AA Edit | A slap on communal harmony

A teacher in Uttar Pradesh making the classmates of an eight-year boy slap him repeatedly for not doing homework and her pejorative references to his religion are a reflection of unaddressed social evils that continue to persist in Indian villages and the seeping spread of religious hatred which has the potential to undo India’s status as a democratic republic.

The police have booked the teacher for causing physical and mental hurt after the National Commission for Protection of Children’s Rights directed police and revenue officials to take action against her and also launch an investigation against the school. It must be remembered that the father of the child had first said that he would not lodge a complaint against the teacher, indicating his total distrust in government machinery. It is only after social and political organisations took up the matter that he lodged the FIR.

The teacher remaining unapologetic about her crude and inhuman method of teaching is, meanwhile, a pointer towards the scant attention we pay to our education system when we are supposed to invest in its qualitative and quantitative improvement. We had, decades ago, set a target of earmarking six per cent of the GDP for education but the highest allocation as per the finance minister was made only this year at 4.5 per cent.

The religion of a student who underperforms needs no mention in the classroom. A teacher making a reference to it is knowingly or unknowingly a tool in the hands of those who want to divide this nation. That teacher’s mindset is a blot on what India has stood for through the ages and it undermines the standing of a nation that aspires to be a global leader. This is an issue we must address on the ground at a time we have set our sights beyond the moon in outer space.