“Sachin’s parents are not rich or important and it’s unlikely that they will ever be able to make a big donation to your school. But they are good people with fine values. They will insist that Sachin play by the rules and they will do all they possibly can to reinforce what you teach him everyday in the classroom. He will grow up to be a model citizen who will work hard and pay his taxes. He deserves the best education he can get because he’s going to support his parents and make this country a better place to live in for all of us.”
Sachin got in. The principal at the school his parents had set their hearts on had a vulnerable moment and my letter touched him. He gave Sachin a chance and Sachin hasn’t let him down. He really is a model citizen in the making, a boy his school will be proud of one day.
But there are so many other children I have written letters for who haven’t been admitted, children who are no less worthy, no less precious. What about them?
I’m feeling it particularly this year because several of the kids I’ve been asked to champion are kids with special needs, kids for whom the decks are already stacked against them and who need a break more urgently than most.
Kirti, for example.
Kirti is one of our EIC stars. She is one of quadruplets and her parents are marvels of the universe. We are all simply in awe of them. Three of their four quads were born normal. They beat the odds. Kirti didn’t. She was born with Cerebral Palsy and a host of difficulties.
But Early Intervention helped her through the toddler years and slowly but surely she advanced to the point where her parents believed she was ready to go into a mainstream school. The Kendriya Vidyalaya they selected had to accept her because of the Right to Education Act, but that didn’t mean they would welcome her. In fact, the Headmistress at the school told them clearly that they were making a mistake, that she didn’t belong with “normal” children and that it wasn’t going to work at all.
Kirti is only one child. One of many. There is Siddharth in Bangalore, a child with low vision and high intelligence whose parents are beginning to despair because they can’t find a school willing to celebrate the special boy he is. There is Amrit here in Dehradun whose only problem is that he needs a little help to get around. So many children – brave, valiant, eager children who want to learn and are willing to work hard and put their hearts into their studies – are still being rejected because of who they are, because of how they learn, and I, for one, am tired of it.
I am tired of a system that recognizes only one kind of student, of teachers who are prepared for only one kind of child, and of tests that cater to only one kind of knowledge. The world is VAST. The ways we learn are INFINITE. Why do we want to limit ourselves? Why do we even think of rejecting the Kirtis, the Siddharths and the Amrits?
