Knowledge shared is knowledge gained. To borrow a quote from Shakespeare such knowledge is ‘twice blessed’. “It blesses him that gives and him that takes.” The following paragraphs describe such an experience.

Sayali Dubhash, a young mother, pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in e-Education, was touched by the girls who attend a Zilla Parishad School close to her home. Most of them come from economically disadvantaged families. Established in the year 1982, the Zilla Parishad School currently has 437 girl students and 14 teachers. The school has 17 rooms, some in a new building constructed in 2008, under the “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”. Incentives like a daily allowance for attending school regularly, free textbooks and workbooks and the Savitribai Phule Scholarship for needy girls have succeeded in reducing the dropout rates in this school. The girls have plenty of potential. Sayali wanted to do something for them so that they could savour the fruits of educational technology and actualize it to the best of their potential.

She took upon herself the mission of setting up a computer laboratory in the school. After garnering information on what facilities existed within the norms set by the administrative bodies, she set up a laboratory with six computers. Thus, on one cool winter day in Pune, on the 17^th of November 2009, the girls of the school shed their inhibitions and had their first interaction with computers. Within a few days, they were familiar with the parts of a computer. Sayali gave a few hours each day to teach the girls. Within a few days, the girls were empowered to make their first group presentation. Rukmini Wagh, a class VII student says, “I enjoyed working on the computer. I want to learn to speak English like Sayali Didi and also become a good person in life.” Lakshmi and her team proudly posed with their charts as they made their first group presentation on the parts of a computer. Heena gave a demonstration to the teachers and after expressing her happiness shyly added, “I want to study further”. The reaction of the girls brings to mind Sir Winston Churchill’s words…. “By receiving something we make a living, by giving something, we make a life.”

Sayali’s passion knows no bounds. She got in touch with organizations and people who worked with digital resources. The CEO of Greyolltwit – a firm producing educational softwares – after learning about the project, offered a free one-license membership to use their products. Jim Rule, a learning resource designer, was kind enough to donate two CDs he created for an ongoing project. Dr Goje of VIITINDIA, Baramati willingly sent the textbooks they created for their “Hasat Khelat Sanganak Project”.

“Ask and you shall receive” was something that Sayali believed in!

Interaction between this writer and Sayali added a new dimension to this project. The writer, a teacher-educator for the last 15 years, is involved with resource material production for computer-aided learning. She made some presentations and lessons at this school, bearing in mind the background of the girls. Most of these were presentations on English grammar, with self evaluation exercises built in. The girls have a limited vocabulary of English and hence vocabulary building was an important objective. This was facilitated through simple stories, graphics, and animations. The impact of these resources was that the girls learnt amidst an atmosphere of involvement and activity. Values were integrated into all presentations.

Says Sayali, “The education of underprivileged girls is so often among society’s lowest priorities. Parents consider this as loss of income with zero utility. Technology based skills will help these girls be productive members of home and society, thus giving them their long overdue, rightful place in the family.”

Sayali’s efforts were not without their share of challenges. For example, the six computers were not enough to give all students sufficient practice. Once a student got the machine, she was reluctant to move so that another student could work on the machine. Sayali used co-operative learning to overcome this obstacle. She divided the class into groups and it was the responsibility of the group to ensure that all members of the group picked the expected skills. Group morale helped overcome vested interests and time-sharing was facilitated. The girls spent their time learning new things rather than just using the computer for games and colouring activities. They say they want to teach their mothers as well and so would rather spend time learning than simply using the computer for entertainment and leisure.

Motivated by the interest sparked among the students, Vice Principal, Kisan Kutal, feels the need to “spread the idea to other ZP schools”. “What is this idea?” one may ask. This idea is one aspect of public private partnership in education.

In developing countries like India, the onus of development lies mainly with the government, which in turn faces the predicament of multiple demands and limited resources. This leads to a situation where even fundamental objectives such as basic literacy for all are not met. On the other hand, there exists a vibrant private sector, which has resources and the desire to undertake socially responsible activities. This sector is also coming up with innovative approaches to overcome barriers to education and is reaching out to the have-nots. Such a private sector can help by moulding human resources to meet the demands of the future. One aspect of public-private partnership would be to find sponsors for our schools. Private companies can assist with finances, training of staff or by providing non human resources such as furniture, computers and the like. This sort of partnership will help individuals progress. After all we are all angels with one wing; it is only when we cling to one another that we can truly fly.

The author is a lecturer in Pushpanjali College of Education, Vasai, Maharashtra. She can be reached at c.dcosta@rediffmail.com.

They promise to keep your child creatively engaged after school, they offer your child the space to explore, entertain and discover himself, and they assure you that your child will learn while having fun. Whether they call themselves experience centres, recreation centres or activity centres, after-school centres for children are mushrooming in cities everywhere. With the majority of schools now becoming places solely for academic growth, and parents having little or no time to spend with their kids, a market for such centres has opened up.

Khadeeja Mohammedali, one of the founders of Little People Tree, a children’s library and recreation centre in Hyderabad says, “We felt there was a strong need for a space for children, especially those below 5 years, where parents could come and spend quality time with their children. Almost everything in the city caters to children above this age group. We found this quite strange as it is these years of a child’s life that are most important in shaping his or her future personality.” Khadeeja founded Little People Tree with Vijayalaxmi, a corporate lawyer from Mumbai.

Little People Tree combines a library and activity space, where children can read a book, play games, or colour, or paint. The playroom designed especially for this age group comes complete with toy food, a cooking range, and dolls.

Treasure House is another children’s library and experience centre in Hyderabad. Padma Rudraraju started Treasure House in 2009 to inspire children to read.

“As there was no place in Hyderabad where kids could come and make a habit of reading, I took the effort to start one,” says Padma. While staying true to its primary aim, Treasure House has now expanded to become a family centre. Parents are encouraged to come here to bond with their children over books and games.

Both Treasure House and Little People Tree offer workshops and programmes for older children and parents apart from their ongoing activities for the under 5 age group, thereby allowing entire families including the grandparents to spend time together.

