Horror in Schools

If there was one place in the society where we safely assume our children to be safe and sound, it was school. That myth stands shattered now. Rape, caning, other forms of verbal and physical abuse, isolation and what not! Everything we tell our kids to be bad and not to be done is happening within the hallowed walls of the Temples of Learning. You must be abreast with most of the recent news about such incidents from across the country. It is a situation where shame and guilt have become too weak a word to describe it.

I may not have written anything about this as it is just too painful to even think of such gory facts. A senior colleague of mine raised this very issue this afternoon with the management at the school where her 2.5 years old daughter goes for day care. He had complained to the management about two senior teachers, one of them a lady, beating kids and not giving them food as a form of punishment. Children at any age should not be physically tortured let alone the toddlers. He kept part-requesting, part-arguing, part-shouting at the school manager over the phone for more than an hour. And finally, he had to disconnect saying that he will pull out his daughter from there on next Monday. He was dead certain that he cannot allow his ward to go to a school where teachers behave like heads of rowdy gang.

There are several reasons to laud the courage of my colleague. I am so happy that the poor little child should not suffer any more nightmare at school. But, how many of us actually take that stand? The answer should be "few and far between". The cases do get reported and some action does ensue - be it Bangalore, Kolkata, Jaipur, Delhi and many others in that long list. Wherever things have come to light, some steps have been taken. All of them should be taken to the conclusion where the guilty is punished and a system is put in place to prevent such wrongdoings in future.

Can any form of punishment to the guilty teachers, non-teaching staff or anybody else who is directly or indirectly involved in the crime, bring back the what is lost? Can it erase the trauma and that too from the tender minds and hearts of kids? Our society has long gone past the stage where any kind of penalization deters anybody. We are into a phase where morals are suited for text decoration and nobody should expect anybody to be following them, neither in action nor in spirit. What should we do then?

Crimes against children have to be the worst after murder. The kids are shaped and morphed into what they should most likely grow up as adults by the learning and environment they get during the childhood. These perpetrators destroy that very foundation. Securing our children outside the house may not be completely under our control - be it school, market or any other public place. We must then maintain a very strict, regular vigil on what our wards are doing and what people in and around them are doing. Report any suspicious action immediately. Follow up with higher authorities if there is no redressal. Inform the police and other relevant public authorities if things are still unclear.

I understand and acknowledge that taking out a kid from the school in the middle of a session may not be an easy decision to make since that academic year will most likely be lost. In such a case, we should always keep some other school management in our good books so that the child can be accommodated there in case of any eventuality. It is quite possible that the transfer of school may not work out at all. That is fine. Education lost can be regained with sustained hard-work but mental or physical stigma at childhood are seldom erasable.

Guys, please stand up against the ugly beasts of Horror at Schools in particular and any other crime against kids in general. Educate your near and dear ones, take prompt action and be ready to help.

Don’t be a Woman in India

In January reports poured in from Hyderabad stating that uteruses had been removed from the body of many women under the age of 30 in the name of the Arogyashri Scheme. These hysterectomy operations have deprived these women of chances to bear children. The government prescribed that uterus could be removed in case of women aged 30- under the scheme only if they suffered from multiple fibroids, carcinoma in situ, carcinoma cervix stage I and II, ovarian carcinoma. Alas! The poor women from the villages have been lured into agreeing to get their uteruses removed in the guise of instilling the fear that they will die if uteruses were not removed. Doctors who did this heinous crime had only pecuniary benefits in mind.

Less than 3 months later, doctors in Dausa, Rajasthan, repeated the act. This time around the scheme is named Janani Suraksha Yojana and aims to help the expectant mothers. 226 women were duped in the pretext of curing non-existent diseases. No one takes notice unless somebody breaks the news in Media. This is the worst kind of corruption that can happen. A woman unable to bear a child will always struggle to come to terms with her existence. More so in utilitarian India. A woman is just another piece of utility for child-bearing, physical pleasures and performing a host of menial duties. Everybody tries to take advantage of these poor creatures. Doctors have shown they are not far behind and they have a much neater way to escape the hands of the law.

A young athlete gets thrown off the train in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. You may say the intention behind the attack on Arunima Sinha was robbery and any male could also have suffered the same fate. But, being a woman she was a very soft target with hardly any physical resistance and support from the onlookers. She may get a Jaipur Foot and Railways may have offered her a job. But will there be any other such hue and cry for a normal woman thrown off the train or abused and humiliated in any other way in any part of the country? Stats reveal that the answer is a big NO. We will continue to display some bland emotions once the incident gets reported in the media or reaches our ears/eyes through some other means. We will think strongly about it and that will be the end of it all.

Places rife with communal or sectarian conflicts are the safest haven for the crimes against women. Jammu & Kashmir is a prime example. The murder of 40 year-old Hasina Begum, a Panchayat election candidate in the Badgam district, by the Ultras suggests that women are supposed to stay in subservience of men and the moment they try and break-free from the shackles, they should be punished, often the corporal punishment.

Mumbai saw the suicide of a teenager arising out of her conscience not feeling good after she was raped by her father’s ex-employer for over a week in order to revenge the father’s escape from the debt trap set by the ex-employer. Any body does anything and the grouse is borne by the women belonging to either sides. This happens day in and day out all over India.

Women in our society will have to wait till eternity to get the respect they deserve. The only women we care as individuals are those who are in direct and indirect relation to us. Others are Social and Governmental responsibilities. My apologies and big shame-laden head bow to all the women in India. Some day you may feel owned and secure.