Destruction of Education

The Destruction of Education: Prabhat Patnaik

The Destruction of Education: Prabhat Patnaik

http://peoplesdemocracy.in/2015/0621_pd/destruction-education

THE NDA government’s appointment of hack loyalists to important positions in the sphere of education has rightly raised concerns about the damage being done to the education system. But this is not the sole source of danger to the system. The era of globalisation of capital brings in its train a process of destruction of education, of which in the Indian context the intrusion of communal-fascism into the sphere of education is an important additional ingredient. This process of destruction, its “how” and “why”, has to be understood in its totality.

Terry Eagleton, the British literary theorist, narrates an interesting anecdote. During a visit to South Korea where he was being shown around a university by its CEO (that is how administrative heads of universities are designated these days), after seeing the swanky gadgets and the gleaming laboratories, he wanted to see where the “critical studies” departments were located. The CEO looked baffled, turned to his aide for enlightenment without success, and then promised: “we shall look into the matter!” All over the world, the role of education for critiquing existing structures so that a more humane society can be built is being undermined. And the chief means through which this is effected is the commoditisation of education, and the associated processes of its privatisation and conversion into a sphere of profit-making.

Of course the private institutions who sell “education” as a commodity for profit, would claim that they are not actually profit-making entities, since their profits are ploughed back into the institution itself. But capitalist firms also plough back their profits, and this does not prevent their being called profit-making. So there is nothing particularly virtuous about ploughing back profits. Profits remain profits whether or not they are ploughed back; and institutions earning profits remain precisely that. They cannot be called non-profit-making just because they plough their profits back into themselves.

One implication of the commoditisation of education has been well understood and much discussed, namely that it excludes those belonging to non-affluent households from getting an education. Of course neo-liberal spokesmen advocating commoditisation of education suggest that even those belonging to non-affluent households can access education by taking student loans; but in a society with no guarantee of employment, education financed by student loans can be the precursor of mass student suicides caused by loan default, exactly the way that there have been mass peasant suicides over the last decade and half. And this very risk involved in taking loans, namely that the resources for paying them back may not be available when the time comes for doing so, would significantly deter potential students from non-affluent families from adopting this course. The conversion of education into a commodity sold by private profit-making institutions therefore has the effect of denying it to the vast majority of potential students in India, all those from non-affluent backgrounds.

But it has two other implications as well which are no less important. One is the destruction of quality. In general, education becomes a commodity when the product of education, ie, the person into whom education enters as an input, becomes a commodity. Now, of course, educated persons have been looking for employment in the “job market” for a long time; so, the “educated”, it may be thought, have become commodities for a long time, and there is nothing new about what is happening now. But this is not true. A commodity is characterised above all by the fact that for the seller it is not a use-value but a pure exchange value, the equivalent of a certain amount of money, or of a certain magnitude of command over other commodities. If the person into whom education enters as an input becomes a commodity, then that person too sees education not as a use-value but entirely as an exchange value, ie, entirely as something that enables him or her to obtain a certain sum of money on the market. And this is what has been happening of late, which underlies the commoditisation of education.

COMMODITISATION DESTROYS

CREATIVE THOUGHT

In short, when education is commoditised, it ceases to play the role of making students curious, or inquisitive or excited by the exposure to the grand world of ideas. It makes them look upon education as a capsule which they must imbibe so that they can command a better value on the job market. Commoditisation of education destroys creativity, originality, and any desire to go beyond the given, among the students. Since going beyond the given is the hallmark of creative thought, commoditisation of education destroys creative thought. And interestingly, such commoditiSation proceeds at a much faster pace, with far greater virulence in the so-called “newly-emerging” countries like India than even in the traditional bastions of capitalism, the metropolitan countries. This is partly because the former are characterised by a much more aggressive, socially climbing, and politically weighty urban middle class, and partly because, the slate being “cleaner” in the former, new “characters” can be written with much greater ease upon them.

The other implication of commoditisation of education is to make its products, the “educated”, into socially insensitive and completely self-absorbed entities, incapable of any sympathy for the toiling masses. This characteristic in fact comes particularly easily to the “educated” in a society like ours which has been marked by millennia of caste oppression and institutionalised inequality, and where looking upon the toiling masses as “inferior” is almost a habit acquired from birth.

All these characteristics of commoditisation of education serve contemporary corporate capitalism well. The massive squeeze on the working people through the expropriation and displacement of peasants and petty producers, and through an increase in unemployment, underemployment, disguised unemployment, and casual employment, which also has the effect of keeping down the real wage rate of even those few, the so-called “organised workers”, who have not yet become victims of “labour market flexibility”, does not generate the massive resistance it could and should, because it does not attract the requisite support from a socially insensitive and educationally-dumbed down urban intelligentsia. (This insensitivity would doubtless change when the middle class itself is hit by the crisis, which is both inevitable and imminent; but even when this happens, the commoditisation of education would still act in the direction of dampening resistance).

But even though commoditisation of education serves neo-liberal capitalism well, by generally keeping down any intellectual challenge to it, in a period of crisis, such as now, the resistance of the working people builds up nonetheless. To meet this resistance, an alliance with “communal-fascism” becomes necessary for the globalised corporate-financial oligarchy. Such a “corporate-communal alliance” is precisely what underlies the present NDA dispensation. The engineering of “communal” riots, and the bringing about of a “communal” polarisation in crucial regions of the country such as Uttar Pradesh, together of course with the massive bankrolling of its election campaign by the corporate-financial oligarchy, is what brought the NDA to power in 2014. And having come to power it is busy trying to pay back its corporate patrons through cuts in welfare expenditures on the poor, through the “land grab” ordinance (which has already been promulgated three times in contravention of all parliamentary procedures), and through imminent legislation enforcing “labour market flexibility”. As a part of this alliance, the “communal-fascist” forces also get the opportunity to bring their personnel and their ideology into the education system.

