In the Indian culture, touching your elders’ feet is a sign of respect and a way to get their blessings in return. Teaching children to touch the feet of their elders, including their parents, relatives, and teachers is a common sight in almost every Indian household. Thus, students’ touching their teachers’ feet is not a rare sight in India.
However, we have this school in Mumbai where this Indian culture is followed but in a reverse order. Teachers in this school touch the feet of all their disciples every morning.
Rushikul Gurukul Vidyalaya in Mumbai follows this utterly bizarre tradition. Why? Because this school takes the “Children are also a form of God” way too seriously and hence, for them touching the feet of the students is equivalent to touching the feet of God.
The school’s reason behind this practice is that it will develop more respect for the teachers in the hearts of kids. As the teachers bow down to seek the blessings of their teachers, it leaves a message that everyone deserves to be respected irrespective of their age. The school also believes that this way of greeting will lead to a better interaction between the teachers and the students.
The Rushikul Gurukul Vidyalaya is located in Ghatkopar, Mumbai and is affiliated to Maharashtra State Secondary School Board. The co-ed school does not have a very big premise and operates in a rented building. It has basic furniture, a library, extra-curricular activities and a handful of teachers teaching students of primary classes. But teachers in this school use fun methods of teaching without compromising with the syllabus.
Hence, it would be perfect to say that despite the school being an ordinary and a new one, the rituals and methods followed here are certainly extraordinary.
In fact, worshipping children is an essential ethic in a number of festivals like Navratri.
