It is four years since the tragic death of
Hyderabad Central University scholar Rohith Vemula. Driven to commit suicide by
a deeply casteist and discriminatory educational system, Vemula now is a symbol
of liberation for all students who hail from minoritized- and discriminated-against
backgrounds. In the context of the recent country-wide protests against the
Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, Vemula’s memory fortifies protestors to
soldier on.
Vemula’s
life and death is also an indication that thousands of people in India desire
education, particularly higher education, even when the system is so
discriminatory and fails to deliver quality education. Many of these people,
just like Vemula, want to be writers, scientists and enjoy the pursuit of
knowledge for its own sake. However, as Vemula’s life and pursuit of his dreams
indicate, this aspiration for education and a better life is riddled with
obstacles. Yet, it was through higher education and the university space that
Vemula challenged the casteist politics in India—many like him do the same.
The
access to higher education after the Mandal Commission reforms has resulted in many
students from minoritized backgrounds thinking about how to make their lives
and those of others better. It has also resulted in students from elite
backgrounds coming in contact with their non-elite colleagues. Though not
always in mutually respectful encounters, this sharing of educational space has
led to a change in thinking about Indian society. In short, more people are challenging
received wisdom and articulating their opposition to discrimination. More and
more people want a say in their political futures.
Thus,
many students, like and unlike Vemula, join schools, colleges, and universities
to make something out of their lives, to succeed, and to have decent
employment. If there is a disconnect between what students expect from
education and the realities outside an educational institution, they realize
that their hopes, dreams, and aspirations will not be fulfilled. Therefore so
many students have taken the lead in safeguarding their futures by registering
their protests against misguided policies of the government.
Despite
having a less than ideal educational system in this country, it can be said
that education has positively molded minds. Perhaps, it is the values that
education imparts that makes some difference, however little it may be. In
learning about ourselves and the world around us, students are automatically
led to question: Why does a particular chemical reaction occur? Why does an
equation work? Why is there so much poverty around us?
Hence, in Goa, it was not surprising to
see the speech by a 14-year old student, Diksha Talaulikar, a student of Maria
Bambina Convent High School, to make the news. This speech, made on occasion to
mark 70 years of the Indian Constitution, organized by the Department of
Education, was a passionate plea against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
Naturally, the ruling establishment was utterly embarrassed by the moral
clarity shown by a young student.
Talaulikar, perfectly trained in the art
of formal elocution, pleaded,
“And today this bill discriminates [against]
them (Muslims), thus making a mockery of my fundamental duty to promote harmony
and the spirit of common brotherhood among people, transcending religion,
region, and linguistic diversities. The country is burning. The soul of the
Constitution, the Preamble, the liberty, equality, and fraternity has been
murdered.”
Considering
that Talaulikar is not alone in expressing such an opinion as school, college,
and university students across the country are increasingly vocal about the
state of affairs, we have to ask how the educational system can be made better.
For despite the less than ideal condition of the educational system, some
students demonstrate a remarkable moral clarity that is crucial to the health
of the Indian republic and democracy. One needs to urgently think of the reform
of primary, secondary, and university system in Goa.
As
stated earlier, the demand for a better system comes from the citizens,
especially those who are socially discriminated and economically deprived. Take,
for instance, the demand for government aid for primary schools using English
as the medium of instruction. Popularly known as the MoI controversy, it was a
movement that demanded quality education for children so that, much like the
children of the rich, the majority of the poor children will have a better shot
at gaining employment.
Learning
from the MoI movement can inform our current debates over citizenship. While
those who were opposed to English as a medium of instruction wanted the poor to
bear the burden of learning Indian languages with no guarantees of gainful
employment, the poor wanted education in a seemingly foreign language for a
chance at a better life. The poor, therefore, was only asking for a deeper
realization of their Indian citizenship—the constitutionally guaranteed right
of equal education.
The
present moment of widespread student protests is an excellent opportunity in
Goa to revisit the basic issues of education, as I have tried to show in
reference to the MoI movement. The stress by some to use only ‘mother tongue’ as MoI for primary instruction is a political
ploy to keep poor children undereducated, thus stealing their right to equal
opportunity in employment. By not providing proper education to all members of
the society, without discrimination, citizenship only ends up being a hollow
concept.
The
answer to many of our current woes, then, is simple: the education system needs
to be better. Because even if it is bad, many students have found a way to make
the best out of a worse situation. How much better would it be if we had a
better education system?
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 5 February, 2020)
