(The detailed study is not attached here. If you are interested in reading it, send me an e-mail. I will get back with a copy.)
A number of people and numerous conversations that we all had together are all responsible for this study. I will begin by mentioning Renu Singh from the Delhi office of Save the Children (SC), who first invited me to undertake the exercise of finding out the obstacles to the education of all children in Jammu and Kashmir. We began talking about it in the second half of 2009, but it was not until February 2010 that discussions on developing the tools for the study began. Sharif Bhat and Mufti Riyaz from SC’s office in Srinagar, and Neha Gandotra based out of Jammu were of tremendous help, particularly in identifying an enthusiastic group of young people who were willing co-learners and travelers and who did all the hard work of walking up and down the beautiful mountains, seeking to meet teachers, children, parents, and community leaders to understand what stops children from going to school. This list is long, but I must mention everyone -- Ufera, Soliha, Huzaifa, Umer, Shahid, Saleem, Wasim, Muzaffar, Tahir, Neelofar, Sharika, Rashida, Fayaz, Sheikh Ali, Mohd Ali, and Farrukh. I’m sure they enjoyed all the hard work and I hope they will eventually develop into the next generation of education activists that our society badly needs.
Bashir, Gulzar and Targez drove us across the seven districts and helped us unearth many a story whose hints we can only give in this document.
Save the Children’s local NGO Partners also deserve mention, especially for their support for the logistical arrangements in all the districts. The study would have been enriched further had they played a bigger role. Many thanks therefore to Yateem Tust, Yateem Foundation, Jay Kay Women’s Welfare Society (JKWWS), Modern Culture Club (MCC), and Kargil Development Project (KDP).
Representatives from the educational departments told us much and helped us develop insights regarding the way their departments function (well, in many cases, how they do not function!). While some were wary of us, many opened up in the hope that their voices would reach far and remove the constraints in educating all children. In the same vein, Renu Nanda from Jammu University, Javed Rahi from the Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, J & K, Prof. Madhosh (retired from the Kashmir University), and Mohd Rafi, District Collector, Budgam, need to be thanked in particular for enriching us.
Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to the hundreds of parents, children and teachers who spent many hours with us, understanding patiently our incessant questions before responding to them, and allowing us to share their spaces at home, in the school and in their communities. Their spontaneous warmth and affection helped us to carry on. We learnt much in those hundreds of conversations, but I’m not sure if we have done enough justice in documenting the multitude of experiences in this document.
We have tried to map the kinds of obstacles that prevent children from going to school in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, enjoying school and learning something meaningful and relevant that they can use on their lives. These obstacles are quite complex, and our observations show that they are often rooted within the families, local communities and the functioning of the schooling system itself. They may arise due to the phenomenon of Gurbat (the Kashmiri word for poverty, which goes beyond income related poverty), or may still be affected due to civil unrest (as in the case of the Kashmir Valley, when many teachers happily do not attend school whenever there is a hartal). In many cases, it is in the nature of human behavior that the greatest obstacles arise – an insensitive parent, family member, an abusive teacher or a corrupt and complacent worker in the education department – all of them play significant roles in making or breaking the educational cycle of many a promising boy or girl. We have seen all these examples in the course of this study. I still remember interviewing this teacher in a Poonch village for over an hour. He was very articulate and gave me the impression that he was one of those hard working and conscientious teachers. Happy that the interview went off well, I then walked into the next room where children from that school were waiting for me to initiate a discussion. The first thing they said was “Jis teacher ke saath aap baath kar rahe the, woh ek mahiney ke baad school aa raha hai…mahiney mein ek ya do din aata hai bas…” This put me in deep thought. Isn’t this one of the biggest obstacles, I wondered? Coupled with this, when one heard stories of how corrupt the system of governance (including the educational system) has become, one wonders which obstacle is the biggest of them all – the family, the teacher, the education department, civil unrest, or political instability, among others?
Perhaps the answer lies in creating an environment where everyone concerned -- parent, teacher, politician, policy maker or administrator or child, is able to overcome one’s own limitations, develop deeper understanding and sensitivity to the child’s needs, and bring all the resources at his or her command to make the difference. The energy for this has to come from within the government, from that conscientious minority pegging away, trying to reach the poorest of the poor. Still, this may not be enough, and we will need to involve external agency to mobilize the constituencies to develop a mass of critical consciousness that can make a difference.
2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Kuni
I
My son liked this story so much that I had to tell it to him many times over, Ditto, with my daughter. I still tell them Kuni’s story if I do not have any other story to tell. Little did I realise that my childhood tryst with Kuni would mean a lot to my children. At some point, as I realised how much they liked this story, I decided to write it for children. That day is not far off.
The year was 1978 – thirty three years ago! ‘Thirty three years ago…’ sounds nice when one tells a story, especially to those much younger than you. It feels as if you have accumulated so much experience! Anyway, let me get on with the story. My granny’s ancestral home in Bengalooru’s Cantonment, off Queen’s Road, was about to be sold for rupees seventy nine thousand. There are conflicting versions of how it happened. My parents always maintained that my uncles – three of them – were very keen on getting that house sold. Nobody wanted to stay together, and they had their own lives. So the question of keeping that property for everyone to live together one fine day didn’t arise. Often, they talked to my granny about selling the house and getting their share of the little booty. Left with no other option, the old woman gave in. Since she was staying with us, it was agreed that my father would get a substantial share of the proceeds.
I don’t remember the many details of what it took to sell our home, but there is this vivid picture of a discussion the entire family had in our small living room with a chap called Samiullah who finally bought the house. I was allowed to sit on a wooden stool somewhere in between two adults as they all haggled over the final price. The other piece of memory is that of my father and uncles counting seventy nine thousand rupees! I marvelled at their speed, as I always do when I stand at the bank counter sometimes to see money getting counted. No cheques, no electronic transfers. We didn’t even imagine that there could be something called electronic money those days. I’m pretty sure that my father didn’t have a bank account. He brought home his meagre few hundred rupees salary in cash and handed it to my granny who managed the household with my mother. Life was simple those days, and I didn’t even realise as a child that I missed out on anything.
Years later, when I could understand life’s nuances better, I was told by my older cousins and some aunts that my father had committed a Himalayan real estate blunder. I was told that that the Muniswamy Road house was worth crores! Had it been sold later, everybody would have become ‘lakhpatis’, at least – so went the argument. I had several such conversations and everyone seemed to point fingers at my father for his lack of foresight. My parents always thought otherwise and said ‘Look, they needed money, that’s why they sat on your granny’s head and made her agree.’ These arguments mattered little when I was young.
Anyway, we left 14, Muniswamy Road one day in 1978 from my childhood home, never to go back again. It was the first time that I moved from one home to another. My father called my childhood home an ‘outhouse’ meaning that all the rooms of the house were built in a line at one end of the plot of land leaving a large compound space in which we had the Tulsi katte, several flowering plants, a huge coconut tree (which my mother said was planted on the day I was born) and a big tree that gave the fragrant Sampangi flowers which were in great demand in the Shivaji Nagar market nearby. My friends and I played and pranced around in the large compound. I remember tri cycling, playing hide and seek, watering the coconut tree and climbing the Sampangi Mara. There are other memories, such as pissing out by standing at the room window holding its railings, when it was raining. Bahadur, our tenant who had rented one room at the corner of the plot, ran past and, when he saw this parabolic stream coming out of the window ducked underneath and carried on!