For parents who prefer to send their children to a learning centre instead, there are places like Butterfly Fields and Yardstick. These centres aim to help children discover the fun in learning. “The mainstream education system fails in giving a practical approach towards any particular subject, focusing only on the theoretical aspects. We do not exactly have an education system, rather we have an examination system. So, Butterfly Fields is an attempt in providing children with experimental learning,” says entrepreneur K Sharat Chandra, Founder-Director of Butterfly Fields.

Children can come to Butterfly Fields to experiment, innovate and discover scientific concepts like electromagnetism. While at the centre, children have managed to build motors, parachutes, invent musical balloons, xylophones, etc. Butterfly Fields aims to get children to think out-of-the-box, take up a challenge and ensure that they complete the task they set for themselves. “Children get knowledge with fun apart from scoring marks in the exams. A striking difference between children who come here and those who study only the theoretical concepts is that children who merely learn theory from textbooks will take three hours to complete a topic, while the children who learn in this centre take only one hour to learn that same topic,” says a parent whose child is a regular at Butterfly Fields.

Apart from encouraging children to use the centre, both Yardstick and Butterfly Fields have taken their “learning by doing” concept to children in schools. They have successfully partnered with several schools to get children to enjoy learning math and science and to develop in them a spirit of inquiry. Such centres are, according to their originators, small steps towards improving our education system. However, Sarath Chandra adds, “If we have to revolutionize our education system, our teachers must first dare to go beyond the conventional methods of teaching and try innovative methods to reach out to students.”

Aditi Mathur and Ratnesh Mathur, who run a school, Geniekids Learning Resource Centre, in Bangalore started the school with the same idea – to use innovative teaching methods to cater to the needs of today’s children. Geniekids teaches children through body games, visual and verbal games, math and logic games, people and group games, music, movement and dance games, and also by taking children out on field trips. Children are allowed to learn on their own in a natural way, just like they learn their mother tongues, naturally. Geniekids is more than just a school. It also conducts workshops for parents to give them a deeper understanding of what their children are learning.

Parents are enthusiastic about what these centres are doing. “I appreciate the zeal with which these people run this centre,” says Falil Kaader about Little People Tree. “I am happy with the children’s library here, as it has books in regional languages too, allowing children from various backgrounds to come and experience this place,” he adds. Little People Tree stores a wide collection of books both national and international for both children and parents to read. To attract children to books, Little People Tree has regular storytelling sessions with creative interpretations of books through art and movement. Treasure House too invites well-known personalities including children’s authors to interact with children and parents at their library. Khadeeja says, “We make a conscious effort to help children experience the book beyond its pages and design creative activities around this goal.”

Reading, playing, and exploring are most natural to children and these children’s centers offer kids that space. Says Vijaylakshmi who co-founded Little People Tree, “In times like these, when there is so much pressure on children, a place like ours is essential for them to reconnect to the simple pleasures of childhood. We see our space as a place where kids can do different activities including creative activities, theater, learn new skills and also just play.”

With busy parents, a hectic lifestyle, and academic pressures from school, centres for children are fast becoming the places where children can relax, enjoy, and also discover themselves. And judging by their growing numbers, it looks like these centres are succeeding in doing that.

The author is a student of MA Communication (Print and New Media) at the University of Hyderabad. She can be reached at paulomi.deekonda@gmail.com.

When V Ganesan joined his new post as head teacher of the BR Ambedkar Government Middle School at Pichaveranpet, in Pudducherry, he found the school in an utter mess. Every evening a gang of drunkards congregated in the school to make merry. They came from the surrounding slum. The school is located right in the midst of the 3000 odd people living in the slum. Head teacher after head teacher had given up in despair, saying it was impossible to run an efficient school with such neighbours. Slum dwellers didn’t give a damn about the school or of giving their children an education.

But in just one year, Ganesan, 59, transformed the school. With over 30 years of experience as a teacher behind him, he understood intuitively what needed to be done. He hugely improved the quality of learning and changed the relationship of the community with the school into one of mutual respect. “Ganesan Sir has revolutionized the school,” says Krishnamuthy, a mason whose son studies in Class 5. “We never ever had parent-teacher meetings. Now they are mandatory.”

Ganesan found that money was not an issue. Funds from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for the previous two years were lying unused and were on the verge of being returned. He added the current year’s grant to this accumulated fund and he found he had almost Rs. 65,000 to spend on critical school requirements.

Clean drinking water was a major concern. Neither the slum nor the school had water of drinking quality. Students were often absent because they fell sick drinking contaminated water. Stomach-related ailments were widespread. Ganesan’s hunch turned out to be correct when he got the school’s water tested. Ganesan too had health problems. He lives in a colony half a kilometer from the school where the quality of water is dubious.

Ganesan installed a reverse osmosis (RO) plant in the school to provide safe drinking water. Now all the children get clean ‘mineral’ water and what’s more they are encouraged to carry water home so that the water they drink at home too is not contaminated. “My own health was very bad a few years ago because of the poor quality of water I was drinking. I feel proud that we have been able to help these children get clean drinking water,” he says.

School attendance has gone up by 40 per cent. This school has 162 students from lower kindergarten to class eight. Most parents are very poor. Some are employed in lowly jobs. Ganesan was determined to improve the school’s relationship with them. He sent an invitation to all parents to come and meet the class teacher and head teacher. He used this opportunity to talk to them about the importance of cleanliness in the school campus. His ability to communicate and reach out can be gauged from the fact that over 90 per cent of the parents came over to the school for these discussions.

When Ganesan held a science exhibition, the entire community participated and their respect for the school and its wonderful leader went up further.

“We organize a mothers’ meet periodically,” he says. “Then we hold environment awareness campaigns where we talk to parents about climate change, energy conservation, etc. Whenever we invite the parents, a special computerized invitation designed by our staff is sent to them.” Parents have never been treated with so much respect before.

