Haroon Rashid Bhat
“It is not only the revision, formation, or execution of laws that can change the situation but it also needs a change in our attitude.”
The increasing reports of rape cases, and sexual harassment, became the daily news. According to National Crime Records Bureau-NCRB, the rape vulnerability for girls or women is almost twice today what it was seventeen years ago. This upward trend is not a good sign for a modest society. Some experts say that this worrying phenomenon is just the tip of the iceberg. The situation is worse. Some cases don’t come into the public domain because of one reason or another. Just imagine what will happen when this entire human society gets fully exhausted by these odd actions. It is high time to counter this growing menace. When a rape case happens anywhere, the public expresses their anger in different ways, demonstrating against it or arranging a candle march, or expressing their opinion. Some even demand for formation and execution of strict laws. No doubt, these instant reactions against this heinous crime create public pressure on the sitting government to review the formation of laws and their execution. But the big question is……. are these steps enough to remove this crime from any society? These measures may yield some positive results but this crime is so heinous that every morally sound person wants a permanent solution. Now let us ponder where the fault lies.
The prime institutions of our society are family and educational institutions. These institutions are preparing human resources for our society. Do they render their duties perfectly? Unfortunately not. Earlier parents were conducting informal sessions through folktales, stories, legends, myths, and informal counseling sessions with the children to impart moral values but in modern times modern gadgets like excessive use of smartphones, laptops, etc imbalanced the whole social environment of our homes/families. Instead of listening to stories from grandparents now, children prefer to play with smartphones. Young, old even kids have become so obsessed with smartphones that they hardly get any time for interaction. Family members sitting in different rooms or sharing the same room, sitting at different corners with their smartphones or tabs become the common site of every household. This attitude leads to the scarcity of moral values, cooperation, mutual respect, tolerance emotions. Now let us have a look at our modern school education system. This system became more grade-oriented. A student who earns more grades is considered the best. There is a blind race among students to attain material gains. Also, our modern education system places more emphasis on science and technology ignoring other subjects that give base to moral character. Undoubtedly, our society needs professionals like scientists, doctors, engineers, etc. but at the same time, it is the prime responsibility of school education to make them morally fit so that they will abide by the moral values while performing their respective roles in society. During our school days, the Deeniyat – the moral book was taught. That particular book consisted of moral lessons mostly based on the life story of our beloved Prophet and his companions and saints.
The beauty of reading this particular book was that it was taught both by Muslim teachers and by other teachers who were adhering to the different religious faiths mostly by Kashmiri Pundits. The second very important thing that I considered worth mentioning here is that our teachers accompanied us to the Masjid to offer Zuhar Prayer and the pundit teacher was maintaining the attendance register to check whether the students were following the prayer schedule or not. I also remember those occasions when the pundit teacher Makhan Lal Ji requested Mohindin Sahab to narrate a few life episodes from the life stories of Prophets and saints to students during the assemble hour so that the students besides acquiring knowledge of other subjects would be acquainted with moral values like truthfulness, honesty, loyalty, decency, etc. When Mahi-Ul-Din Shab raised his hands for Duwa, all including the Pundit and the Sikh teachers responded to that particular Duwa with “Ameen”. Can we revive that rich legacy? It is up to the teachers how far they are ready to bring back those positive changes in their attitude. It is not only the revision, formation, or execution of laws that can change the situation but it also needs a change in our attitude. Let me conclude this write-up with the saying of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Education without morals is a Ship without a Compass”.
Haroon Rashid Bhat is a teacher and can be reached at minamharoon123@gmail.com
