By Ann Saad
Keeping the recent rush of write ups on Delhi Public School (DPS) abaya row in mind, let’s put the things in perspective. Kashmir isn’t a normal place, so let’s not try hard to normalize a situation or a place by keeping a very narrow vision.
DPS came to Kashmir in 2003 and I was one among the first students to join the school. My parents had waited so long for the school to finally open. The craze of nyebrem Indian teachers teaching their kids had gripped my parents.
Now, this is problematic.
Because for some very weird reason, the Kashmiri parents had or maybe still have this perception that Indian teachers are more educated, skilled or experienced than Kashmiri teachers. This made them believe that their children would be in better hands in DPS. Well, that shattered very soon because DPS have zero teachers from India. Though that was respite, but the idea of the school being very Indian in spirit was niggling.
In a recent article on DPD row by one of my ex-teachers, the school was praised for its surveillance strategies, which is a tragedy, an Orwellian tragedy, in fact!
Luring the Kashmiri people with its infrastructure, yellow buses and use of updated technology doesn’t account for brilliant education. It in fact is just a very simple move of a capitalist mind. It’s a money minting process: Invest a little and earn in millions.
So, let’s demystify, or for that matter, deconstruct the institution a bit further. The truth is DPS is just like any other school around. But then this school has an edge.
This school came to Kashmir when the militancy in valley had waned to some extent and the memories of the 90s had started fading. Then, the new generation had very little knowledge of the conflict — especially of the gory decade that had gone by. All this was a perfect timing to Indianise the Kashmiris.
Ensuring that every single student sings the Indian national anthem in the early morning assemblies daily and punishing those who wouldn’t lip sync was the first step of forceful assimilation. Discussion of any sort of politics was strictly prohibited in the classrooms. This left a large section of students from DPS oblivious to the Kashmir conflict to this date.
And not to forget the forceful thrusting of the Hindi language on students who prior to that had absolutely no knowledge of the language. Suddenly they were forced to read and write the language. This had a serious effect on students who very comparatively weak in studies because learning a new language at the age of 11, 12 or 13 along with juggling seven other subjects had a traumatic effect on many students. The weaker ones had to suffer even more. This shoving of an alien language to the students was another tactic of assimilation, which was received by us without any real resistance.
The school focused on the extra-curricular activities by making students participate in various competitions on a regional and national level. But the selection of these students was mostly based on favouritism and nepotism. Such students, either having their parents in the school as teachers or in the administration department or belonging to influential families or the ever present sycophants were selected again, and again. And hardly anyone who actually deserved a chance hardly got one, unless they put up a fight.
DPS, let me tell you, is not different from any other school. The infrastructure and the use of updated technologies sure are a great way of luring the students. But what happens inside the classroom remains the same to what happens in every other school.
Students are humiliated, beaten and discouraged on a daily bases. Post mortem of the books to cover syllabus in time without giving students any real knowledge is very much in vogue in DPS. Forging the internal marks by giving more to favourites and giving lesser to others continue to remain a practice.
Students who give different opinion or who don’t adhere to the ideologies of the school administration or the teachers are shamed. And this partiality is most visible when the papers are evaluated.
So, what makes DPS “the best”? I say: Nothing!
DPS is not a secular school. It is an Indian school spreading the Indian propaganda of ‘All is well in the paradise land’ and that ‘India is our country’.
Up until 2008, I was completely oblivious to the Kashmir conflict. I considered myself an Indian, supported the Indian team during cricket matches and sung the Indian national anthem with pride every morning. Then 2008 happened and I was forced to stay indoors for months with army men outside every gate in my colony, not allowing us to come out of our own houses. This shook me completely.
Daily news of everyday killings, journalists beaten to pulp, no ration in houses anymore, banning of the Kashmir media — all this made me realize that I am living under occupation.
It was only after this, I stopped feeding on the Indian propaganda my school fed me for years. I started reading on Kashmir, its history of occupation, the heavy militarization and brutal incidents like Kunan Poshpora.
I was shattered but I had finally woken up and there was no going back now. The school had failed in its mission.
The abaya controversy in which a teacher was given a choice of either abandoning her dress (which she feels comfortable in because it doesn’t comply to the rules of the school) or leave her job is another way of forcing the Kashmiris to adhere to the ideology of the unknown.
Dressing is a personal choice of an individual and a person usually chooses to wear whatever he/she feels comfortable in. Now, I do not really understand how this threatens the so-called invisible secular nature of the school.
If someone feels comfortable in certain attire, which they aren’t allowed to follow, I see it as a threat to the individual’s choice of personal freedom. If the principal of the school can wear a Sari which can also have religious connotations, why can’t a woman of Muslim faith who practices her religion openly wear a dress she feels comfortable in and at the same time makes her feel closer to her religion?
This is not only bizarre but at the same time makes one question the secular nature of the school which many people contest. I see it as a communal move to vilify a certain religion and forcing people to accept the code of conduct without giving them the freedom to question it. Doesn’t this threaten the freedom of choice and the freedom of expression of the people in that school, otherwise upheld by Indian constitution?
Isn’t it just another way of forceful assimilation? I say, it is.
An Alumna of DPS, Ann Saad is pursuing Masters in Peace and Conflict from Jamia Millia Islamia. (Views expressed in this article are author’s own.)
