Harmony Centre for Learning

Announcing the Harmony centre for Little Learners - a space and process based on the philosophy of Nai Taleem (New or Basic Education), the educational framework and policy initiated and promoted by Mahatma Gandhi


priya nagesh

Facilitating Learning

Original Post: http://www.samanvaya.com/main/learning.html

This article was first written as an explorative, introductary write-up for further discussion in a seminar on Education in October 2002 and has been edited further in March 2009. It briefly looks at what is Education, the aims of education and means of achieving the same. - Priya, April 09

Man is a learning species. Education, or the process of learning is life long and does not fit into a stipulated period or station in life. That education is acquired only through "teaching" or school is a myth. The Latin root for the word education is educere, which means to "bring out what is latent". In modern dictionaries like the Webster's some of the given synonyms of education are culture, knowledge, guidance, learning and enlightenment. Obviously all these are life long processes.

Aims of Education
Understanding education as being of such practical nature, it's aim would be that children learn to live in harmony with their surroundings, to create, to view reality and make decisions and initiatives through their understanding, to work as part of the social order and to learn from and strengthen nature. The child will learn to deal with situations and respond in keeping with his culture and the traditions and knowledge-systems of his people, fearless of the consequences. She will learn, not for the purpose of collecting facts & figures (information) and getting preference in the job market, but for strengthening herself and being socially responsible (knowledge). It follows that she will learn to value kindness, compassion, patience etc and being of use to the society and community. In this process she and nature alone will be her 'teachers'. It follows automatically that the motto of such an educational process can only be Freedom and Strength, from within.

What are the means of achieving such education?
A child of 1 or 2, adventurously, boldly ventures out on his own to experiment with what he sees around him, unafraid of any opposition that he may find along the way. The explorer falls again and again, but is back with the same curiosity and enthusiasm with which he started. Learning is intrinsic to him, and he has not yet learned to fear failure. He has not yet learned to value the reward that he will be sure to get if he does something that adults commend; he is satisfied with his learning excursions. When after many trials, he places his wooden train just the way he wants on the grass, between the rocks, he knows he has "succeeded". He understands the "learning" too on his own, until school, parents interrupt this process and hasten it to a premature death (today). The children in whom it is not so easily stifled are the ones who may not get the high ranks, who are called "day dreaming" in the classroom, who make mischief and are forever being summoned to / punished in the principal's office.

Understanding
The process of learning is organic / complete in itself; it cannot be splintered into many subjects isolated from each other, for reproduction in exams. 'Specialising' in a subject equips one with certain skills that may fetch remuneration. But knowledge is beyond accounting and laboratory skills. And knowledge cannot be 'taught' by 'teachers' in schools. The first step towards achieving the aims of education is understanding that we don't teach (as the word is understood today) the children (or anybody for that matter); teachers and schools are not the be-all and end-all of education. They are, and ought to see themselves, as only facilitators of learning.

Working within and without the present mainstream system
The present system of schooling (in India) is born out of, and immersed in the culture of education as it was established in early nineteenth century by the British government to serve their political needs. We seem to have forgotten that the history of our education system can be traced to much earlier times. Neither have we as a nation looked deeply and tried to understand what we have had and how it can be used today, nor have we radically initiated, experimented with original content, ideas and methods in a consistent manner. There are of course several efforts and initiatives across the country doing pioneering work with alternative education and schooling processes. There are also many individuals and groups working to bring in reforms and clean the system from within. We need these multi strategies in these complicated times. However, all these strategies have not yet been able to make a collective and vast enough impact to bring about fundamental and true changes at a national level. The alternative education movement and fraternity in India needs to think and work towards integrating their efforts, and forging a common bare minimum national education policy that will incorporate within itself a decentralised structure and flexible formulations for regional and institutional contexts, balancing out the dangers of standardization while still pursuing a togetherness.

Self schooling
Families may also choose to opt out of the current formal system of education. We already know that learning is a constant process, and we learn from what is within and around us. So our children could be "deschooled" or "homeschooled" (to borrow John Holt's term). I use the term 'self schooling' here, rather than 'self learning' since 'schooling' is associated with a certain organisation and structure; and similarly we may follow our own routine of doing things. It should be noted that routine does not mean mechanical or without thought. There are no set rules to this. Children and parents could together chart their own learning courses and activities, or organise learning sessions with other homeschooling families and so on. It is being innovative that matters here and importantly, building on the natural learning processes that would make the learning a self motivated, intense and interesting experience, taking it away from the humdrum and horror of schools. There is already an increasing community of homeschoolers in India, particularly from Bangalore and a few other cities including Chennai, and they can be contacted for assistance with mainstream integration options if so thought necessary. There are many possibilities for mainstream integration if desired, including taking up the National Open School exams. Currently there are no particular laws governing homeschooling, and it is a valid option today for families with the resources and time.

Learning Communities
Given the nature of learning, everyone is a learner. The teacher facilitates, and learns right along with the children. All in the family together explore and learn from each other.Here is the concept of a "learning society", a much discussed concept in modern communities in search of alternative lifestyles and perspectives today. A concept not very far from the traditional communities of India, which were 'learning communities' wherein knowledge was not simply bookish and all community members were stakeholders of knowledge and shared their knowledge with others and with the next generation. Here is the concept of a vibrant learning society functioning on the foundations of its strengths and facilitating learning.

