CITIZENSHIP TRAINING

Learning to respect the other man's space ....




Immediately after our country gained independence, a certain course was introduced in all the Board High Schools. It was called Citizenship Training, or CT for short. We had CT two days a week, usually in the last period of the day.

We enjoyed the CT classes because they were strikingly different from the other classes, and related to real life with an immediacy lacking in other subjects. The teachers handling CT classes were enthusiastic because it was a change for them from the purely academic.

A patriotic feeling


We were taught the meaning of the national flag — what each colour stood for and what the Ashok Chakra meant. We were made to develop a kind of feeling for our flag, which is not very much in evidence nowadays.

We were then given the Tamil translation of the National Anthem. This enabled us to know what we were singing, without emptily mouthing the words.

Next we were asked to plough a large tract of land that was near our school. A farmer was brought in to instruct us in this. At first we were a bit scared of the two huge bulls that stood there waiting to pull the plough. But after awhile we got friendly with the bulls, and they with us, and we enjoyed ploughing the land. It was like a game. We took turns ploughing, while the others sang some songs that had been taught to us. The purpose of the ploughing class was to introduce us to the life of a strata of society we were not familiar with.

Road sense


The next part of the CT was to instruct us in road rules and develop road sense in us. A famous English essay `The Rule of The Road' was read and explained to us. In this essay the author (I think it was A.G.Gardiner) explains the principles behind the road rules. One should not think that these rules restrict one's freedom. On the other hand the rules ensure that you have a space of your own. Thus, `Keep to the Left' if observed by all, gives unrestricted passage to everyone. But when you infringe on the other man's space (by straying into the right side), you will be causing the curbing of everyone's movement including your own. An understanding of this principle will enable us to appreciate the road rules and make us adhere to them without considering them as curbs on our freedom.

How to cross the road was another thing taught to us in practical terms. As you begin to cross the road you look to your right first and as you reach the middle of the road you look to your left. Now sixty years later, when I cross a road my head instinctively turns to the right and then to the left. I must say the youngsters of today have no idea of these principles. They come on to the road without looking either left or right. They come darting into the road on their bicycles from side lanes. Parents buy them the vehicles, but never bother to instruct them in road rules. The Government gifs them bicycles. It might be a good idea to hold a test on road rules, and say only those getting high marks in this test will be eligible for a bicycle.

In my school days there was very little vehicular traffic. And yet the school took the trouble to instruct us in road rules. Now vehicular traffic has increased astronomically, but youngsters are let loose without any idea of how to conduct themselves on the road. Young motorcyclists zigzag at breakneck speed through heavy traffic, sometimes speaking earnestly on their cell phones. The way they go about on the road makes it obvious that they have no road sense. Perhaps no common sense either.

An intensive course in Citizenship Training is perhaps the need of the hour.