Well, this seems to be an article from a kid who tries to mix the Kashmir struggle with a School. If DPS were to be run by a muslim, we would not be having these articles by people who try to justify their own failures in lives and blame the schools for that. Once you got into DPS, i hope you and your parents realised that it was CBSE curriculum, under which Hindi needs to be taught. My kids went to DPS and they provided the best education and also the best infrastructure (yes, that is very important for me as a parent) as compared to other schools. I have studied in Biscoe and a proud Biscoite, but in no way can it be compared to DPS. We can criticise the policies of the school, but terming the school as non-secular (a school should have nothing to do with Religion – please join MET if you are looking for that), a school that Indianises (just because you were not let out of the house in 2008 gave you some sort of revelation) is purely laughable and seems vengeful. I was born in late 70’s and saw the birth and death of militancy. Even though, our childhood was marred with bullets and blasts, we never treated our schools like this. We should not take this one instance (which i think should have been handled in a better manner and an apology to the teacher is in order) and make this an issue about westernization, unislamic etc. It is a school that provides quality education with quality infrastructure.
If you dont like it, dont send your kids there. You have ample options. A school is cropping up every week in Kashmir. But please, telling people that schools like this push kids away from Islam is nothing but hear-say. If you have to say this, please close Convent, Biscoe, Burhhall etc. Lest we forget, these schools are the reason why education came to Kashmir. If we were left with Schools of the Govt, or to that matter, schools run by non-existent WAQF board, we would all be still tending to horses and pushing bullock carts and not studying in Jamia Millia.
This behaviour of people in Kashmir, who jump to conclusions, become judgemental is sickening. It is time we look for education and not literacy which i think is the case with the author of the article.
//If we were left with Schools of the Govt, or to that matter, schools run by non-existent WAQF board, we would all be still tending to horses and pushing bullock carts and not studying in Jamia Millia.//
This is gross misappropriation on your part. How many Kashmiri people do you think have studied in schools like DPS, Biscoe or Mallinson? Most of the Kashmiri people have studied in Govt. schools and schools run by local auqafs or local committees. And no, not all of them are pushing bullock carts like you ridculously assumed for students from such schools. Don’t talk like this while who have the frigging privilige on your side! You got to study in elite schools doesn’t give you a license to belitte students from not-so-elite schools! Don’t belittle people, most of all don’t belittle those who push bullock carts, don’t mock them! Don’t you dare think that those pushing bullock carts can be used as an example for belittling people. Don’t for a second think you are better than them!
If any body is being judgemental here that’s you Jalal Z sahib. Even before you start your argument you judge the writer as a “kid who tries to mix the Kashmir struggle with a School”. This even sounds patronizing. Dear Jalal sahib, the writer Ann Saad is pursuing Masters in Peace and Conflict in Jamia Millia Islamiais and is not a kid but a grown up who very well knows what she is saying. I am sure you’ll agree she on her own merit secured admission in the subject she is pursuing and rejecting her observations summarily is not what an educated person should do. She has studied there for 12 long years and is very much within her rights to form an opinion about the school, like you can about the Biscoe school. Not sending your kids to this school is a very poor argument. When one sends his/her kids to this school, they also pay hefty fees and they are within their rights to give suggestions and opinions. If school runs the different facilities for kids, they are not doing it for free. And certainly no body is sending their kids to schools to form political opinions. Educations, Yes, and there is always a room for improvement.
Mudasir, You misunderstood me. Maybe my message came across as wrong but i am just trying to emphasise that one cannot ignore the contribution to education from these institutions. DPS is relatively new, and we have all the right to critisize the policies and the procedures but there is more good than there is evil. Once we start evaluating schools based on the freedom given to us on religious grounds, the whole thing becomes flawed. Everyone made a hue and cry about DPS not allowing Friday prayers in Schools, which led to eventually Friday being a half day there. I dont argue with the need of Friday prayers, but when people on social media were lambasting DPS, calling it Indian, Hindu and what not, they did not hold other schools to the same pyre. Let the standards be the same. Even Biscoe, my school, being old and safe didnt quite for quite long stand tall in these religious evaluations.
My point is simply that there is more good than evil and one should take into consideration before putting messages on FB like burn the school building, Indian agents etc.
Also, i have nothing against people studying in Govt. Schools. My father has studied there, my grandfather had a bullock cart and i still have a part of it at home and am proud of it.
Just my 2 cents.
I request my kashmiri brothers not to reply to this Jalal. As it’s not his real name. He is a kashmiri pandit in disguise. So I request you all to stop wasting your precious time.
Ann Saad is indeed a “kid who tries to mix the Kashmir struggle with a School”. I’m a non kashmiri but from what she’s written, it is evident that she has very little knowledge or should I say incorrect knowledge about Kashmir’s history. During the tough times in 2008, some ppl fed her nonsense and she ccepted it as the ultimate truth. And Mr./Ms. Effy, are you a Kashmiri? Strange! Because you don’t know what Kashmiriyat is all about. Else you would nt hv used such lines. Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris. Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians. Everyone! Irrespective of their religions. You are such a shame to your ancestors who fought for Kashmiri ppl, for Kashmiriyat.
Ms. Ann, being literate doesn’t prove you’re educated well. But yes, being literate and be able to write is such a powerful tool. My request to you is please get your facts right and write responsibly. Good luck!!
Miss lama,
Looks like you know more about the K issue than we Kashmiris know about it which is funny.
I hope you know that the ‘kid’ in question is a masters student who majors in peace and conflict studies which is an offshoot of International Relations. I think she 7nderstands politics and particularly politics related to conflict well.
Also, cut this Kashmiriyat rant of yours. I know you know nothing about, so please shut up.