Learning, then and now – I
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Learning, then and now – I

When I look at the past and see how it was for people like me, it saddens me and makes me laugh as well in the modern LOL way

Post by on Monday, June 21, 2021

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MUDASIR MAJEED PEER

 

Learning is a means to the attainment of knowledge. A good education makes it relatively easy for us to get along with our lives. If we lack in the knowledge about the things happening around us, we are then unresistant to the amount of harm coming our way. Knowing is owning, someone has said.

 

Around fifteen years ago learning through internet from home in our part of the world was close to impossible because internet had just born for us. It was only after the launch of 2G in 2008 that we were able to acquire data connections. Today the world appears so different. A good Internet connection at least is one step towards the path of progress, not discounting the recent dark period of internet blockade which defeated dreams of so many people.

 

Data connectivity has powered the domain of education. If we have the motivation today, we can access the a-list resources of learning on the internet. Two months ago, I enrolled for seven courses on EdX, an online learning platform created by Harvard and MIT, finished four of them so far. I cannot put the level of excitement in words. The fact that someone lives in Kupwara and can learn at Harvard, Yale MIT, Stanford etc without leaving his/her home for me is the simplest definition of globalisation. Learning in a world class university without going through the long ordeal of reaching there physically is a possibility now anywhere.

 

Online learning platforms like EdX, Coursera, Yale Courses (Youtube), NPTL, Vidya Mitra, Swayam etc are the knowledge revolutions. Whosoever wishes to be the beneficiary of this diffusion of knowledge through internet can easily be so without facing any barriers. Maximum useful content is freely available, just a single click away.

 

Do kindly believe me there is no gatekeeper asking you for Aadhaar card, no one even asking you to present your ration card. And no ‘Master Je’ looking at you with spiteful eyes as most of us have experienced at some point in our lives during our school, college or university days. All you need is a phone with internet support, the same phone with which most of us have conversations with our Tinas, Minas, Rahils and Rahuls every day. To raise the bar and make our profiles better by assimilating a good amount of knowledge everyday won't be a big deal. I am sure it’s going to add more quality to those conversations. 

 

If opportunity is knocking at our door, we must welcome it. We are amply aware about how our educational setup has worked. Personally, when I look at the past and see how it was for people like me it saddens me and makes me laugh as well in the modern LOL way.

 

I am reminded of some funnily tragic instances from my school days about how it used to be then and how it is now. Our science teacher never told us Lal Dhamay Khulaye (Urdu) meant Red Blood Cells in English. We knew Lal meant red, but had no clue what Khulaye and Dhammay meant. He never cared to tell us. And these Urdu words did anyway not evoke any temptation or curiosity except at the time of exam when we found a question on 'Blood' in the paper. We made sure that we write blood is red, at least. Lal DhamayKhulaye was a route to losing the marks because the teacher wanted us to be angels and write RBCs without ever making a whimper that Red Blood Cells was English translation of Lal DhamayKhulaye in Urdu. His class was relief in one sense at least— he used to sleep for at least 20 minutes in a class of 40 minutes. Not just that. He would snore too. I always prayed for such an easy sleep, never happened not even in the night. If today anyone complains of sleepiness, I sincerely wish that my teacher's Rooh enters him/her. 

 

My urdu teacher always had his kidney as an excuse to not teach us. He always told us he had pain when he entered the class which might have been true, God knows. But we were never able to figure out why the pain started always only after he entered our class. He was always fine with other stuff like eating, spending time in gossiping with other teachers at school, discussing at shop fronts etc. 

 

My zoology teacher completed the structure of kidney in one year when I was in 12th standard. I swear this is truth, though unbelievable, but could be corroborated by all my classmates. It was a small topic in zoology. (My cousin had taught me way better than him in one day when I was in 10th.)  He always told us it was a very important topic. We never asked him about the other parts of the syllabus, typical govt school student behaviour. Whenever in difficulty we used to wish that some bomb fell on our school or some calamity struck us. That way we were lucky only once when 2005 earthquake happened, we were in the midst of our exam. But our teachers still conducted the exam, the only thing they were best at Exam. One of my Ma’ams made me miss my first two classes every day when I was in 4th standard. She used to send me to pick her lunch from her home. It would take close to two hours every day. But I was happy always.  We had agreed to a deal that I will have highest marks for lending that service. When exams were near, she was transferred. I was devastated.I felt like Bandiya (Raj Pal Yadhav) in ChupChupke movie when he is given so many clothes to wash but when it is the time for eating, he loses it to the communication confusion and therefore is deprived of meals, the price for acting over-smart. Thanks again to govt schooling system till 5th we enjoyed mass promotion always.

 

      (To be continued...)

 

 

 

(Author lives in Kupwara and has postgraduation in Journalism and mass communication and Political science. He can be reached at mudasirmajeedpir@gmail.com)

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