Facilitate means to assist and smoothen the progress of something or somebody. Exams, textbooks and competition have only proved to be impeding the process of learning in most of the cases and do not contribute to a learning community.

Team-building IN Co-operation IN Confidence IN
Competition, as it is understood today, is an obstacle to learning, undermines the self-confidence and worth of the child, promotes individualism as against team or community spirit, cooperation and friendship. It fuels rivalry and discord. While this might well bolster the spirits of the few teachers' favourites in class, who are able to get the good ranks, and would get the ranks anyway, it damages the majority. While it does nothing towards the learning of any child in class, it aids in creating clear-cut distinctions and helps one set (small 'successful'-group) look down upon the other (large 'failure'-group), and the latter becoming resigned to it as part of life thereafter. More dangerous is that it further fosters false notions of success and achievement as those practiced by the small ‘successful’ group and incites all to aspire for the same no matter what their individual inclinations and talents are. Such a life-destructing view of competition continues into adult and work life, negating true understanding, promoting itself, teaching not to question the status quo and feeding the same competition values to the next generation through education. It is a self fulfilling prophecy that needs to be challenged. It is ironic that the Latin root of the word competition, competere, means "to seek with" or "strive together".

Satisfaction and Achievement
Exams are again related to the concept of competition, and contribute to it's boom. If you got good ranks, you are a success story, otherwise you are a failure; and being a failure is sin. This is not education and no learning happens in such a situation. A child does not need exams and tests to evaluate himself in the process of education; indeed may not need any kind of an evaluation mechanism when all that is necessary is learning. All that matters is that he learns; he will also recognise the learning himself. When a child completes a jigsaw puzzle, he knows that has "succeeded". Relevant and meaningful evaluation and performance assessments do come in an educational process but need to be evolved in participation with the learners and on the basis of empathy and context. Only then would it be a true evaluation of the learner and his or her learning and capacities.

It also needs to be understood that examinations and certificates are nothing but one way of entering the career and job world, and an obsolete way at that. Career options, occupational needs and skill sets are constantly changing in a fast changing, global and turbulent world, and requirements in job candidates also changing likewise. Just the exam grades without a more balanced personality and achievements or pursuits in lateral domains are no longer enough to do well in the job market today, if they ever were. There are as many ways as there are people, of entering the job market and charting one’s own path to occupational and material success.

Being NatureWorms and PeopleWorms instead of BookWorms
Textbooks are the greatest hindrance to learning, participation, dialogue, discussion and sharing in class. It narrows the options that the child has for learning, and consequently his imagination and innovation. He needs practical education more than theoretical knowledge, at least at the early stages. He needs to learn from nature, his fellow-beings and appreciate them. Following this, there ought to be no textbooks for children until the age of 10 or 12. He may of course pick up the reading habit on his own. But this is not to be made compulsory. Guides and textbooks may be published for the teachers, if necessary.

As we also very well know, textbooks may also be convenient tools used by 'privileged intellectuals' to present history and society as they please. We can do away with such presentations. It is also the dominant intellectual society’s imbalanced preoccupation with academics that tries to impose the notion that academic excellence is the only excellence, or superior to all other. This is not to decry 'intellectuals' and those who have achieved academic excellence. Society needs them just as it needs all other kinds of excellences. God be with them but fixation on academic achievement as the only means to societal approval, and the only type of higher education has lived to its full and needs to be expended from our psyche.

Nature's Tools
Gandhiji said that "they (ancestors) saw that our real happiness and health consisted in a proper use of our hands and feet." (Hind Swaraj) and advocated working with our hands and feet. He promoted the learning of a craft by all children in schools, and this would also be a means of supporting the school. In his educational experiments and the educational policy that he initiated and promoted, Nai Taleem (New Education), he advocated not only active work with crafts from very young age, but also that after the age of 12 or so, the child should take up a livelihood / vocational skill, which would definitely lead him / her towards many more learning paths. In learning a craft, she is also able to cultivate observation, patience, precision, experimentation etc besides also the satisfaction of creating with her hands and design. In the process of acquiring a vocational skill like carpentry or pottery, she not only channelises her energy towards productive activity, but also learns to respect and value labour. This is so very necessary to challenge the obsession with academics, and to fulfill the creative urge inherent in every human being. In the current scenario, learning and / or teaching methodologies should be able to incorporate learning a craft / working with hands / taking up a vocational skill or interest etc in curriculums and utilise the same as a medium for subject teaching, if they so require.

Public Work
It needs to be acknowledged and accepted that education is for a happy and meaningful life, in its entirety, which includes individual and social transformation. An individual does contribute to social well or ill being by his or her decisions and actions (or non-actions), whether he / she accepts it or not. An educational process should facilitate this awareness and help the individual take charge of her life and understand his / her role in society. The child from an early age should learn to value social responsibility and take active interest in what is happening around him, which would culminate in him participating responsibly in community initiatives and issues as he grows older. Community activities and programmes should be organised wherein children can be involved, like cleaning the neighbourhood, zero waste management and tank restoration projects and cultural programmes. He learns to interact with co-workers, elders and others in the community, and work harmoniously towards a common goal.

