Isaar laments about degenerating societal values
We the Corrupt ----- and We Don't See Anything Wrong in it
ISAAR KASHMIRI
I was working as contractual lecturer at +2 level. For at least four months our wages were withheld and the reason was that we had not greased the palms of the concerned official hence the punishment. Though we tried our level best to resolve the issue with the office, we couldn’t make any progress. Meanwhile the then Chief Education Officer paid a surprise visit to the institution I was working in. I found myself lucky enough to register a complaint before him as he was the boss of the boss I was the subordinate of. I was shocked. The officer bluntly told me rather rebuked me for not being in good rapport with the office. “Look my dear I can reduce the corruption but cannot do away with it” he said without any sign of remorse on his face. I took the said officer as an exception then.
More than ten years have passed since, however, things seem happening the same way as it did then before me. The matter is not of some petty currency notes but the grave concern is that today’s officers have lost their credibility. Some people with vested interests get their own cake baked at the cost of their character. Somewhere it happens with mutual understanding between the officer and his subordinates and somewhere it is manipulated by the wily officials of the officer’s office. Such cases are rare where only the officer’s commandments are followed. Factually the officers with heavy metal are missing as do the stars from the sky while the sun shines.
There was a time when an officer was considered to be next to God not because he had some more constitutional rights than his subordinates and common people but because he was a the chosen one and the best among the lot. He used to be the person who was thought to be accountable before his conscience. The then officer was man of charisma. His stature was of a height that could hardly be measured by a common man. His main goal was public service which at times he would undertake at his own costs. The then officers never gave sermons of honesty or punctuality to the people who worked under their seal and signature. They simply practiced with great deal of conviction what they wanted others to do.
April will be over but the schools are still witnessing chaos and confusion as the academic train is still to get on rails. Every now and then transfer orders of teachers emerge from nowhere. Again the train gets derailed. Not only this, teachers are retransferred even in less than a week’s time without genuine grounds. Somewhere politics plays its card and somewhere it is due to some polite hellos. The three months winter break proved to be insufficient for the authorities to settle down the less important issue like transfer of teachers and now when the teachers are supposed to be in the classrooms, they are being whisked away and fixed somewhere else like electric poles. Wasn’t the long winter break a golden period for making these transfers and organising various training and capacity building programmes? Why now when it becomes irritative even for a lay man who hardly has anything to do with the academics. Shall we call it inefficiency of the authorities or God forbid all this is a part of some conspiracy. Whatever the case may be the sufferer is that little angel whose innocence is highly being exploited. That little kid knows little how his career is being chocked in the name of administration.
Let us all, as teachers, spare some time and visit our conscience and see how murky it is. Let’s renew our conviction and try to throw out all the dirt of greed and haughtiness that has accumulated in our remorseless hearts. Let’s have some patience. Let's learn to be humble and honest.
We the Corrupt ----- and We Don't See Anything Wrong in it
ISAAR KASHMIRI
I was working as contractual lecturer at +2 level. For at least four months our wages were withheld and the reason was that we had not greased the palms of the concerned official hence the punishment. Though we tried our level best to resolve the issue with the office, we couldn’t make any progress. Meanwhile the then Chief Education Officer paid a surprise visit to the institution I was working in. I found myself lucky enough to register a complaint before him as he was the boss of the boss I was the subordinate of. I was shocked. The officer bluntly told me rather rebuked me for not being in good rapport with the office. “Look my dear I can reduce the corruption but cannot do away with it” he said without any sign of remorse on his face. I took the said officer as an exception then.
More than ten years have passed since, however, things seem happening the same way as it did then before me. The matter is not of some petty currency notes but the grave concern is that today’s officers have lost their credibility. Some people with vested interests get their own cake baked at the cost of their character. Somewhere it happens with mutual understanding between the officer and his subordinates and somewhere it is manipulated by the wily officials of the officer’s office. Such cases are rare where only the officer’s commandments are followed. Factually the officers with heavy metal are missing as do the stars from the sky while the sun shines.
There was a time when an officer was considered to be next to God not because he had some more constitutional rights than his subordinates and common people but because he was a the chosen one and the best among the lot. He used to be the person who was thought to be accountable before his conscience. The then officer was man of charisma. His stature was of a height that could hardly be measured by a common man. His main goal was public service which at times he would undertake at his own costs. The then officers never gave sermons of honesty or punctuality to the people who worked under their seal and signature. They simply practiced with great deal of conviction what they wanted others to do.
April will be over but the schools are still witnessing chaos and confusion as the academic train is still to get on rails. Every now and then transfer orders of teachers emerge from nowhere. Again the train gets derailed. Not only this, teachers are retransferred even in less than a week’s time without genuine grounds. Somewhere politics plays its card and somewhere it is due to some polite hellos. The three months winter break proved to be insufficient for the authorities to settle down the less important issue like transfer of teachers and now when the teachers are supposed to be in the classrooms, they are being whisked away and fixed somewhere else like electric poles. Wasn’t the long winter break a golden period for making these transfers and organising various training and capacity building programmes? Why now when it becomes irritative even for a lay man who hardly has anything to do with the academics. Shall we call it inefficiency of the authorities or God forbid all this is a part of some conspiracy. Whatever the case may be the sufferer is that little angel whose innocence is highly being exploited. That little kid knows little how his career is being chocked in the name of administration.
Let us all, as teachers, spare some time and visit our conscience and see how murky it is. Let’s renew our conviction and try to throw out all the dirt of greed and haughtiness that has accumulated in our remorseless hearts. Let’s have some patience. Let's learn to be humble and honest.
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