saying that students should have disrespect for what is being taught but they should always suspect the content that they are getting. This would keep them alive with “why, when, what and where”. They have to throw inquisitive questions so that their thinking ability grows and becomes stronger with age.
Recall the amount of sexual teasing children face in families at the hands of relatives and they do not understand what to do. If schools had taught them to protest against wrongs and evils they would never be subject to sexual ridicule. If school had educated us about our rights and liberties, given us adequate knowledge to differentiate between right and wrong then do you think that the condition of our present day society would have been so pathetic.
If you consider india's history we were subjugated,ruled and invaded by various warriors. The saga continued in one form or the other. In 1857 after the first well pronounced "Mutiny" (armed protest) society started changing as leaders like Kunwar Singh, Sepoy Mangal Pandey etc triggered the simmering resentment and set example for thinkers to come forward. Thereafter the protests became frequent and spread across length and breadth of Bharat. It spread just because people were indoctrinated with desire for freedom. Post 15th Aug 1947 in the glory and awe of Independence we lost track and became complacent forgetting that freedom was from external forces and not from societal nemesis. The euphoria allowed our country to grow but at cost of values.
India is a country with rich heritage and culture. Perhaps there is an eternal curse that whenever we Indians would try to dissociate ourselves from values established by great Rishis and Munis, society will become unstable to enjoy the fruits of new found achievements and glories. There are many examples in history, whenever we have tried forgetting our traditions it came back more vigorously to haunt our temporary successes.
Now lets ponder what needs to be done. These questions if 100% of us had been induced with, then the condition of present-day India would have been different. We are docile and tolerant towards “wrongs” because of our upbringing and improper education. The British education system was designed to churn out “clerks” and not “thinkers” who could change course of a society. We are still continuing with it, cherishing and hoping against hope to flourish some day.
Trust me Politicians are corrupt not because of their attitude but because of a corrupt education system that they have gone through. Recall the amount of classes they attended in their schools and colleges, tuitions that they took from teachers by paying money instead of being taught in classrooms, numbers that they got inflated by greasing palm etc. The royal march therefater continues unhindered. Their coronation and decoration with beacon lights, ministerial berths and unimaginable luxuries made them believe that "honesty" was a myth and looked beautiful only if it existed isolated in dictionaries or in text books. We too are not ideally honest as opportunities and our psyche has not been tailored to practise what we preach.
We grew up and realised ourselves what was right and what was wrong; consuming lot of our action time. Since we were never taught to protest, we became “mute spectators”. We were hardly indoctrinated by what exactly was to be a good human being. Let’s make a start now. Let’s motivate these young minds so that they do not shirk in protesting against any “wrongs” in society like we have been doing. We need a prosperous India and not a country full of disparity, disenchantment, corruption, violence and a valueless system.
1. Would advise you to ask the school administration to explain before hand that why these young children are participating in protest human chain?
2. What is the purpose of this event?
3. What is expected to be achieved by organising or by showing solidarity by school community of Bhagalpur?
4. Educate them who all are participating?
5. Schools should ask their children, was it right and humane when errant drivers crushed these young children?
6. Who is responsible for unplanned traffic in the city?
7. What should be done to make Bhagalpur beautiful and safe?
Believe you me; this effort of all of you coupled with these questions will make a difference. Make it sustainable and not flash in a pan.
My wishes and unflinching support.
Regards
Rajesh Srivastava
