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. One that, on each occasion, has got me to think. Answers to some questions change, as we travel on the road to life and evolve. Today, my vote would go to exposure.
How will it pan out?
Students should visit villages, towns and cities located in different parts of our country. Visit homes at these places and interact with people who live different lives from those their own; who wear clothes different from what the students are familiar with; 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 they may not have come across previously or celebrate festivals and sing songs in a new manner. And much more. We could create platforms that enable our students to learn in this manner as opposed to from books or videos. These platforms can also be independent of schools.
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We are increasingly living in our small worlds where we primarily interact with people who are similar to us in more ways than one. This also begins from early years. Not only do know less and less of the worlds around us but also believe, more and more, that our world is better. The scene has altered little in the recent years. And, if anything, it has gone from bad to worse.
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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, based on geographies, dietary preferences, religions, sects, gender, castes and more. These, like other invisible boundaries, are ingrained deep within us. We need to know these ‘other people’ so that we get rid of our insecurity and hatred. And possibly make friends. To move beyond some of the labels we have created, which make little sense or carry a negative connotation 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...
It could help us celebrate our diversity. A diversity that is, to put gently, mindboggling. Wise women and men before us, too, have said it is only because five fingers are different from each other that 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.
Email nimesh.explore@gmail.com