‘Good education recognizes and responds to diversity’

A Staff Reporter DIMAPUR, MARCH 17 Back in the 1990’s, when he was on one of his visits to Peren district, the distinguished activist and academician, Anil Sadgopal came across a group of students playing outside their school after “refusing to read their books” inside the classroom. On enquiry, the activist discovered that they were Class 3 students, and were refusing to read from their textbooks on environmental studies because it contained nothing on Nagaland. That particular textbook, he said, was written by “one Gupta and one Sharma in Delhi.” Sadgopal shared this, among many others, while delivering the keynote address at the 3-day national seminar on impact of commercialization and communalization of education on Naga society, underway at Patkai Christian College, Chumukedima. The seminar has been organized by the All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE). He shared the incident to illustrate his point that “good education” is one that recognizes and responds to diversity. “Of course, the children will not want to read the book because it has nothing to do with Nagaland. And it is not their fault,” said Prof Anil Sadgopal, who is a member, presidium of AIFRTE. Identifying “the system” – the structural rigidity that insists on uniformity – as the bane of education system in India, Sadgopal advocated radical overhaul of the entire setup. “All of our notion of curriculum, language of teaching, teacher and student relationship, our academic structure…it must be questioned radically and transformed radically,” said the botanist-turned-educationist-turned-political activist. He asserted that a “new structure” based on the idea of decentralization of education must be visualized and applied. “Structures are not enough. The processes within the structures are important,” he added. Under the existing system, the introduction of public-private-partnership funding model in education sector has been a “horrendous idea”, according to Sadgopal. Not only has it resulted in “transfer of money from public exchequer to corporate houses, he said, it has also diluted the purpose of education with corporate motive of profit. “Good education cannot coexist with profit. Profit is the antithesis of good education,” he said while underscoring that the protest was not against private institutions but the policy of privatization of education. Here again, he shared another anecdote. In his first meeting as a faculty of the Delhi University, decades ago, the then VC of the university had announced that illustrious lawyer and constitutional jurist, Fali S Nariman had been invited as the guest speaker at the convocation. Amid a rousing round of approval, the newly joined Sadgopal stood up to register his disapproval against the same. His reasoning was that the lawyer in question had represented the Union Carbide Corporation in the Bhopal gas tragedy case and that the University should be careful of whom it projects as a role model to the students. Consequently, another speaker was invited. “The point is that today, such things cannot happen. And I can give you two reasons why. First, corporate interests have influenced the conscience of educational institutions. And the second reason is that such democratic spaces have been rapidly obliterated in the last few years,” he shared. This in turn, he pointed out, has given birth to a “new conflict” inside academic campuses in which “autonomy (of academic institutions) is used against internal democracy.” Denying the freedom to dissent or propose counter ideas is to go against the very notion of education as conceived in the Constitution of India, he asserted. Sadgopal cited “equality, freedom from discrimination and diversity” as the three principles upon which a new structure of democratic and decentralized education could be founded. “Free education is more than just free tuition expenditures. It means free education of equitable quality.” Principal emeritus of Patkai Christian College, the Rev Dr Tuisem Shishak was equally critical of the concept of free education, especially in the context of Nagaland. “It is like saying that you get what you paid for. Free education is no education,” he reflected on the present scenario in Nagaland. Shishak suggested two counter measures. “Either give the fund to the private sectors, it could be the churches or the NGOs, and let them take care of it. Or, clean up corrupt practices and run schools as educational institutions, not business ventures. In other words, keep politics out of education. Period.” Three technical sessions were scheduled for the first day. Similar sessions have been planned for the remaining two days. Pic: Prof Anil Sadgopal speaking at the national seminar on impact of commercialization and communalization of education on Naga society at Patkai Christian College on Thursday. (Picture contributed by Soreipam Jagoi, a student of Patkai Chrsitian College) FACT FILE Three basic positions of All India Forum for Right to Education: -There is no place for trade or profiteering, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), international funding and Public Private Partnership (PPP) which is only designed to siphon public funds to private agencies. -Education is the Constitutional obligation of the Government (from Centre and States to local bodies) and there is no space in education for discrimination in any form whatsoever. It is the responsibility of the state to establish a well founded nationwide, fully state funded, public education system at all levels (KG to PG). -The aim of education is to build a democratic, socialist and secular society based on diversity, plurality and equality.