II
We shifted southwards to a place called Jayanagar 9th block. For one year, my father said, we would have to stay in a rented place while our new house was getting built in a new residential area called J. P Nagar. The roads were just getting laid out, and my mother would often walk from 9th block to J. P Nagar 2nd phase to supervise construction. Later, our house would appear as a white speck from the end of 9th block Jayanagar. It was only the second house in all of J. P Nagar!
Our rented home in 9th block was very small and I remember the difficulty I had adjusting in this space after 14, Muniswamy Road. Anyway, I quickly made many friends in the neighbourhood and spent most of my time on the streets of 9th block, playing lagori, marbles, flying kites, spinning the tops and playing cricket – all on the street. I keep telling my son that these games have more or less disappeared from our cities nowadays. I can vouch that kite flying in Bangalore has all but disappeared. Kids spend a lot of time playing virtual games on the cell or computer. And then there are these malls, which have mushroomed all over the city, where you pay through your nose to satisfy your child’s desire to play. Gone is that spontaneity which we enjoyed as children.
Kuni quickly became a dear friend. At that time, I didn’t know that ‘Kuni’ in Kannada actually meant dog! This only dawned several years later. There she was, simply called ‘dog’ by all of us. For a dog that spent most of her time on the streets, she looked quite big and brown, almost like an Alsatian. I discovered from my friends that she had quite a few children who, like her, inhabited 9th block’s lanes. They all looked quite different. She must have had several lovers! I would feel strange but curious and excited nonetheless at the sight of her mating with another dog -- the famous ‘doggie position’, as I learnt some years later! Other dogs would wait to mount her, in heat, often snarling at each other and mounting her even if she was stuck with another dog. Some of my friends threw stones at dogs who had coupled. They enjoyed doing this and didn’t think much about the hurt they inflicted on other living beings. Children can be violent, too. I wondered why dogs had to get stuck that way…
Once I fed Kuni with some chapathis, she expected some titbit or the other from me all the time. My mother and granny readily obliged and we usually fed her food that we ate – rice, dal, chapathi, biscuits. Pretty soon, she started spending a lot of time in the vicinity of our new home. To escape the heat, she would just jump over the gate, come in and lie down in front of our door. The small plot of land on which we lived was partitioned into three separate houses, two of which were rented out. Subbamma, our landlord, lived in one of these houses opposite ours. She didn’t seem to mind Kuni.
As the days passed, Kuni started waiting for me to return from school. I usually walked home from the 9th block bus stand and as I entered the last stretch every day, I would often find my mother standing at the gate, waiting for me. Seeing me, she would look back and say something to Kuni, who often waited inside. Kuni would then charge across a very short stretch of compound, leap over the gate and come charging towards me, her tail wagging madly, joy written all over her face. Our evening meeting usually had the same script – she would stop just in time to avoid a collision and then would kneel in front, straightening her front legs, wagging her tail, waiting for me to initiate some affection. I would go close to her, pat her head, and ask her how she was. She would then pounce on me, and I would hold her forelegs as she walked on the other two, and that’s how we often covered some distance. Then she would run away, only to return after a few minutes. I fed her the biscuits I was given along with a glass of milk.
Every evening, as my friends and I played on the streets, Kuni hung around. Sometimes, she would go away for an hour two, but always came home for dinner. She would stay the night in the compound. Winters in Bangalore were quite nippy in the late seventies. I still remember how misty it would get in the mornings and how our skins would crack during those months. We all liked to ‘smoke’ in the mist then! To make Kuni comfortable at night, we spread out a gunny bag in front of our door. My parents and granny would not let Kuni in. I often tried very hard to cover her with another gunny bag, but she would usually come out of it and was not comfortable being covered.
Once, our neighbours had a social function and there were many people who had come for lunch. It was some festival and I remember being home that day. Lunch was spread out on banana leaves, which were all later neatly rolled out and thrown outside a little away from our house. There was no public dustbin. It was all left to the cows to eat the banana leaves. Before the cows came, Kuni and her friends appeared and rushed madly towards the banana leaves, hoping to find some morsels of food. There were many dogs fighting for very little food. Kuni was getting side lined by the other dogs and I didn’t like it one bit. I scared away the other dogs with a stick, and this gave Kuni a chance to eat some food all by herself. The other dogs kept growling, but they did not dare to come near me. I think Kuni became more close to me after that – at least, that’s what I thought then.
One day, as I walked towards 9th block bus stand to board my school bus, Kuni started trailing me, much to my surprise. She had not done this before. I kept asking her to go back but she wouldn’t listen. So she walked behind me, all the way till the 9th block bus stand. The school bus was ready and would leave in a few minutes. I got in, and Kuni followed! She didn’t want to let me go. What I did, I tried to tell her to get down and when that didn’t work she had to be pushed out by the bus conductor. I kept worrying about her all day and was relieved to find her fine in the evening.
As the days passed, Kuni and I only got closer. She would spend most of her time at our place, or somewhere nearby. She went with me whenever I set out of the house, to play or visit a friend’s place. On my part, I looked after her as best as I could. I became friends with her children too.
Finally, she didn’t come home in the morning over a weekend. I remember going out and looking for her. I enquired about her with a few friends, but they didn’t have an answer. So we started searching in the lanes of 9th block. ‘Go to the main road, there’s a dog lying there’, said one of our neighbours. We found Kuni lying inert in the middle of the main road, the one that connects the Bannerghatta road with Kanakapura road. Why is she lying down in the middle of the road? I thought. She would be run over by the Gaadis. I didn’t understand, till my friend pointed out to blood beneath her head. With a heavy heart, I realised that she had been run over by a callous driver. I couldn’t believe it. ‘Can’t we take her to a doctor?’ Nobody answered.
I came home crying. I looked back -- Kuni was surrounded by her children, all with sad looks on their faces, their tails down, sniffing her on that fateful main road.
Raipur
October 2011
My son liked this story so much that I had to tell it to him many times over, Ditto, with my daughter. I still tell them Kuni’s story if I do not have any other story to tell. Little did I realise that my childhood tryst with Kuni would mean a lot to my children. At some point, as I realised how much they liked this story, I decided to write it for children. That day is not far off.
The year was 1978 – thirty three years ago! ‘Thirty three years ago…’ sounds nice when one tells a story, especially to those much younger than you. It feels as if you have accumulated so much experience! Anyway, let me get on with the story. My granny’s ancestral home in Bengalooru’s Cantonment, off Queen’s Road, was about to be sold for rupees seventy nine thousand. There are conflicting versions of how it happened. My parents always maintained that my uncles – three of them – were very keen on getting that house sold. Nobody wanted to stay together, and they had their own lives. So the question of keeping that property for everyone to live together one fine day didn’t arise. Often, they talked to my granny about selling the house and getting their share of the little booty. Left with no other option, the old woman gave in. Since she was staying with us, it was agreed that my father would get a substantial share of the proceeds.
