In the good old days when I went to school, everyone wore an identical uniform. There was
no difference in the fabric or the price. of our attire. All the girls tied up their hair in a braid
or a pony tail without pins or fancy buckles. Nobody was allowed to wear fringes, bangs or
fancy haircuts. We never wore polish on our nails, never applied mehandi on our palms,
never strung flowers in our hair and never wore bindis on the forehead because the school
wanted no communal discrimination. All the students, the boys and the girls wore the same
type of shoes/ socks and carried almost identical lunch boxes and bags.
For eleven years we spent together, we never knew if our classmate’s father was an
industrialist or a telephone operator. Except Paul. Paul’s father, Diego worked as an office
boy in our school and often visited our classroom with a message for the teacher. Every time
Diego entered the class, all of us looked at Paul with pride and applauded. Diego was as awe-
inspiring for us as our teachers because he occupied the space of authority in our minds and
Paul was as much a part of our lives as the other classmates.
Our present-day students will never know the innocence of our times because they are fed on
discrimination as toddlers. It begins with the school admission interviews where schools want
to know about your father’s profession and mother’s profile. You have to fill in the location
you reside and also your annual income and last but not the least, who recommended you to
this school? The social media for the last few days, has been buzzing with video clips of the
annual celebrations at the Dhirubhai Ambani School in Mumbai and the only focus are the
star kids – Aaradhya Bachchan, Abram Khan, Yash, Hiroo Johar and Taimur Khan. I wonder
how the other parents feel about this.? They pay the same fees as the other celebrities, so how
do they deal with the recurrent preferential treatment to select children?
In my opinion the celebrity parents are not to be blamed be it the Bachchans, the Khans, the
Kapoors or the Johars because they are far from seeking the special treatment. My objection
is to inviting the influencers to such functions who make a mockery of the education system.
Do you agree with me, write in your comments.