Recently, I attended a talk on linguistic interpreting skills and was astounded by the turnout at that low-key event, held in a decrepit building with no proper ventilation and festooned with geriatrics. My fellow attendee who was uncomfortably settled next to me was a septuagenarian dithering with her cushions (the hard seat made her anatomy sore) and an absurd looking walking rod. Yet her dotage got my unconditional attention more than the terminally boring lecturer. I was mesmerised by the array of elderly people who attended armed, with their students? paraphernalia and could only marvel in the aphorism of Rabindranath Tagore that, education does indeed start from the womb and ends in the tomb.

Looking ruefully at our schooling, one regrets not having been advised on the life-long transference of knowledge. As students, we are only taught the rudimentary reasons for an education with a clobbering on academic achievements as our educational system lacks the impetus necessary to induce pupils to look beyond their books. Indeed, once you drop your child behind the corrugated gates of a school, you need to roll your rosary in the hope that, the child is looked after, his educational needs are attended to and his dreams and aspirations are encouraged and not pilloried.

Children are taught, literacy and numeracy at an early age, to speak a decibel above a whisper to the teacher and to address the school principal in an oleaginous way. This is expected to imbue them with some rectitude along with their educational needs. Albeit, the contretemps in 2003 when the pyromaniacs harassed and set alight their school friend has made some people chary of our education fabric and the edification the children are recipient of. How can we entrust our children to their peer group without fear of a burning or dismembered body part? Students are all taught at the same level, yet the growing disparity between them is overwhelming. This is partly because there is an exigency to teach rather than educate pupils. There should be more activities, to break the sedentary nature of our schooling, for the benefits of all children especially those with creative minds. Unquestionably, children are not taught about creativity, in terms of their imagination or humour. The occasional arts and crafts are not sufficient. What about that child doodling music beats on the desk or the dreamer or the joker? They are disparaged and promptly cast aside as those with behavioural problems. Their freedom of expression is stifled, as our educational system does not permit such diversions from the norm of books. They end up loitering around and looking for ways to amuse themselves even if it is to set someone ablaze. Teachers have the bounden duty to praise everyone and not just the brainy, cute looking or the brethren of an important figure. If our children are nurtured at an early age to be self-confident and creative, we would spare them humiliation and ignominy.

?We should avoid segregating children and break the elitism propaganda of previous decades. The discrepancy between the affluent and poor is already disproportionate, let us discourage further alienation?

According to Nobel laureate in psychology and medicine, Dr Roger Sperry, educational systems tend to have a bias for the left hand side of the brain1. That was his reflection in the early 1970s and it is still clearly reflected in this day and age in our own system where children who excel in exams are applauded and the others are regarded as featherbrains. The onus of motivating students in their quest for the future lies with the teachers, whom they should look up to, rather than fear or dislike.

The secondary school stream is less archaic and biased but the craze for private tuitions should be curtailed. What is the use of having free education when students are entrusted to the hands of private tutors? The demise of the ranking system and the accessibility of local schools was commendable. The government has successfully curbed that distinction between the elites and less academically endowed by allowing more flexibility. Children from all strata of life need to be together as this will entail better integration and enrichment for both teachers and students. To revert to the old system will be an antithesis of our freedom of interaction and a catastrophe for our youngsters. What worked in the past does not necessarily set a precedent for the future. We should avoid segregating children and break the elitism propaganda of previous decades. The discrepancy between the affluent and poor is already disproportionate, let us discourage further alienation and work together to revive the aesthetic standards of education.

We also need some more transparency in our university?s admission procedure. Who can be admitted to the courses on offer? Do the students need to have As or merely a putative tonton? The government needs to regulate the money grabbing institutions which are popping up like bad pennies, professing to be under the aegis of various UK universities and charging exorbitant amounts of money.

No one expects teachers to be nannies but the schools and colleges have the responsibility to ensure that students are properly supervised and their emancipation is maximised. So far, we have over-emphasised academic progress and neglected personal grooming. Education after all means educare, that is to say the educational programme geared to draw out the potential of individuals. There should be parity between academic knowledge and creativity. At this stage, let us not forget to praise our mentors, the teachers for their dedication. It is an accepted fact that their hard work is not commensurate with appropriate remuneration. The preparation of lesson plans, the delivery of the lessons, the marking of papers, obstreperous students, disgruntled parents or the inconducive atmosphere of some schools and colleges make their task challenging. However, they all have to work with the same objectives, in an unbiased manner, for the sake of the next generation.

Let us understand the marvellous wisdom of the creator in psychological dimensions. To the teachers, let the Sanskrit saying : ?ignorance is the curse of god, education is the wing with which we fly to heaven?, guide them. To the students, the koran (2:269) beautifully philosophises on education when it states that ?he grants wisdom to whom he pleases; and he to whom wisdom is granted receives indeed a benefit overflowing?. To the government: Invest in this important pillar of the economy, and look at necessary reforms to better the education sector.

<I>1. Left-brain activities emphasise more on reading, writing and arithmetic, whilst the right-brain activities involve creativity, imagination and humour. </I>

Rubina DOOBORY

BA, MSc, LL.M