Two teachers at the staff room.
The staff room was silent. The new teacher was preparing her lesson plan. The elderly teacher was reading a book. She looked at the new teacher and asked a quite deep question:
” Teacher! Don’t you see that the economical exploitation that drains away the hard earned money of the poor people making them paupers are done by the so called ‘learned people’? Doesn’t this mean that these exploiters have studied in our schools and we teachers are part of this crime?” an elderly teacher asked the new comer.
” No. we are not responsible for that.” the younger teacher asserted.
” Don’t you think that our leaders who have involved in the corruption, cheating and the political oppression were once our students? Are we not those who have failed in teaching them good values of leadership with sacrifice, commitment and vision for equal and just society?” the elderly teacher continued her question.
“No. We are not responsible for that corruption. We teach them good values. But they select the wrong path. What can we do?” the youngster stressed her point.
“To day you see that fundamentalist values rule the religious and social leaders of the world. They create fights among social and religious communities for their own benefits. Were they not our ex-students? Should we not be accused of not teaching them communal harmony values?”
” I do not know. Tell me why should they promote hatred feelings among communities that have different language, color and culture?”
” Don’t you feel that they should have been given correct directions in our schools?”
” This never came to my mind. I never thought this kind of connection between the educational sphere and the socio-religious spheres.”
” We witness a lot of violence and sex in media. They make profit out of it at the cost of sacred culture. If we have taught them the real values of humanity like, love, peace, equality, sisterhood and such in our schools when they were young, will these ‘ educated ‘ elite use violence and sex in media?”
” I tend to see the connection now. If there is connection between our education and life today, WE are the reason for the deterioration of human values and its reflection in the world at the economical, political and socio-cultural realities. If there is no connection between our education and life today, what is the use of such education which has no impact in our life?” The younger teacher asked.
“It is a good question.” The elderly teacher affirmed.
The elderly teacher and the new comer were wondering about the role of education. The bell rang for the next period.
Yes. It is right when the younger teacher wonders if the educationists are also one of the stakeholders for the evils that we see in the society today. Education is supposed to do the function of preparing oneself for LIFE. If we accept that the life in the society is miserable for many people and that a few in power enjoy and prosper, who has to blame for this unequal and unjust disparity? When you witness corruption, money power, muscle power and cheating as everyday affair of politics, which has to blame for the atrocities on powerless civil society?
The religion and the media are supposed to bring “harmony” in the lives of people who have natural differences in color, language and race. But today we witness that the sacred religion and media are used to bring “chaos” among communities. Who has to blame for this unjust change of function helping only a handful of people who enjoy power?
Is our education and the outside life so connected? Have we not produced ‘ WELL EDUCATED’ People to protect the interests of our community? Let us listen to this conversation.