The school has also held skill development programmes for scheduled caste students and their parents. Ganesan says very highly respected people from their own community are invited to address the meeting and interact with the parents. The school offers courses in book binding, phenol preparation, and recycling of waste to make products.

“For all our special programmes we order food for the parents,” he says. “Our intention is to tell students and parents about the importance of education. It is the only way to earn more, and thereby enjoy good food.”

Ganesan got a whole lot of data computerized, completely eliminating the frustrating need to produce fresh reports every time. Computer education is taught to all the children now. And parents have begun to see the impact of these measures – a clean school, healthy children, and regular attendance. “Teachers are God’s gift to society,” he says. ”They should work with dedication. I too hail from a very poor background but I never gave up.”

This article first appeared in Civil Society, Vol. 7 No. 11-12 September-October 2010. It has been reprinted here with permission.

Mathematics is a subject which drives many children to tears. But students of the Government Girls’ Middle School at Veerampatnam, near Puducherry don’t have to live with such stress. Their headmaster, K Loganathan, has been an inspired math teacher for 20 years and knows how to make the subject easy and interesting.

In his long innings, Logananthan’s students have been known to mostly clear their mathpapers. It is quite an achievement because government school children come from poor homes where there is no money for tuition classes and special attention. The secret of his success is his ability to bring math alive. Take the example of Angle Tangle which he created as an interactive software for teaching geometry through body language. Your arms can form into a right angle or fold into an acute angle. You can watch nature too. It is full of geometrical shapes and sizes. So are objects we come across every day.

Loganathan, 57, says he always wanted to be a teacher. He graduated in mathematics and did his post graduation in English and psychology. He now has 36 years of experience and never has he regretted his decision to become a government school teacher.

The village of Veerampatnam is around 7 km from Puducherry. Loganathan was transferred here about a year ago. He arrived with an impressive track record as headmaster of Government Middle School, Nallavadu, another village close to the sea. Loganathan found the Veerampatnam school was located near a stinking dump yard which locals used as an open toilet. The school’s verandah was often reduced to a parking lot. Logananthan acted with vim and vigour. He first made the school safe and secure for children. He had limited resources so he used his imagination and built a natural fence with plants, shrubs and trees interspersed with barbed wire and bamboo. That at once kept out intruders and prettied up the premises.

Loganathan changed the ambience of the school. With the money he had, he converted the school into a clean and green place with spic and span toilets, drinking water and neat classrooms. To spread awareness of sanitation, he held a rally urging residents to construct toilets in their homes.

In 2008, the school launched a ‘Green School Initiative Project’ not just for its own premises but the entire coastal village. The students planted hundreds of saplings, installed a water meter in the school to check misuse of water and spread information about energy conservation. They began recycling waste and started a compost yard. The students also documented local biodiversity and wildlife and told villagers to protect turtles.

As coordinator of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Loganathan has been involved in teacher training, helping other government school teachers to make learning easier for students. The emphasis is on reducing homework and getting children to do small engaging projects. Passing on of skills is crucial to improving the standards in government schools. Teachers often feel no sense of motivation because there is little to aspire to. It is important to raise the bar and create a sense of mission. Training teachers also involves igniting the spirit within them to serve the community. Teachers at his workshop make a public statement that children should not be beaten or threatened. “When we can reason it out with the children why should we hit them? Most of our students come from poor families and have no one to care for them. Since we understand their plight we don’t scold the child and instead give them another chance to complete their work,” the teachers declare.

It was as a coordinator of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan that he invented Angle Tangle. His Computer Aided Lab in Nallavadu is a role model for government schools. All information relating to the school, including particulars of each teacher has been computerized and displayed.

In 2006 there was a deadly outbreak of chikungunya in Nallavadu. Loganathan’s science project on chikungunya fever, explaining the illness, won him a prize at the Make Science International Competition organized by the University of Paris and the Pondicherry Science Forum. Loganathan was given a cash prize of 50 Euros with which he bought a cart for transporting midday meals inside the school. He also helped to start a night school for children from the fishing community. Special attention was paid to slow learners. The Education for All campaign, which goes door to door encouraging dropouts to go back to school, was undertaken by him.

Loganathan has improved the quality of education. He has introduced extra-curricular activities, guidance and counseling as well as regular parent-teacher meetings in government schools. You can see gleeful children and grateful parents in his school.

This article first appeared in Civil Society, Vol. 7 No. 11-12 September-October 2010. It has been reprinted here with permission.

When Rajkumar Sharma joined the Rampurabas school as a teacher in 2007, he could immediately see that the school had no standing in the community. The building itself lay unkempt, its grounds swallowed up by some influential families. There was poor enrolment and a low retention rate. Some of the children on the rolls had lost their parents and were working as child labourers. These children were not coming to school. The school was also devoid of any greenery, giving it a barren and unwelcoming appearance.

Apart from these problems, a big issue was encroachment on the school’s land by powerful families belonging to different castes in the village. It was an issue which no one was ready to take up as the chances of being beaten black and blue were very real.

Rajkumar Sharma had begun his career in 1998 as a government teacher in the Upper Primary School in Ganwar, also in Tonk district. Ganwar serves as a kind of hub for a cluster of schools which includes the one at Rampurabas. At Rampurabas, his job was that of any teacher. But the headmaster had recently been transferred and with a decade of experience, he was the senior-most member of the staff. He was asked to be headmaster in charge till a new person was appointed.

Rajkumar decided to take up the challenge of reviving the school. He decided to address each of the concerns he had identified in a planned way. Though he was not formally the headmaster, the other teachers were young and felt enthused enough to take up the challenge along with him. The results were stunning. His first major achievement was getting the land which had been encroached upon vacated, a task which was considered impossible to achieve. He is often asked how he convinced those families to return the land to the school.

Sharma recollects that it was really a tough task. The families had taken possession of the land 25 years ago. “Initially I was hesitant,” confesses Sharma. “I was also not sure how to go about doing it. One way was to raise the issue with the government officials and get the land back with their help. But I did not choose this option since it could have made these well-entrenched families hostile to us. I decided to go to members of the community and seek their help.”

