This is what we feel about our education...echoes from Kargil

These days, I keep visiting one of the remotest mountainous districts of this country. Thanks to the Autonomous Hill Development Council of Kargil district which has invited me to help them develop an educational strategy for the entire district, I have visited Kargil three times since January this year. As part of this work, I came into contact during my March visit with a group of young men and women who shared their experiences of getting educated in the schools of Kargil. They talked about what they liked about their schooling, and what they wished was different. It makes interesting reading and leaves us with several questions…

“First, let us tell the nice things. We liked the co-educational system which was good. It helps you mix freely with members of the opposite sex. This should happen from the beginning itself. We had good friends; we played a lot of games together and the company of friends was good. The school was close to our houses. Our school had lots of activities and games – in the classroom also they had lots of activities. There was discipline – the teachers and children were punctual; school cleanliness was maintained well. We had a good library. We enjoyed the school picnics we had now and then!

Some of the schools we studied in had a few experienced/senior teachers – they were good, and they taught us well. Some teachers often punished us, but also explained why they did so. Though we did not like it then, we realize now that it was useful. May be all that beating and punishment is sometimes useful! We feel that local teachers are much better than the ones who come from far away, often outside the district. These non-local teachers are not sensitive.

Some of us had supportive parents, who guided us. They were always vigilant about our activities in and outside school. You know, our communities are also powerful. They have sometimes brought in capable teachers, and got those transferred who were not teaching well.

Now, listen to the not so nice things. To begin with, we would like to state that we were given an aimless education that led us nowhere. We were often told that good marks would lead to good jobs. But is education only about getting good jobs? Not everybody gets good jobs anyway!

We did not know why we were made to study the various subjects. What is the reward for studying the various subjects? We were not told this, and we did not have a clue.
May be, we need to have a positive outlook. Then things will change. You know, everyone wants to do good. Maybe the methods that are used are not appropriate, like the beating of children. Maybe the focus on exams should go. Maybe rote methods and memorization should go…

Most of our schools did not have a library. The school surroundings were often not kept clean. We did not have extra curricular activities for us to express our talents, feelings, ideas, thoughts. Most often, our schools did not have benches for us to sit on. We would sit on long, narrow mats, one behind the other. Our schools did not also have a proper playground – whatever space was available, was very small for all of us to play and enjoy. Our schools did not have any lab facilities; we were only ‘told’ the theory. On few occasions we got to see some experiments and then we realized how nice it would be to always experiment and learn!

Our teachers were not disciplined, and they were not punctual. They would often abuse us verbally and beat us. Often, they did not wear clean clothes themselves. We found that there was no unity among teachers – they did not think well of each other sometimes. You know, they lacked the ability to teach us well. Our teachers lacked the experience to teach us well.

Did we play too much in school? We now wonder! Our teachers did not insist that we should study. We realized what we had lost, much later…

We should have been given more tests and exams by our teachers – this would have helped in monitoring our learning and our progress. Teachers who were not locals were not sensitive towards us – they were also partial in their attitude towards some children. Often they were not serious…the other problem was that we did not understand the language used by teachers who were not local – they also did not understand our language. Thus, we could not relate with them, and they, with us. Beating/physical punishment was common – teachers often used ‘innovative’ techniques to punish us! Some images will not go away, like the teacher shoving in our mouths a ball of paper and then beating us hard; being kicked hard by the teachers was common…

Teachers also treated the so called ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ or ‘intelligent’ children very differently – the weak children would often be asked to sit at the back. Often, such children even left school, unable to bear the humiliation. Many teachers engaged in tuition after school hours. If we did not attend these tuition classes, teachers would deliberately mark us less in the tests and exams, even if we did well. Rote methods and memorization were mainly followed by our teachers – the focus was entirely on doing well in the exams, and guides were freely used for this preparation. Teachers would get us to do things like dishwashing. Often, we ran errands for them, by bringing their children from other schools where they studied. We also brought firewood to keep the teacher’s room warm, while our rooms were not even heated properly! This ate into our time and affected our learning.

Who monitors these teachers? Who asks them what they are doing?

Our parents too did not bother to ask what we were doing. They were not supportive either. As girl children, we found it that much more difficult to come to school – our parents had this misconception that girls should not get ‘Duniyavi Talim’ (modern education), though nowhere in Islam is it stated that girl children should not study or even travel outside their villages. Our parents, even if they knew the problem, did not speak out. In most cases, they do not even go to school to see what was happening. Parents who are not very poor can afford private schools…but should these schools be allowed to exist? Who will respond and listen to parents?

Some of us did not have good friends, and fell into bad company. Years later, we realize where things went wrong.”