Small is Beautiful
In his book "Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered", Schumacher asked for human-scale and appropriate solutions. He talked of an economics "from the heart rather than the bottom line" and of "smaller working units, co-operative ownership, and regional workplaces using local labor and resources". We need to talk decentralisation, and work at solutions that would involve the community in the learning process. The village (neighbourhood) schools have to come back, minus the expensive, unnecessary paraphernalia that is now so much a part of the education system, and which our people can ill afford. Such neighbourhood schools nourished and sustained by the neighbourhood community and resources, and catering to the neighbourhood would be able to create vibrant networks of people and institutions around themselves that would support the learners and lend them wings once they finish their formal education in the school.

Looking Back, or Looking Forward?
India had "the legend of 1,00,000 schools" and a school flourishing in every village. How we managed this, Dharampalji has explained "the vast system of education was made feasible by the sophisticated operative fiscal arrangements of the pre-British Indian polity...substantial proportions of revenue had long been assigned for the performance of a multiplicity of public purposes." ("The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century") It is time to look beyond the factory school, which is after all not more than 200 years old, and find out how the world brought into being some of the most brilliant musicians, thinkers, writers, scientists, architects, composers, mathematicians etc in the many 200 years before.

In the words of J.C. Kumarappa, "University education can go overboard for a time without damaging the nation. As it is we are top-heavy, we have many more graduates than we need. These have also created a problem of unemployment as they are not the products of the type of education that we need." ("Economy of Permanence") We need new, original ways of looking at education, it's purpose, aims and methods of it, and based on this evolve our educational processes and build educational institutions, school and higher learning.

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"By challenging the well established notion that there are certain time-honoured, proven rules capable of guiding us when we want to prepare a curriculum for the education of children, I wish to emphasise that there is no escape from reflecting on the conditions prevalent in society and culture, if we want to design defensible curriculum… By taking shelter in the ‘received’ perspective… we merely shun our responsibility and allow ourselves to be governed by choices made long ago or elsewhere under very different circumstances. ... Education deals with knowledge in a rather limited context, which is defined by the social reality of a particular period of history and locale" - Prof. Krishnakumar, Director, NCERT, in his book "What is Worth Teaching"

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priya nagesh, April 2009

Breeding Contempt in Educational Institutions!?

The following is an extract from an article by the Rajya Sabha member and daughter of the CM, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. She raises an important point about the management of schools placing restrictions on the students to practice their religious beliefs. It is significant that someone from the Dravidian Political movement is raising this question too. I think this is worth discussing. 

Recently, someone had similarly mentioned about Roman Catholic educations institutions across the  country shutting down to protest against the Orissa violence against Christians. In Chennai many educational institutions had sent their students on a rainy day to stand as a 'human chain' to protest against the violence on Tamils in Sri Lanka. The kind of religious, idealogical and other sectarian ideas of the mangement being brought to bear upon the students are rather high. Do the students have a choice?

source: Breeding Contemp, a Deliberate Choice by Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in the HINDU dated 10th Dec 2008

Today (December 9) is Bakrid, an important festival for Muslims. And this country has a reasonably large population of Muslims who celebrate that festival. There is a sizeable number of educational institutions run privately that decide to work on this day — institutions whose founders claim to subscribe to other religious beliefs. A few days ago, in a particular school, when the teacher announced a project work for this day, a Muslim student expressed his inability to attend school on that day. She answers him, in a matter-of-fact manner: “Students who do not come to school on that day can consider themselves as failed.”

This would look like a minor incident. But ask the child. I can imagine the anger, the fear, the sense of being excluded, that moment would have created in the mind of the child. When the teacher spoke to him thus, did he feel he was queer? That he was different from the 50-odd students in the class? Will he search for answers when he gets out of school? I can cite many such examples of exclusion and the communal politics that leads to a few more — or fewer — red letters in a school calendar. These attitudes are reflected in many layers and levels.

This is not to blame any particular group or to say the others are all blameless. The others might have different versions of such stories to share. There are many such institutions that play similar games in the name of religion and end up sowing the seeds of hatred and divisiveness in the minds of children. The world today would like to claim that education, the evolution of civilisation, and the experience of wars has brought humanity to understand that people are more important — than even the state. But what we think will lead our next generation to enlightenment, tolerance and peace today, our educational institutions, are turning into production houses of intolerance and hatred. Schools discriminate in terms of the income of parents, on the lines of gender, and sometimes even on the lines of caste, religion and language. However ridiculous and unreal — bordering on the surreal, it may sound — often even on the lines of eating habits.

Some schools, under the excuse of religious sentiments or spiritual beliefs, do not allow children to bring or eat the food of their choice inside the school premises. These rules are often unwritten but enforced. Staff members routinely reprimand students who fail to abide by the unwritten codes. Emboldened by the act of those in authority, other students ostracise those who do not conform. What happens when these children leave school and face people of different belief systems and habits when they start their own lives? Where does it leave them in terms of tolerance if we, under the pretext of protecting them or being sensitive to a particular section, alienate them from experiencing the diversity? If we isolate them from exposure to other cultures or thought processes or faiths — as is being done in many places now — we have to prepare to reap the whirlwind.