Rajkumar prepared an action plan in which he took the support of local voluntary groups, women’s groups and government officials. He would keep holding meetings and talking to influential people in the village. Alongside, he used the panchayat platform to convince the families to leave the land since it would help children have a playground. Women’s groups reached out to other women and played an important role in changing opinion within families. Block-level government officials were called to the village and they had meetings with the villagers.

The multi-pronged approach was very effective. It put immense pressure on the encroachers. At last one of the families relented and vacated the land. That was the tipping point. Slowly, the other families followed until finally the school got back its land. Mission Impossible had been accomplished.

By the time the land was freed from encroachment, Rajkumar had developed a good relationship with members of the community. He involved residents of the village in the school’s development. He obtained donations and constructed a boundary wall around the school. A large gate was installed. A garden was planted on the land that was now back in the school’s possession.

Campaign for enrollment
Rajkumar adopted the style of private schools to increase enrollment in his government school. He advertised the school with paintings on walls. He printed pamphlets extolling the virtues of the school and undertook a door-to-door campaign. He advertised all the facilities the school was offering – computer education, midday meals, free books and uniforms plus extra-curricular activities. His advertisement said 80 per cent of students were passing the class 8 exam. He offered a clean and green environment. There was reservation for some communities.

As for fees, all one had to do was support the school and follow its rules, he said. He gave his mobile number at the end of the advertisements. All this needed time, money, and effort. Rajkumar was fully involved and the support he got from fellow teachers was consistent. Parents were greatly influenced by the teachers’ dedication to the school and enrollment improved. More significantly, children who had been sent to private schools began coming back.

A key strategy adopted by Rajkumar was to show that a government school could be as good as a private school. He used the school’s funds judiciously and therefore managed to find enough to invest in a makeover. For instance, he printed diaries for students. Never before had children of any government school received diaries, which used to be only given in private schools. The diaries had a big impact on the community.

Rajkumar also imporoved the teaching-learning environment. One can find children playing on computers without any fear in his school. He says that computers are for children. “The more they work with it, the more they learn.”

The results of the school have significantly improved over the years.

There were four working children who had lost their parents. Rajkumar went beyond his brief as a teacher and pursued the matter with the Social Welfare department. With his intervention, these children are now getting a scholarship of Rs. 650 per month. This has enabled them to continue their studies. The school’s new garden is a source of joy. Plants and trees have been assigned to students who are responsible for their upkeep.

Rajkumar was recently honoured together with 14 other government school teachers in Tonk district. At the function he appealed to teachers to admit their children to government schools. “Put your children in government school and then see how the environment of the school and the teaching and learning process improves. Both my children are studying in the same school where I am teaching. I have full faith in our colleagues, and I am confident that my children will in no way be less competent than the children studying in renowned public schools.”

Rajkumar is an MA in Sanskrit. Six months ago, a headmaster was appointed at the Rampurabas school. Rajkumar is no longer the headmaster in charge. The new headmaster is appreciative of all that has been done. The school has been turned around and will never be the abandoned school that it was.

This article first appeared in Civil Society, Vol. 7 No. 11-12 September-October 2010. It has been reprinted here with permission.

Anand called, we met and it was the meeting of a strapping, successful 28 year-old on an equal footing with a middle-aged teacher after almost 18 years! We spoke non-stop and caught up on all the intervening tidbits and bigbits. And then I popped the all important question that was haunting my mind, “Why me?” To which he replied very simply, “I have been tracking you on Google for some time now… because a few years ago, when I looked back to find out some happy moments that had shaped me, the years spent with you in primary school stood out very clearly. And I believe that they laid the foundation to who I am today.” And then he went on to relate ever so many tiny incidents and conversations that had made such a deep impact. I was touched and amazed.

My mind went into flashback – to see what had given me the strength to make such an impact. When did I become who I am? The rewind trip captured moments and events to understand exactly when that ‘aha’ moment happened… and I did discover it – an event tucked away in the high school years.

My class teacher of grades 9 and 10 breezed into my life with a freshness that left me and the rest of my class awestruck. She was unconventional to say the least, in her style of dealing with us, in the way she brought humour into class, the way she made the English language and Shakespeare something that one could actually fall in love with…. and all the while maintaining an exterior that was in every way conformist; not a hint of what she held inside. Her classes were the high point of our day.

One day, a few days before the board exams, she handed out a chit to each one of us, with our names and a message on it – an individualized good wish message for each us appearing for the board exams! I eagerly read mine, it was to be imprinted in my mind forever and gave me that first all important trigger towards having more faith in myself – “plod and sweep away the dust and look forward to a giant P1” (the Cambridge board had Ps and the lower the Ps the better the grade). I was thrilled! I never thought I was capable of getting a P1 and that Miss bracketed me in that category! I was a quiet one in school, part of the herd, with nothing major to talk about or be talked about, unlike many of my other classmates who would win various competitions.

This simple message spurred me on – more to remain intact in her eyes than out of any lofty desire to win. And, yes, I did get several P1s, passing out of high school with not just an impressive report card, but with a new found self-esteem – the greatest gift ‘miss’ could give me as a teacher – that of good self worth and a confidence that one can do, if one tries.

Cut to the present. After meeting up with Anand who thanked me for the gift that he claimed to have received from me, there was a deep desire to track my ‘miss’ down and thank her.

They say that if you wish something strongly, then the whole universe conspires to make it happen. And yes, I did track Miss down! With trembling fingers I dialled the Bangalore numbers that I got from one of my classmates. I called; her voice at the other end sounded not a day older and not an iota less warm, than when we last heard her almost 35 years ago! With all the irreverent humour intact! “oh, unakkum number kaduchuditha?! “(oh! So now you have the numbers too, is it) she said in her characteristic nonchalant way. “Let’s speak in Tamil, rather than English,” said my old English teacher! And then she went on to find out all about me, my family and my work. Could I detect a hint of pride? I gushed like an excited schoolgirl and recounted the message and how it had changed my life. And that I wanted to meet her.