I don’t remember the many details of what it took to sell our home, but there is this vivid picture of a discussion the entire family had in our small living room with a chap called Samiullah who finally bought the house. I was allowed to sit on a wooden stool somewhere in between two adults as they all haggled over the final price. The other piece of memory is that of my father and uncles counting seventy nine thousand rupees! I marvelled at their speed, as I always do when I stand at the bank counter sometimes to see money getting counted. No cheques, no electronic transfers. We didn’t even imagine that there could be something called electronic money those days. I’m pretty sure that my father didn’t have a bank account. He brought home his meagre few hundred rupees salary in cash and handed it to my granny who managed the household with my mother. Life was simple those days, and I didn’t even realise as a child that I missed out on anything.
Years later, when I could understand life’s nuances better, I was told by my older cousins and some aunts that my father had committed a Himalayan real estate blunder. I was told that that the Muniswamy Road house was worth crores! Had it been sold later, everybody would have become ‘lakhpatis’, at least – so went the argument. I had several such conversations and everyone seemed to point fingers at my father for his lack of foresight. My parents always thought otherwise and said ‘Look, they needed money, that’s why they sat on your granny’s head and made her agree.’ These arguments mattered little when I was young.
Anyway, we left 14, Muniswamy Road one day in 1978 from my childhood home, never to go back again. It was the first time that I moved from one home to another. My father called my childhood home an ‘outhouse’ meaning that all the rooms of the house were built in a line at one end of the plot of land leaving a large compound space in which we had the Tulsi katte, several flowering plants, a huge coconut tree (which my mother said was planted on the day I was born) and a big tree that gave the fragrant Sampangi flowers which were in great demand in the Shivaji Nagar market nearby. My friends and I played and pranced around in the large compound. I remember tri cycling, playing hide and seek, watering the coconut tree and climbing the Sampangi Mara. There are other memories, such as pissing out by standing at the room window holding its railings, when it was raining. Bahadur, our tenant who had rented one room at the corner of the plot, ran past and, when he saw this parabolic stream coming out of the window ducked underneath and carried on!
II
We shifted southwards to a place called Jayanagar 9th block. For one year, my father said, we would have to stay in a rented place while our new house was getting built in a new residential area called J. P Nagar. The roads were just getting laid out, and my mother would often walk from 9th block to J. P Nagar 2nd phase to supervise construction. Later, our house would appear as a white speck from the end of 9th block Jayanagar. It was only the second house in all of J. P Nagar!
Our rented home in 9th block was very small and I remember the difficulty I had adjusting in this space after 14, Muniswamy Road. Anyway, I quickly made many friends in the neighbourhood and spent most of my time on the streets of 9th block, playing lagori, marbles, flying kites, spinning the tops and playing cricket – all on the street. I keep telling my son that these games have more or less disappeared from our cities nowadays. I can vouch that kite flying in Bangalore has all but disappeared. Kids spend a lot of time playing virtual games on the cell or computer. And then there are these malls, which have mushroomed all over the city, where you pay through your nose to satisfy your child’s desire to play. Gone is that spontaneity which we enjoyed as children.
Kuni quickly became a dear friend. At that time, I didn’t know that ‘Kuni’ in Kannada actually meant dog! This only dawned several years later. There she was, simply called ‘dog’ by all of us. For a dog that spent most of her time on the streets, she looked quite big and brown, almost like an Alsatian. I discovered from my friends that she had quite a few children who, like her, inhabited 9th block’s lanes. They all looked quite different. She must have had several lovers! I would feel strange but curious and excited nonetheless at the sight of her mating with another dog -- the famous ‘doggie position’, as I learnt some years later! Other dogs would wait to mount her, in heat, often snarling at each other and mounting her even if she was stuck with another dog. Some of my friends threw stones at dogs who had coupled. They enjoyed doing this and didn’t think much about the hurt they inflicted on other living beings. Children can be violent, too. I wondered why dogs had to get stuck that way…
Once I fed Kuni with some chapathis, she expected some titbit or the other from me all the time. My mother and granny readily obliged and we usually fed her food that we ate – rice, dal, chapathi, biscuits. Pretty soon, she started spending a lot of time in the vicinity of our new home. To escape the heat, she would just jump over the gate, come in and lie down in front of our door. The small plot of land on which we lived was partitioned into three separate houses, two of which were rented out. Subbamma, our landlord, lived in one of these houses opposite ours. She didn’t seem to mind Kuni.
As the days passed, Kuni started waiting for me to return from school. I usually walked home from the 9th block bus stand and as I entered the last stretch every day, I would often find my mother standing at the gate, waiting for me. Seeing me, she would look back and say something to Kuni, who often waited inside. Kuni would then charge across a very short stretch of compound, leap over the gate and come charging towards me, her tail wagging madly, joy written all over her face. Our evening meeting usually had the same script – she would stop just in time to avoid a collision and then would kneel in front, straightening her front legs, wagging her tail, waiting for me to initiate some affection. I would go close to her, pat her head, and ask her how she was. She would then pounce on me, and I would hold her forelegs as she walked on the other two, and that’s how we often covered some distance. Then she would run away, only to return after a few minutes. I fed her the biscuits I was given along with a glass of milk.
Every evening, as my friends and I played on the streets, Kuni hung around. Sometimes, she would go away for an hour two, but always came home for dinner. She would stay the night in the compound. Winters in Bangalore were quite nippy in the late seventies. I still remember how misty it would get in the mornings and how our skins would crack during those months. We all liked to ‘smoke’ in the mist then! To make Kuni comfortable at night, we spread out a gunny bag in front of our door. My parents and granny would not let Kuni in. I often tried very hard to cover her with another gunny bag, but she would usually come out of it and was not comfortable being covered.
Once, our neighbours had a social function and there were many people who had come for lunch. It was some festival and I remember being home that day. Lunch was spread out on banana leaves, which were all later neatly rolled out and thrown outside a little away from our house. There was no public dustbin. It was all left to the cows to eat the banana leaves. Before the cows came, Kuni and her friends appeared and rushed madly towards the banana leaves, hoping to find some morsels of food. There were many dogs fighting for very little food. Kuni was getting side lined by the other dogs and I didn’t like it one bit. I scared away the other dogs with a stick, and this gave Kuni a chance to eat some food all by herself. The other dogs kept growling, but they did not dare to come near me. I think Kuni became more close to me after that – at least, that’s what I thought then.
One day, as I walked towards 9th block bus stand to board my school bus, Kuni started trailing me, much to my surprise. She had not done this before. I kept asking her to go back but she wouldn’t listen. So she walked behind me, all the way till the 9th block bus stand. The school bus was ready and would leave in a few minutes. I got in, and Kuni followed! She didn’t want to let me go. What I did, I tried to tell her to get down and when that didn’t work she had to be pushed out by the bus conductor. I kept worrying about her all day and was relieved to find her fine in the evening.