PaataShaala Guest Lecture I - Nai Talim

PaataShaala Guest Lecture – Nai Talim, by Shiv Dutt Mishra, Nai Talim Samiti

Date: 2nd September 2008

Participants:
Prof. Swaminathan, retired IIT Delhi Professor, Historian
Balakailasam, Director
Sashikant, Director
Arvind, Professor
Rajsri, Teacher, Sevagram
Ravitha Bhatia, Teacher
Uday Meghani, Activist / Social worker
Chitra Nagesh, Freelance Researcher
Krishnan, Graphic Designer / Activist
Ranjith Henry, Kolam
Balakrishnan, Centre for Women’s Development
Bhuvana, Parent
Ram, Samanvaya
Priya, Samanvaya

A summary of Shri. Shiv Dutt Mishra’s Talk in First person
Let’s take the phrase Nai Talim – “Nai” means new and Talim, which is an Urdu word, means “Education”. On October 22nd 1937 there was a conference in Wardha on education, which was when it was formulated this way, but it was not a new concept that came up that day. Gandhiji started his experiments with education, beginning from his own children, and many years of such experiments came to be called as Nai Talim.

There are 3 basic questions – Why education? What education? And how education?, which have to be answered by any educationist. In his experiments, Gandhiji was very clear that he will work for an education that will not make the person, a servant. Perhaps, he becomes a servant of livelihood, which is a very small part of his entire life. This is not education.

We see today also that education is imparted only for examinations. Those who have an array of educational titles still do not have jobs and those who have little education are still able to support their families. How is this? So, all of the hungama of conventional education, particular syllabus, exams and whatnot are not going to give a person knowledge, practical or otherwise. Even a Ph.D or an M.Sc would not have the confidence or time to teach his own children, he will send them to school! We all know the shortcomings of the mainstream education system that we have and let us not go into it further.

One of the core ideas of Nai Talim is that, education is child-centric, correlated to the swabhava of the child, particularly the Basic and Primary education. The child is not burdened with the idea of learning and education. For instance, modern neurologists say that any child cannot concentrate beyond 15 minutes on one thing, so then we have to make things interesting and fun, maybe bring in change every 15 minutes. Making a child sit in one place and asking him or her to listen or write etc for 40-45 minutes is violence. The child’s nature is to do, create, explore. If we convert the idea of discipline, that listening to the “Do it!” or “Don’t do that!” orders of the teacher is discipline then we won’t get very far with the child’s education. We will only create servants, which is what the whole system is anyway geared to do. Gandhiji was experimenting and designing an education process to make masters, not servants!

Knowledge in organised education has to be connected to reality. In Nai Talim, we say that knowledge is to be imparted through the medium of craft or through real activity and real experience. That which is connected to real life and meaningful work is true education, not by models and projects. Even calling it “learning by doing” would be diluting it. It is not structured and bookish knowledge as is the case with conventional system. Bookish knowledge would cut them off from real life.

The two basic principles of Nai Talim are that 1) whatever education is imparted, should be with the help of some creative / productive craft of that area / region, i.e. craft is the medium (not that they are all going to go out into the world and only practice that craft for their livelihood) and 2) whatever is earned out of such craft would take care of the current expenditure of the school. Reading and writing is one medium of imparting knowledge, craft is another. Gandhiji used to say, and today it is well known, that children should not be started on writing straight away. We should start with sound, and reading aided by pictures, and then gradually script. These methods of teaching are connected to how children learn first through their senses – the first is by touch, he knows his mother by her touch first. Then come sight and sound. Then at one stage they want to taste each and every thing they come across. It is after going through such stages in their development do we need to reach reading and writing. And time is required for everything. There is a certain time by which the coordination between fingers, eyes and mind happens for writing. Every child needs her own time and space to go through this. But today, we all want our children to learn everything quickly. If we go with the child according to his or her swabhava, then we will see that they all learn ‘quickly’. For instance, for children everything is play – this is in their swabhava. For them there is no difference between study or work and play. They learn through play. So if we understand this and remove the divisions in our teaching between study and play time, then we will help along the child in his learning. Take for instance, how the child learns script. For a small child, even the letters are pictures. So if we go by what the child sees and understands from the real world, then we should start with simply getting them to understanding words and their meaning first. And then, with time, break them down into letters / alphabets. In all this, the attitude of the teacher should be that of a mother. First comes love, then everything else.

This teaching should be for real life, for through out their life, not just a part of it. For instance, why do we separate subjects? History can be taught through geography or vice versa. Language is taught in and through every other subject. So we should be aware of this and not isolate language teaching to one class and not bother about it during other subjects. And at the primary level, the child is coming in contact with more and more in the outside world. So our teaching must correlate with his engagement with every day life and world. Whether we want it or not, children are learning all the time, and outside the class room, from everywhere. Then, better to understand and integrate all that too, so that they can make better sense of their world. In this situation, it becomes important that our schools are connected to reality, which means they can help the children understand societal problems and issues of the neighbourhood. This is being connected to the real world. They should be helped to understand society and its culture and their identity in it.

Today, we find that those who have the knowledge of science and theory do not know to work on ground, practically. And those who are actually working with a tool or machine, may not be aware of the science behind it. We have separated and isolated them. Gandhiji in his education process wanted to join the two, and provide an education that will allow the child to explore and express his inherent qualities and grow to their full potential and become ‘Masters’. An integrated understanding such that every child / person as he grows up can think independently, take initiative, be confident and solve problems. Then the problems of the locality and country will automatically get solutions. If we are living in this city and country, then we take responsibility for it, and this starts with the family and school.

Understanding phenomena is the basic thing. And there are so many methods of understanding. Not just one way. It cannot be that there is only one right way. The education process must be such that the child also recognises this type of responsibility and values within herself. They are taught not through textbooks but by observation and doing and routine work. We do not need a whole lot of material for this. We don’t need costly instruments and equipments. If it is to be real life teaching, then the real world materials are the materials of education also. Children also recognise and relate to material that they find in their real life instinctively. Correlation and integration is easier this way. One way to see their learning is to listen to them – they repeat whatever they have learnt and find interesting. The child must be able to talk about their learning process to their parents.