And sure enough a Bangalore trip materialized, reconnections with other ‘75ers in Bangalore happened and 3 of us trotted off to meet Miss one afternoon. We met her, graceful 80 plus, in salwar kameez now – the intervening years just slipped away. “Gundu gunda vanthudichu” (the fat ones have arrived) referring to our broad middle aged girths! Her face was as radiant as ever, her sense of rough humour even better, now that we were all adults. She regaled us with the scandalous inside stories of the school from those years, why she discarded the chaste dupatta, she spoke tongue in cheek about the educational system, and with her typical ‘I don’t care’ attitude about things in general. She told us about all those who had got in touch and the thoughts they shared. It was clear that she was deeply happy to meet us. We left her after over 2 hours of non-stop laughter and nostalgia with warm fuzzies in our hearts.

Our virtual group was buzzing with posts – writers, dancers, scrabble champs, professionals, bureaucrats, business women, homemakers, educators, but above all good human beings – she had influenced them all. Her warm eyes glinted with passion when she spoke of her “children” in the various schools that had the privilege of having her at the helm of affairs. The years had not dulled the “teacher” in her, even after more than four decades of educating!

The meeting taught me some new lessons:
We all need a helping hand to help us cross over: it could be a moment lost in the crevices of our being, or a big event, a kind word heard at the right time or a shoulder that came and left silently.
As educators we may never know the extent of our impact – We need to watch our step, our words and actions.
For me it was a personal cycle fulfilled: What I received from Anand went back to where it rightly belonged – to Mrs Girija Karthikeyan.
Miss! This is for you, if you are reading it – from all the HAC 75ers! There never will be another one like you!

The author runs Edcraft, Hyderabad, a firm engaged in making teaching-learning materials, conducting workshops and providing consultancy services. She can be reached at sheela.ramakrishnan@gmail.com.

Gandhi’s proposed scheme of education called the Nai Talim is something that educationists and teachers are familiar with. There is a conspicuous paucity of schools on the lines of the proposed scheme also called ‘Basic Education’ although there has been a lot of historical debate on the merits and demerits of Nai Talim which was itself is inspired by Tagore’s scheme of education in which art and crafts played an important role. In Krishna Kumar’s words:

“The core of Gandhi’s proposal was the introduction of productive handicrafts in the school curriculum. The idea was not simply to introduce handicrafts as a compulsory school subject, but to make the learning of a craft the axis of the entire teaching programme. It implied a radical restructuring of the sociology of school knowledge in India, where productive handicrafts had been associated with the lowest groups in the hierarchy of castes.”

This was the revolutionary idea behind introducing a scheme, which was as Krishna Kumar puts it, “… intended to stand the education system on its head” since it “…favoured the child belonging to the lowest stratum of society.” More importantly, it sought to work toward what plagues the educational system the most today – the problem of social inequality and lack of opportunity, by trying “…to change the established structure of opportunities for education.”

One can only imagine what the fate of the country would have been had the scheme seen mass level fruition. Today, one can witness only rare instances of Gandhi’s ‘Basic Schools’ that one may chance upon in certain parts of the country. On a visit to Udaipur I had the opportunity to experience what may have been… and also see the new creature the original idea had become owing to the influences exerted by the mainstream education model in India.

On entering the school it seemed like any regular school – save for a statue of Gandhi paying tribute to the progenitor of the idea, standing not so tall in the middle of the garden. Moving into the school building was a happy experience with classrooms packed to the brim; full of happy children curious about who these visitors were.

There was nothing to indicate that it was anything more than a regular but very well-maintained government school, and this was beginning to disappoint us. So we went around and asked if there were any classes on handicrafts happening. As it turned out, there weren’t any classes in progress but two teachers very kindly showed us around, giving us details of how the classes are conducted and answering questions we had. They also told us that besides the regular state-board curriculum the children spend a considerable amount of their time on practical skills.

The first room we were taken to was the carpentry class where we saw products made by the children. We knew instantly that these were by no means products of just any other art and craft class – they meant serious carpentry. The gentleman accompanying us showed us the various objects of day-to-day utility that the children of various ages had made – from simple toys to bangle-stands, Indian style peedhi or stools to a beautifully handcrafted low chair. This was a skill that could easily be used for professional purposes.

This was followed by a trip to the cookery class where the teacher showed us a cupboard full of very tempting pickles, juices and preserves or murabba as they are known. On enquiry we were informed, contrary to our expectation, that boys and girls are equally enthused about these classes. The general level of hygiene and sanitation of the class and the school in general along with the walls decorated with relevant charts and pictures bore witness to the quality of ‘education’ being imparted and the spirit of both the faculty and the students.

And finally there was the class on basic electricals. One look around the classroom told us that a completely hands-on approach was followed there. An old television set, a fan, irons and lamps were some of the items available for the students to understand and be able to repair. The teacher told us that the students could easily fix electrical problems at home and even if they did not take it up as a profession, that they were more self-reliant.

‘Self-reliance’ – swaraj – this is the key word which in fact was the motto of the proponent of this educational scheme. It was indeed heartening to see all that these children were being trained on – ways and means of being self-reliant and if desired, converting these skills into means of livelihood.

But is it as simplistic as this? While these skills are important and significant, in today’s context are they achieving what Gandhi sought the Nai Talim to achieve? Getting rid of social inequality? Should not these basic schools begin to incorporate skills which are relevant to today’s technologically charged world? But then again, would it be right to lose these traditional crafts in our bargain to keep up with technology? This is a choice that has no easy answers – characteristic of so many choices and questions posed to us in the field of education.

Historically, India is again poised at a critical juncture as far as education is concerned. The Right to Education and its implementation or the lack of it, will decide how the future will shape, just as the lack of implementation of the Nai Talim has brought us to where we are today.

I have not delved into the multifarious ramifications of the lack of implementation – that is left to your imagination… to think of the possibility that may have been… this was just a glimpse into what could have been all of our schooling experiences, but was not.

The author is a student of education (elementary) at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She can be reached atsimranluthra@gmail.com.