As the days passed, Kuni and I only got closer. She would spend most of her time at our place, or somewhere nearby. She went with me whenever I set out of the house, to play or visit a friend’s place. On my part, I looked after her as best as I could. I became friends with her children too.
Finally, she didn’t come home in the morning over a weekend. I remember going out and looking for her. I enquired about her with a few friends, but they didn’t have an answer. So we started searching in the lanes of 9th block. ‘Go to the main road, there’s a dog lying there’, said one of our neighbours. We found Kuni lying inert in the middle of the main road, the one that connects the Bannerghatta road with Kanakapura road. Why is she lying down in the middle of the road? I thought. She would be run over by the Gaadis. I didn’t understand, till my friend pointed out to blood beneath her head. With a heavy heart, I realised that she had been run over by a callous driver. I couldn’t believe it. ‘Can’t we take her to a doctor?’ Nobody answered.
I came home crying. I looked back -- Kuni was surrounded by her children, all with sad looks on their faces, their tails down, sniffing her on that fateful main road.
Raipur
October 2011
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Quotations from Kargil on Education
Between January 2007 and March 2008, I had the opportunity to work on the theme of education of children in the remote, harsh and beautiful district of Kargil in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. To begin with, I was invited by Save the Children to work closely with its NGO Partner, the Kargil Development Project, and the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil, to help develop a long term educational strategy for the district. Later, as my work progressed, the Hill Council extended my association for another year to enable me to complete my work. Working on this assignment with a group of people identified by the Council as the 'core team' was truly an enriching experience -- I spent much time in Kargil, traveling almost every month to work with this core team, preparing them to do a systematic study of he ground situation, as well as develop an appropriate plan of action. In this process, we asked: 'What kind of education could be considered relevant, meaningful and useful for the children of Kargil? What is wrong with the education that children get today? What needs to be done?' To get answers to these questions, we met hundreds of children, parents, teachers and others from many local communities spread across the entire district. We had many beautiful and enriching conversations in the middle of the semi arctic winter, when temperatures would often drop to minus 25 degrees, when it would snow heavily for days, blocking all routes to remote villages in the mountain side. Sipping namkeen chai, I often shared the dreams, aspirations and frustrations of beautiful people from a forgotten land. I still haven't been able to share the story of this journey. But what I have with me is a collection of statements which were made to us by children, parents, teachers and community members in the course of many conversations spread over a few months. I have great pleasure in sharing them with you. Many more statements lie hidden in the interview notes that were made, but for lack of time, I was unable to dig them all up from the Hill Council's office in Kargil. Perhaps that is another project, which I will need to undertake another day...meanwhile, happy reading, and a warm welcome to Kargil!
__________________________
“Duniyavi ilm raastha dikhatha hai aur mazhabi ilm usey mukam deta hai.”
Haji Mohd Yakub, Teacher, PS Shimsha, Drass
“Education is like a candle in everybody’s life. It shows the way of good life.”
Asghar Ali, Teacher, PS Shimsha, Drass
“Waqt ke saath chalna chahiye. Jo zubaan zyada isthemaal ho, usey hi padhana chahiye.”
Bashir Ahmed, Teacher, MS Shimsha, Drass
“Talim saaj mey sar uthake jeene ke laayak banayega.”
Abdul Qayoom, Teacher, MS Shimsha, Drass
“Private schools have 100% results because they bribe the board of school education. All the parents of children who study in government schools, are poor. They do not have enough money to bribe the board. So the teachers are not ‘effective’”.
Mohd. Raza, Parent, Shimsha, Drass
“Ek aisa school ho, jisme accha teacher ho jo kabhi na mare…”
Safia Bano, Class 5, MS Shimsha, Drass
“Jab mei padhti hoon, to mujhe lakdi gobar laane ko kehte hain…”
Hakima Bano, Class, HS Moradbagh, Drass
“Parents send children to school and forget them after that.”
Ghulam Mohi-ud-din, Teacher, MS Matayen, Drass
“If he does not go to school, I will teach him.”
Sidiqa, Parent, Shimsha, Drass
“Hamaare yehaan gorbat hain. Hamaare yehaan ladkon ko bhi ladkiyon ki tarah vazifa diya jaye, taaki ladke bhi apni zaruriyat poori kar saken.”
Shabir Ahmed, Parent, Matayen, Drass
“The child is like the branch of a tree. Whether we point the branch in the right or wrong direction depends on us.”
Haji Mohd. Yakub, Parent, Shimsha, Drass
“…good community, a big playground and water…”
Basharat Ali, Student, Class III, Shargol
“I want to become a teacher. I will teach my family…this, they need.”
Mohd Ali, Student, Class VIII, Pashkum, Shargol
“Phool ke saath baitna aur paani dena…”
Mehmooda, Class X, HS Sangrah, Sankoo
“Jeene se marne tak training zaroori hai…”
Sayeed Masood Ahmed, Teacher, Sankoo
“Do saal se is school mei koi inspection ke liye nahi aaya hai.”
Teacher, HS Sangrah, Sankoo
“It depends on the learner’s personality. Some children need chocolates, and some children need the stick.”
Syed Allahuddin, Teacher, MS Taikat, Sankoo
“Agar rishvat na khaayein to local theek hai, varna non-local theek hain.”
Haji Mehdi, Parent, Sangrah, Sankoo
“Talim azhat zaruri hai, garibon ke liye taaki woh kumba chala sakein. Kyon ki, iska ghar garib hota hai, iska ilm garib nahi hota.”
Ahmed Husain, Parent, Sangrah, Sankoo
“Ladkon ko talim zyada zaruri hai kyon ki ladkiyon ko doosre ghar le jayenge jahan uska pati zimmedar hoga.”
Ameena Bano, Parent, Faroona, Sankoo
“Local teachers chaalaak hotey hain. Aadmi ke hisaab se kaam karte hain.”
Fiza Bano, Parent, Faroona, Sankoo
“Talim agar seekhein, to shayad bade hokar doctor ya engineer ban jaaye. Agar na seekhein, to kam se kam, Thekedaar ban jaaye.”
Mirza Mehdi, Parent, Faroona, Sankoo
“Jin bacchon ko padhayi na ho wo kuch bhi nahi kar sakenge, chahe zamindari ho ya naukri.”
Tewang Dorjay, Teacher, MS Phey, Zanskar
“In the coming days/years, parents should also be trained along with teachers.”
Rigzin Namgyal, Teacher, LHS, Icher, Zanskar
“This is what I would like to say – if I get the opportunity, I would like to share information about my profession, i.e. agriculture in school.”
Tsering Raftan, Parent, Icher, Zanskar
“If children are taught some arts and crafts and other such skills apart from the subjects they study in school, it will be nice. When children leave school, even if they can’t get a job, they can still earn a livelihood with these skills.”
Sonam Tsewang, Parent, Kumie, Zanskar
“Papa kehte hain, ki padh likh kar mujhe jahaaz udhana hai.”
