Celebrating our diverse legacy

As a nation, we are blessed with a people who have learnt the value and importance of peaceful and harmonious co-existence, recognising that we are sharing one common space.

We are stronger together and have been able to achieve significant progress as a nation because of our appreciation and embrace of each other’s unique identities.

Our tolerance and respect for each other’s cultural and religious uniqueness have evolved as a major strength — one which many nations around the world would do well to emulate.

We have been able to forge this unique and proud national identity despite attempts by politicians to exploit our differences to suit their political agendas. As a nation we can be justly proud of the capacity of our people to emerge from the colonial yolks of slavery and indentureship to become a shining example to many other nations.

A quick look at the global landscape would reveal the levels of intolerance people display for human diversity. Social media have emerged as a major platform for the propagation of hate and contempt for people who look, dress or pray differently. Unfortunately, this strength cannot be taken for granted, given the alarming speed with which religious and racial bigotry is spreading globally. As a people we must jealously guard this love, tolerance and respect we have developed for each other, regardless of our ethnic or religious backgrounds.

Seeds of hatred and intolerance can be just as easily planted in the minds of people who do not understand the pain and suffering endured by many who have gone before us, to ensure we can boast that we have emerged from many peoples as one nation.

Our teachers have a responsibility to promote these principles of democracy in and out of the classroom, both directly and indirectly.

The taught and hidden curricula must be used as avenues to propagate racial and religious harmony as fundamental pillars of our democracy. We cannot allow right-wing extremism to take root, especially in the minds of our impressionable youths.

The lessons of the global community’s fight against terrorism and religious supremacy would be valuable in the current circumstances.

While our democratic institutions might be imperfect and sometimes quite fragile, we must ensure that they are strengthened through the promotion of a national identity that embraces and celebrates our diversity.

It is often noted that children don’t see racial differences among them. At school they are happy to integrate and explore their differences, with a keen quest to understand each other. As they grow older racial prejudices are implanted in their impressionable minds through dysfunctional socialisation.

Teachers must be on the lookout for such miseducation and consider it their duty to the future of our nation to conscientiously discourage such through modelled behaviour and practice.

We must eradicate religious and racial biases from our classrooms and schools. While our children must be encouraged to be proud of their ethnic and cultural identities, at the same time they must respect that of others. In a true and healthy democracy, sharing one’s space does not equate to homogeneity.

Genetic diversity is one of the main reasons for the success of man as a species and this diversity in brain pool can be harnessed to the benefit of all.

TTUTA takes the opportunity to salute the East Indian community for its profound contribution to the social, economic and cultural landscape of our beautiful country.