By far, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has shown visionary acumen and enterprising skills. His latest effort aims at removing "class" discrimination in classrooms is highly praiseworthy. In a state like Bihar, class divide is enormously deep-rooted, holding back the progress. In principle, much of this sense of “different class” or “caste” is developed during the formative years, and with time it gets cemented and consolidated that seem unbreakable even with lofty intellectual integrity. The disease is so monstrous. Any effort to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich starts at the education level whereby the mental bankruptcy could be nipped in the bud. In US and other western nations, tall efforts are being put into action to create enabling environment for learning. For this, more than 200 hundred learning theories have been devised, so that they could produce world class leaders, entrepreneurs and experts. Motivation, support, promotion, and monitoring are some of the great concepts that these nations put into practice to assist their children in reaching an intellectual level that discards all divisive forces. Education, in practice, will have to be free from all the prejudices lest the dream of a progressive state will be as distant as ever.

This is quite strange in a country that assimilated and welcomed alien cultures and societies still suffers from indigenous social untouchablity, and where a Brahmin still hates the sight of a Chamar or a Julaha feels uncomfortable in the company of a Syed. What started as social norms based on work performance during the Vedic era became a permanent dividing line. The unprecedented caste wars that have plagued the state even after six decades of independence is an ultimate result of improper implementation of modern education system, and which fails to create a society of what Tagore said, “Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”. In spite of growth that Bihar witnessed in producing a large number of highly skilled experts in every field of learning, we are yet to rid of “dreary desert sand of dead habit”. It is sad that the first question that a native of the state asks is the caste you belonged to rather that the kind of human you are. The very mindset needs change, sooner or later.

The clear class division in education system is visible in the state where the general norm is that the rich would go to public schools and the poor has the option of studying in government schools that have become the symbol of gross inefficiency. Language is another divider: while English, the symbol of advancement failed to reach out to the poor, Hindi or Urdu, the two major languages have lost out to the former in the race of supremacy. For the poor students, learning English is a luxury, while to the rich, it comes handy due to the enabling environment of public schools. Plethora of “English Institutes” that have opened up in every town of Bihar is sheer testimony to the fact that where state failed, the private individuals took up the challenge. In the process, however, learning English at this stage for the students from poor families is no less than a burdensome exercise. While the learners from public school background feels the whole world open up before them, the poor writhes in the limited world of ghetto complex; in the same vein, while the former scales the ladder of success, the later nurses the grudge of being left out in the race. The pro and anti-reservation protests that we witness, time and again, is the culmination of this faulty policy, where haves fear the loss of ground while the have-nots see the opportunity as the last resort.

In modern age, education is a big healer and level-playing field, if it is pursued in a way where “knowledge is free”. The common school system, adopted by the Bihar Government, can thus be viewed as a move in the right direction to erase the deep-rooted line dividing rich and poor in the education system. The initiative would certainly help develop close interaction between the poor and the rich, and both classes learn from each other: the poor will learn to grow and rich will feel the pangs of poverty. Though it would be too early to predict the outcome, the beginning of this kind of programme would lead to developing a better learning environment.

Long back, the Kothari Commission had recommended that the poor children should also be given the opportunity to study side-by-side the children from the elite class. It gives pleasure that Bihar is the first state to adopt this idealistic model after the Centre passed the responsibility on states for its implementation. However, it would even be more satiating if the initiative gets going with fruitful results in years to come. Apart from governmental efforts, participation of civil society, NGOs and local stakeholders, especially teachers are equally prerequisite.

Growth of Bihar means growth of its people, and growth of people means growth of humans belonging to every section of society barring caste, creed and class. We should keep in mind while teaching, preaching, writing or discussing the issue. For confrontation, issues are in plenty, but for making a society worth living, a collective effort is what the state needs.

When I from black and you from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,

And be like him, and he will then love me.

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