Pallikoodam was founded as ‘Corpus Christi’ in 1968 by Mary Roy. Mary Roy is well known in Kerala civil society as the fiery lady who challenged and helped absolve the Travancore Succession Act of 1916 by which Christian women in Kerala were denied ‘Equal Rights of Inheritance’.

Mary Roy

Mrs. Roy started operating with seven students at a hall leased by the Rotary Club of Kottayam. When the numbers grew, they shifted to the current location at Vadavathoor which was completely barren at that time. Today, the lush green campus is a sight to behold. The multi- layered architecture designed by the prodigious Laurie Baker is costeffective, environment friendly and immensely beautiful. Umpteen varieties of trees, all neatly labeled with their common names (in English and Malayalam) and botanical names, grace the campus. In the words of June Jose, Vice Principal, they have all been planted by Mrs. Roy herself or by a bird! Unlike most concrete jungle school campuses, the only two colours in the landscape of Pallikoodam are brown and green – that of earth and nature. The splash of colours from children’s creativity, of course, does grace the walls.

New name, old values
Mrs. Roy asserted her allegiance to her roots by changing the English name ‘Corpus Christi’ to Pallikoodam (Malayalam for ‘school’) in 2000. She also wanted to do away with the Christian tag that the former name had. The same year, the school introduced Malayalam medium in nursery, Std. I and II.

“Malayalis have great adaptability. But the dangerous aspect of this nature is that we quickly give up on our roots and end up giving a step-motherly treatment to our own inheritance. With Pallikoodam, Mrs. Roy wanted to break away from our colonial influence and revive Malayali culture in school education,” says June. That is precisely why students here greet their teachers with a ‘Namaskaram’ rather than a ‘Good Morning Teacher’. They also refer to the older teachers as ‘Kochamma’ and the younger ones as ‘Chechi’ – ‘Miss’ and ‘Ma’am’ are banned!

That does not mean their growth is restricted by the shackles of regionalism. Rooted strongly to their mother tongue and native culture, they just grow up to become stronger trees with widespread branches. The school is proud of its alumni which has many global citizens as members. Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, Mrs. Roy’s daughter and one of the first students of the school, is just one among them.

Until recently, the school struggled to overcome the “expensive” tag. With no association with any organization – religious or otherwise – the only income for the management comes from students’ fees. One look at a campus with expanding land area and first class facilities makes it clear where the money is spent – in developing students’ learning environment. “We have had cases of children whose families went through financial crisis much after they joined. We immediately put them on scholarship. Money has never been and will never be a constraint for education here,” clarifies June.

On a different learning path

Yoga hall

An informal group teaching mode is adopted until Std. IV. Children in each class are divided into groups. Activities related to different subjects are allotted to each group and thus multiple subject classes go on simultaneously. Even if a child is slower than the rest in the group, he/she can continue working on his/her subject while the others move on to the next one. This method calls for a greater amount of preparation on the part of teachers than the conventional lecture method.

The practice of ‘free writing’ is encouraged as well. English is introduced in Std. III through the phonetic method, emphasizing the spoken rather than the written word. After learning English sounds, they are made to spell words on their own. Given the anomaly in English spellings, they often make mistakes. The teachers, however, do not mark the mistakes in red or correct them. With the extensive reading they are made to do from then on, they eventually get a grip on correct spellings naturally.

There are no annual examinations until Std. VII. Assessment is a continuous process and tests are conducted regularly to analyze students’ understanding of the subject. Children get only grades for these tests, not marks. However, in Std. VIII, the first two terms end with tests-with-marks as a preparation for their first annual examination. Even then, there is no system of declaring ‘ranks’. “The ISC topper may be from Pallikoodam, but it is not news that is shared or celebrated publicly,” says Shylaja. The school just does not recognize that the score in an exam is an indicator of anything at all.

There is no detention until Std. IX either as the school firmly believes that there is no problem child. “All children, by themselves, are brilliant. If there is a problem, it is elsewhere. It is our duty to identify that and give remedial help. There is no need to make a child lose an entire academic year,” explains June. With less than 450 students (including nursery and plus two), the average number of students per class is 35. There are no divisions. This gives ample room for teachers to understand each student – their strengths and weaknesses.

Leela Gopikrishnan, whose kids went to Pallikoodam, says, “There was an instance when my son had just scored well in an exam and I was asked to meet his class teacher. Instead of a compliment, she shared her concern over his carelessness. I was pretty impressed with the observations she had made before she told me this. Despite being his mother, I hadn’t noticed them!” Pallikoodam has a policy of not allowing students to live with any relative, but parents. If neither parent is in town, residential schooling is compulsory.

Parents are also strictly instructed not to arrange private tuitions for their children. The school understands that burdening kids with knowledge twice over is not a good idea. Also, there is every chance that children with help from outside the school won’t pay enough attention in school classes. An exception is made only for students who take up entrance coaching classes in Std. XI and XII.

Despite the economic meltdown and the pink slip aftermath, most Malayali parents still prefer that their children take up engineering and medicine. Schools also take pride in manufacturing engineer and doctor material and many of them, especially in the private sector, cooperate by providing entrance coaching after school hours. Pallikoodam begs to differ. June says, “We emphasize to every parent who comes here for admission that if you want your child to be a doctor or engineer only, this is not the right place.” From Std. VIII, students start receiving group and individual career counselling from experts who conduct tests to explore their aptitude.

The school believes in giving children all possible opportunities and helping them make the right choice. Swimming, drama, yoga, cooking, sewing and physical education are part of the curriculum and therefore non-negotiable. In addition, they can choose a minimum of two extracurricular activities from the options provided by the school, which includes kathakali, bharatanatyam, karate and music. If students are interested in something else, they are also encouraged to find and bring tutors to the school. Interaction with stalwart artists happens regularly so that students have high standards of reference when it comes to achievement.

