We and Them

Today, while discussing the works of Jawahar Lal Nehru and Monica Ali with my friend over a cuppa at the Oxford Book Store, epiphany struck me... That I was only among a smattering percentage of India's vast demography who had been to a high school and would be successfully completing her junior college ( graduation)... About 60% of girls my age in the country would have dropped out of college till now, would be married, raising kids and doomed forever to live a life of diffidence, impoverishment and ignorance. The boys would be working as cheap labour for factories, as domestic workers, as roadside beggars or worse still, as pimps and drug dealers... Sadly, education like most of the basic things in the country, is still not egalitarian. Though the middle class and the upper class is well educated, education in the proletariat is still elusive. The blame game names corrupt politicians, inefficient governments, inactive government teachers and also, the slimy and ugly working class as those responsible. Passing the buck, is , funnily, the typical Indian way to renounce responsibility. But let us, the educated and the morally conscious ones, introspect a little. When was the last time you saw a below 18 child working in your known ones' place as a servant? When was the last time you ignored / snapped the child who was begging at the red light while you were in your air- conditioned car? What is the most that we have done for the underpreviliged ones ? The most ,that we have done for them is given a meal, some worn out clothes, that stale mithai,the extra "dal" or 15-30 Rs. But the solution lies not in giving the ends to them,BUT IN GIVING THE MEANS!!!! That's where the Right to Education ( RTE ) comes in , that declares the education of under 18 as compulsory in the eyes of law. But the law is only like a gun without bullets, till the time it is not implemented hook, line and sinker in every community and in every household... When we make sure that EVERY child goes to school, and NO ONE DROPS OUT!! The India of our dreams will be a reality only when we educate each and every child, irrespective of the caste, sex and class he / she belongs to,rather than hiding it behind the enamor of our intellectual elites. CRY ( Child Rights and You) gave me the opportunity to work towards the cause that I strongly believe in, so that I could help, in whichever way I can towards the development of the children of the country. For I believe that the INDIA of our dreams will someday be.... The India of our dreams will be when "THEY" become "US"..
By Divyani Rattanpal