DOMESTIC violence is prevalent in Goa and according to a report based on the observations of some State Women’s Commission members carried in this newspaper, both among the educated middle classes as well as less educated and lower-income classes.

Only the forms of violence vary from class to class or case to case. Women may suffer physical assaults, verbal torture or denial of money or in other ways. The prevalence of domestic violence in Goa goes to show that high literacy does not necessarily bring sanity and reason to society. This is because education as we pursue it is career-oriented; it is expected to enable younger people to be competitive in job markets. Character building is not a part of our education system. What we are talking about here is not ‘gender sensitisation’ but a broader character building where love and respect for other human beings, empathy, compassion, sharing and such qualities and traits are sought to be developed in men. And of course, in women, too, for women without these qualities exist in a significant proportion too.