The Loss of "humanity"

Corruption in India has become so rampant that it barely seems enough to blame the institutions of police or politics. It seems as if the entire race has become vitiated till the very core, who sometimes manifests their brutality by indulging in corruption, by violating the weaker sections of the society--the women, the poor, the minors etc, or by playing the role of a detached observer, thereby criticising the institutions and not bothering to look within. Who are to be blamed for this? What is the source of this poison that so pollutes the society? Who are to be held responsible for moral disintegration? Are getting more weightage in the discussions of the concerned media, and thereby grossly ignoring the most vital question: What is to be done to improve the situation, if not completely obliterate it?

A major role played by this moral degradation--despite the continuing influence of religion--is the over emphasis on completion oriented education imparted in our schools. It is viable for a student if he or she is trained in subjects that will help them score well in Competitive exams and it is a basic truth. But the question is whether the growth of character, the enhancement of moral and the development of a value system, be given a secondary role in our school curriculum? Sadly, the question is answered in affirmative in the form of the improvement in the syllabus by the major national and state school boards. Humanities have to give way for science or commerce. The most popular school board of our country crams the four most important disciplines under the Humanities Group (popularly known as the Arts Group), namely History, Civics, geography and Economics into one paper of 100 marks. The students thereby gets introduced to the name of a Bhagat Singh or another Subash Bose and understand the political causes for the eruption of the World War 1, but sadly, they cannot and are not required to afford some time of thing over the values of the by gone ages and also the mistakes done by our predecessors that are to be averted in future. The worst condition is suffered perhaps by the, once upon a time glorious subject called Literature. It aggravates to find that the previously, mentioned most popular school board could afford a mere 25 marks for literature in English and in one regional language till the secondary level. In secondary level, it further deteriorates as most students are encouraged to drop out the regional/mother language paper and the poor compulsory English literature survives with 35 marks and some mediocre texts.

However, in the same English paper what gets preference is the language part as a student is needed to face the English speaking world confidently. Grammar, Writing Skills (more clerical ,less creative) and Reading Skills and given much more emphasis as they again help students in the competition. But the subject that is expected the make one witty (according to Bacon in Of Studies) and profound, to instil

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