The destruction of education in short occurs from two directions, the commoditisation of education, and the “communalisation” of education. The co-existence of these two tendencies in the sphere of education is the counterpart in the realm of education of the corporate-communal alliance that is holding sway in the sphere of the polity. And there is no contradiction between these two tendencies, of commoditisation and “communalisation”.

This may appear strange at first sight. Are we not supposed to be in a “knowledge economy” for which a revamping of higher education is required? And surely such a revamping cannot occur if Hindutva pebbles are being put into the heads of the “knowledge gatherers”, if the distinction between mythology and history is being obliterated, if a contempt for the poor and the marginalised is being implicitly inculcated in them. Surely it is in the interests of corporate capital itself to rein in the Hindutva forces and arrest the process of “communalisation” of education.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

This argument however, and indeed much of the talk of a “knowledge economy”, misses an important distinction, namely the distinction between “knowledge” and “skills”. “Knowledge” in the sense of a critical engagement with the world of ideas is not what corporate capital in countries like ours wants. The absence of such knowledge may hold back fundamental research in the natural sciences, but then we can always import the products of such research from the metropolitan countries. Neither corporate capital of the country, nor imperialism, is particularly interested in the promotion of fundamental research within the country, the former because it considers such research unnecessary (it prefers to import the outcome of such research from the metropolis), and the latter because it is interested in preserving the intellectual hegemony of the metropolis (and the intellectual parasitism of countries like ours upon the metropolis). And as far as the social sciences and the humanities are concerned, knowledge in the sense of a critical engagement with the world of ideas is a positively dangerous thing from the perspective of the corporate-communal alliance, for it can only breed Marxist, Ambedkarite, progressive-nationalist, secular-democratic, and women’s liberationist ideas, all of which appear, both to corporate capital and to the Hindutva forces, as part of a “red menace”. (It is interesting that the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle, which the Chennai IIT briefly tried to ban to placate the ministry of human resource development, was portrayed in some quarters as being a “red outfit”.)

Corporate capital requires “skills” (as distinct from “knowledge”) which should be available cheap. International capital requires “skilled personnel” in countries like ours who can boost its profits by the lower wages they get compared to similar skilled workers in the metropolitan economies. But the development of “knowledge” in the sense of having institutions where students engage critically with the world of ideas, is distinctly unwelcome, even though the jargon continues to be about the coming into being of a “knowledge economy”.

It is significant that almost every document prepared by the NDA government on education emphasises the need for privatisation, and for a “public-private partnership”. This is precisely because privatisation of education sits well with the “communalisation” of education.

There is a further point here. Both in the government sector, where the “fiscal crunch” is adduced as the reason, and in the private sector where profit-making demands it anyway, the tendency is to have untenured, temporary, or “guest” faculty that is paid a pittance but is worked intensively. The tendency in short is to have a dualism within the faculty, with a few well-paid professors on the one side and an army of underpaid “subaltern” teachers on the other. This again works well for the corporate-communal alliance: the well-paid professors, thrilled with their salary and status and scared of losing them, would be circumspect about adopting any critical stance vis-à-vis the establishment; and the overworked “subaltern” teachers would be victims of insecurity anyway and hence easily cowed down. The erection of such a conformist, dualistic structure however only contributes further towards a destruction of education.

PPP IN EDUCATION IN RAJASTHAN

PPP IN EDUCATION IN RAJASTHAN

NEW DELHI: Thirty academics, educationists and activists have signed an open letter to the Rajasthan chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, explaining to her why they think relying on private parties to fix problems in school education is a bad idea. They begin by stating that the draft Policy for Public Private Partnerships in School Education 2015, posted on the state government's website for comments, "is misguided" go on to list the reasons why.

1. "It is based on faulty premises"

"The policy appears to be formulated on the assumption that government-run schools are by definition incapable of providing good quality education, inefficient and incapable of innovation. Both current research and grassroots experience paint a different picture," they write. The letter reminds that "private schools do not automatically deliver quality education. In fact vast numbers of them do not" and that as examples of what the government can achieve in education if it has the will, stand the Kendriya Vidyalayas. Multiple studies compare the learning achievement levels of governments school kids unfavourably with those of private school ones but the letter points out that "there is considerable evidence that private schools fail to outperform government schools, in which, as in government schools, the demographic and income background of students is controlled." They cite findings of the study by the Azim Premji Foundation in Andhra Pradeshthat states, "contrary to general perception, fee-charging private schools are not able to ensure better learning for children from disadvantaged rural sections as compared to government schools" and the global DFID review of the functioning of private schools that they say, "similarly highlights the ambiguities entailing the true effects of private schools."

"The draft policy on PPP is silent on the question of equity in the educational system. Past research suggests that the greatest risk in an educational system with a high reliance on private providers is accentuation of inequalities and loss of social cohesion. This risk cannot be ignored," says the letter dated July 9..

The group also challenges the popular view that private schools are more innovative saying, "The 2015 UNESCO Global Monitoring Report states that worldwide public schools may have more scope to be innovative with the curriculum while private schools are more wedded to parent demands for good examination results," says the letter.

"Given what we know about the clear connection between access to resources for education and learning outcomes, the large number of children out of school in Rajasthan, and the facilities gap in the state, it is unclear why the government of Rajasthan seeks to argue for lowering input costs. One of the key reasons why our education system is underperforming is the extremely low levels of investment in the public education system. Furthermore, we would like to bring to your notice that the expenditure made by the state government in elementary level of education is little above 3% of Gross State Domestic Product and per-student expenditure by the government is much less in Rajasthan than in other states. At a time when only 7.4 % of schools in Rajasthan comply with the provisions of the RTE Act- what is called for is a massive additional investment in the schooling system in the state and not a false feeling of fatalism that change is not possible," says the letter.

