Enjoycation

          The word ‘education’ can have a variety of meanings depending on how you look at it and what you want from it. Thus, we hear the clichéd ‘Education is a contested terrain…’ statement often in discourses. The multiple meanings that we derive from education may or may not have anything to do with the etymology of the word -- which, from various accounts, comes from the 16^th century usage of the term ‘Educere’ in Latin, essentially meaning “bring out” or “lead forth.” Another Latin word, ‘Educatio’ means ‘breeding, bringing up, or rearing.’ What we do in the name of education is thus related to the etymology of the term, at least where it concerns the usage of the word in English.

Interestingly, the word ‘Siksha’ which we use to denote education (for instance, as in Sarva Siksha Abhiyan) has its origins in Sanskrit. Its meaning doesn’t quite come anywhere close to the meanings we ascribe to the educating of children and actually means the study of pronunciation of words and syllables through correct intonation. This is not central to the process of education now though it may have had critical importance during Vedic or pre-Vedic times especially when transmission of knowledge occurred orally. But I have seen discussions and debates about how important it is for children to correctly pronounce words. ‘Uccharan theek nahi karte ye bacche’ (note the emphasis on these children) is a constant refrain we hear from teachers. ‘Uccharan’ (pronunciation) is thus a frustrating area for some teachers, while others do not seem to be bothered too much about it.

Anyway, I think this is like missing the forest for the trees. Thankfully, in this huge Government of India flagship program called the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, we are not talking about universalization of correct pronunciation. Imagine if we did! We would have then spent much on establishing studio facilities everywhere and would have supplied headphones to every teacher and child to pronounce their way to success.

Further, I must add that this business of pronunciation (not ‘pronounciation’, remember!) is related to the dimension of Class, and how we use Class as a category for choosing who we relate to, and to what extent we relate to that person or persons. But this is a topic that needs separate discussion.

This is what fascinates me about education. It is a bit like searching for the Holy Grail, and it refuses to get tied down. There is no one formula that defines it, though there may be some underlying principles. Even here, there can be disagreement. Everyone -- educated or not, can have their opinion about it.  For some, education is like a passport to success – you get good grades in all your exams, land up a good job and fall into a certain slot in which you keep going all your life. This is the ‘reward’ that society gives you for studying hard. For others, like that great Brazilian educator Paulo Friere, education can lead to ‘critical consciousness’ in society – an interesting state in society in which a huge mass of (mostly poor) people start asking why they are that way, and why the rich stay rich. This realization, flash point or critical consciousness can then spur them into action like it did for instance in Naxalbari in West Bengal in May 1967, when poor peasants chose not to keep quiet about their exploitation at the hands of the landlords. Forty five years later, the ‘Naxals’ have been described as the biggest internal security threat by our Prime Minister. That’s another story which is unfolding.

Of course, one can ask – did the peasants develop that critical consciousness as a result of schooling? Very unlikely. But I am prepared to argue that they underwent a process that must have included, at various points in time, thinking about their condition and questioning it. We cannot also say if everyone thought in the same way. There must have been local leadership that goaded people to do something. Anger must have played its role. The point is not whether the poor peasants went to school. Friere believed that schools or organized learning in particular and education in general, whether it is inside or outside the boundary wall of the school, could result in critical enquiry leading to emancipation of oppressed people. He was able to demonstrate this through his work.  

Apart from yielding diverse meanings, what is equally interesting is the way the word education gets morphed to yield newer words with different meanings. In a sense, you can say that the word constantly gets bastardized. This is what I keep pointing out in conversations with friends. For instance, my daughter attended a preschool called ‘Jumbo Kids’ which stated in no uncertain terms that it provided ‘Kiducation’. This is what happens when kids get education.

