MAHARASHTRA: MILITARY TRAINING FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN!
Subhash Gatade
MAHARASHTRA: MILITARY TRAINING FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN !
“I have seen in Japan the voluntary submission of the whole people to the trimming of their minds and clipping of their freedom by their government, which through various educational agencies regulates their thoughts, manufactures their feelings, becomes suspiciously watchful when they show signs of inclining toward the spiritual, leading them through a narrow path not toward what is true but what is necessary for the complete welding of them into one uniform mass according to its own recipe. The people accept this all-pervading mental slavery with cheerfulness and pride because of their nervous desire to turn themselves into a machine of power, called the Nation, and emulate other machines in their collective worldliness.”
-Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism
The richest state in the Indian union, Maharashtra, has embarked on a new initiative in the field of school education. It would provide basic military training to school students starting from Class 1, to promote “patriotism, discipline, and physical fitness among young learners from an early age”. Around 2.5 lakh ex-servicemen would be involved to deliver this training which will be introduced in a phased manner.
Undoubtedly, in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, this proposal will be able to gather enough eyeballs in the rest of the country and it would not be a surprise that few other Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states would implement similar schemes in education.
This proposal is worrying at many levels. ( Read the full article here :https://www.newsclick.in/maharashtra-military-training-school-children)