Divya Bharati, Class 3, Padum, Zanskar
“Aisa badlao hona chahiye ki har tarah jadeed talim milay aur duniya ke saath chal sakay. Agar buniyaad sahi na ho to aage fail hona laazmi hai.”
Tsewang Mutup, Teacher, HS Phey, Zanskar
“Talim aisa milay ki unhe sarkai naukri ke peeche na bhagna paday. Har doosre tarike se apna rozgaar khud paida kar sakay, jaise tourist guide.”
Sangis Chosphel, Parent, Icher, Zanskar
“School grant se sheesha aur taat kharidkar laya aur school mey ghar jaisa mahoul paida kardiya. Bacche ab school mey ghar jaisa mehsoos karte hain.”
Tashi Stopden, Teacher, PS Kumie, Zanskar
***********************************
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Notion of Quality in the Right to Education Act, 2009
The first of its kind Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which was finally realized 62 years following India’s independence in August 2009, is intertwined with a long history of debates about the provision of education to all children in this country. Sadgopal (2008) in his documentation of the history of these debates, notes that the debate goes as far back as 1882, when Mahatma Jotirao Phule’s memorandum presented to the Indian Education Commission (the Hunter Commission) talked about how the British government’s funding of education ‘tended to benefit the Brahmins and higher classes’, leaving the ‘masses wallowing in ignorance and poverty.’ The next important event was when Gopal Krishna Gokhale moved the Free and Compulsory education Bill in the Imperial Legislative Assembly in 1911. This met with much resistance, on the argument that resources were not enough and also on the concern that if all children were to attend schools, there would be nobody to work on the farms of the landlords! The argument of lack of resources was repeated in 1937, during the National Education Conference at Wardha, where Mahatma Gandhi talked about giving priority to Basic Education (Nai Talim). Debates again featured quite prominently in the constituent Assembly (1948-49), when the idea of ‘Universal Free and Compulsory Education’ was discussed. It was only after much effort that Article 45 went through, promising free education for children up to 14 years. However, since it was under the directive principles of state policy (Part IV of the constitution and not Part III, where it would have acquired the status of a Fundamental Right in Independent India) the article was deprived of the status of a fundamental right. It was not until 1993 (the famous Unnikrishnan Judgment) that the Supreme Court, in a radical interpretation of the constitution, conferred on Article 45 the status of a right, by linking it with Article 21, the Right to Life, which the court stated would be meaningless if it did not come with Right to Knowledge. This led to the introduction of Article 21 A.
To cut a story short, eight years later (in November 2001) the 86th Amendment Bill was presented to the Lok Sabha, but with serious flaws (such as the exclusion of the under six age group, among other equally important concerns such as inadequate budgetary allocations etc) as expressed by many civil society groups. The bill was passed by parliament in December 2002, without these concerns being addressed. It later became the ‘model bill’ or the Draft Right to Education Bill sent to the UTs and states. In 2009, this bill has now become the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, still with its many concerns intact.
What does the Education Act document have to tell us about educational quality? It must first be noted that the Education Act is a legal document, which means that education is justiciable, and as such, a court of law can be approached to address/resolve any grievance or complaint. In a legal document, we cannot expect detailed discussions or reflections of a conceptual nature, as we can in the case of academic documents like the NCF or even articulations made under large scale programs like the DPEP and SSA. Yet, nothing in the Act prevents anybody from referring to or using these other articulations of the government as a source of direction. The point however is: which articulation is to be used? How are these articulations to be interpreted? We have already seen the difference between articulations presented in the DPEP/SSA documents compared with another important government document, the NCF 2005, which propounds a different notion of quality. What is the relation between these documents and the Act? This would need examination. Should the Act have referred to these earlier documents for the purpose of interpretation? The Act does refer, in Chapter III, point 6(a): ‘The Central Government shall develop a framework of national curriculum with the help of academic authority specified under section 29.’ National Curriculum Frameworks can change from time to time, and are as such not immutable. This would allow for the predominant version of quality that has been negotiated at any given point in time.
As a legal document, the Act outlines certain conditions that have to be met by those involved in the provisioning of education – these could involve the government, parents, teachers, private school managements etc. If the conditions as stipulated in the Act are not followed, they are bound to invite punitive action in many cases. For instance, if the Headmaster of a school does not issue a transfer certificate to an out going student (Chapter II, under point 5.3), he/she is liable for disciplinary action under the service rules applicable. Another example is that of school provisioning (Chapter III, under point 6). Within three years from the commencement of the Act, the government should provide a school with the limits of the neighborhood if a school is already not available. Another assertion of a non-negotiable condition is the following (Chapter IV, point 14.2): ‘No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof.’ This is one way of ensuring access to a school. Many more such examples can be given. The point to be made is that by specifying certain conditions, the document hopes to put in place certain ‘minimums’ or ‘non-negotiables’ that are presumed to ensure quality. Are these minimums enough? Do they reflect what one would like to see as quality, the essential character of education about which we have been discussing? Further, are they clear and comprehensive? Let us take one example. Who is the teacher, if we are to implement the provisions in the Act effectively? Chapter IV (titled ‘Responsibilities of Schools and Teachers’), points 23.1 and 23.2 have to say something in this regard (P.8, Part II of the Act).
“23.1 Any person possessing such minimum qualifications, as laid down by an academic authority, authorized by the Central government, by notification, shall be eligible for appointment as a teacher.
23.2 Where a state does not have adequate institutions offering courses or training in teacher education, or teachers possessing minimum qualifications as laid down under sub-section 1 are not available in sufficient numbers, the Central Government may, if it deems necessary, by notification, relax the minimum qualifications for appointment as a teacher, for such period, not exceeding five years, as may be specified in that notification.
Provided that a teacher who, at the commencement of this Act, does not possess minimum qualifications as laid down under sub section 1, shall acquire such minimum qualifications within a period of five years.”
These points are vague, at best, and open to multiple interpretations. For instance, the Act is silent on the phenomenon of ‘para teachers’, which is argued by many as a dilution in the idea of a teacher, and as a cheap and economically effective way of filling teacher vacancies in many states, and as a logic that will be used to ultimately phase out all the regular government teachers with contract teachers (Kumar, 2001). What position does the Act take on this issue? Further, what about teacher preparation, another area which has been put into grave danger with the unregulated and unbridled expansion of private teacher preparation institutions all over the country in the last 8-10 years? Any person can possess ‘minimum qualifications’, but where these qualifications have been obtained from an institution whose quality is highly suspect, we have a serious problem. Thus, on the whole, the ambiguity regarding the teacher, a key determinant of quality is one among several such, in connection with the notion of educational quality that the Act seems to propound.
Should the Act even specify any conception of quality? This question needs to be discussed. As mentioned, by specifying certain ‘overall boundary conditions’, the Act hopes to ensure certain non-negotiable aspects of providing all children with a free and compulsory. In Chapter V (P.9, titled ‘Curriculum and Completion of Elementary Education), the Act specifies certain parameters which can be seen as intimately related to the idea of quality. It would be worth reproducing them here in full:
29 (1) The curriculum and he evaluation procedure for elementary education shall be laid down by an academic authority to be specified by the appropriate government, by notification.