Discussions
In answer to the question, why did the Nai Talim school close in 1974, Shri. Shiv Dutt spoke about the equations between the Nai Talim Samiti and the Sarva Seva Sangh, and that ultimately it closed due to lack of teachers.

During a discussion on higher education and the Sevagram Vishwa Vidyalaya, Shiv Dutt spoke about how in Nai Talim, whatever is taught in the conventional system can be completed by the students in 8 years. He further added that if the children do not learn certain things going the Nai Talim that they may have learnt in the conventional system, then he is confident that they don’t need those things in their life since Nai Talim is for real life!

Ram, Samanvaya said that there are many schools that have been started by picking up and adapting ideas from Gandhi and Nai Talim. He described a school that had existed just outside Chennai, and that the old woman who had been running it said that she has been doing so along Gandhian lines. She has heard Gandhiji only once and visited Sevagram a few times. He went on to say that however that such an institution exists is not known even to Gandhians in Chennai. His question was whether there has been any attempt to get to know such people who have been inspired by Gandhiji’s ideas and started educational ventures, since this would give us a picture of how these ideas have spread. His concern was that we should not fall into the rut of centralised thinking that Nai Talim can only be in Sevagram and others must follow suit.

Shiv Dutt in answer said that Nai Talim is not a method and that it must be taken in spirit and adaptations will obviously have come. He added that with poor understanding we will just try to correlate and do things absolutely by the letter and that wont work. He stated that innovation, which also implies adaptation, will only work. He further emphasised that the point is that knowledge must be related to real life and inter-relation must happen, then only will real understanding take place and our children will really think. What the student understands is a lesson for the teacher; it is his responsibility to create an environment where leaning happens – he or she is a facilitator.

Another question that came up was that since Nai Talim as a concept is for the age group 7 – 14, what of children before the age of 7. In answer Shiv Dutt said that largely principles of Nai Talim with regard to child and learning will be the same way. He further said that in that age group, they are learning how the outside world works and learning to interact with it and we have to help them in this process.

There was a discussion on whether there is material online on Nai Talim. However it was realised that at the moment there is no comprehensive material. Much of the material is with the Multiversity group and volunteers are needed to upload the material onto the web.
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Shiv Dutt Mishra has been associated with the Nai Taleem Samiti and the Sevagram Ashram for almost a decade. He has authored two books in Hindi, on the concepts and practice of Nai Taleem idea and its spread and variations. He has also been a close aide of Shri. Dharampal in the last 5 years of Dharampalji's life, working closely with him in particular in his Hindi writings. Academically he is trained in economics and law and is a student of Allahabad University.
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Priya

ABL - How's and What's - 12 January 2008

Participants: Vijaya, Alexander, Ranjan De, Amukta Mahapatra, Dr. L.S. Saraswathi, Reineke, Melinda, Subha, Atmapraana Amba, Nishkaamya Praana, Nidosha Praana, Ram, Priya

Note: Amukta joined the Paatashaala session to talk about how ABL works, the philosophy and methods of ABL and how they developed it.

A summary of Ms. Amukta Mahapatra’s talk and discussions
Amukta started the discussion by saying that why ABL was conceptualised and introduced is more important than the genesis itself. The problems that were identified by the government were many and ABL came as one way to tackle some of these problems.

The primary problems were that children were not learning and there was only a one point source of teaching – the teacher. In the class room the children were just obedient or not; nothing else defined them within the classroom – many problems were identified with the classroom processes. ABL was introduced as the solution and it has achieved a couple of things in the last 5-6 years since it has been brought in –

- It has succeeded in changing the geography of the class room

- Children can do things on their own. Teacher is not the only resource in the classroom

- It has helped the teachers re-look at their own roles in the classroom

ABL has opened up methodologies and ideas. For example, instead of the conventional class rooms, there are subject class rooms like maths room and language room, and the group is a mixed age-group… this has brought in newer ways of learning like never before. For instance, child-to-child learning.

An ABL classroom:
There are 6 circles / groups of mixed age children in one class room. These groups are formed on the basis of their learning, like “Teacher needed”, “Peer support”, “Self learn”, “Partial teacher support” and so on.

There are activity charts for the children, and there is the ladder chart for each subject with milestones on it for the child to see for herself what her progress is. Textbooks are not used by the children in the conventional way of mugging up. There are flash cards that are colour coded for the different levels, with each containing one concept. This is what is used primarily by the children along with the activity charts and a few other aids. The activity is curriculum driven and the child does not choose.

The subjects are Language (English, Tamil), Maths, EVS, Social studies and Science.

The questions that came up for discussion are as follows:

- How have the teachers taken the change and transitioned from earlier to now

- On what basis are the 6 circles chosen

- Is not this class room process difficult when the teacher has to look after 40 students

- How do teachers identify when some circle who are on their own have learnt correctly

- What is the feedback from the children

- How do they learn English language and grammar

- How is it decided which group does a child go to

- Which class / Std is the child in then

Amukta spoke to the group about the nature of the circles, that they are dynamic and keep changing according to the learning needs and progress. This is determined by the evaluation charts by which the child knows how much progress she has made and what she has to do next. All material is learner’s material, not teaching aids. This is important to remember, and it is the learner’s responsibility to learn and finish. The onus for learning has shifted from the teacher for 40 students to each child for herself.

