Page 88 - EducationWorld January 2023

Books

Clarion call for brings out yet another par-
adox latent in education:
educators SMALLER CITIZENS: education is supposed to
WRITINGS ON THE MAKING
make conflicts bearable
OF INDIAN CITIZENS
Krishna Kumar yet in reality, it serves as a
RISHNA Kumar’s ORIENT BLACKSWAN source of conflict through
deep and critical Rs.395 Pages 149 systemic biases that ail
Kengagement with Indian society. Biases and
education and its impact disparities based on gen-
on the child is clearly re- der, caste, religious divides
flected in this slim volume waves of the pandemic are deeply entrenched
of 18 collected essays, that has made pursuing The author’s insights in our society impacting
Smaller Citizens: Writings life and education difficult help to locate the educational systems and
on the Making of Indian for young citizens of India. child within socio- processes, eroding the
Citizens. Collating these Existing disparities have political complexities landscape of teaching and
essays in a single volume deepened as a large sec- while understanding learning.
signifies the common tion of children have been education in India and The author’s com-
theme that binds them pushed out of formal edu- its intersection with mentary on the status
together. cation. Many of them have citizenship of teachers is evident in
The author — a highly been forced into labour the statement “…India
respected former profes- and/or child marriage has treated its teachers
sor of education at Delhi while others have become to think freely and apply like messengers” — mes-
University — explores with rudderless after the loss their critical faculties to sengers who need not
a critical lens, themes of of family and livelihood. contemporary problems understand the message
education and citizenship, The pandemic has again while on the other, educa- they deliver in classrooms.
marginalised childhoods highlighted the disparities tional practices train them The label of messenger is
and schooling. He exam- that have always existed in to become loyal citizens, deeply telling, for it ac-
ines policy documents Indian society. The essays obeying authorities repre- counts absence of the voice
that focus on flexibility throw light on the limita- sentative of the state. of teacher practitioners in
and contextualisation of tions and biases that are a The Right of Children most high-level commit-
curricula, standards, as- hallmark of our society. to Free and Compul- tees that are constituted
sessment as well as the Second, this is also the sory Education (RTE) to reform education. If
manner in which discrimi- period when the process Act, 2009 and its narrow present, they are so few in
natory practices define of translating the National interpretation, is the focal number that their voice
Indian education, and Education Policy (NEP) point of some of the essays carries no weight.
how educationists and 2020 into reality has been included in this compen- On the issue of gen-
practitioners merely pay initiated. This is a policy dium. The Act’s potential der, the author’s succinct
lip service to far-sighted document that visualises to reform elementary analysis illuminates prob-
policy documents. massive reform of Indian education making it more lems associated with girls’
With a fine pencil, education, bringing pre- equitable through access, education. The issue is not
Kumar highlights systemic primary to higher educa- has been implemented. merely of access, but also
bias that makes institu- tion within its ambit. In Yet another dimension to of the nature and qual-
tions resistant to change. this context, the insights the legislation is accep- ity of girls’ educational
The insights developed built through a perusal of tance of the child’s agency experience. Non-discrim-
help the reader in locating the essays equip the read- and the need for teachers ination between boys and
the child within socio-po- er with the critical ability to appreciate and translate girls means overlooking
litical complexities while to review NEP 2020 from it in actuality remains an lives led at home and the
understanding education diverse perspectives. unfulfilled goal. reality of the girl child’s
in India and its intersec- The prologue sets the The author goes on to daily experience of negoti-
tion with citizenship. tone of the book as the explore incidents from ating the distance between
The year of publication writer explores major school classrooms across home and school.
of the book (2021) is sig- paradoxes that lie at the the country, looking at Kumar cites Leela
nificant from two perspec- heart of modern educa- diverse social contexts to Dube’s use of the term
tives. First, this is a period tion — on the one hand, highlight how children ‘inescapability’ to describe
post the two tumultuous encouraging the young are treated. The critique the inevitability of a girl’s

88 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2023