29 (2) The academic authority, while laying down the curriculum and the evaluation procedure under sub-section (1), shall take into considerations the following, namely:
(a) conformity with the values enshrined in the constitution
(b) all round development of the child
(c) building up child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent
(d) development of physical and mental abilities to the fullest
(e) learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child-centered manner
(f) medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in the child’s mother tongue
(g) making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety and helping the child to express views freely
(h) comprehensive and continuous evaluation of child’s understanding of knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same
For a law to be enforceable or justiciable, it has to be precise, with no two meanings, since ultimately it has to be interpreted unambiguously by the judiciary. With the abovementioned points, there is much scope for subjectivity. For instance, how are we to understand points (b) and (d) above? In the context of schooling, developing mental abilities can involve a range of aspects Similarly, for point (e), where Child Centered again gives scope for much debate, and point (g), where ‘helping the child to express views freely’ finds mention. It can be claimed that a school is not child centered, or is not allowing children to express themselves freely. In the arguments that will follow, the school can defend itself on certain parameters, while the litigant can offer another set of reasons to suppose that the school is not child centered. How is the judiciary to make a judgment, when there is no precise definition of these terms? Further, in point (g), the inclusion of terms ‘fear, trauma and anxiety’ can similarly give rise to different interpretations, but it is argued by some that the judiciary is well versed with the ‘negatives’ – there is a history of litigation involving the negatives, and it therefore should be relatively easier to deal with them with some clarity. It is the positives which need to be sorted out. It can also be argued that if there had been precise definitions of ‘child friendly, child centered’ etc, these definitions could limit or ‘lock’ or ‘seal’ the notion of child-centeredness in education, which is essentially an open ended idea or notion that can be subjected to continuous reflection and debate. Indeed, in a larger sense, it can be argued that the notion of education cannot be laid out in a definite sense, for the very nature of the concept and the contemporary demands on it suggest that it be kept open for scrutiny.
Given the complexities that could arise in litigation involving the above aspects, one argument is that this loose description should not have been there in the first place as it can lead to much ambiguity. However, the question that will arise then is what notion of quality informs the Act. The only way out is for the judiciary to do its own systematic research and understanding of core concepts in education, which will enable it to provide an informed and fair judgment to resolve disputes. Where the disputes concern issues like infrastructure and basic facilities (as outlined in ‘The Schedule’ titled ‘Norms and Standards for a School, P.12 of the Act), they need not be complex. It is in the intangibles that a far more nuanced and refined understanding will be needed. Our initial reading of the Act has shown therefore that there is much to be discussed regarding the issue of educational quality.
To cut a story short, eight years later (in November 2001) the 86th Amendment Bill was presented to the Lok Sabha, but with serious flaws (such as the exclusion of the under six age group, among other equally important concerns such as inadequate budgetary allocations etc) as expressed by many civil society groups. The bill was passed by parliament in December 2002, without these concerns being addressed. It later became the ‘model bill’ or the Draft Right to Education Bill sent to the UTs and states. In 2009, this bill has now become the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, still with its many concerns intact.
What does the Education Act document have to tell us about educational quality? It must first be noted that the Education Act is a legal document, which means that education is justiciable, and as such, a court of law can be approached to address/resolve any grievance or complaint. In a legal document, we cannot expect detailed discussions or reflections of a conceptual nature, as we can in the case of academic documents like the NCF or even articulations made under large scale programs like the DPEP and SSA. Yet, nothing in the Act prevents anybody from referring to or using these other articulations of the government as a source of direction. The point however is: which articulation is to be used? How are these articulations to be interpreted? We have already seen the difference between articulations presented in the DPEP/SSA documents compared with another important government document, the NCF 2005, which propounds a different notion of quality. What is the relation between these documents and the Act? This would need examination. Should the Act have referred to these earlier documents for the purpose of interpretation? The Act does refer, in Chapter III, point 6(a): ‘The Central Government shall develop a framework of national curriculum with the help of academic authority specified under section 29.’ National Curriculum Frameworks can change from time to time, and are as such not immutable. This would allow for the predominant version of quality that has been negotiated at any given point in time.
As a legal document, the Act outlines certain conditions that have to be met by those involved in the provisioning of education – these could involve the government, parents, teachers, private school managements etc. If the conditions as stipulated in the Act are not followed, they are bound to invite punitive action in many cases. For instance, if the Headmaster of a school does not issue a transfer certificate to an out going student (Chapter II, under point 5.3), he/she is liable for disciplinary action under the service rules applicable. Another example is that of school provisioning (Chapter III, under point 6). Within three years from the commencement of the Act, the government should provide a school with the limits of the neighborhood if a school is already not available. Another assertion of a non-negotiable condition is the following (Chapter IV, point 14.2): ‘No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof.’ This is one way of ensuring access to a school. Many more such examples can be given. The point to be made is that by specifying certain conditions, the document hopes to put in place certain ‘minimums’ or ‘non-negotiables’ that are presumed to ensure quality. Are these minimums enough? Do they reflect what one would like to see as quality, the essential character of education about which we have been discussing? Further, are they clear and comprehensive? Let us take one example. Who is the teacher, if we are to implement the provisions in the Act effectively? Chapter IV (titled ‘Responsibilities of Schools and Teachers’), points 23.1 and 23.2 have to say something in this regard (P.8, Part II of the Act).
“23.1 Any person possessing such minimum qualifications, as laid down by an academic authority, authorized by the Central government, by notification, shall be eligible for appointment as a teacher.
23.2 Where a state does not have adequate institutions offering courses or training in teacher education, or teachers possessing minimum qualifications as laid down under sub-section 1 are not available in sufficient numbers, the Central Government may, if it deems necessary, by notification, relax the minimum qualifications for appointment as a teacher, for such period, not exceeding five years, as may be specified in that notification.
Provided that a teacher who, at the commencement of this Act, does not possess minimum qualifications as laid down under sub section 1, shall acquire such minimum qualifications within a period of five years.”
These points are vague, at best, and open to multiple interpretations. For instance, the Act is silent on the phenomenon of ‘para teachers’, which is argued by many as a dilution in the idea of a teacher, and as a cheap and economically effective way of filling teacher vacancies in many states, and as a logic that will be used to ultimately phase out all the regular government teachers with contract teachers (Kumar, 2001). What position does the Act take on this issue? Further, what about teacher preparation, another area which has been put into grave danger with the unregulated and unbridled expansion of private teacher preparation institutions all over the country in the last 8-10 years? Any person can possess ‘minimum qualifications’, but where these qualifications have been obtained from an institution whose quality is highly suspect, we have a serious problem. Thus, on the whole, the ambiguity regarding the teacher, a key determinant of quality is one among several such, in connection with the notion of educational quality that the Act seems to propound.
