This article in the Guardian talks about getting schools funded by the state to follow British values. This initiative follows what in Britain is now called Operation Trojan Horse where Islamists tried to hijack school managements to bring about their own values as opposed to the so called British values.
In India too for too long, we have had various types of Trojan horses invading our schools through changing our history books in a ding dong battle between the so called Hindu politicians and the so called secular politicians. Going as far back as 2004 this battle started and each state too has been subject to various changes depending on which political party came to power.
The battle is about to begin again!
I am however zapped when I speak to young people about simple things and find that they do not have the slightest clue about many things that we were taught in our history classes. For many youngsters, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, etc are all esoteric and vague figures and the struggle for independence is something that is very vague. The whole history of our nation seems to start from the time that Jeans replaced dhotis/pajamas and saris/salwars.
And I am not talking about youngsters below the age of twenty, but even closer to forty!
When questioned in depth, it becomes obvious that the subject of history itself is considered to be one where one can score high marks to improve averages and so one mugs up likely questions/answers and one does not really study and appreciate history.
Under these circumstances, how can we expect our children to have any national values if there are any such values recognised as such?
How sad!