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Kathmandu Thursday February 14, 2002 Falgun 02, 2058.
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Religion in school education
By PADMA DEVKOTA
Religious intolerance has always been denounced
by all except those who practice it. Like all forms of intolerance, this too is the
result of a one-track mind that fails to comprehend alternative perspectives. The
one-track mind is an instance of the failure of education.
In Nepal, education has yet to overcome the
social prioritisation of the cunning over the educated so that serious students intent on
academic excellence will be better able to face the hazards of economic survival.
"What will learning do? You have to earn money" is an advice that juniors still
receive in families and circles of well-wishers. The unfortunate reality of social
practice around serious students reinforces this notion. Forged certificates sprout in
abundance in the race for jobs and incomes. Thus, the importance of education is further
undermined and the obsession with wealth and its accompanying pomp marks the present day
cult of this once morally and spiritually upright nation. In fact, the race for wealth has
justified the means to the extent that corruption is rampant but seldom penalized. This
greed is the outcome of a one-track mind. Unteaching this greed should be a top priority
of general education in Nepal.
Without doubt, a good education is the best
remedy for a one-track mind. Among the dangers of such a mind, especially when it comes to
religious and other beliefs, are the forms that it can take: fundamentalism at its worst
and sheer stupidity at its best. Stupidity can be laughed at; but, fundamentalism, a habit
of practicing religion word for word, is a cancer of the mind that education has to cure.
Like cancerous growth, the fundamentalist similar faith in others and its
"metastasis" is often invisible to the judiciary doctors of social disorder
until it is too late. The earlier diagnosed, the better it is for everyone since it can be
prevented at the source.
Fundamentalism begins with lack of tolerance for
the unsaid, which is alien: alien thought, alien person, alien practice, alien everything.
This is the result of a deep-rooted faith that the familiar thought, practice and life
style is the only positive one. There is always something wrong with the food others eat,
the dress others wear and the prayers others raise. Sometimes, this sense of difference
creates a sense of rivalry, of competition, of desire to establish one’s identity. We
feel threatened when others do not tolerate us, but adopt a nonchalant attitude of
superiority
in our intolerance for others.
We are all aware that, in the name of preserving
culture and tradition, various sects and societies have committed the most heinous crimes
against the human mind and body. Yet, in the name of preserving our own culture, we are
ready to take the lives of people we do not like because we do not really understand them.
Culture is not meant to be preserved; it is meant to be enhanced whenever possible. To
enhance something, one has to see how other similar religions or cultures are functioning
and then modify one’s own without too much ado. The most important thing in human
life is the fullest possible development of the individual, not the continuation of a
silly tradition that was once good for individuals living five hundred or more years ago.
Yet culture in the form of religious practice is
so tenacious in human societies that it takes roots in all social institutions including
that of education. Many societies make it a point to instruct their young ones carefully
and meticulously in religious teachings and practices in the school and at home. Our own
school textbooks are filled with stories of Rama, Sita and such other scriptural
protagonists.
Fortunately, the intention of these readings
does not seem to be the inculcation of religious faith. There have also been attempts at
political indoctrination through textbooks, the second worst educational practice, in the
past. It is important to discourage both these practices everywhere in the world if we
want better education for the future generation.
In Nepal, we still have to decide upon a serious
question: do we really want to teach our children religion in the classroom? If yes, which
religion? Islamic schools do not teach Hindu scriptures, nor are they expected to.
Christian missionary schools teach the Bible, which is one of the foundations of western
intellectual thought. There is nothing wrong in teaching children of any religion the
stories of Rama and Sita.
However, the real problem arises when children
are indoctrinated into Hinduism or Christianity or Islam to the extent that they become
something else than a human being with an open mind. A multitrack mind reaches out in all
directions with an openness that seeks to understand. Tolerance cannot exist without
understanding and compassion. It is for this reason that I would like to see in the
textbooks for all Nepali children irrespective of their religious background interesting
reading items from all the important religions of the world. Let them read stories from
Koran, Bible, Mahabharata, Digha Nikaya, Buddhacharit and so on. Let at least three out of
several important religions feature as part of a child’s education, not as religion
per se but as myth or legend.
Of course, these do not have to feature as
textbooks. Teachers could tell stories of sages and prophets, of Alla and of Christ. Let
us not grow up saying this god is superior to that. This will be our undoing. It may even
be a good idea for someone to collect interesting stories from various religions into an
anthology for school children. Thus far, it is as if we do not give children their right
to choose their faith because we did not get ours.
A Brahmin is born into a caste whence he cannot
escape. A Moslem is as much in the fated net as a Christian from the moment of birth. I
was told that there were untouchables. I have touched many human beings and found them
very pleasing to my tactile sense.
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