2. It violates other laws, policies

The second argument is that it is likely illegal. "It ...runs counter to the Indian Constitution and domestic law, the 86th Amendment of the Constitution and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 that makes education up to the elementary level a responsibility and legal obligation of the state government. It represents a retreat from the obligations assumed by the state government to ensure to the children of Rajasthan a legal right to a good quality education to be provided by the state," they say. The state's performance in delivering education has been hopelessly low. Using data from District Information System for Education -- the only system tracking with varying success the compliance to the RTE Act -- they point out that "Rajasthan has the highest number (in absolute numbers) of out-of-school-children in India, ranks fourth among the Indian states with respect to use of child labour." "As per the recent Socio Economic and Caste Census, 2011, Rajasthan has the highest number of illiterates in the country. Its transition rate in secondary education is likewise below the national average." Privatisation, say the authors of the letter, will not help Rajasthan perform better on any of these parameters; they believe that this policy signals an abdication of responsibility; where the state should've done much more, it is preparing grounds for doing even less.

The proposed policy "violates the provisions of the RTE Act in several ways." It seems to propose charging fees for one of the PPP models while the RTE Act clearly mandates that elementary education in government schools will be free. "The policy proposes that the medium of instruction will be determined by the private entities whereas the RTE Act states that the medium of instruction at the primary level must be the mother tongue. The proposed policy also leaves it to the private entities to provide teaching and non- teaching staff and determine the affiliation of schools. All of these form a part of the state responsibility as per the RTE Act. The RTE Act clearly provides that all teachers must be trained and that state has the responsibility of training all the untrained teachers within five years. The policy is silent on the issue of teacher training," says the letter. School Management Committees -- the first layer in the monitoring mechanism put in place by the RTE Act and crucial for the "micro-level" management of schools, doesn't even get a mention. "The proposed policy lacks scope for community participation and has no provisions for the larger engagement of the community and civil society within education processes."

The authors also observe that privatisation "runs contrary to established national and international human rights law." The last two reports of the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Education, made to the General Assembly (September, 2014) and Human Rights Council (June, 2015) have both seriously discouraged states from either relying on private players for education, funding private players or even letting them operate without proper regulation. "Indeed, a resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, which was supported by India in Geneva last week recognized that growing privatization and commercialization of education constitutes a danger to the realization of the right to education. Thus, the policy of the government of Rajasthan runs counter to international human rights law and to the stand taken by the Government of India in the international forum," says the letter.

3. There's a "dangerous lack of detail" with respect to regulation, standards, pre-requisites

The authors have noted "a dangerous lack of detail" in the draft and fear the blanks left will "lead to corrupt practices and poor quality." "For example," they write, "the policy provides that handing over of schools to private entities on a first come first serve basis and not necessarily on the basis of proven ability to manage schools, efficiency etc. There seems to be a total lack of transparency in several key aspects such as selection of schools, identification of children, methods of appraisal of PPP proposals and standards to be followed," they write. Making just about everyone eligible to run a school without vetting also "makes it hard to understand and monitor what is being agreed upon."

4. It fails to learn from past experience

"By stressing that the fees paying and fees free students will be taught in the same classrooms, the policy opens the students to discrimination in terms of access to school facilities," says the letter. And observing that "no educational system in the world in history has ever ensured universalization of education through reliance on private providers," they write, "there is no reason to believe that Rajasthan can be an exception to this historical trend."

Communalisation of Education

Communalisation of Education

Education is used as a means for ideological indoctrination by the RSS and BJP, for communalising the entire society to dovetail their strategy of establishing a Hindu Rashtra. After the BJP had come to power with a majority of its own and Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister, it is once again into corrupting young brains. Using education to corrupt the future generations is an art that Hitler had perfected with the phrase, 'catch them young'. The Nazis had changed the entire educational syllabus to pursue their agenda of racial hatred and Aryan supremacy. It is the same phrase and similar ideology that inspires RSS and BJP to use education as a tool to indoctrinate the young minds with communal venom.

Leaders of the BJP are on record announcing their intention to change the textbooks and syllabus. Former BJP president and present Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu explicitly stated as early as last year (June 23, 2013) that “it (the BJP) will change textbook syllabi, if it returns to power”. He was unapologetic of their efforts for the same during their first stint in power: “We tried to do this earlier too and will try it again”. Now that they are back in power, with a majority of their own in the Lok Sabha and unhindered by the 'push and pulls' of coalition politics, they want to ensure that it is implemented this time.

Rajnath Singh, the Union Home Minister and who was the president of the Party till recently, indicated so much in Rajya Sabha on July 23, 2014. Speaking in Rajya Sabha on rising crime in the country, he stated: “there is need to inculcate values in the public to bring about a perception change”, and that “it had been proposed that school textbooks be changed in order to ensure that children were made aware of human values and life values”.

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani made a statement that a State-wise and region-wise national debate would be initiated for a course correction of the country’s education policy. Speaking in Hyderabad at a symposium titled 'Restructuring of our education system with Bharatiya perspective of values',she said: “The national education policy was formulated in 1986. For an India of new aspirations and possibilities in 2014, a new education policy was required to build a resurgent nation which would be stronger, resilient and humane”.

All of them, products from the RSS stable, are indeed paying their dues to the RSS, which had mentored the BJP. Encouraged by the electoral success of the BJP, RSS and its affiliates have now put their 'people' at work to ensure that the 'political change' that had taken place at the government-level is translated into a 'social and cultural change'. It is hence they want to initiate changes in the entire education system and had already met theHRD minister six times directing her the changes they intend to bring in the education system. Dinanath Batra, National President of the RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN) and notorious for the role he had played at communalising education during BJP's earlier stint in power, unambiguously stated: “Political change has taken place, now there should be total revamp of education”.

