Many times our lives seem pre-ordained for us.

There was a time when birth made a whole difference. If you were born as a serf, that’s how you remained. If you were born into a noble family, all doors were opened for you.

Then we started to believe that education could overcome this determinism. Hence the birth of innumerable educational schemes.

Some worked, many didn’t. I have still to be persuaded that for all the time, money and effort, education can overturn the circumstances of one’s birth just like that.

We do not have to go far to find proof. We have had the huge battle of the 1980s on church and private schools. At the end, and 35 years later, where’s the gain? The poor, the families with the least means, are still at the bottom of the ladder. The families with means send their children to church and private schools, and being far more motivated than the poor counterparts, plus the family connections, do better in life.

I defy anybody to disprove what I’m saying. The exceptions, if anything, prove the rule.

There are different educational systems in the world and the best among them, measured by whatever parameter one may choose, beat ours hollow – in maths, science, etc. Most, if not all, do not have our discrimination as to birth and they obtain better results, not just in exams but also later on in life.

So when Labour undertook the tragic and ruinous battle to get the church to fork out money (and if not money, land and property) that was only a fraction of what was needed. Those who were poor 35 years ago are still poor today, if not poorer given the population shift since then.

The Covid pandemic that hit us as it hit the rest of the world has destroyed jobs, closed enterprises and impoverished many. Those who suffered came mostly from the lower classes.

And when schools had to close and home tuition was meant to come in, who had the time, the preparation and the motivation to ensure that the children kept up with the lessons, those who could afford to do so or those who were rushing between jobs and had no time for their children?

The country based its optimistic belief on the tablets that the two parties, engaged as usual in senseless competition, handed out some years ago. But as we all know, such ‘toys’ need constant maintenance which the less poor can afford and the poor do not have time for.

And that’s before considering the quality of the programmes on offer and the backup from the teaching staff.

Education should have been a real way of changing the determinism of people’s lives, but by and large it has not lived up to its potentiality, at least as we see around us.

Having said all this, there is much to be said to try one’s hardest to overcome the determinism that has come to rule our life – and I’m not talking of just education here.

There are people who were born under circumstances that presaged a dim future for them, maybe because of a disability, for instance, and who, through hard work, overcame the handicap.

This holds true for what concerns groups of people, not just individuals, such as sports teams. And such as political parties. It is easy to succumb to determinism and to wallow in the resultant despair. It is easy to let polls determine your outlook.

But a can-do attitude can do wonders. And help may appear from unsuspected sources. Many people still go through life utilising only a fraction of their potential. And at any time there are people who can be roped in with just a simple invitation and who may be more than willing to pile in.

There are no simple solutions in life and many choices mean hard work. But who said we are not here for that too?

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