Cricket stokes Indo-Pak rivalry among children, shows study

CHENNAI: When World Cup India-Pakistan matches are being watched on television, are prejudices being unknowingly pitched to children at home? A study by Delhi-based Early Childhood Association (ECA) on how early the “seeds of racism are sown in young children” suggests that some of the statements parents make while watching the game seem to reinforce stereotypical notions of Pakistan being “India’s enemy” in their children.

The day after the India-Pakistan World Cup match was telecast on February 15, when ECA researchers talked to children about who played, who won, and then went on to discuss Pakistan and Pakistanis, most of the children described to researchers how their fathers “vehemently” supported India during the matches. “When we continued to talk to them a good number of them seemed to relate the word Pakistan with ‘terrorist’. “Around 25% thought that all Muslims were Pakistanis and a number of them said their parents also told them that Pakistan fights with India,” says Swati Popat Vats, director of ECA, an NGO which works towards holistic education for children.

Vats says that the survey’s results made it clear that what parents say influences children to a great extent – like with the case of the cricket match where children began associating the match between the two countries as more of a clash of cultures and religions than a sport.

ECA researchers surveyed 7000 children from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai in the age group of 2 to 6 years. “When they were asked if India fights with Pakistan, most of them answered that Pakistan fights with India because that was what their father told them,” says Vats. “As a sociologist and educationist, this kind of prejudice is worrisome because as humans we will have our bias but our biases should not be ingrained or learnt so early. The study shows that the biases these children have are learnt from others, which means that they will never be able to use their judgment to form opinions. This can lead to an intolerant society and will create more and more problems for our children and us,” says Vats.

According to social scientist Shiv Visvanathan, the issue of the bias depends largely on the sociological background of the families. “Everyone knows a bit about Pakistan and India. Most often young children borrow others memories, borrow from stories told to them,” says Visvanathan. “I remember one mother telling me she was shocked when she heard her son tell his sister that if she did not agree with him he would do to her what the Hindus did to the Muslims. On the other hand, as children we have so often formed cricket teams for play that had a mix of “Indian” and “Pakistani” players on each side. One needs to take it all in context. Is it just competitiveness in cricket that brings out the prejudice or does that percolate to the two countries playing against each other in any other sport?” .. see more

source: times of india

Tags: Cricket Matches, Indo Pakistan, rivalry among children, sports

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