We, teachers, are like roti canai,
We are punched and pummelled,
Pulled and stretched,
And spread so thin,
By all quarters, from all corners,
That holes appear within
- the system
To cover them up,
We are bent and folded
Grilled and sizzled,
Like the roti canai
Smothered and drowned
In dhall and sambal
We are boxed,
Our resources taxed,
And freedom axed
The system is wrapped, packed
And made presentable
As the state-of-the-art craft
With high-profile policies and programmes,
Implemented by zealots
Sticking to SOPs of MNCs
The system is trapped
In the trappings of sophistication
Which bid a departure
To the time-tested
Wisdom of Learning
The system is caught up
In the Age of Instant Gratification,
Everything has to be accelerated,
And, exhilarating!
Education, too?
Isn't education all about cultivation?
The painstaking cultivation of
Character and values,
besides erudition?
Can all this be done in 2 minutes?
If the system believes it possible
Then it is incorrigible
It is bereft of reason
And it is an act of treason
To let in the seepage of mediocrity
We decry the decline of the intellect
We bemoan the death of the inquisitive mind....
These are the ramblings of a trapped dinosaur, sharpening its claws....
- Tamilchelvi Jayaraman
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