<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3059" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<CENTER><B>Contradictions plague Indian govt’s education
policy</B><BR></CENTER><BR><BR>
<CENTER>By J.S. Rajput</CENTER><BR>
<P>NEW DELHI: Mature democracies are characterised by the realisation of
citizens’ powers by every individual. Together, people should be enabled to see
through the games politicians play. This is exactly what is happening in India.
Indian voters and their leaders are engaged in an unannounced game: voters are
learning to assert their rights and the politicians are striving hard to keep
them in good humour with repeated assurances of a better future.<BR><BR>The
current political leadership has perfected the art of keeping people’s hopes
alive on promises rarely meant to be fulfilled. That they have been able to do
so for decades is apparent from the Left-combine’s rule in West
Bengal.<BR><BR>The “saviours of the sarvahara” are battling hard for the
capitalists while pretending to protect the poor peasants. This is not the only
sector that has witnessed the contradictions in what is preached and what is put
to practice by the leftists when they are in power, as in West Bengal, or at the
Centre where they are supporting the government from outside.<BR><BR>One can
understand the Left’s behaviour. It has been consistently inconsistent for
decades. The surprise comes when political parties professing to carry forward
the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi wilt under
pressure and subvert professionalism while making policies even in sensitive
areas like education reforms.<BR><BR>They may like to recall what Indira Gandhi
had very comprehensively summarised at the Rajya Sabha on March 20, 1972: “I am
not an expert on Marxism. But I have read a little bit of it and I wonder
whether these people have not strayed from the scientific humanism which Marx
propagated.”<BR><BR>What happens in Singur, Nandigram and elsewhere makes many
of the Left-sympathisers sit up and think afresh.<BR><BR>Having ruined West
Bengal’s industrial establishments 1977 onwards, they now find that the farmers
in Singur need the Rs 1 lakh car more urgently than their ancestral land,
culture and heritage.<BR><BR>Their think tanks are finding it difficult to
articulate the disastrous departure from the “ideology” they protected so
passionately all these years. Several interesting aspects emerge in this
“ideology of contradictions.” What is considered right in Singur and Nandigram
is vehemently opposed at the central level where they are providing crutches to
the government from outside, a rare case of authority without
responsibility.<BR><BR>The Left motto is simple: “When we do it, it is right and
secular, when others do it, it is wrong and communal.”<BR><BR>The inconsistency
displayed by the Left — the self-proclaimed fighters against communalism and the
saviours of minorities (read Muslims) — is no longer a secret. I recall a
communication addressed to the secretary of the National Communal Harmony
Foundation (NCHF) by one of its illustrious members on September 4, 1998
pleading, “…Our concern regarding ‘equal respect for all religions’ has little
meaning if such ‘respect’ is based on ignorance and, thereby indifference to the
many living faiths extant in India… Both comparative religions and cultural
appreciation are recognised disciplines around the world, but such studies
remain uncommon in India — and sadly so.<BR><BR>This omission should be made
good. The UGC NCERT and scholars and men of culture should think about this
urgently and formulate a specific programme of action.”<BR><BR>In February 1999,
the 81st Report of the Standing Committee of the ministry of human resources
development headed by S.B. Chavan had recommended teaching the basics of
different religions and the five basic human values of truth, peace, non
violence, righteous conduct and love, in the process of schooling.<BR><BR>The
honourable Members of Parliament belonging to all parties, prominently the
Leftists and their current allies, had approved this. As the next logical step,
it was suggested in the curriculum framework for school education in 2000 that,
“What is required today is not religious education but education about
religions, their basics, the values inherent therein and also a comparative
study of the philosophy of all religions.”<BR><BR>The plea was that “the
students should also be led to believe that the essence of every religion is
common, only the practices differ.” Strangely enough, these very recommendations
were declared communal by a Left-combine and some vested interests submitted
these for judicial scrutiny. To their dismay, the Supreme Court of India fully
and totally endorsed these recommendations.<BR><BR>The petitioners included the
person who had made the plea to the NCHF on the same lines. What followed
subsequently and more particularly after May 2004 in the name of
“detoxification” tells a historic story of the contradictions that exist in the
UPA-Left camp.<BR><BR>The recently submitted 174th Report of the Standing
Committee of the ministry of human resources development of the government of
India recommends that yoga be made mandatory for all school going children in
the country.<BR><BR>Exactly the same recommendations were included in the
curriculum framework for school education in 2000. These were promptly declared
communal and toxic in May 2004. The Standing Committee now finds that “yoga
helps one to achieve all-round development.<BR><BR>Considering the vast
potential of this ancient knowledge the committee recommends that yoga be made
compulsory for all school-going children in the country.”<BR><BR>It is another
matter that the recommendations made in 2000 were not examined professionally
and academically when the Left-supported government came to power in 2004. The
approach adopted was of obvious vilification and vendetta.<BR><BR>A glaring case
of inconsistency and unprofessional approach is the removal of the paragraph on
the Jat community from history textbooks by the Central Board of Secondary
Education in the last quarter of 2006. It was done within hours of the chief
minister from a Jat dominated state meeting the Union HRD minister.<BR><BR>This
paragraph was dropped in 2000 as it was found incorrect and biased. However,
that process was declared “communal” and the paragraph promptly restored in text
books in 2004 as a secular act! One wonders what should the latest removal be
called: “resaffronisation” or “desaffronisation”?<BR><BR>One could cite
innumerable instances of unprofessional and blatantly political decisions that
have been taken by the present government to replace the educational reforms
initiated by the previous government.<BR><BR>It is a matter of satisfaction that
yoga is back as it should be. Hopefully, the five values and the teaching of the
basics of all religions as recommended by the Chavan Committee will also be
brought back by the present Standing Committee which has taken a bold, forward
looking and professionally right decision.<BR><BR>This is essential for social
cohesion and religious harmony at this juncture of history.<BR><BR>The instances
cited above, ranging from the sufferings of the peasants to the politicisation
of the content and process of education clearly talk about the dangers of
unprincipled approaches in the decision making process. The problem arises when
politicking overtakes professionalism.<BR><BR>The solution lies in alert,
articulate and educated citizens’ response. Economic progress and consistency of
policies can be achieved only when education of good quality, augmented by
values, is available to all, and public awareness of policy formulations is
systematically enhanced.<BR><BR>There should be no place for coercion and
intimidation as in Singur and Nandigram, and politicisation and vendetta in
areas like education. <I>—Dawn/The Asian Age News
Service</I><BR></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>