The equal importance given to extracurricular activities, says Shylaja, is what makes Pallikoodam different – so much so that they cannot be called extracurricular any more, they are very much a part of the curriculum! When most schools relax extracurricular involvement of Std. X and Std. XII students, Pallikoodam makes it work as a stress buster for them to face the board examination calmly.

The school also focuses on helping children grow as team players. Most of the graded activities are group efforts throwing the concept of individual competition out of the window. Every class does a theme assembly once a year which is an out and out group effort: participation from every student in the class is mandatory. This is also an opportunity for the class teacher to gauge the interests of her students. Regular assemblies happen every week in which teachers are not involved in any other way than attending them. There is no system of assembling and dispersing in lines as well. Discipline, the school believes, is something that must be silently inculcated as a way of life.

Establishing discipline differently wasn’t easy for Mrs. Roy when she started out. There were vehement protests from conservative parents of the small town Kottayam when she introduced swimming classes for boys and girls together. She showed the same grit that she had put to use at the Kerala High Court and had it her way. Leela remembers how Mrs. Roy had once brought a Jazz musician from Mumbai to ‘jazz up’ the interactions of boys and girls when she felt they were inhibited. As unconventional as it sounds, the underlying principle is just that children nurtured in an uninhibited environment become more responsible social beings.

This is exactly what reflects in Bala Bhu Bhadratha, an environmental organization started by the students of Pallikoodam. Their major project is solid waste management and implementation of Municipal Wastes Management and Handling Rules, 2000, in Kottayam. As a part of this project, they give composting units for bio degradable waste to every student’s family. The Citizen’s Action Forum is another group that functions from the school that takes up any issue related to Kottayam.

This school’s success illustrates how we need to be the change that we want to see. Many of us smiled in agreement when Aamir Khan preached jovially in the film, 3 Idiots, about the loopholes in our education system. And then, we moved on with the same old carrot and stick policy. Maybe there is a better way!

The author is a freelance writer and has a Masters in Communication from Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication, University of Hyderabad. She can be reached at ardramaanasam@gmail.com.

Built on a fantasy of white walls with sketches of playing children and tiny shelves stacked with colourful books, each row having a slate for a sign board- The Learning Ladder makes for an interesting store. Taking cue from Eklavya, an education reform project in Madhya Pradesh, the Learning Ladder Project was founded by the Comet Media Foundation, Mumbai. Today, the Learning Ladder is a well established resource centre for teachers, parents, NGOs and all educational organizations. So, if you are an academician; an NGO that provides educational programs to children; a school that is looking at diversifying the choice of books or simply a parent looking for innovative methods of study and absorption of knowledge for your children, Learning Ladder maybe a good place to visit.

The Idea
What is unique about Learning Ladder is the kind of books they keep. The shelves in Learning Ladder proudly display books by several lesser known publishers and authors who experiment with innovative styles. These are books that one will not readily find at a large bookstore, not because they lack quality but because they offer lower profit margins and bookstores don’t find them attractive enough to stock. Today, Learning Ladder boasts of 2,500 diverse publications which are constantly updated. Meenal Bhatted who runs the “On Cloud Nine” activity club for children in Mumbai says that the Learning Ladder is a wonderful Idea. “I own a library myself and I find here a variety of books, very affordable and unique a combination hard to find elsewhere. Learning Ladder also has a very good collection of Hindi books which I don’t find even in well known stores like Crossword or Landmark!”

With a team of just 8-10 people, Learning Ladder is a project that has done good progress from when it started. The inspiration to start a centre like Learning Ladder was the absence of an appreciable range of good books for children of all backgrounds. Chandita Mukherjee, a founding member of the organization says that when children are made to learn about new things, they are often challenged with unfamiliar settings. For instance, most books depict the English alphabet with things that children in India have never seen. A letter like ‘K’ for ‘King’, for instance, uses the sketch of a European King, a figure unknown to children here. Chandita says, “There are hardly any play materials that help children identify with their own culture while they learn. We overlook these little things, but they are very crucial to a child’s learning process. There are also several brilliant children’s writers and artists in India creating some great work every year! The idea behind Learning Ladder was to to provide a platform for them.”

The team at Learning Ladder strives to communicate the purpose of the store to all its customers so that their goal of transforming the system of teaching and learning continues beyond the store. Suresh who is one of the team members believes that there is great scope for change through the store as the material they have to offer at the store is always varied and enriching. Supporting this, Meghna Bhansali, a visitor at the store says, “Learning Ladder has great books and strong educative material. The collection is worthy of appreciation and I am looking forward to interesting workshops that Learning Ladder conducts for kids.”

What the shop has to offer?

• Children’s books

A collection of books that use contexts familiar to children in India, as well as some classics that have been integral to Indian literature.

The advantage: Exposure to literature of this kind will help children understand the subject better as all references made in the books are around them unlike books from international publishers that have examples which are otherwise alien to Indian children. These books will encourage children to think about who they are and their relationships with the people and environment around them.

• Toys

The toys at Learning Ladder are mainly made by traditional crafts persons from organic materials like wood, lacquer, bamboo and cotton fabric.

The advantage: Apart from the pleasure of play, they provide an opportunity to the child to establish a personal connection to the region and craft tradition of the toy. These toys also have various pedagogical strengths:

1. Principles of physics (balance, torque, centrifugal force etc.) are grasped intuitively
2. Mathematical and strategy-making skills are encouraged
3. Spatial skills and hand-eye coordination are strengthened
4. Fantasy play and story-telling abilities are developed
• Learning aids

To help in the deep understanding of mathematical and science based concepts, learning aids are the best bet. They get a chance to personally experience and experiment with them. Learning Ladder offers set processes with the aim of setting independent inquiry in motion.

The advantage: The aids dynamically personalize the process of understanding and the knowledge acquired becomes the child’s own. They also understand the application of these concepts to a far greater extent.

• Teachers’ and parents’ resources

The Learning Ladder has a selection of resource books on a vast range of topics of interest to teachers and parents. These books have a good mix of ideas, both fresh and time-tested, reflecting various viewpoints.

