Education that murders

 

Youngsters all across the country face severe stress through what was expected to be fun filled fulfillment of awareness of the world and nurturing of critical thinking and compassion. Literacy is easy, education is difficult. Education needs commitment for better world. It needs ever evolving collaboration between educators and students to create individuals with conscience and inquisitiveness to strive for truer perception of reality. Education is an attempt to create better human being. Over the years best minds across the world have delved on it. Despite these efforts education system in much of the world is stuck in worst of possibilities, trapped by devious minds to create compliant individuals and an instrument of indoctrination. It has worked as supply chain for greed and puppet for bigger use. While primitive religions want to capture impressionable mind into its dehumanizing horror with a meagre claim of morals, market is hunting for cogs to fit for productivity. One elderly industrialist even wants youngsters to work more than 70hours per week. What is this work and how it impacts well being of individuals is not his concern. Like life education can never really be goal oriented -this goal oriented nonsense is spread by crass market and devious religions to trap humans into narrow frame of dealing so as to control. It is designed to keep plebs occupied in narrow frame. Goal removes the possibilities of education. Uninhibited learning, and indeed delearning, understanding and further research in areas of interests, is the intend. So that young mind discovers his or her inedible presence in the diverse world and an increased awareness of intricate life giving systems as also possibilities of latest technologies and wise understandings from thoughtful people. This vibrant mind then can be attuned to narrow purpose as and when needed -and shouldn’t be mistaken for goal, it is an iterative awareness of what is needed to be done. Thankfully new education policy has removed words like examination and fail from its vocabulary. Continued flexible student centric assessment and analyzing learning is being suggested.

Unfortunately, the beggar minded society values education as a means for acquiring money, power and security, and not as an outcome but the very reason to educate. For majority of desperate people, in this unjust nepotism driven corrupt world with acute poverty and characteristic middle class insecurities, this surely is true and they end up as dehumanized lives chasing little world they are eternally trapped in. When this becomes defining parameters of society is where the problem is. Education therefore becomes goal oriented for gains, and the worst of people pose as motivators to attune impressionable minds and hapless people into this crude value system as eternal calling. Exams are conducted with much fanfare -the absurd nature of these competitions doesn’t really check the innate strength or ingenuity (indeed the best educationists have questioned the stupid questions they ask, as also the exaggerated IITs are tech coolies striving for status quo world and gaining from opportunities herein to write success stories for herds back home. It is the worst evaluation of education where humans are reduced to pawns. Ofcourse there are some who gain from better education understanding in West). The failure of education, and with it potential of human, has much to do with this increasingly crass control that is encroaching into core of humanity. The beggar minded society stampeding to authenticate itself through increasingly meaningless competitions ties itself in knots and strangulates itself. The beauty of life is taken away and the confused alienated youngsters are evaluated on ugliness of society. Either they systematically degrade themselves into this ugliness and goal orient for power, prestige and money, and keep striving as best of herd and act as role model for crass world, or else face the most important question there is: whether to live? The goal oriented values and crude education system doesn’t really factor the awareness of vastness of life and essential existential absurdity. Sisyphus therefore has to suicide.  

What is truly heartbreaking in this suicide note, apart from the soul wrenching innocence, is that the teenaged girl has chosen to write this extremely emotional last message to loved ones in a language that she is evidently not comfortable in. It points to deeper alienating factors, including likely lack of communication with people around. The desolate last line “this is the only option left” -a matter of fact evaluation of life by young mind, is a failure of society at many levels. It should shudder human conscience.