R Fernandes
Yet another Teacher’s Day passes and time taken out to praise the teachers. Those remembering them are the citizens, all of whom should pass through their care. Everyone thanks and praises them for providing them with key life values. Noted amongst those silent are the Politicians. Except for the Governor of Goa.
We were hoping to see some relation between the teachers and the politicians in the country, which was not there. Those advocating beef politics with silence on lynchings, harassing of minorities, suppressing of the media and targeting of activists all passed through the teacher’s hands.
Are teachers able to erase the teachings of parents that the boy child is supreme? Is corruption, so much an intrinsic quality of Indian Politicians, taught by Teachers at school? On August 5, 2018, a BJP MLA from Maharashtra said that if a boy wishes to marry a girl who rejected them he would kidnap them and get them married with the only condition being the boy’s parents must also want the same! We hear public justification like boys will be boys regarding rapes. Earlier, some BJP MPs tried to show they were contributing Rs 25 cr to Kerala flood relief which in fact was given by the Oil companies.
So, what went wrong? First of course, do we consider the same wrong or not, this is the moot point. The Supreme Court observed that dissent is a safety valve of Democracy while handling the arrests of activists. They ruled that lynchings were against the law, long after the same became a way of life. In Delhi they ruled that power rests with CM, not the Lt Governor. In school, teachers taught this very same thing to their students, but in Delhi, it required the Court to interpret the same. Obviously, it is only the Judiciary, the third pillar of Democracy that believes so, not today’s Legislature or Executive. That is why the Fourth Estate is being bought.
There are schools run by such far right organisations in the country. Is it just the teachers from such schools who churn out such characters or is the teaching of school teachers erased at a later stage in the life of the student? Can we co-relate such political behaviour with the philosophy of the party and the programmes of their ‘fringe’ organisations? Is it a core handful of people able to brain wash the majority misusing the power wielded by teachers?