The advantage: These books can help parents and teachers make teaching and learning a creative, interesting and satisfying endeavor for both adults and children. A variety in the collection provided is a plus and Learning Ladder is looking at sourcing more such books so look out for a good collection.

Some of the publishers at Learning Ladder
If you are looking for some publishers in particular, you may just find them here:

• Pratham
• Tulika
• Tara
• Spark-India
• Jyotsna
• Children’s Book Trust

The Learning Ladder also acquires its learning aids from some interesting sources:

• Navnirmithi (Powai, Mumbai)
• Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre (Ahmedhabad)
• AID India (Chennai)
• Prayatna (Bangalore)

Reaching Learning Ladder
The location of this learning centre is rather secluded in a building inside the narrow lanes of one of Mumbai’s most commercial areas which is a disadvantage for people who are looking for a quick purchase, but then the collection is probably worth the trouble. The ambience of the centre also inspires teachers and parents to get experimental and innovative but if you are someone who isn’t from Mumbai, then, with a simple e-mail you can receive the database of books from which you can make your selection. However, these lists are not accompanied with synopsis considering the large numbers so you might have to do your own research.

Learning Ladder relies on the word-of-mouth for its promotion but you can find them at educational fairs in Mumbai and select school exhibitions. But the best way to reach them would be on their e-mail address: learningladder.comet@gmail.com or on 022 23869052.

Address: Comet Media Foundation, Topiwala Lane School, Near Grant Road Railway Station (East), Lamington Road, Mumbai 400 007.
Contact Persons: Suresh Dhadve or V P Jacob

The author is a student of St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She can be reached at tsnehareddy09@gmail.com.

One has to fight the suffocating smoke from the lorry traffic and the pungent smell from the industries’ chimneys to reach Vikasana. But miraculously, as one gets nearer to the centre, the pollution gives way to fresh air. The sound of the lorries fades, the smoke from the chimneys recedes and all that is visible is a dense cluster of trees. In spite of being in the midst of a rapidly growing industrial area in Bangalore, Vikasana has managed to maintain its tranquillity.

Living up to its name Vikasana, which means blossoming, is a centre that strives to create an ideal environment for the growth of the child’s mind. MC Malati started Vikasana as a place where education is enjoyable, and a child is allowed to learn at his or her own pace with no comparison or competition. The larger idea is also to provide children who don’t have the means access to education. After being trained by noted educationist David Horsburgh, Malati set up Vikasana 29 years ago. “It is because of him that I had the courage to start this school,” she says. True to David Horsburgh’s philosophy this centre is peace personified.

What is Vikasana?
Vikasana is a rural centre of education that provides free education to children of all ages from the surrounding villages. It is a learning space that the village children can come to for as long as they desire. Children learn by doing and through participation in activities. There is a great emphasis on care of the environment, nurturing one’s space and interests, working with one’s hands and self-directed learning. “The child’s learning is facilitated and then allowed to proceed at its own pace without fear. There is total freedom to take time, to explore, decipher and learn. Many spaces are created for both adults and children to learn,” says Malati.

Before circumstance forced Vikasana to accept a minimal amount as fees, it had followed a no-fee policy. “For the past two years we have been taking Rs. 200 due to some water problem. Sometimes, well-to-do parents also send their children to our school; they help us in kind or sometimes by giving us money,” says Malati. Help also comes from organisations like the Neel Bagh Trust and the Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA), Bangalore.

Activities at the centre
The activities at the centre range from gardening to constructing buildings! Life at the centre starts at 8:45 am with children watering the plants or cleaning the classrooms. After this, children from all age groups get together for a session of singing or story telling. The children are taught songs in different languages such as Kannada, English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, French, German and Italian. At about 10 a.m. the children begin their academic work.

It is fascinating to watch the teachers work with their students. Each teacher has about ten students from different age groups working with her. The child picks what s/he wants to study that day and the teacher facilitates this learning process. The teacher makes sure she spends time with each child individually. In this manner, apart from gaining individual attention from the teacher, the child’s decision-making ability is nurtured. “We have 30 children from different backgrounds. We are two teachers and have no strict rules; we work on holidays, children and parents too are excited about this,” says Malati.

Children are also taught to learn how things work: if they do not know about something the teachers and students work together towards finding the answers. “The teachers work hard with the children so that they do not say ‘I don’t know’,” says Malati. “The child has to learn to value everything. Even a broomstick – the child has to learn to utilise it in more than one way,” she adds.

As the day comes to an end, children spend their time making things using their hands. Pottery, sewing, clay modelling, sometimes even building small structures with bricks and cement! A small play home on the campus was built by students. The idea behind this centre is to emphasise self-learning, and the environment created in Vikasana is appropriate for this.

One problem that the teachers as well as the children face is that parents do not take as much interest in their child’s education as they perhaps should. “They believe everything has to happen at the school. But most well-off parents’ demands are always higher. We keep insisting that they come and spend some time with their children and see how they are working. Sometimes some mothers come, but the men are always busy,” says Malati.

Examination at Vikasana
Although the school is not structured towards preparing the children to take certifying examinations, Vikasana provides ample encouragement to students who are interested in taking government level exams at the 7th standard and SSLC. Other help by way of coaching or enrolling them as private candidates in a government school is also given. Children who do not wish to sit for such exams are encouraged to develop their other talents locally or at other voluntary organisations in Bangalore such as the Aurobindo Ashram or Mrichakatika.

The one question that everyone asks of an alternative school is: Are children able to cope with the outside world when they get out of school? “They do,” comes a prompt reply! “There are children who have become business men, some of them have come back to school to teach and others are teaching in other schools. There is one chartered accountant, some software engineers, a nurse.”

Issues in education have been discussed and debated for a long time; but only some dare to take these discussions seriously and provide space for alternative education. Vikasana is one such school. Vikasana has been engaged in providing an alternative educational space for more than 29 years. It can and has be used as an example to show that alternative forms of education also have a place in our world where mainstream, syllabus-bound schooling holds the monopoly.

Meghana Rao can be reached at raomegh@gmail.com.