Philosophy behind the restructuring of the classroom

But the concern remained among the group that the teacher still has a lot to do, since she has to individually spend time with the children at all 6 levels and whether this would be happening effectively.

Questions and a discussion on the philosophy behind the restructuring of the class room followed. The concern was whether this is only going to be a structural change or it would go deeper. One of the participants, Alexander, pointed out one problem that he has noticed, of contrariness of values, which would not change if things remain at the structural level – he spoke about how the industry and professionals are constantly asked to cultivate or given training in team work, but in schools, al the focus is on the individual and individual identity.

The other associated question was whether this was connected to real life for the child; that this is methodology but how is it changing what she is learning and in what way – the content. Apropos, the other concern was that there is no change in the value system.

Amukta spoke about how even if the content of textbooks has not explicitly changed, such methods cannot be practiced without some changes in the way the content is looked at, which in itself is a major change. The teacher’s solitary authority in the class room is now questioned; there are other resource points for the children. This leaves the teacher to engage with the children freely and the scope for the teacher and child to co-learn expands dramatically. It is true that though all are in their circles, the learning happens individually and hence the teacher has to be aware of each child’s learning level. This, from what is happening on the field, is not so difficult, and teacher training and meetings at every level is being given importance. The one thing to remember even the classroom processes should not be rigidified, as this would again create problems.

Dr.L.S. Saraswathi mentioned here that even the terms ‘content’ and ‘methodology’ are obsolete; If we were to look at them as ‘process’ and ‘practice’, then the entire dynamics would change and how can there be a change in one without affecting the other? She also said that value is in everything, they cannot be taught separately as one component, they will have to be part of everything that they child does.

There were other miscellaneous discussions on parents and their expectations from the children as well as the school, peer support etc.

In summarising, Ram said that it is always taken for granted that private players are pioneers, but in this the government has come forward with the change and this is very good. HE continued saying that however there are huge obstacles to cross, since this is still in transition phase and our very language and terms of reference will have to change.

Amukta concluded saying that a mention has to be made of Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan Official, Mr. Vijay Kumar, who has made all the difference and made this change possible.

Amukta’s Inputs on the Board
Problems in Present schooling system	Changes seen as a result of solutions presented by ABL	Difficulties at Field Level
- Herd teaching - Children not learning, even reading, writing and maths - teacher is a mere policeman - children idle most of the time or tracing mechanically - all children doing the same thing at the same time in the same manner	- individual, group and collective learning - children able to read and write by class 2 - maths skills are pretty high - each child learns at her / his own pace	- not enough teacher support in the field - training is too brief, focused on ladder, logos and charts - circle, not child directed - danger of mechanical learning if not enough care

- Priya

Quotable Quotes from the January 2008 session

"We are changing the system, but we are also resisting the change"
- Ranjan De, 12th January 2008, Paatashaala session on ABL

Paatashaala - 6th October 2007

Participants: Sathyamoorthy, Nithiyanandam, Chitra Nagesh, Vidhyalakshmi, Ramasubramanian, Priya

Note: Amukta Mahapatra could not make it to this Paatashaala session, and the predetermined agenda (sharing of experience by Amukta) for this gathering had to be postponed. The group had a rather free flowing dialogue on learning, triggered off by Ram asking each individual to share his / her recent learning with the group.

Thinking capacity in students
Vidhyalakshmi who is currently involved with a voluntary activity of examining the papers submitted by students in the YDC contest conducted by the Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, shared her insight. The YDC is an annual essay competition with a difference. Specific questions are asked of students in answers to which they write their essays. Different questions are asked at the different levels – middle, higher and senior school students. The questions are aimed at making the students think, for his own growth, for that of his family, society and the nation. Vidhya’s insight was that students until the 8^th std gave quite original and creative answers. However students from higher classes wrote very prescribed, conditioned essays in answer to the questions.

This led to a discussion on why this is so. Many related issues were brought up. A general feeling was that in terms of pedagogy, there was a broader scope for innovation and experimentation in the lower classes, which is considerably lesser or not at all in the higher, due to pressures of academic performance. Sathya also particularly felt that play and diversity is cut down drastically in the higher classes, whereas we all know that play is an important and effective method of learning. It was also recognised that this happens over a period of time, not all of a sudden, but very intensely in the higher classes, where marks and exams are given utmost importance and thinking takes a back seat.

Improving the self
Chitra Nagesh said that she feels she is learning everyday but is unable to articulate clearly what she learns. This learning for her is to improve her self and to attain equanimity in all circumstances, and she learns something or the other in this practice of hers everyday.

‘Teaching’ Gandhi to children
Sathya said that he has learnt newly that it is very difficult to teach children what one knows. His sharing with the group is as follows:

“My nephews aged 4 and 6 asked me about Gandhi and I found it very difficult to share with them what I knew. I had gone to this Gandhi course, studied Hind swaraj but I was totally in conflict as to what I can tell them from Hind swaraj that they will understand. I didn’t know stories from his life that I could tell them; what do I tell them when I myself didn’t know much?”

