[Reader-list] Why do Schools and Colleges in India Kill?

Wed Apr 22 15:34:35 IST 2009

Dear Anupam

Thank you for your comments.

I am neither journalist nor philosopher nor social anthropologist nor historian. I have an attitude of looking at issues in a simplified manner. You are right about that.  

As an Engineer (as is the case with a Doctor also), any troubleshooting analysis of a break-down is for me a question of identifying the foundational element that is dysfunctional. Rectify that and you have creditable results. Depending upon, at what stage it has been identified and rectified you might have other consequential damages that need to be addressed.

Shuddha's question was "   Why is this murderous authoritarianism so prevalent in places of education in India. Why do students and teachers behave like executioners and impose so much violence on those weaker or smaller or younger than them?"

I read that as implying widespread malaises. I would agree with that even if it was not so implied.

If it is widespread then it is a systemic failure. 

I have suggested that this 'murderous authoritarianism' and behaving " like executioners and impose so much violence on those weaker or smaller or younger than them" is not confined to attitudes found in "ragging" or "abuse by teachers" alone but permeates as attitudes prevailing in very many other aspects of our lives (in India). A larger and more widespread systemic failure.

I have no essential conflict with the reasons you have provided though I am not sure whether "majoritarianism" (of those who rag), and the Authoritarianism of Teachers cannot be also read as "fiefdomism" and "feudalism". Interpretations.

So whatever be the firefighting procedures that may be suggested for preventing abusive "ragging" and "teacher behaviour", to my mind the wider-spread systemic failure needs to be paid attention to which would encompass both of these aberrational behaviours and many many more exploitative scenarios.

Hence my stress on "Environment of Justice" (that is available at every level of every sphere of our lives whether public or private) which also includes in itself "Delivery of Justice" (whether through Courts of Law or institutional provisioning) so that there is "Accountability" of those who have been vested with "Rights, Authority and Power."

I suggest again that if you think about this you will see this as automatically addressing 'abusive groupism and majoritarianism' of the raggers and the "frustrations" of Teachers that lead to their aberrational behaviour.

But I do understand your judging what I had written as 'sweeping generalisations'.

Firefighting on a case to case basis is in any case not an option but a necessity.

Kshmendra

--- On Tue, 4/21/09, anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com> wrote:

From: anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Why do Schools and Colleges in India Kill?
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009, 8:56 PM

Dear Kshmendra,

We have this tendency to simplify things around us for better understanding
of the issues. But what amazes me is the clarity with which one can simplify
even the most complex issues. My understanding of ragging in colleges and
corporal punishments in schools is somewhat different from yours in how you
connect fiefdom and feudalism, colonial past and other such things with this
one issue about schools and colleges and the kind of abuses that goes on.
Feudalism and fiefdom may not be connected with what goes on in the schools
and colleges at all.

In colleges, instances of ragging related incidents started in the latter
half of 1980s. If we say that it was feudalism and fiefdom that assumed
modern avatars such as the one stated by you, then perhaps we are ignoring
the fact that there were also phases, say from 1950s to 70s, when incidents
of ragging or violence inflicted on students by teachers and seniors were
not reported. There are two possibilities here: it could be that either
these instances were not reported and kept under the wraps to avoid social
stigma or because of the peer pressure or feudalism and fiefdom led to the
birth of the reactionary politics in the colleges and schools. It is a scary
thought, but if I were to jot down the instances that happened in the past
in colleges especially it starts with groupism. A college hostel with a
majority of students believing in one common idea would pounce on someone
who is slightly different. I am sure majoritarianism especially encountered
in colleges and schools are not the same thing as feudalism and fiefdom.

In case of the schools, the condition of the teachers is worse. There are
certain states in India, where teachers do not get for months. Moreover,
there is no such incentive for being a teacher, till the person starts
coaching classes or some other way of earning the money. However, it doesn’t
mean that a teacher can hang the student. But frustrations stems from the
teacher dealing with a large number of kids (as teacher-student ratio in
several schools especially the government ones are skewed) in the class. Our
schools (again I am not talking about elite schools) resemble hatcheries,
which was not the case few decades back.

In our sweeping generalisations, I just hope, we forget about these
instances.

Regards
Anupam

On 4/19/09, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Shuddha
>
> Allow me to share some simplistic thoughts on this.
>
> What we see reflected in such instances from educational institutions is
> the feudalism and fiefdomism that is rooted in almost every aspect of our
> lives in India.  They are in myriad forms but still have all the
> exploitative aspects that existed a few hundred years back.
>
> Feudalism became instutionalised and networked in India during the
colonial
> rule. It admirably served the purpose of both Rule and Revenue.
>
> Post 1947, attempts were made to erase out Agricultural Feudalism. There
> was some success but it continued to some extent through the Benami
system.
>
> At the same time Feudalism and Fiefdomism saw itself cloned and being
> employed in various spheres and utilised for purposes of exercising
control
> or exacting monies outside legal domains.
>
> Educational Institutions are just one such area.
>
> Post 1947, the economic policies that allowed Private Enterprise but gave
> them some protection against competition led in due course to Feudalism of
> Business Houses.
>
> At the same time, the economic policies of Licence Raj created the
> Feudalism of the Bureaucracy
>
> Ironically, the adoption of Free  Market Economy policies in recent years,
> without appropriate protection for small businesses has again resulted in
> the Feudalism of Business Houses.
>
> While at one time 'workers' suffered exploitative employment,
ensuring of
> Labour Rights in some areas, predominantly Larger Industrial and other
> enterprises saw the emergence of the Feudalism of the Workers.
>
> The Feudalism of the Police continued unchecked through the decades as did
> that of the Revenue Officers. They were truly the soldiers of the
> interconnected Feudal Empires.
>
> Interestingly, those who should have been the rebels against such
Feudalism
> themselves succumbed to it and we got the Feudalism of the Students.
>
> One could give other examples, but what is common to any such Feudalism
and
> Fiefdomism is the abuse of Rights, Authority and Power in the safe
> assumption that India seriously lacks in Accountability and Environment
for
> Justice and Delivery of Justice. (Will not expand on that. I am sure it is
> not needed)
>
> Senior students in an educational institution or the teaching faculty are
a
> part of similar feudal structures in their areas of operation and
influence.
> They find themselves because of their position, as being formally or
> informally vested with, not only Rights but also Power and Authority which
> they find easy to abuse in the absence of Accountability.
>
> My simplistic take.
>
> Kshmendra
>
>
>
>
> --- On Sat, 4/18/09, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
wrote:
>
> From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Why do Schools and Colleges in India Kill?
> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009, 12:39 AM
>
> Dear All,
>
> I find the incidence of deaths due to 'ragging' in educational
> institutions in india and the recent death of a young girl, a student
> of Class three, Shanno Khan, in a municipal school in Delhi caused by
> the corporal punishment meted out to her by her teacher because she
> could not tell the meaning of a word in English, totally shocking.
>
> Why is this murderous authoritarianism so prevalent in places of
> education in India. Why do students and teachers behave like
> executioners and impose so much violence on those weaker or smaller
> or younger than them?
>
> What is it about the nature of education and pedagogy in our society
> that makes it so conducive to producing little fascists and martinets?
>
> I hope this list can take some time to reflect on this.
>
> best
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
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