Batra clearly indicates the direction of this change: “Education in India is neither Indian nor a real education...A nationalistic education system has to be developed to address the requirements and through this we have to develop a young generation that is committed to Hindutva and nationalist”. Batra confidently states: “The reforms that I have been suggesting are already being incorporated by the new government”.

The reforms suggested by Batra demand a thorough revision of the socio-cultural history of our country. Batra, representing the RSS, wants history to be taught not on the basis of facts, but on the basisof myths and concocted stories.

Batra wants the reform to start with the language used in the textbooks. He wants certain words to be barred from usage in the textbooks, not because they are not in common usage, but because they are Urdu words. Instead, he wants them to be replaced by Sanskrit, which none understands today.

For him, the usage of words: “mushkil' (difficult), dost (friend), gussa (anger), shararat (naughtiness), khabardar (to warn), gayab (vanish), saal (year), mohalla (colony), mauka (occasion), aksar (often), should not be used because they are polluting the vocabulary (Batra's memorandum submitted to the Union HRD minister).

Fantasy As History

To understand the other changes he prescribes, a cursory glance at the nine textbooks –eight ofwhich are authored by Batra himself –that were distributed to the 42,000 primary and secondary schools in Gujarat is necessary. One of them, Tejomay Bharat, published by the Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB) “seeks to teach children facts abouthistory, science, geography, religion and other basics”. Excerpts from this book, are enough to enlighten us about the direction that Batra wants Indian education to take:

 America wants to take the credit for invention of stem cell research, but the truthis that India’s Dr Balkrishna Ganpat Matapurkar has already got a patent for regenerating body parts….You would be surprised to know that this research is not new and that Dr Matapurkar was inspired by the Mahabharata. Kunti had a bright son like the sun itself. When Gandhari, who had not been able to conceive for two years, learnt of this, she underwent an abortion. From her womb a huge mass of flesh came out. (Rishi) Dwaipayan Vyas was called. He observed this hard mass of flesh and then he preserved it in a cold tank with specific medicines. He then divided the mass of flesh into 100 parts and kept them separately in 100 tanks full of ghee for two years. After two years, 100 Kauravas were born of it. On reading this, he (Matapurkar) realised that stem cell was not his invention. This was found in India thousands of years ago. –Page 92-93.

 Indian rishis using their yog vidya would attain divya drishti. There is no doubt that the invention of television goes back to this… In Mahabharata, Sanjaya sitting inside a palace in Hastinapur and using his divya shakti would give a live telecast of the battle of Mahabharata… to the blind Dhritarashtra –Page 64

 What we know today as the motorcar existed during the Vedic period. It was called anashva rath. Usually a rath (chariot) is pulled by horses but an anashva rath means the one that runs without horses or yantra-rath, what is today a motorcar. The Rig Veda refers to this. –Page 60

Prime minister Narendra Modi, a staunch RSS activist endorsed these views not onlyby writing an appreciating foreword for all these books, but also talking in the same lines in a public function in Mumbai. He said: “We can feel proud of what our country achieved in medical science at one point of time. We all read about Karna in Mahabharat...Mahabharat says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time”. And even more: “We worship Lord Ganesh. There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time who got an elephant’s head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery”.

If this what they want to project as India's contribution to world civilisation and part of our historical heritage, no wonder the entire world will laugh at it, as none of this stands to rational scrutiny. It is indeed also part of a conscious effort to negate the great rationalist traditions of ancient India. For example, in ancient India, we had the great proponent of medical sciences, Susruta, who had advocated surgery as a remedy to cure various illness and body deformities. We also had Varahamihira and Brahmagupta two famous astronomers who found out the true causes of lunar and solar eclipses. The RSS and BJP do not want to project these people and their achievements as a contribution to world civilisation because, they had propagated rationalist philosophy and in the process went against many ancient Brahminical law texts. The RSS and BJP hence cannot accept the real contributions made by ancient India and instead is keen on inventing myths that do not stand to rational scrutiny. That is the reason why our eminent historians rubbish this entire project. Professor Romila Thapar called it “not history, but fantasy”, while Professor

Irfan Habib reacted by saying “The contents are so absurd that any reaction would seem superfluous”.

Batra wants the references to MF Hussein deleted from the NCERT textbooks and also of poet Avtar Singh Pash. He is unapologetic about the reasons: Hussein “had depicted Bharat Mata in the nude” and Pash “talks of class struggle, untouchability and social inequality”.

Batra, unruffled by all the criticisms and unconcerned about the future, in one of the eight textbooks that were mentioned earlier openly advocates that a child should join in the RSS shakha: “Keeping a good friend circle is not enough. To keep it faultless, a good company is also required. This means a company of saints and learned people. The student that goes to an RSS shakha daily, he finds miraculous change in his life”.

RSS way of life prescribes Adhyatmik Bharat, which identifies only Hinduism as the road to spirituality and considers the practitioners of all other religions as second grade citizens, not on par with the Hindus. Rabid religious intolerance is preached in the Tejomay Bharat: “An alienreligion is a source of sorrow”. What these alien religions are, is clear –Islam and Christianity. To breed this intolerance and destroy the syncretic culture of our country, they want to distort history and feed it to children right from their primary school. And it is not just history, but even geography too is distorted to realise their grand design of building a 'Hindu rashtra'. It talks about Akhand Bharat, which geographically subsumes all our neighbouring countries.