There is a school called ‘Brighton Academy’ in Raipur which is on the way to the N. H Goel ‘World School’ which my daughter goes to. Interesting are the ways in which schools get named. Interesting too are their claims. The names of many schools contain the word ‘International’ nowadays. In my daughter’s case, her school’s claim is that it is ‘Global’. Do we mean international or global citizens as an outcome for children attending these schools? I’m not sure. Or, are they using international or global methods in teaching? Any school that has a swimming pool, air conditioned classrooms, dining spaces where five star caterers serve food, horse riding and golf, and exposure visits to other countries considers itself as a prime candidate for using ‘international’ or ‘global’ as part of its name. Even schools that do not have these facilities use these words in their names. Of course, to be fair, some schools try and use some innovative or progressive approaches to teaching children. So I will not entirely deny their claims.  

What is the message these schools want to send out to parents? Since I have not yet figured this out, I’ll just say that it’s a marketing gimmick. Just naming something does not change its nature. The very same schools will provide the most conventional education, as we have seen, far from what Friere wanted. Just as names do not change the nature of things fundamentally, appearances too do not contribute significantly to the educational experiences of children. You can have wi-fi enabled classrooms and web enabled systems where your child’s progress may be recorded, or horse rides for that matter but the teaching-learning can still be rote and stifle the child’s potential and creative impulse.

The Brighton Academy which actually looks like a corporate office from the front will supposedly produce ‘bright’ children, whatever that means. What takes the cake, however, is that this academy claims that they provide ‘Enjoycation’. This, I believe, is their version of a particular form or kind of education. Or education itself, in a new form -- you can take your pick.

I can hazard a guess and can imagine what the principal of the Brighton Academy would have to say: ‘Education should be enjoyable, you see. We should not burden children. That is why we use a new term: Enjoycation!’ How noble! This sounds a little like the term ‘Joyful learning’ which was bandied around mostly in the nineties. Also, in the nineties, we were also subjected to other terms, such as ‘child centered’ and ‘activity based’ education. On the whole, the idea was that education should become less burdensome on the child and actually should be more play and fun. Several slogans like ‘Khel Khel mein Siksha’ were coined. Then, there was that famous committee called the Yashpal Committee, which talked about the burden of non-comprehension and the weight of the school bag on the child’s delicate shoulders.     

I can understand the reaction to educational processes that are boring, do not allow the child to express, get involved, ask, do, understand, and all that. I can also understand the need to change the environment in schools which induces fear in the name of discipline. Yet, I feel that we did not work hard enough to understand the implications of these terms in practice. We are very good at writing documents, including that great sounding National Curriculum Framework of 2005 but pretty poor when it comes to these ideas in the reality of the Indian classroom.

In our half-hearted efforts, these terms often assume quite different meanings from their original intent. Thus, it was a common sight to see thousands of teachers across the country do a physical activity (like some action song, for instance) before the ‘actual teaching’ began – this was how activity based learning was interpreted. ‘Actual teaching’ which followed the activity, was business as usual. And then, in the thousands of workshops all over the country, we did discuss these terms but I suspect we did not really grapple with them deeply enough. For instance, take child centered – should we provide education based on the interests, needs, moods etc., of the child? Should we make it easy so that children do not have to struggle…? These and other questions require deeper engagement. Child centred does not just mean doing what the child likes to do.

My contention is that the whole business of enjoyment and fun and less boredom in education has the effect of diluting the educational process. What is the process of education without a struggle? The human mind has to struggle and apply all its powers to understand patterns in nature and in society. There is real enjoyment and fun in doing this. The ‘Aha!’ moment that a child experiences and the ‘Ahaa!’ that the teacher experiences on seeing the child thus, come as a result of great struggle which we are all capable of. This is a different view of Enjoycation. In any case, as we get along in life, there will be several instances where we will be forced to give up cherished notions, forced to move out of our neat little grooves, our comfort zones, reconsider our understanding of ourselves, people, relationships, society and the kinds of lives we would want to lead. Sometimes, it can be all very painful. All of these, which I believe are experiences of learning, leading to one’s education, do not come easily – one can actually run away from them if one wishes to, if one does not want to confront them head on. The enjoyment, however, consists in the savoring of the moment of discovery, insight and the individual liberation that these experiences bring.

I’m not sure what drives the thinking behind the Enjoycation that the Brighton Academy would like to give. I would beg to differ with them if they have coined the term merely as a marketing strategy. I suspect they have.

Raipur

May 2012