The Importance of Open School for
Traditional and Marginalised Communities
Traditional communities who have their
roots in the soil as farmers, landless agricultural labourers and tribals, or
in the coastal regions as fishers, are first generation learners in standardised education. We often
presume that these local communities are without knowledge. However, Paolo
Freire and others have always drawn our attention to the need to educate
ourselves about the rights and privileges of these communities, and how we must
in fact learn from them.
Industrialisation has meant that peasants
and tribals are reduced to one category, that is cheap labour. A theory of
beauty is inherent in their lives. This is part of the craft and artisanal
traditions of which they are representatives of. Luxury markets in India and
abroad define the use of these traditional skills as essential to the goods
they produce, whether in leather, shell, gems,
metals, cloth or wood. Designer culture sees these as necessities, and
makes good use of them. Khadi, handloom and mirror work are seen as desirable
within the capitalist framework of couture culture. Let us proceed to imagine
then, that the brutalisation of these indigenous communites happens when they
are deprived of access to food and shelter.
School education is seen to be the way out
of an imposed poverty. It is believed that if these communities receive a
standardised education, then they will be able to negotiate out of the
difficulties that they face as impoverished communities.
Since smart cities cannot be built without
cheap labour, clearly the State represents an industrialised world view as a
total social good. However, there are many who believe that subsistence
economies (those who live on the food they grow, or the fish they catch, or the
pastoral and nomadic communities who live frugally in their habitats) must be
supported. This is because the earth is organic and resplendent and must be
protected for its multidiversity. Not surprisingly, the aspect of niche culture
as being protective of the earth becomes a point of view that is seen as
activist and ecologically sensitive. We are quick to presume that the genocide
of the peasants and tribals through deprivation is a necessary aspect of
industrialisation to which the Nation State has been committed since
independence. However, the West is mortified by its own history, and in many
parts of Europe and Asia, green movements have been more than successful.
Craft and artisan communities depend on the
environment for their livelihood as well as their sense of well being. The
diminishing of state concern for agriculture, so visible to us. is a very short
sighted perspective. With climate change, it is necessary to address the needs
of the farmer in a different way. The farmer with small landholdings is
actually investing in other crops which might survive unseasonal rainfall.
While he loses his wheat, bajra, rice, peas and pulses, he might still have his
sugar cane crop standing. Mushrooms too are being harvested around the year, as
the temperatures can be maintained artificially.
The costs of schooling are very high for
such communities, and once crops like cotton or ginger escalate or drop, the
farmer’s fortunes fluctuate.
Formal schooling comes with lots of costs,
including certification for teachers and
students and blackboards, text books and uniforms. Alternative schooling
actually provides children in marginalised situations with the possibility that
they can pass the Open School exam at the learning pace that is suitable to
them. Open University further extends the possibility of their entering into
professional occupations. Artisan communities would benefit from the ways in
which the skills that they need to promote their traditional arts were rated
more positively. Design schools teach weaving, pottery, block printing and upto
40 other skills for a cost which is beyond the average middle class Indian
household. If these skills are so relevant to conspicuous consumption in urban
society, then why should children of rural communities be made to feel that
they have no place in society.
A
child refused to go for a maths exam, and was severely punished by her parents.
Her father tied her to his motorcycle
with a rope, and was noticed by journalists visiting the village to report on some other case. The
father was jailed for a night, and when interviewed he said that his child only
liked to do craft, and everything else was boring. Alternative School Education
is promoted by networks of activists all over the country, and it uses
Montessori or Rudolf Steiner or J. Krishnamurthy methods to
innovate with education,
attending to each according to his or her needs. With the massive cuts
in education, and the blocking of opportunities for the poor. to accelerate
urban development and industrialisation, it won’t be surprising if there is
revolution or state repression, as these go together.
