I rarely write anything upbeat on my blog. Most of my posts are either satirical or plain contemptuous commentary on the sad situation of the world and ppl as I see it .Let me break that monotony not just for the sake of it but because recently I came across something that made me optimistic about our future. Insignificant though it may seem to many, it is a crucial and pleasant developement .
I was leafing through the pages of Outlook magazine and I came across an article titled as Sudama’s Children (You may have to register online with OUTLOOK india though ,don't worry it is for free ... :-) )
Since now you are back to my blog after reading the whole article (if you haven’t …finish it first ,it’s worth it ),we can talk about how I felt about it.
Being brought up in Tanakpur (a far fetched place at Nepal Border in Uttaranchal, India), and after studying in government schools till my senior secondary education, I can’t help having a feeling of kinship with these children. After my intermediate examination I went to Delhi to prepare for IIT-JEE and got admission in a prominent coaching institute. So Barely 2 months after passing 12th exams from a small town I was sharing class room with people from country’s most reputed schools, (most of them being from DPS RK Puram and Ranchi,Bokaro and all the St.XYZ in Delhi).It was difficult at first and at the same time confusing .As if preparing for JEE alone wasn’t daunting enough, I suddenly found myself amongst these people having an IQ >200 and talking in a language which I I initially thought as French. Thankfully, only thing that was needed to garner respect in the class was one’s proficiency in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics which I had in sufficient supply. Still I had felt so many times like an absolute dork whenever I have to clarify a doubt in the class because of my unease with English as a medium of communication.
Somehow I survived through that period of my life and got admission to a decent engineering college (after bidding adieu to all my dreams of being an IITian). And again I found myself pitted against that convent educated junta that I always found so unbearable. This time around, I knew my Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics won’t help me and finally I took refuge in the protection of a language I hated for so long.( That hatred was nothing but my anger at my insufficiency at the language ).I did that only to survive, and now I am glad to tell you that I did.
The problem with Indian mindset is that we still associate English with the elites (after all it was once our rulers’ language). One’s social status (or ‘kool’ ness or ‘hip’ factor) is still largely decided by his proficiency in the language. In fact, without English your chances of success are very limited in conventional professions (engineering, medicine, banking and many more).Even top Hindi movie actors today prefer to speak English most of the time. I am not an anti-English activist and I know that much of Indian economic success owes itself to the large section of English speaking population we have in India. I am only saying that English is a MUST to be successful in India and more so if your father was not exactly a rich man. This is a bitter truth that most people in India are aware of, consciously or unconsciously.
All these elite schools are there to take advantage of this fact. English as a medium of instruction is used to increase one’s ease and proficiency of the language. Speaking in English in mandatory in many schools and use of regional language in most such school is a punishable offence. They have the support of the elite class of the society who believe that the school of their kids determines their social status and hence are willing to pay handsome amount of money to achieve that. Most of these schools charge monthly fee more than the monthly income of a common man. These schools no doubt provide quality education to all their students, only problem being they are out of reach of an ordinary Indian.
Government initiative to make quality education less elitist and more inclusive is welcome in all senses. It’s really difficult not to feel euphoric on seeing little kids splashing in swimming pool and realizing simultaneously that finally we are able to see a classroom without having classes of its own. Had it not been for the Government’s initiative, some of these kids would never have got the chance even to see a swimming pool, leave aside the possibility of being in one.
I know it’s too early to become hopeful, I know it’s too naïve to believe every word of this news item as it is , but I know for sure that this thing is for the good of society and its many less fortunate members. This is the ray of hope at the end of the tunnel and I am sure there is light there. Education is the power of new world order and quality education equips you to fight your own battle against injustice and misfortune.The more access the people will have, the better our future will be.
I also know it won’t be easy to overcome the biases of the elites about the poor, I know it will be difficult for some of these kids to cope and compete, but I also know that a chance of seeing them coming out from the purgatory of poverty is worth it all. They know it or will realize it soon.
This gives me hope of better and more equal society, again I know I am being naive in saying so.Nevertheless I feel this ephemeral naivity with hope is far better than the hopeless cynicism that I normally dwell into.