Priya at this point shared some thing in response to this. She said that Jane Sahi of Sita SchoolBangalore stated this truly great insight during a learning conference – that it is a myth to say “I can only teach what I know”. Explaining the point, if this statement were to be true, then the learning is not accounted for, and only the one-side flow of facts etc is acknowledged. The teaching (content) and the one who is teaching gains primary importance, overriding the dialogue and the mutual learning that will happen between the two or more entities. This is only information giving, not a facilitation of the learning that is bound to happen in a process of dialogue, by all. near

Ram added to this his own thoughts:

“Recently, in response to a request for an article on learning, I had written just about this learning experience – is learning a one-way process? Is it giving or taking or both? Are we giving or taking? We are doing it simultaneously! What you give is your observation, care, sensitivity… you take learning among other things. In the light of such learning experiences, the formal education becomes but a small component of one’s entire life’s learning. For example, sathya, maybe you could have shared the brute force story that we had read during the Hind swaraj session with your nephews. “

The brute force story was told to the group. Please follow this link to read the relevant piece in the Brute Force chapter.

Sathya protested saying that this is not a story to say to a child, he will not understand it! He added that he did not know of many stories from Gandhiji’s life, and that he didn’t know how to say this story in a way that they would understand. In response, Priya again reiterated that “it is not information to give to the children, it is a space for learning that we have to use creatively; if we didn’t know stories per say, we could take one principle and discuss it taking from our own lives; or we could take from someone else who in our understanding has tried to say in essence similar things, say, Swami Vivekananda. It is not a performance test on the life of Gandhi, rather it is a space and time for experiencing something together.”

An unreported episode from Gandhiji’s life
In continuation with the brute force story, Ram shared with the group his exchanges related to this issue during the SwaRaj retreat:

“While one elderly person said the story really makes us think deeper, another person, middle-aged said that this sounds biblical and that this could not happen in real life. The same person then went on to ask whether then this is a matter of history or conviction and how could anyone be so nonviolent? I replied that he has also said that sometimes violence is the best form of ahimsa, for which his question was whether then Gandhiji only used his method of nonviolence as a strategy and does this mean he didn’t actually have such a quality? … This conversation remained inconclusive between the two of us, but when I came back I happened to read an episode from Gandhiji’s life published now in the Sarvodaya magazine, which I think lent itself to some of the earlier discussions. Please read the episode here.

There are any number of ways to create a learning experience. If one cannot tell stories, there are other starting points, for example, visually. Look at Gandhiji’s appearance. Did any other political leader dress the way he had done? He wore the dhoti. So maybe start with asking a child whether s(he) has seen any person of political etc consequence wear such a dress in public, what do they think about it and lead conversation from there. This is just one more way. We don’t have to supply information all the time.

We can have beautiful experiences in learning to do things with hands for instance. There is no need for so many words. In the violence of noise and words, can we help them to sit silently for 5 minutes and experience that silence, listen to that silence and deepen observation in that silence. Can we talk to them about keeping the neighbourhood clean and how t his can be done regularly? All this is also Gandhi.

So, learning happens in so many ways, not restricted to children or schools! In fact, more people should drop out of schools and colleges and the engineering conveyor belt, more learning can happen.”

Career Mapping
Apropos to the previous point made, Nithiyanandam spoke of the different approach that they take to career mapping in their workshops with college students. He explained how they worked backwards from any of the popular professions that are coveted and asked the students about the requirements for the particular professions. Leading backwards they explored areas of studies to be pursued and still further to then the interests that an individual needs to have to reach a particular career option. Then they examined the various career options, how career aspirations of students are formed – are they based on the interests and inclinations of each individual or by conditioning. The students then went onto map interests, career aspirations and options during the session.

This led to a discussion that included issues of conditioning, influence of media, corroding of aesthetics and simplicity in functioning in the pursuit of things that are imposed on us from all sides, how do we explore (if we explore at all) the question, “what do we aspire to be?’, how power equations seem to be very important in today’s context, that we teach our children by not in so many words, but our actions to recognise power and respond to it, and that we need to go beyond social and economic barriers mentally and not Just as gestures. For instance, the group discussed about how we look at say, a computer engineer and a post man and the resulting behaviour. We have to examine carefully how some of these fundamental inhibitions, judgments and assumptions are formed and transmitted.

Quotable Quotes from the July session

“There are neither ready-made problems nor ready-made solutions, so we have to go with new and different” – Ram

“We should not be looking at interlinking of rivers, but interlinking of subjects – everything is interlinked – science, maths, geography… “ – Ranjan De

“Just because some people are able to come out of oppression due to a system, doesn’t mean that the said system cannot be examined or that the harmful components of the system cannot be changed, ” – Ram, in response to a comment that schools (education as it is today) has helped the dalits find their voice and higher status in society.

“Child: ‘I hate geography!’
The air you are breathing is geography! The air you are breathing is science! The air you are breathing is maths! Why are we labeling subjects? Learning is never labeled till you go to school” – Ranjan De

Notes from 2nd July 2007 session

Participants: Chitra Nagesh, Sumitra, Ranjan De, Prasanna, Karuna, Sangeetha, Priya, Ram, Akila, Shuba, Giridhar, Dr. Saraswathi

Note: The two primary areas for this session were social sciences textbook review by Chitra Nagesh and a briefing of the multiversity initiative of redesigning social sciences curriculum at the university level, by Ram.

Introduction to Samanvaya and the Paatashaala initiative was given by Ram.

