Uttar Pradesh Speaks: Caste and religion huge electoral issues but not Education

How large a constituency is that of teachers, parents and students in Uttar Pradesh? While I keep reading about the caste percentages, I also keep wondering why ‘Education’ is never an electoral issue; why manifestoes offer little to this sector and whether this is because we are so divided in our loyalties that we are not conscious of our common stake, our shared concern for education.

The pandemic has hit students hard. Teachers and private schools have suffered. Some schools have had to sell off part of their campus. But I see no discussion in the media, by people or politicians. Online education has caused havoc but nobody speaks about it.

So many schools have suffered due to the pandemic, their lands were put up for sale, some had to shut down altogether. But no one is coming forward to help private schools. Not one person in a position of authority.

Many students lost family members in the pandemic. Many of them do not have the emotional capacity to process these losses; and our education system is not built to help them. The New Education Policy shows some promise, I believe, in allowing students to choose any subject of their choice. Hopefully, the pressure of doing well in Board exams will also ease and there will be fewer suicides. But then, turning the entire education system virtual is not helping anyone.

Most of the teachers are not here by choice, but by chance. This does not necessarily mean that they are bad at their job, but they lack passion for teaching. I recently read that in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, to be a teacher, you have to clear the most difficult examinations. I believe we need to change the way teachers are appointed in our country. Not everyone who has done B.Ed can be a good teacher.

School was never about rote learning or assignments. It was a miniature model of society, where students learnt social skills, developed emotional intelligence and built lifelong relationships. I feel that their emotional intelligence has suffered a blow in the pandemic. I see students react impulsively, not handling criticism well, hold petty grudges for months on end. Their loneliness and being forced to stay at home, is putting them under undue emotional stress at a very young age.

One of my teachers in junior school inspired me to join the profession of teaching. It was not something that she said; but the way she cared for students, never judging them on their social status, wealth or their religion. As I pursued higher education, I realised that the point of gaining knowledge is to help others do so too, to be a bridge for the children so that they can reach where they want to, from where they are now. But today, inspiring students is not enough. What students need is a teacher who is not just excellent in their subject, but one who also understands the student emotionally. You have to be there for them emotionally, mentally and in person as well.

Earlier there was no social media, so we never knew who our teachers were outside the classroom. But today, students do. And sometimes they judge you for what you share on social media, which phone you own, which car you drive, how you dress, if you take the bus to school, etc. A good fallout is that children are connecting more with teachers with an active social media presence.

To be fair, today's school kids are intellectually more alive than we were. That gives me hope that maybe they will become better human beings than us.

At a time when communalism has seeped into our everyday conversations, it is also important to conduct healthy debates about these issues in schools, especially in a state like Uttar Pradesh. I often hear colleagues discuss students discriminating on grounds of religion, but thankfully I’ve never witnessed it in my students.

Being a Lucknow boy, I’m very proud of our city’s diversity, our acceptance for all religions. But the recent rise in communalism is a blot on our city. For the longest time, Lucknow has been a celebration of different cultures and religions. But now all this hatred? And don’t even get me started on how careless Lucknow is when it comes to the environment. We have been one of the most polluted cities in the country and the world for years now. Why is no one doing anything about it? Who do we appeal to for making a change?

And why can’t we work towards making our state a trillion-dollar economy, when a company like Apple has done it? Our state has a lot of potential, if we are ready to harness it. But will we?

(Hitesh Keswani is a teacher in Lucknow) (Views are personal)

(As told to Garima Sadhwani)

(This article was first published in National Herald on Sunday)