The RSS, BJP and the Sangh Parivar today are advocating a pan-Hindu identity, subsuming the identities of all other castes to serve their ideological dream of establishing a Hindu rashtra. But this does not mean that they intend to treat all the castes on par or that they had given away on the chatur varnasystem. The books written by Batra clearly gives away their nuanced positions through the terms used –India is a 'shudra' name, a lowly term, which should not be used. The intolerance professed by the RSS and its cohorts thus extends towards 'other' races, 'other' gender and everything 'other' than what they are –upper-caste, Hindu supremacist and patriarchal.

Distorting History To Woo Dalits

The RSS and the BJP now sensing an opportunity to cement their hold on State power are willingto go to any lengths to realise their goal of establishing a Hindu-rashtra. To serve their political purpose of wooing dalits into their fold, they want to write off the oppressive nature of the caste system and attribute all its ills to the ‘foreign invaders’, read Muslims.

Bhayyaji Joshi, the supposed number 2 in RSS hierarchy in his foreword to one of the books written by a BJP leader, part of their project of historical distortions, states that ‘sudras’were never untouchables and it was due to ‘Islamic atrocities’ during the medieval age that led to the emergence of dalits and untouchables. “To violate Hindu swabhiman(dignity) of Chanwarvanshiya Kshatriyas, foreign invaders from Arab, Muslim rulers and beef-eaters, forced them to do abominable works like killing cows, skinning them and throwing their carcasses in deserted places. Foreign invaders thus created a caste of charma-karma(dealing with skin) by giving such works as punishment to proud Hindu prisoners”.

In another foreword, Suresh Soni, another BJP leader, writes: “Dalits had their genesis during Turks, Muslims and Mughal eras. Today’s castes like Valmikis, Sudarshan, Majhabi Sikhs and their 624 sub-castes came into being as a result of atrocities against Brahmins and Kshatriyasduring Medieval or Islamic age.”

What Says The Dharmasutras?

To counter the slanders propagated by the RSS/BJP lie-factory, let us relook at some of our ancient historical sources. Jaiminiya Brahmana, a later vedic text dated between 1000-500 BC stated that sudrais created from the feet of Prajapatiwithout any god and therefore the lords of the house are his gods and he is to earn his living by washing their feet (sudroanustupchandavesmapatidevas; tasmad u padavanejyenaiva jijivisati). The Dharmasutras of this periodexplicitly state that it is the

duty of sudrato serve the three higher varnas and all of them had general social control over them. Apastambastates that the food brought by an impure sudracannot be taken by a brahminand is compared to food which is looked at by a dog or an apapatrato whose class belongs the patita(outcast) and candala. This, in itself, shows the presence of untouchability during those times, long before the advent or invasions of Arab, Turks or Muslims.

According to GautamaDharmasutra, a son begotten by a sudra on a woman of unequal caste was considered as patitaand the origin of many varnasamkaracastes were traced to such marriages. In fact, it is progeny from such marriages who were considered to be the source of mixed-castes, many of whom were relegated to the position of untouchables. These people of lower castes were subjected to severe social oppression too. Apastamba Dharmasutra says that recitation of vedas should be stopped in the presence of sudraand particularly before candala. The Vinaya Pitaka(600-300 BC) refers to five low occupations (hinasippani) of the nalakara(bamboo worker), the kumbhakara(potter), the pesakara(weaver), the chammakara(leather worker) and the nahapita(the barber). Note the mention of chammakara, which according to the text is universally looked upon with contempt. Even the early Pali texts often mention the five despised castes –the candala, the mnsada, the vena, the rathakara and the pukkusa–as nica kula(low castes) or hina jati(inferiorbirths).

These texts also prescribe the social attitude of the society towards the candalas.Apastambaholds that to touch and see a candalais sinful. Pali texts too clearly describe them as untouchables. Jataka texts describe them as the meanest men on earth and even a contact with the air that touched a candalawas considered as pollution. Kautilya in his Arthasastra considers candalato be a despised caste and the tank of water used by them could not be used by anybody else. Conversely, they were barred from using water from tanks meant for other castes. It should be remembered here that all the texts quoted here are prior to the Manu's Smriti which itself is dated between BC 200-AD300.

Manu in his laws prescribes the punishments for violation of socialorder. He counts most of the off-springs of mixed-castes as untouchables, who were supposed to live outside the villages, near burial grounds, on mountains and in groves. He equates the candalaswith village pigs, dogs and cocks, who were forbidden from watching the brahmanaperforming sraddha ceremony. He forbids the upper castes to even give grain with their own hands. Notice the mention of pigs here and there is also a Buddhist text of the same period which talks of a caste samkarikas(pork butchers), which means that rearing of pigs is a practice prevalent during this period, contrary to what the RSS wants us to believe.

An interesting feature of this period is that while many texts mention the separate identity of sudrasand candalas, some like Amarakosamention them in the same category. Whatever be their place of mention, one thing that comes out sharply from a reading of our ancient historical sources is the existence of candalasand untouchablity –a practice continuing till date and exclusively confined to dalits. Going by evidence, it only comes out that the number of untouchables and the practice of untouchability further crystallised during the Gupta period –considered to be the golden age of Hinduism. Travellers to India like Fa Hsien and poetslike Kalidasa too mention their prevalence. And all of this is well before the establishment of ‘Muslim’ rule in India or as the RSS calls it “Turks, Muslims and Mughal era”.

Indian history and historiography have well documented these facts to call the RSS/BJP bluff. They have also recorded various reformers and  reform movements who had challenged the caste system and discrimination based on it. These traditions can be traced long back into our ancient history and continue into the modern period. RSS andBJP were never supportive of these movements or traditions. Golwalkar, the ideological guru of the RSS, writes in his Bunch of Thoughtsthat the Buddhists tried to destroy India’s ancient heritage as they had criticised the caste system and challenged thehegemony of Brahmins. He presents the Buddhists as ‘traitors’ and equates Buddhism with 'darkness'. Even in the modern period, RSS and the BJP kept away from social reform movements against caste discrimination and oppression and had expressed their preference

towards Manu dharma, which openly advocates the chaturvarnasystem.