Should the Act even specify any conception of quality? This question needs to be discussed. As mentioned, by specifying certain ‘overall boundary conditions’, the Act hopes to ensure certain non-negotiable aspects of providing all children with a free and compulsory. In Chapter V (P.9, titled ‘Curriculum and Completion of Elementary Education), the Act specifies certain parameters which can be seen as intimately related to the idea of quality. It would be worth reproducing them here in full:
29 (1) The curriculum and he evaluation procedure for elementary education shall be laid down by an academic authority to be specified by the appropriate government, by notification.
29 (2) The academic authority, while laying down the curriculum and the evaluation procedure under sub-section (1), shall take into considerations the following, namely:
(a) conformity with the values enshrined in the constitution
(b) all round development of the child
(c) building up child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent
(d) development of physical and mental abilities to the fullest
(e) learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child-centered manner
(f) medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in the child’s mother tongue
(g) making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety and helping the child to express views freely
(h) comprehensive and continuous evaluation of child’s understanding of knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same
For a law to be enforceable or justiciable, it has to be precise, with no two meanings, since ultimately it has to be interpreted unambiguously by the judiciary. With the abovementioned points, there is much scope for subjectivity. For instance, how are we to understand points (b) and (d) above? In the context of schooling, developing mental abilities can involve a range of aspects Similarly, for point (e), where Child Centered again gives scope for much debate, and point (g), where ‘helping the child to express views freely’ finds mention. It can be claimed that a school is not child centered, or is not allowing children to express themselves freely. In the arguments that will follow, the school can defend itself on certain parameters, while the litigant can offer another set of reasons to suppose that the school is not child centered. How is the judiciary to make a judgment, when there is no precise definition of these terms? Further, in point (g), the inclusion of terms ‘fear, trauma and anxiety’ can similarly give rise to different interpretations, but it is argued by some that the judiciary is well versed with the ‘negatives’ – there is a history of litigation involving the negatives, and it therefore should be relatively easier to deal with them with some clarity. It is the positives which need to be sorted out. It can also be argued that if there had been precise definitions of ‘child friendly, child centered’ etc, these definitions could limit or ‘lock’ or ‘seal’ the notion of child-centeredness in education, which is essentially an open ended idea or notion that can be subjected to continuous reflection and debate. Indeed, in a larger sense, it can be argued that the notion of education cannot be laid out in a definite sense, for the very nature of the concept and the contemporary demands on it suggest that it be kept open for scrutiny.
Given the complexities that could arise in litigation involving the above aspects, one argument is that this loose description should not have been there in the first place as it can lead to much ambiguity. However, the question that will arise then is what notion of quality informs the Act. The only way out is for the judiciary to do its own systematic research and understanding of core concepts in education, which will enable it to provide an informed and fair judgment to resolve disputes. Where the disputes concern issues like infrastructure and basic facilities (as outlined in ‘The Schedule’ titled ‘Norms and Standards for a School, P.12 of the Act), they need not be complex. It is in the intangibles that a far more nuanced and refined understanding will be needed. Our initial reading of the Act has shown therefore that there is much to be discussed regarding the issue of educational quality.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Does language teaching need a study of language?
In my opinion, the issue or question of the relevance of the study of language in language teaching is very similar to the question ‘Does one need to study mathematics or science in order to be able to teach these subjects better?’ Though it might seem like a short aside, I would like to first explore this question before coming to the language issue.
Two years back, I had the opportunity to undertake a study of teacher’s views and understanding about the subject matter of mathematics and its pedagogy. In the course of doing this study, I came across literature that explored the place of discipline or subject specific knowledge (in this case, mathematics) in classroom teaching. For instance, Skemp (1971 and later) highlighted the frustration of children who are mainly taught the ‘how’ when they actually want answers to the ‘why’. Liping Ma’s landmark comparative study (1999) of Chinese and American elementary school teachers brought the dimension of teacher preparation centre stage. Ma compared the situation of mathematics teachers in China and the United States. Using data from her study, she developed the notion of ‘profound mathematical understanding’ in teachers and stressed that this understanding is crucial to how they perceive mathematics and teach it. Based on her analysis, Ma then argued for ‘a connected, structured and longitudinally coherent knowledge of core mathematical ideas as an essential pre-requisite for any teacher’. In a similar vein, Deborah Ball et al (2005) state that ‘classroom problems are also mathematical problems’. This leads to the question: ‘What kinds of mathematical reasoning, insight, understanding and skill are required in the teaching of mathematics?’ The position taken by Ball is that the interactive work of teaching itself involves ‘knowledge of mathematical ideas skills of mathematical reasoning and communication, fluency with examples and terms…’ This requires additional mathematical insight and reasoning which involves ‘a kind of depth and detail that goes well beyond what is needed to carry out the algorithm reliably.’ This correlation was shown to exist on the basis of data collected for more than 700 teachers and 3000 students.
It is quite clear from the above examples that subject matter or disciplinary knowledge is considered to be critical for deeper more meaningful teaching leading to understanding. Along with this knowledge is the knowledge of how children learn. Together, these two aspects are integral to the preparation of the teacher. We can extend this case to the study of language and language teaching as well. In the case of teachers, this aspect would be considered to be an integral part of their education and preparation as teachers. For teacher educators and practitioners in general, this would mean developing sensitivity to how language works. For children, a teaching-learning process grounded in the principles of language learning may offer many possibilities for deepening their learning experience as well as for creative expression, among others. Just why is this kind of knowledge necessary in the case of language teaching and learning? I have tried to present some arguments below.
Much of what passes for as learning in primary and elementary school is traditionally measured in terms of the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic). In educational practice, there is no dearth of small, medium and large scale quantitative surveys to ascertain whether children have acquired the 3R’s after, say five years, of schooling. Testing of children has almost become an obsession. Furthermore, with regard to language learning, in many cases the conventional practice is to break it up into ‘listening, speaking, reading and writing skills’ (the so-called L-S-R-W model) almost as if these skills are picked up in isolation of each other! This pre-occupation with measuring outputs, without paying sufficient attention to the processes of learning and other important aspects such as the resources children bring, their diverse backgrounds and narratives, reduces much of language learning to a mechanical ‘input-output’ model. We have seen this positivist, reductionistic approach since the ‘Minimum Levels of Learning’ (MLL) days of the nineties. The approach has continued in some form or the other to this day, though the term MLL itself may not be used as widely as before. It is in this larger context we must view the question of the relevance (or need) of the study of language to language teaching.
There are other issues that deserve attention as well. First, we tend to look at language as ‘another subject to be learnt’. I suppose this view reduces or even negates the potential that language learning offers for learning in general. Like in mathematics, where procedural knowledge is often emphasized at the cost of developing understanding, language teaching too suffers from a narrow view that places correctness of grammar and pronunciation above creative expression. This leads to a kind of mechanical classroom practice where error correction is given undue emphasis. The fact that children have mastered grammar long before they enter school is lost on teachers and also in the process of their preparation. Other notions (already pointed out in the reading provided for this assignment) include the myth of language purity, dialect inferiority, pride of place for certain ‘mother of all’ languages, multilingualism as a problem, etc. These notions are so deeply ingrained that they are rarely problematized as issues during teacher preparation.
