“How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?” is indeed a contemplative song by Bob Dylan. It makes me wonder how many more places of worship must one State have, before one can claim to be a nationalist or religious? As Dylan puts it “Well, the answer our friend, is blowing in the wind”. It implies the answer is evident but no one wants to voice it.
Romancing the skeletons may lure a few, but society as a whole evolves and moves on. Let’s get practical, rational and moreover realistic. I personally think the focus should shift from building, restoring and repairing the temples to the temples of learning, namely our schools, especially Government Primary Schools.
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I have in the past interacted with a couple of these school managements and their students. One such school made my eyes well up. Most of the kids didn’t have footwear, more importantly they didn’t have breakfast. Not because they didn’t fancy it but rather, they couldn’t afford it. The pretence of feeding their minds and enhancing their creativity by teaching how to draw cartoons dropped and how to feed their empty stomachs took precedence.
Children are the priceless asset of every society. How we nurture them as parents, teachers and members of society will define our nation someday. The former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar had once remarked in the Legislative Assembly that ‘The food served to school children in the state under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme is unfit even for animals ‘. Have we seriously come a long way from then on, is a good subject to introspect.
In Karnataka, under the Ksheera Bhagya Scheme there was/is provision of giving free milk to children in anganwadis and schools. A good nutritious breakfast is much required for these children, since one is not certain as to whether they had dinner the previous night. As I was surfing the internet to get an insight about the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, I came across the General Education Department, Government of Kerala’s portal which meticulously provides state report as well as district and school wise details of the mid-day meals provided. A cursory look at the other states too has much to offer. I suppose some of the best practices of other States if possible should be implemented in Goa.
Apart from nutritious meals the temples of learning require reasonably good infra-structure and basic amenities. Be it proper classrooms, libraries, laboratories, sports grounds, toilets or other minor yet important aspects such as non leaking roofs, chalk boards, cupboards, desks, benches, fans, ventilators, drinking water, electricity, ramps for the differently abled kids….the list could go on.
Furthermore, funds are required to employ and train teachers. Apart from possessing teaching proficiency, multi-lingual and communication skills are a necessity, as they often deal with a migrant crowd. Also these children many times are either victims or witnesses to physical, verbal and other forms of violence, abuse and need special attention and empathy. Creation of a pool of quality teachers ensures quality services.
As a tax-payer, if I have to choose the application of my monies as in temples or temples of learning? I vote for the latter.
