Playing with Future

“Happy budday”

“Happi eniversari”

“Examinason”

These are few phrases/words used by an English teacher of a government school in Uttar Pradesh.

I have nothing against people who are not well versed with English, that’s absolutely fine. But when an appointed English teacher is teaching this to young kids, somewhere I feel he is doing injustice with the future of those kids.

Why I chose to write a post on this issue is because of my domestic help in Delhi.

She has three kids, an alcoholic and abusive husband who beats her up and doesn’t work. But still she manages to work in 4 houses to make her ends meet.

All this struggle she is happily tolerating, staying away from her native village in a rented house here, because she is hopeful that one day her kids, after completing their studies, will belong to working professional class and her struggle  of all these years will be a success.

The reality dawned upon her when during this lockdown, classes were conducted online, she realised that her son, who is in eighth standard, doesn’t even know the Basic English words and Hindi Matras. (My daughter knows more than him so you can understand his state.)

She came to me crying that,”Didi how my son will work in an office if this is how he has been taught and still promoted every year to the next class”?

I then offered to pay for her son’s private tuition with a lady, who was kind enough to take him under her guidance without charging a single penny. With her efforts and boy’s sincerity, he is now doing much better.

My point here is that like my domestic help, how many mothers must be having similar dreams and they are being shattered so badly by such uneducated teachers who are good for nothing. They only want their job to be secured.

I am ashamed to tell this but one of my cousin is also a government teacher in Uttar Pradesh. She has no background or any eligibility to be even a pre school teacher but she is teaching all subjects to high school kids. She gave a huge bribe to be selected as a teacher and now she earns almost 80k every month. Whenever given government duty of food distribution to poor or election booth duty, she , along with her colleagues, is more interested in keeping  large portion of all the benefits for her family.

Her husband doesn’t earn and enjoys her money.

Since this Yogi government has come in power, every year there is an investigation on such teachers. But the point is, their plan may be excellent but implementing it on the ground is a tough task.

That cousin’s husband somehow get to know in advance who will be coming for the investigation and happily he bribes him anywhere between 2-3 lakhs and things are good for all.

When I asked why you give bribe, he said, by giving 3 month’s salary if we can save the government job and get all the sarkari benefits that is not a heavy price to pay.

And when I asked what about those kids and their future, my cousin replied, “gareeb ke bacche hain aisa bhi bada hokar kya ukhad lenege. Banenege to majdoor hi”.

I was shocked to hear this perspective. Those kids are studying in these government school because their parents cannot afford private school and  want a flourishing career for them, else those parents would have chosen to put their kids to work too and earn some money to live comfortably, without sacrificing their comforts.

My maid in Uttarakhand, who is also a cook in the nearby government school, was mentally tortured by one of the school teacher recently as she suffered from covid and couldn’t mark her attendance in the school for a month.

When that teacher told my maid that you are taking kind of free money from the government, she was quick to counter question that teacher asking “Sa akshar se hindi ke kitne shabd hote hain bas yahi bata do aap” ?

That teacher was red faced. My maid told her I still cook and feed kids. You are only taking money for spoiling their future.

May many more people can counter government teachers like this and they realise what bad karma they are earning by doing such injustice to young and bright kids.

I was in pain to know all that’s happening in government schools so though of sharing. I am not generalising but definitely there are many teachers who do not care for future of such kids. If someone felt offended then I sincerely apologise. 

Image by Devanath from Pixabay