I am writing this in response to your editorial ‘Muslim neglect of secular education’ (EW September). I had raised certain points in my earlier letters to you about how this minority community is just not interested in entering the mainstream of national life. After the recent 11/7 Mumbai bomb blasts, Outlook had published an article in which an apposite observation was made. “All Muslims are not terrorists. But all terrorists are Muslims”. How true!

Looking at the events unfolding in India and elsewhere in the world, I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that it is because of neglect of secular learning that Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism is rising. The only solution is secular education and a transformation in the thought process of children in the minority community. If this doesn’t happen soon, the day may not be far when all Muslims across the world will be branded ‘terrorists’ and ostracised.

I hope Muslims reading your magazine acknowledge this and promote more secular education institutions to educate their community and lead them out of the clutches of fundamentalist clerics.

Rahul Vashist on e-mail

Really impressive

Your cover story â€˜Pushy parents driving kids over the edge’ (EW August) was really impressive.

My compliments to you for highlighting one of the most compelling issues of our times. Parents have to be made aware of the need to make the world a more joyous place for the next generation.

A.K. Khetan
CEO, Kidzee Pvt. Ltd
Mumbai

Not by segregation

I read your special report ‘Resurgence of single-sex education institutions’ (EW September) with great interest.

In India the revival of interest in single-sex education institutions especially for girls is a regressive development, because unlike the West, it’s fuelled by illiberal prejudices against women and the role they should play in society. The government and all right-thinking people should oppose this resurgence simply because women-only schools or colleges don’t represent the real world.

Co-educational insti-tutions provide opportunities for healthy, uninhibited interaction and competition between the sexes, which eventually facilitates personal and professional success.

Sharada Nair
Trivandrum

Worst deprivation

I was shocked to read your cover story titled ‘Is India dangerous for children? Very’ (EW September). When I first read about the Reuters AlertNet poll in the mainstream media, I felt that its purpose was to demean India by branding it among the riskiest countries for children in the world. My opinion was supportive of those journalists who disparaged the poll results and questioned its methodology and conclusion. Given our strong family system, it was assumed that children are well cared for. However I realise that I was wrong. In many aspects of life, children are suffering daily.

As you rightly point out, children are facing numerous dangers every day. Yet of all the dangers education deprivation is the worst. If a child is malnourished or homeless or even suffers sexual abuse, she can bounce back and lead a normal life given a good education. But unfortunately our establishment doesn’t seem to have understood this. It is only voices like yours, which time and again warn us of the possible dangers of education deprivation for children.

Vinay Chandran
Delhi

Valuable human resource

The postscript item titled ‘Flight of academics’ (EW September) made interesting and humorous reading. At the same time it conveyed a strong message to school managements that competent teachers are in great demand. Thanks to the economic liberalisation of 1991, India’s middle-class has expanded phenomenally. The nouveaux riches want the best education for their children and are willing to pay top-dollar for the same.

Naturally this translates into higher salaries and recognition for good teachers in top-grade and international schools. Unfortunately the promoters of these international schools can’t seem to shed their feudal mindsets. They believe they can control teachers with an iron hand as in the past. Today’s teachers are on top because there’s a great demand for them across the country. As your cheeky report highlights, TISB’s loss is Indus’ gain.

K. Ravindranath 
Bangalore

Unscientific poll

In your cover story ‘Is India dangerous for children? Very’ (EW September) you’ve blown an ill-researched Reuters AlertNet poll out of proportion. As you write, AlertNet asked 112 aid experts and journalists to list the world’s 10 most dangerous countries for children. No empirical evidence was used. It’s wholly unscientific to base a transnational poll on the impressions of hacks and NGO workers. Obviously you were taken in by the media hype the poll generated.

India is by no stretch of the imagination more dangerous for children than Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq and Palestine — countries caught in a web of civil war and terrorism. Children in these countries routinely suffer from education and other forms of deprivation because they are forced to fight as soldiers and live in refugee conditions. Moreover these countries don’t have a free press like India, and therefore the worst atrocities against women and children are not reported.

Anand Doraiswamy
Mumbai