#SoCS & #JusJoJan 2022 Daily Prompt– Jan.8th

Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “In the.” Start your post with the words “In the” – that’s the prompt! Enjoy!

In the last two years I missed seeing school children, all ready, waiting for the bus, to go to school. Life changed so much for them. They could not go to school and classes were online. This was very difficult for children in government schools. They were from poor backgrounds and did not have smart phones or laptops necessary for online classes. There were recorded classes on Doordarshan. But children could not solve their doubts. They missed their classmates and interaction with them. Schools reopened some months ago and children were very happy.

We see the school bus everyday and it is lovely sight. I think we appreciate something when we lose it. Yesterday the small school bus stopped in front of our gate and two children came running. Looking at them I remembered what my paternal grandfather had written about his school days.

He was born in 1893. He lived in a small village and school was a room made of mud walls with small windows and a thatched roof. Mud was plastered on one wall. A rectangle was marked before it dried and was blackened with soot. That was the blackboard. Pieces of a special type of mud were used as chalk pieces. Students sat on the floor and there was one chair for the master. He taught children studying from 1st to 4th std. There were no books for the children, only slates. At home they spread sand or rice dust on the floor and wrote on them with their fingers. After writing the dust were stored for the next day. There was only a primary school in the village and it was not possible for everyone to go to a high school in the next town.  More than hundred years have passed since my grandfathers’ childhood and school days. Life has changed a lot but some things remain the same.

We read in the newspapers about children in many parts of the country dropping out of school because there was no school. Children had to do some work to help their parents to make ends meet. In big cities schools are still online. People belonging to the labouring class have to go out to work and children are left to themselves. Under normal circumstances they would be at school. I wonder what their future will be like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doordarshan

By Lakshmi Bhat

I am a person who believes there is not enough darkness in the world to extinguish the light of a small candle. We live in a small place in South India. I love reading, blogging, stitching, traveling, photography, listening to people and many other things which make life so very nice and interesting. Blogging is a fun experience, it has brought me into contact with people in different parts of the world and it is good to read about their everyday life. In spite of the differences there is a sameness which is fascinating. I have learnt and am learning something everyday. I have learnt to write haikus. I enjoy combining the thought and the number of syllables. I have always read books and I was happy to write short fiction. I had thought I would not be able to do so. Stream of Consciousness and photo challenges are fun too. Yes, there is so much in life that is sad and that hurts us. Many a time I wonder why life is so unfair to so many. We all have problems in life but the problems of many seems unbearable. This makes me feel so helpless. It is not possible to help everyone but we can do our bit, we can do something to help some in whatever way we can. Due to the pandemic I could not go to the Home for the mentally challenged for two years. I had been going there since 2011. I have started going again. I was happy that some members remembered me :) All of them are an important part of my life. There have been many challenges in life and we have faced them with a positive approach. Our grandson and granddaughter have made our lives richer.

7 comments

  1. I think my grandfather only had a primary education and it was not long. He could not write and I remember often him practicing signing his name on the back of an envelope. Education should never be taken for granted and it is a right every child should have.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. When I was teaching I had the students who refused to do work and said they hated school. They would tell me how they couldn’t wait to drop out legally. They would say that there was no way they would continue the torture by going to college. I knew arguing wouldn’t prove effective but I did show them pictures of children going up the sides of mountains just to get to school and hoped they would see that it is okay for children to like school. Peer pressure is a lot of it.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. So many people assume that every child has access to laptops or tablets and don’t even consider that some don’t even have sufficient food, water, clothing, or housing. Many will have been severely disadvantaged by the Covid restrictions. Some will never catch up what they have missed.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. A beautiful account of life in old India. It was not desperately different from working class England of the 1890s, where my Grandad had only a slate and chalk, and the board was made of wood and covered with matt black paint.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. School has been a problem for children all over the world during COVID. My son, who teaches high school, was able to get computers and technical equipment from a charity to distribute to students who didn’t have access to them at home. I am very proud of him because he cares so much about the kids.
    I hope this ends, I hope this ends, I hope this ends… All the best, Muriel

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Thank you for the view of life in India, back then and now, and the link to Doordarshan. My parents attended rural schools here, with multiple grades in the same room.

    I hope this year is kinder to all, and a way forward becomes clear.

    Like

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