In order to derive legitimacy to their ideas and political project, they are now bent upon to demolish the entire rational historiographical tradition and build upon it a tradition of bigotry and hatred based on utter falsehoods. The intention behind this deliberate distortion is clear. One, to cater to the growing identity consciousness among dalits and other socially oppressed sections and try to assuage them by showing that they too have a ‘higher lineage.’ Two, this is then linked to their ‘fall from grace’ and present their oppressed status to an external factor –Muslims. And it isn’t for nothing that the BJP is consciously targeting dalits in Uttar Pradesh and fomenting communaltensions against Muslims.

The RSS has now embarked on a gigantic project to rewrite the history of all the ‘670’ districts of our country basing themselves on the puranas. It seems they have discovered hundreds of ‘new’ puranasfor the purpose. Left to their own means, to suit their political agenda they will not shy away from even tinkering with the already known puranas to suit their vested interests. The Sanskrit department of the Delhi University, totally unrelated to the study of history, wants to join these efforts.

Saffronisation Of Textbooks At States

Last year, many instances of extensive saffronisation of textbooks, specifically history and social science textbooks in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and other States (as cited by theCentral Advisory Board of Education (CABE) Committee of 2005 on non-governmental textbooks taught in private schools, chaired by Professor Zoya Hasan) were reported.

It has by now become a common feature that history becomes a hotly contested discipline whenever the BJP comes to power, either at the state level or at the Centre. The National Focus Group on Gender Issues in Education, set up by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 2006, pointedly stated: “While communal perspectives have been present in textbooks in earlier periods too, studies done of textbooks rewritten from this perspective, for example in Gujarat, highlight their ready potential to contribute to a culture of divisiveness between religious communities. While boys are subject to acute pressures of militant masculinity, the roles of women and girls are further represented as circumscribed by the community and they are portrayed primarily as upholders of tradition and family values. The National Curriculum Framework (2000) undid a lot of the gains of NPE 1986. By locating religion as an important source of value generation in education, it furthered the role of religion in defining ideals and norms for women and girls”.

In Karnataka, the Committee for Resisting Saffronisation of Textbooks (CRST) was instrumental in pointing out instances in textbooks that strengthened stereotypes of Muslims and Christians and subdued the voices of women, dalits and non-Vedic traditions. The committee expressed concern about “right-wing ideology” being circulated in textbooks. One of its reports pointed out that while condemning oppression by Europeans, the textbooks concealed the oppression of dalits by the “upper caste”. It said that textbooks referred to six major terrorist attacks but made no reference to “saffron terrorism” such as the Samjhauta Express blast in February 2007. The failure to explain non-inclusion of non-vegetarian food, the link between the caste system and untouchability, and the failure of Indian writers to chronicle the history of the country are also referred to in the report.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP government had issued circulars for teaching Bhagavad Gita in schools and madarasas, by making it a part of the Urdu textbooks. It had also issued similar circulars asking all the schools to compulsorily subscribe to the RSS journal Deva puttar and ensure that it is read by the students. Also surya namaskarasare made compulsory in schools.

Freedom Struggle And The RSS

Thus as we are seeing, RSS and BJP do notstop at ancient history. In order to make themselves presentable, they distort medieval and even modern history too. Subramaniam Swamy, a BJP leader in an article that he had written, presents their mindset. Fighting the case for Hindutva fraternity's

participation in the freedom struggle, he states, one: “may, therefore, not have heard of Veer Savarkar who changed the outlook of generations of Indians with his book The Indian War of Independence —1857. He might not have heard either of his great sacrifices in Andaman jail or his heroic escape from the British in Europe. Nor would he know about Hemu Vikramaditya or the great renaissance of the Vijayanagar Empire or the thorough beating the third Caliphate armies received on Rajasthan border at the hands ofthe Gujarat Prajapati dynasty and the Maharashtra-Andhra Chalukya Empire”. Thus he tries his hand at brewing a new 'concoction' of history. One need not have any problem if the 'concoction' is based on facts, but this is brewed at the risk of vulgarisation, to satisfy his political and ideological commitments.

Here Swamy is making an attempt to equate the wars between various rulers in the medieval period with the anti-colonial freedom struggle against the British. This attempt is being made with an explicit purpose to show that Muslims are outsiders/foreigners against whom the Hindus waged a 'freedom struggle'. This is intended to serve the purpose of RSS brigade which is intent to portray Muslims as non-Indians. Remember that recently a BJP, MLA in the newly created Telangana state had questioned the patriotic credentials of one of our famous tennis personalities, because she is a Muslim.

It is this narrative of 'us' and 'ours' versus 'others' and 'outsiders' that the BJP and RSS want to build upon to continue with their policy of dividing the country on communal lines. This division is being promoted to ensure that there arises no resistance to their rabid perusal of neo-liberal economic policies. Coincidentally, this is the line that was pursued by the British too, not only through their policy of divide and rule but by communalising Indian history. It is indeed the British historians who had started dividing Indian history into 'Muslim period' and 'Hindu period'. So if at all there are any progenies of Macaulay surviving in India, they belong to the RSS and the BJP.

The English fortnightly Frontline,had carried out extensive reports about the 'role' played by Savarkar in the freedom struggle, the 'hardships' he had encountered in the cellular jail in Andamans. It is necessary to recall substantially from that body of work as more than a decade had passed and the new generation needs to be told the real story. Alas, as long as the RSS and their cohorts believe that spreading a lie repeatedly makes it a truth, it is imperative upon us to repeat the truth to the nth time so that it does not get buried underneath the falsities they propound.

