DNA Edit: Fired on wedding day

The healing and transcending powers of love, and the happiness that comes with it, run the risk of being butchered by people who are repelled by the idea of romance.

Their axe came down on a young Kashmiri couple, both teachers at Kashmir’s Muslim Education Institute, who lost their jobs on the wedding day. The bizarre reason offered by the authorities — that their affair would have a negative impact on students — didn’t take into consideration that the school itself had organised a party to celebrate the couple’s engagement in March, this year.

Tariq Ahmad Bhat and Sumaya Bashir used to work in different sections, so Bhat teaching at the boy’s section couldn’t have compromised his duties to serenade his girlfriend during school hours. Since there were no allegations of romance-induced laxity against the two professionals, why are the school authorities acting like moral zealots?

It was particularly cruel to break the news of the termination of their services on a very special day in the couple’s life when celebrations turned into mourning. A bright and promising future of togetherness was rendered bleak at one stroke.

Should two consenting adults who have decided to marry after a spell of courtship be castigated on the flimsy pretext that they are setting a bad precedent for students? And, why bring children into the picture when kids are more mature than adults in their level of acceptance?

Though we consider them impressionable, children’s attitude towards life is not coloured by hostility or hate. It is the adults, such as the school authorities, who are responsible for vitiating the very minds they seek to protect from harmful influences.

If successive generations grow up in an atmosphere of hate and distrust, their predecessors should take the blame for the damage.