“Education should be a beacon of enlightenment, not a battleground for divisive ideologies.” – Karn Thapar
Karn Thapar has emphasized in Hindustan Times that schools should not be used for religious polarization. Referring to recent incidents at two schools, the author has highlighted the need to educate teachers and expressed the expectation that the government should address such issues.
Drawing from personal experience, the columnist mentioned that even when one recalls making a mistake, it often feels right. However, in recent incidents at different schools, teachers from various communities behaved remarkably differently with their students. In these instances, children were not physically punished but rather humiliated, not to acknowledge their mistake and correct it, but to demean them. It was driven by differences in beliefs, fueling sectarian hatred.
Karn Thapar writes that in Khair, Uttar Pradesh, a teacher and principal, Tarpti Tyagi, imposed a severe punishment on a Muslim child for not doing homework. Classmates from his community took turns beating the child. The child was referred to as a “Muslim boy” while being humiliated. Another example is from Jammu and Kashmir, where a student in the 10th grade wrote “Jai Shri Ram” on the blackboard. When Professor Farooq Ahmed saw this, he scolded the student severely in front of others and then took him to the principal’s office. They jointly punished the student, warning that they would give him a harsher punishment if he repeated such an act.
The columnist narrates these examples to highlight that these are not good times, and they don’t reflect well on humanity.