Savarkar reached the Andamans in 1911 and before the year ended, he appealed for clemency and again in 1913. In his second clemency petition of November 24, 1913, he wrote: “In the end I remind your honour to be so good as to go through the petition for clemency, that I had sent in 1911, and to sanction it for being forwarded to the Indian government? The latest development of the Indian politics and the conciliating policy of the government have thrown open the constitutional line once more. Now no man having the good of India and humanity at heart will blindly step on the thorny paths which in the excited and hopeless situation of India in 1906-1907 beguiled us from the path of peace and progress. Therefore if the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me, I for one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English Government, which is the foremost condition of that progress...  Moreover, my conversion to the constitutional line would bring back all those misled young men in India and abroad who were once looking up to me as their guide...The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the government”? This is 'Veer' Savarkar!

Compare this with Bhagat Singh who expressed his strongest displeasure to his father against seeking pardon and onecan understand the difference. Moreover, Bhagat Singh, unlike Savarkar was a staunch critic of using religion for political purposes. He derides communal forces in no mean terms and asks the newspapers: “to educate, to cleanse the minds of people, to savethem from narrow sectarian divisiveness, and to eradicate communal feelings to promote the idea of common nationalism”. Bhagat Singh is an advocate of socialism and many of his friends, carrying forward his legacy, had joined the Left movement in the country, in their later days.

Savarkar after his release from the jail remained aloof from the national movement throughout and even advocated against the participation in the anti-colonial struggle. He propagated the Hindutva, the theory of 'cultural nationalism' as adopted by the RSS now and was a staunch supporter of the two-nation theory. No wonder that he was also accused in the murder of Gandhiji, who was opposed to the division of the country on religious lines. Let us here note what the then Union Home minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel, whom the BJP is not tired of eulogising, wrote about the assassination case. Stating that he kept a daily touch with the progress of investigation, he notes: “It was the financial wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy and saw it through”. That is Savarkar, whom the BJP wants us to idolise! Savarkar and Bhagat Singh are chalk and cheese, indeed. Of course, BJP is trying to distort even Bhagat Singh and his works. It is trying hard to appropriate him and malign him by attributing communal motives.

Attempts To Erase Indian Diversity

Sangh Parivar is bringing out a weird argument to deny the Indian diversity. “It has been established that most Indians have the same DNA profile irrespective of caste, religion or region. Yet we find our text books talking about India being multi-ethnic”. It is good that at least here they are accepting that there is basically no difference between human beings and irrespective of caste, religion and region all are equal. However, that goes against their basic principles as then they have to explain as to why was the caste system created or how did it evolve in our country over the ages. They have to do a lot of explaining as to why Muslims should be hated by the Hindus, when they share the same DNA. All these, they cannot do, simply because it goes against the grain of their ideology and does not serve their political purpose. Their revered guru Golwalkar is clear, when he unambiguously stated: “The foreign races (all non-Hindus, according to them) must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country only subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment –not even citizen’s rights”. Thus, what the RSS really means by denying the Indian diversity is, to warn all those non-upper caste, non-Hindus to adopt the lifestyle they prescribe.

The RSS of course cannot be credited to be the innovator of this great art of “moulding history to suit political goals”, for the Nazis, history “always remained a tool or even better a weapon” to be wielded in “pursuit of political goals”. What the RSS indeed is doing today is carrying forward these reactionary ideals in pursuit of their goal of converting ‘Democratic, Secular, Socialist, Republic of India’ into an avowedly Hindu-rashtra.

The problem for the RSS and its associates in realising their aim is the strong syncretic historical tradition of India and, more importantly, the heterogeneous nature of what theyconsider as a unitary religious belief system –Hinduism. It is this presence of varied, often-at-odds groups in ‘Hinduism’ that they find to be the chief impediment in creating a ‘pan-Hindu’ identity. To overcome this handicap, the RSS is attempting to unite these groups by posing a perceived external threat as a danger to their belief system.

In order to ensure a theoretical justification for their efforts, they want to re-write textbooks and communalise our entire education system. It has been reported that they had recently organised a conclave of over 100 ‘historians’, to ‘discuss historiography and changes required to give a proper perspective’. It is evident that they are more interested in propagation of an ideology rather than commitment to intellectual honesty. What these intended changes are and the perspective is, one had seen in the textbooks prescribed for reference in all schools in Gujarat.

Apart from using their grip over State power to corrupt education system, the Sangh Parivar today runs one of the extensive network of educational institutes all over the country. It founded its first Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh in 1952 and today has come a long way from that 'humble beginning'.

Shishu Mandir has today grown into Vidya Bharati, an umbrella body for thousands of educational institutions based on Hindu values, from the nursery to universities, even running various teacher training institutes. Many of these institutes, whose syllabus is completely against the basic grains of our Constitution are funded by the BJP governments in the states where they are in power. Now after acquiring a hold on the central government, it wants to use these public resources to further its sectarian agenda.

Thus as we find all through, it is their desire to hegemonise the society and maintain their hold over political power that they are distorting facts and manufacturing lies. Education is always viewed by the ruling classes as a means for indoctrination –to ensure that the people (subjects)do not challenge the status quo of the social system. Children are considered as 'little boxes', where after formal schooling, “they all come out the same”, to serve the interests of the ruling classes.

BJP and RSS, wants to yield power to indoctrinate the young minds so that 'they all come out the same' and serve their objective of converting our country into a rabidly intolerant Hindu rashtra. What the BJP claims as history is nothing but sheer advocacy. It is upon us to expose the hollowness of the “product” they are trying to “sell”. All those who “conceive the contemporary world as a synthesis of the past, of all past generations, which projects itself into the future”, should join the struggle to resist the attempts to distort history and indoctrinatethe present. The struggle is not over textbooks and education only, it is for our present and our future.