Hope, they say is a strange thing, it doesn’t cost you anything but worth a fortune. It is not the society with most money that will survive; rather it will be the one with HOPE, however little it may be. Period.
I was leafing through the pages of Outlook magazine and I came across an article titled as Sudama’s Children (You may have to register online with OUTLOOK india though ,don't worry it is for free ... :-) )
Since now you are back to my blog after reading the whole article (if you haven’t …finish it first ,it’s worth it ),we can talk about how I felt about it.
Being brought up in Tanakpur (a far fetched place at Nepal Border in Uttaranchal, India), and after studying in government schools till my senior secondary education, I can’t help having a feeling of kinship with these children. After my intermediate examination I went to Delhi to prepare for IIT-JEE and got admission in a prominent coaching institute. So Barely 2 months after passing 12th exams from a small town I was sharing class room with people from country’s most reputed schools, (most of them being from DPS RK Puram and Ranchi,Bokaro and all the St.XYZ in Delhi).It was difficult at first and at the same time confusing .As if preparing for JEE alone wasn’t daunting enough, I suddenly found myself amongst these people having an IQ >200 and talking in a language which I I initially thought as French. Thankfully, only thing that was needed to garner respect in the class was one’s proficiency in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics which I had in sufficient supply. Still I had felt so many times like an absolute dork whenever I have to clarify a doubt in the class because of my unease with English as a medium of communication.
Somehow I survived through that period of my life and got admission to a decent engineering college (after bidding adieu to all my dreams of being an IITian). And again I found myself pitted against that convent educated junta that I always found so unbearable. This time around, I knew my Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics won’t help me and finally I took refuge in the protection of a language I hated for so long.( That hatred was nothing but my anger at my insufficiency at the language ).I did that only to survive, and now I am glad to tell you that I did.
The problem with Indian mindset is that we still associate English with the elites (after all it was once our rulers’ language). One’s social status (or ‘kool’ ness or ‘hip’ factor) is still largely decided by his proficiency in the language. In fact, without English your chances of success are very limited in conventional professions (engineering, medicine, banking and many more).Even top Hindi movie actors today prefer to speak English most of the time. I am not an anti-English activist and I know that much of Indian economic success owes itself to the large section of English speaking population we have in India. I am only saying that English is a MUST to be successful in India and more so if your father was not exactly a rich man. This is a bitter truth that most people in India are aware of, consciously or unconsciously.
All these elite schools are there to take advantage of this fact. English as a medium of instruction is used to increase one’s ease and proficiency of the language. Speaking in English in mandatory in many schools and use of regional language in most such school is a punishable offence. They have the support of the elite class of the society who believe that the school of their kids determines their social status and hence are willing to pay handsome amount of money to achieve that. Most of these schools charge monthly fee more than the monthly income of a common man. These schools no doubt provide quality education to all their students, only problem being they are out of reach of an ordinary Indian.
Government initiative to make quality education less elitist and more inclusive is welcome in all senses. It’s really difficult not to feel euphoric on seeing little kids splashing in swimming pool and realizing simultaneously that finally we are able to see a classroom without having classes of its own. Had it not been for the Government’s initiative, some of these kids would never have got the chance even to see a swimming pool, leave aside the possibility of being in one.
I know it’s too early to become hopeful, I know it’s too naïve to believe every word of this news item as it is , but I know for sure that this thing is for the good of society and its many less fortunate members. This is the ray of hope at the end of the tunnel and I am sure there is light there. Education is the power of new world order and quality education equips you to fight your own battle against injustice and misfortune.The more access the people will have, the better our future will be.
I also know it won’t be easy to overcome the biases of the elites about the poor, I know it will be difficult for some of these kids to cope and compete, but I also know that a chance of seeing them coming out from the purgatory of poverty is worth it all. They know it or will realize it soon.
This gives me hope of better and more equal society, again I know I am being naive in saying so.Nevertheless I feel this ephemeral naivity with hope is far better than the hopeless cynicism that I normally dwell into.
Hope, they say is a strange thing, it doesn’t cost you anything but worth a fortune. It is not the society with most money that will survive; rather it will be the one with HOPE, however little it may be. Period.
