Local Communities and Alternative
Education: Constructive Examples
South India has had a long tradition of
thinking about school education. The network of schools which has taught
village children, and provided a wholistic sense of being, has continued to
proliferate. The Right To Education Act of 2009, while being an immensely
important measure to provide democratic and free education, did have certain
rules about the kind of books, paraphernalia and certified teachers employed.
Schools run by voluntary organisations for tribal children and rural children,
including dalits, quite often could not meet these requirements. As a result,
the children passed their examination through Open School, which then became a
boon for those who wanted to enter the professional world.
Rural schools run by NGOs often attempt to
provide a wholistic education, which is quite different from the mainline
schools which promote rote learning, competitive attitudes, and disciplinarian
methods. In these schools, the teachers are often trained previously in
Theosophical Society, Waldorf (Rudolph Steiner) or J Krishnamurthi Foundations.
They come to their tasks with a certain enthusiasm, discipline and commitment.
Ideologically, they are infused with the idea that ecology, sensitivity to
environment, sustenance, mother
tongue education,learning of art and
crafts, and knowledge attained through conversation, formal interaction, play,
experiment, and freedom are immensely important. This frees the child’s
imagination, allows him/her a non-hierarchical relationship with teachers and
guides, and most importantly releases the innate ability that human beings
have, to ask questions.
Art and Theatre, music and photography as
skills allow children to understand that uniqueness is as important as
collective efforts. Whether it is jewellery making, production of art work such
as maps for Geography and History, or simply understanding horticulture and
irrigation through practical techniques, the child is given free space. It is
often argued that this nurturing of
individualism, integrated with team work, is possible only in schools with
small numbers. Yet, the idea could have
been made to work with urban
neighbourhood schools, with adjoining parks.
Children crumble under continuous
surveillance and testing systems. Parents know that every child has needs which
are to be recognised by the teacher. Mainline schooling promotes the idea of
the talented child versus the mediocre child, which is painful for both parents
and students. The new policy of having Board Exams in Primary and Lower Level
Secondary School is a frightening turn of events. Children will be put to the
hardships of public exams much before they have even developed their
personality. They will be forced to cram, and even if they are successful, their attitude towards the world in general
will be marked by fear and/ or aggrandisement.
Since they experience climate change,
economic recession brought about by instability in crop production, empty wells
and irrigation tanks, young people already fear the future. Their sense of well
being is accosted daily by the news of murder, rape, drunkenness, wilful
violence, suicide, normlessness…the list is endless. To be inured to their
vulnerability as young children facing a rapidly changing world, and to impose
the hardship of Board Exams at such a young age is an act of pedagogic cruelty.
Children are optimistic, they accept that adults control their fate. The severe load of school books injuring
their spines was noticed by Society, and the regulation of books taken to
school everyday came into force.
When young people first come to college,
they are so stultified by the Board exams, that first year B.A syllabus is
presented as a simple entry point into the discipline. This allows them to
enjoy being at University, make friends, learn a new technical language, and
also participate in college activities like sports, theatre and politics. Now,
Universities are also being targeted by the State, so that with Budget cuts in
Education, Privatisation of University Education is putting it out far out of reach. RTE presumed that by making
school education compulsory, all children would have access to basic human rights, citizenship being an array of obligations and privileges. By
crushing young people with formal examinations, the path to equity is blurred.
Alternative School educationists understand
that not all children can accept the pressures of knowledge production. They
are given multiple skills, including weaving, farming, animal husbandry, technical
skills, silk work rearing, carpentry and so on. These are not seen to be lesser
attributes, rather, the child is encouraged to understand that the tactile
world, as much as the cereberal world is defined by his/her involvement in it.
In Kerala, a house wife’s revolution,
supported by the State and Scientists has meant that every woman believes that
she can grow organic vegetables to feed her family. This has been immensely
successful in Ernakulam, Aluva, Kasargod, Ponnapra, Trivandrum, the epicentre being
Palakkad. Many alternative schools in Tamil Nadu and Kerala seriously believe
that children can be socialised to think about garbage recycling and food
production.
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