GOOD TEACHER

GOOD TEACHER

What are the most valuable qualities of a good teacher? Good teachers are made up of a combination of hundreds of qualities that allow them do their job effectively. There is no denying that all teachers have their own unique blend of these qualities. Each teacher is different, but virtually every good teacher has some combination of these twenty-five most essential qualities.

A good teacher is accountable.

Accountable – Holding yourself to the same expectations and standards as you hold your students.

A teacher cannot have double standards. For example, if you do not allow your students to chew gum in your class, then you should not chew gum either.

A good teacher is adaptable.

Adaptable – Making changes to lessons or activities on the fly because of an unforeseen situation or problem.

A teacher must be willing to change. If half the class does not understand a particular concept, then you cannot move on and must quickly come up with a better way to teach that concept.

A good teacher is caring.

Caring – Going the extra mile to ensure that every student is successful no matter what.

A teacher must figure out the personalities and interest of each student and incorporate components that connect with each individual.

A good teacher is compassionate.

Compassionate – Recognizing that your students have problems outside of school, and making the necessary adjustment to help them through those issues.

A teacher must take outside factors into consideration. For example, if a student has just lost a loved one, the teacher should be sensitive to that and adjust accordingly.

A good teacher is cooperative.

Cooperative – The ability to work effectively with administrators, other teachers, and parents for the good of your students.

A teacher must be able to build cooperative relationships with others around them even if they do not necessarily like them.

A good teacher is creative.

Creative – Taking a concept and shaping a lesson that is unique, engaging, and dynamic.

A teacher must be able to create lessons that grab their students’ attention and make them want to keep coming back for more.

A good teacher is dedicated.

Dedicated – Showing up everyday and spending the necessary time to provide your students with the best education.

Teachers often arrive early and stay late. They work parts of weekends and summer to ensure that they are prepared.

A good teacher is determined.

Determined – Finding any means necessary to reach all students no matter the challenge.

Teachers must be willing to do anything to ensure that all students receive the education they need.

A good teacher is empathetic.

Empathetic– Being sensitive to a student’s struggles even though you may not personally be able to relate to them.

A teacher must put themselves in the student’s shoes and see it from their perspective. This approach is often transcending in how to help the child succeed.

A good teacher is engaging.

Engaging – The ability to grab the attention of a classroom full of students and to maintain their attention throughout the entirety of class.

A teacher must create lessons that are fun, fresh, and energetic. You want your student to walk out of your class each day looking forward to the next.

A good teacher is evolving.

Evolving – A continuous process of year over year improvement and growth.

A teacher must continuously look for ways to improve themselves as well as individual lessons or components of lessons.

A good teacher is fearless.

Fearless – Trying a new approach that may be outside the norm and may receive criticism or scrutiny.

A teacher must be willing to try anything within the parameters of school policy to reach their students. They must also be ready to defend their approach to criticism.

A good teacher is forgiving.

Forgiving – Quickly putting incidents with student, parents, or other teachers behind you so that it does not impact your teaching.

Teachers must be able to get past hurtful actions or accusations quickly. They must not hold it against any student or let it impact how they teach in the classroom.

A good teacher is generous.

Generous – Volunteering for extra assignments and/or giving money out of your own pocket for classroom needs or individual student needs.

Teachers do not make enough money, but most teachers are willing to donate time and/or money to help out in areas where a need is recognized.

A good teacher has grit.

Grit – The determination to overcome any obstacle in the way of obtaining a long term goal.

A teacher must possess the grit necessary to make the personal sacrifices necessary to ensure that every goal is reached every year.

A good teacher is inspirational.

Inspirational – The ability of a teacher to get their students to buy into, believe in, and to be motivated to become life long learners.

A teacher should make a lasting inspirational impact that follows a student throughout their life.

A good teacher is joyful.

Joyful – Coming to class each day in a good mood, excited, and enthusiastic about doing your job.

If the teacher has a lousy attitude, the students are going to have lousy attitudes. If the teacher is joyful, the students are going to be joyful.

A good teacher is kind.

Kind – The ability of a teacher to say and do things that uplifts, motivates, and inspires.

Kindness should be innate in all teachers. A mean spirit will turn students off, but a kind spirit is invaluable.

A good teacher is organized.

Organized – The ability to keep things neat and in order allowing teachers to access materials quickly and to make efficient transitions.

Organization is a necessary quality for every teacher. Teaching encompasses so much that those who are unorganized will be overwhelmed and swallowed up.

A good teacher is passionate.

Passionate – Teaching with enthusiasm and exuberance on a daily basis because you love the content and your students.

A passionate teacher connects with their curriculum and their students which maximizes learning.

A good teacher is patient.

Patient – The ability to see the whole picture and to understand that the school year is a marathon, not a sprint.

A teacher must never give up on a student. They should continuously try new strategiesunderstanding that eventually something will work.

A good teacher is resilient.

Resilient – Not allowing adversity to stop you from accomplishing your goals.

A teacher must be resilient in overcoming the many obstacles that will present themselves over the course of a year.

A good teacher is resourceful.

Resourceful – Finding a way to make things happen.

A teacher must be able to figure out how to get supplies and materials for their classroom when the funding is not available and to reach a student who has no interest in learning.

A good teacher is trustworthy.

Trustworthy – The ability to get others around you to believe in you and what you are doing.

A teacher must gain the trust of both their students and parents. Any distrust will negatively impact the classroom.

A good teacher is vulnerable.

Vulnerable – Allowing your students to gain insight into your life without revealing a lot.

Vulnerability allows students to relate to their teachers as they share in common interests such as sports, television, etc.