Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University, Hampi, Mallika Ghanti has called upon teachers to stand up against injustice and teach the students the real history so that they grow in an atmosphere of tolerance.
She was inaugurating ‘Avalokana’, a review programme to mark the 40t{+h}anniversary of the Karnataka Madhayamika Shala Noukarara Sangha at RN Shetty Kalyanmantap here on Sunday.
Underscoring the need for the teachers to know history, Prof. Ghanti said: “A teacher without the knowledge of history will create dangerous disciples.”
She said that communal forces were trying to distort the history in a systematic way and sowing the seeds of poison in the children’s minds. “Communal forces are trying to convert the children’s minds into that of a devil’s through systematic efforts. We need to condemn it and the teachers need to protect the children from such vested interests and give them the true knowledge by creating a climate of tolerance,” she said.
Referring to a famous speech by Swami Vivekananda at Chicago, Prof. Ghanti said that systematic efforts had been made to hide what Swami Vivekananda said about the caste system in India and the need for its abolition.
Film director, T.N. Seetharam, said that because of the impact of globalisation, information was being passed on as knowledge and education had become an industry.
Tracing the history of the four-decade old sangha, Basavaraj Horatti, founder-member and MLC, said that while the sangha succeeded in several of its agitations, it had also faltered in some agitations. Presiding over the function, former Speaker Rameshkumar said that globalisation and liberalisation had caused the death of ‘pro-people fights’ and the value system was getting weakened.
Terming all political parties as drama companies and politicians as artistes, he said: “Politicians have lost values, but it is sorry that teachers too are losing values. Despite better salaries and facilities the number of students in government schools is dwindling. The teachers need to introspect over it,” he said.
Several former office bearers of the sangha, including founder-members like K.V. Raichur and others were felicitated on the occasion.
