Educator's death means the death of education

“those who burn books will in the end burn people” - Heinrich Heine

- RUPINDER SINGH

At around 4 am on 25 February,54-year-old Vimukta Sharmasuccumbed to her injuries. A few days earlier, as principal of BM Pharmacy College, Indore, she was walking to her car, probably to go home, when she was approached by a student, Ashutosh Shrivastava. Something like this happens to every teacher, distraught student/s accost in car parks, at home, during festivals, etc. They start with pleading, then levy ad-hominem charges, then drag faculty to police stations, musclemen, and politicians or simply physically assault them.

Ashutosh Shrivastava had not cleared his seventh semester and had already attacked another faculty with a knife. However, she did not have the magic wand to get him educated and achieve success in an examination that is an ode to a Victorian rote system. He began cutting her with a sharp-edged weapon, then doused her in petrol and set her afire. He also received severe burns. In history, books have been burnt, riots have occurred, and self-immolation has happened. But Professor Sharma received a new gurudakshina, around 70 per cent burns, and so, became another casualty in this struggle for educating India's youth. In a neat reversal, people have burned, dear Heinrich Heine; books (and education) will follow.