Sumitra’s question at the end of the introduction was that these are all very new and different things and how do people accept new and different things. Some amount of discussion and Ram’s response was that there are neither ready-made problems nor ready-made solutions, so we have to go with new and different.

A free-flow discussion followed from the introduction and centered around the condition of schools today and activity based learning methods as well. One of the opinions from the people working with schools, children (Ranjan, Giridhar) was that activity is taken up as an independent thing to be done, but not understood as to how learning can happen and happens through this activity. Ranjan is now actively working with the deployment of the ABL method at different levels of the government hierarchy and shared his experiences with the teachers.

A theme which took up considerable energy and time in spurts through out the session - was parents’, their attitude, values and how they view school. Some felt that parents must take part in the education of the child and with school activities and others that this must not be so since they go by media and “expert”-touted trends which actually hamper the child’s learning. Parents push their children in to various classes so that they are ‘all-rounders’ but ultimately leave the latter with no time to just be. They also play an important part in conditioning children to look towards education as a tool for employment and higher paying jobs. However, this issue has many connected aspects that needed deeper analysis, and many were unwilling to slap a value judgment on this. Shuba expressed the quintessential conflict of the parent, that “I know it is wrong, but I am still pushing them into it” (where the ‘it’ may be many things including school, numerous classes, the rat race, value of consumerism… in the context of this discussion). Other related topics that came up were choice of schools and how parents decide which school they must put their children in, who are role models – teachers and parents as role models, values today (it has become a matter of pride that “my child earns as her first salary what I took home at retirement”), career options and how parents completely impose or take over the decision many a time.

Mrs. Chitra Nagesh reviewed the class XI social sciences textbook as a sample of the changes that have come about in content and presentation, according to the national curriculum draft 2005. Some of the points raised by her and discussed are :
- too much material and too exhaustive, swamping the child and leaving no motivation to explore on her own,
- something should be left for the respective imagination and individuality of the teacher and children. Everything is given, and nothing to tease the child’s curiosity and incite her to explore further.
- however good the textbooks may be (if they are), ultimately all schools are exam-oriented and hence the result may not be unlike what has always happened – cramming and hurrying to finish portions, mugging answers etc. Infact the tension and stress on both teacher and child would be much more because of the increase in material and the information overload
- the text material does not have a natural flow from the earlier standard

A discussion here on rote learning and repetition and whether this is healthy. The two almost-opposing perspectives were that nothing stays until it is done with understanding, hence rote learning should not be encouraged at all, and that there are some things that are learnt by repetition and it is good for this to happen, for instance, multiplication tables – this is not to say that understanding should not be facilitated. A linked subject was that of discipline and process of discipline - should it be enforced sometimes, all the time or not at all, will it be effective only when it comes from within, but should this be taught, how will a child know discipline, is it that discipline is a corollary to interest and enthusiasm, then how can pursuit of interest and passion juxtaposed with what needs to be done for a particular situation, be balanced… As several other discussions, no definite conclusions were drawn.

Other discussions pertaining to the textbook review
How many teachers would actually get the time to work with so much material and give it their best? Also, all this material is today available over the internet. What is the purpose of the textbook? There was also a thought that it will take a few years, but if we keep working with the change process, better things will come. At least where there was nothing, there is a change process that has started. The teachers have to be better oriented, with more practice, and even other changes to the content itself. A question that was raised was whether teachers were included in the national curriculum draft process. And any rural teachers, at that? Any teachers from south India?

Regarding exams, a question that came up was, should open book exams be taken up or no exams at all for these textbooks re-orientation to make an impact? Another reasoning was that the approach to the book was more important than the information overload, but then how many teachers would actually read the introduction and preface section, which explains the approach, and actively practice and internalize it? The approach cannot be forced. Ram’s take was that the person who wrote the preface was a visionary and would probably not have done the actual work on the textbook which is a whole lot of graphic-rich information taken from the internet

A summary by Mrs. Chitra is also uploaded into the online group space as a pointer for reflection and further discussion.

Miscellaneous related discussions
Creativity is lost. Educational institutions have become sorting machines and so this has an impact on the choice of parents. Students coming out of a particular school or college are in a certain way or have a certain label.

Thinking for oneself doesn’t happen for an individual suddenly in 10th std, this quality in the child’s nature has to be encouraged right from the start.
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Redesigning university social sciences curriculum
Ram’s Introduction: This particular initiative is still more in the minds of the people working with it than ready tangible output and deliverables.

Many groups are wanting to come out of a colonial mindset and chalk out fresh paths of study and exploration that come from their own culture and strength. Today, much of what we read and write has the “hangover of the Raj”. Multiversity was born out of a complete rejection of this. In the social sciences, which define “identity”, there has been no larger movement for such a process. We have largely a colonial identity as far as academia or formal education is concerned. And this slowly percolates into other areas. Anthropology is the study of the brown or black man by the white man. The base of such a colonial study is that the brown man is a heathen. And he needs to be educated. There could be a science, knowledge, a culture that is his, is completely unacceptable and systematically negated. So, today an astronomist who wants to understand astrophysics in India – where does he go to access this science here?

For instance, there are traditional boat builders in Ramnad, who are fast becoming an extinct community, who built boats with such precision and knowledge that the earliest repair to one of their boats is at the end of 8 years of use. But where is his science if someone wants to understand. This initiative is to bring these different things available today together as a curriculum. This entire problem of schooling content could be solved if we look at this curriculum approach.

Paatashaala snapshots - July 2007