If there is only one topic to discuss with students what can it be?

Life Beyond Barriers

~ Published (with minor edits) at The Hindu here ~

~ Thanks are due to the team there ~

If there is one subject or activity or theme that we could pursue at school what do you suggest it be? 

This is a question I have faced couple of times, or more, during recent years. And, one that that on each occasions has got me to think on each occasion. Answers to some questions change as we travel on the road to life, read evolve. This is one such question. Today my vote would go to exposure. 

What is this exposure? How will it pan out? 

The students can walk the villages, towns and cities located in different parts of our country. Visit homes at these places and interact with more and more people. People who live lives different from those of the students. People who wear clothes of colours and shapes different from what the students are familiar with. People who show their love and affection in a different manner. 

The students can also be active participants and learn new languages, eat (and cook) food that may not have come across previously or celebrate festivals and sing songs in manner new for them. And much more. 

We could create platforms which enable our students to learn in this fashion. Learn by visits to different parts of our country as opposed to that from books or videos. These platforms can also be independent of schools. 

Why is this needed? 

We are increasingly living in our small worlds. Worlds where we primarily interact with people who are similar to us in more ways than one. And, this begins from early years. We not only know less and less of the worlds around us but also believe, more and more, that it is our world which is better. 

The scenario has altered little in the recent years. And, if anything, it has gone from bad to worse. 

How will this exposure help? 

This exposure has the potential to help us – in myriad ways – to know our country and ourselves better. 

It could influence us to do away with the boundaries we have created, the us and them. The us and them based on geographies, dietary preferences, religions, sects, gender, castes and more. These, like other boundaries which are invisible, are ingrained deep within us. We need to know these ‘other people’ so that we get rid of our insecurity and hatred for them. And possibly make friends. 

To move beyond some of the labels we have created. Labels which make little sense or carry a negative connotation (eg: Madarasis or north east Indians) and yet are widely accepted. 

To get rid of the upper hand many of us believe we have vis-a-vis others. Living in a city, for example, does not make one superior to someone based in a village. Both cities and villages, with their people, make up our country. Ditto for our physical attributes – skin colour, height – and else. 

It could get us to celebrate our diversity. A diversity that is, to put gently, mind-boggling. Wise women and men before us, too, have said it is only because five fingers are different from each other than the hand is able to do all that it does. 

We are getting more and more sure as individuals and as a society. Surety of a kind which only comes with ignorance. These exposures can help create space for doubt. 


An earlier piece at The Hindu on similar lines
All effort, no yield