The above observations may be categorized as those belonging to the realm of pedagogy on the one hand and on the other, larger (often unexamined) worldviews about people, language, culture, power, politics, and so on. Of course, these worldviews in turn influence education policy, teacher policy and classroom practice.
Given these observations, we must ask: What is the value in a study of language as part of a program on education? The first value addition is that such an endeavor may contribute in important ways to developing sensitivity and awareness in teachers and teacher educators as regards the equality and structural unity of languages. This might then lead to a respect for the diversity of languages. In turn, we could then start looking at multi-linguality and multiple socio-economic and cultural contexts as resources instead of considering them as burdensome problems to be dealt with through imposition of uniformity. Further, such a study could contribute to a deeper and informed understanding regarding the history and politics of language, and how language has been used as a tool for promoting vested interests. Also, in this regard, teachers and others could appreciate the rich and varied cultural history and resources that a country like India possesses.
In offering arguments for a study of language as part of language teaching or for a program on education, it may be important to ask: Is language to be treated as a separate subject? Does language development not have something fundamental to do with cognition itself? This view is articulated by Halliday (1994) that ‘When children learn language, they are not simply engaging in one kind of learning among many; rather they are learning the foundation of learning itself.’ If one wishes to take this position, then there is no escape from a study of language in any program of teaching or education.
References
Towards a language based theory of learning (M.A.K Halliday, 1994, source not specified)
The Psychology of Learning Mathematics (Richard Skemp, Penguin Publishers, London 1971)
Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics – Teachers’ understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States (Liping Ma, LEA Publishers, London 1999)
Knowing Mathematics for Teaching – Who knows mathematics well enough to teach third grade, and how can we decide? (Deborah Ball et al, American Educator, 2005)
Knowing mathematics for teaching – baseline study of practicing mathematics teachers (Sheshagiri K.M, 2007, Supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust)
Two years back, I had the opportunity to undertake a study of teacher’s views and understanding about the subject matter of mathematics and its pedagogy. In the course of doing this study, I came across literature that explored the place of discipline or subject specific knowledge (in this case, mathematics) in classroom teaching. For instance, Skemp (1971 and later) highlighted the frustration of children who are mainly taught the ‘how’ when they actually want answers to the ‘why’. Liping Ma’s landmark comparative study (1999) of Chinese and American elementary school teachers brought the dimension of teacher preparation centre stage. Ma compared the situation of mathematics teachers in China and the United States. Using data from her study, she developed the notion of ‘profound mathematical understanding’ in teachers and stressed that this understanding is crucial to how they perceive mathematics and teach it. Based on her analysis, Ma then argued for ‘a connected, structured and longitudinally coherent knowledge of core mathematical ideas as an essential pre-requisite for any teacher’. In a similar vein, Deborah Ball et al (2005) state that ‘classroom problems are also mathematical problems’. This leads to the question: ‘What kinds of mathematical reasoning, insight, understanding and skill are required in the teaching of mathematics?’ The position taken by Ball is that the interactive work of teaching itself involves ‘knowledge of mathematical ideas skills of mathematical reasoning and communication, fluency with examples and terms…’ This requires additional mathematical insight and reasoning which involves ‘a kind of depth and detail that goes well beyond what is needed to carry out the algorithm reliably.’ This correlation was shown to exist on the basis of data collected for more than 700 teachers and 3000 students.
It is quite clear from the above examples that subject matter or disciplinary knowledge is considered to be critical for deeper more meaningful teaching leading to understanding. Along with this knowledge is the knowledge of how children learn. Together, these two aspects are integral to the preparation of the teacher. We can extend this case to the study of language and language teaching as well. In the case of teachers, this aspect would be considered to be an integral part of their education and preparation as teachers. For teacher educators and practitioners in general, this would mean developing sensitivity to how language works. For children, a teaching-learning process grounded in the principles of language learning may offer many possibilities for deepening their learning experience as well as for creative expression, among others. Just why is this kind of knowledge necessary in the case of language teaching and learning? I have tried to present some arguments below.
Much of what passes for as learning in primary and elementary school is traditionally measured in terms of the 3R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic). In educational practice, there is no dearth of small, medium and large scale quantitative surveys to ascertain whether children have acquired the 3R’s after, say five years, of schooling. Testing of children has almost become an obsession. Furthermore, with regard to language learning, in many cases the conventional practice is to break it up into ‘listening, speaking, reading and writing skills’ (the so-called L-S-R-W model) almost as if these skills are picked up in isolation of each other! This pre-occupation with measuring outputs, without paying sufficient attention to the processes of learning and other important aspects such as the resources children bring, their diverse backgrounds and narratives, reduces much of language learning to a mechanical ‘input-output’ model. We have seen this positivist, reductionistic approach since the ‘Minimum Levels of Learning’ (MLL) days of the nineties. The approach has continued in some form or the other to this day, though the term MLL itself may not be used as widely as before. It is in this larger context we must view the question of the relevance (or need) of the study of language to language teaching.
There are other issues that deserve attention as well. First, we tend to look at language as ‘another subject to be learnt’. I suppose this view reduces or even negates the potential that language learning offers for learning in general. Like in mathematics, where procedural knowledge is often emphasized at the cost of developing understanding, language teaching too suffers from a narrow view that places correctness of grammar and pronunciation above creative expression. This leads to a kind of mechanical classroom practice where error correction is given undue emphasis. The fact that children have mastered grammar long before they enter school is lost on teachers and also in the process of their preparation. Other notions (already pointed out in the reading provided for this assignment) include the myth of language purity, dialect inferiority, pride of place for certain ‘mother of all’ languages, multilingualism as a problem, etc. These notions are so deeply ingrained that they are rarely problematized as issues during teacher preparation.
The above observations may be categorized as those belonging to the realm of pedagogy on the one hand and on the other, larger (often unexamined) worldviews about people, language, culture, power, politics, and so on. Of course, these worldviews in turn influence education policy, teacher policy and classroom practice.
Given these observations, we must ask: What is the value in a study of language as part of a program on education? The first value addition is that such an endeavor may contribute in important ways to developing sensitivity and awareness in teachers and teacher educators as regards the equality and structural unity of languages. This might then lead to a respect for the diversity of languages. In turn, we could then start looking at multi-linguality and multiple socio-economic and cultural contexts as resources instead of considering them as burdensome problems to be dealt with through imposition of uniformity. Further, such a study could contribute to a deeper and informed understanding regarding the history and politics of language, and how language has been used as a tool for promoting vested interests. Also, in this regard, teachers and others could appreciate the rich and varied cultural history and resources that a country like India possesses.
In offering arguments for a study of language as part of language teaching or for a program on education, it may be important to ask: Is language to be treated as a separate subject? Does language development not have something fundamental to do with cognition itself? This view is articulated by Halliday (1994) that ‘When children learn language, they are not simply engaging in one kind of learning among many; rather they are learning the foundation of learning itself.’ If one wishes to take this position, then there is no escape from a study of language in any program of teaching or education.
References
Towards a language based theory of learning (M.A.K Halliday, 1994, source not specified)
The Psychology of Learning Mathematics (Richard Skemp, Penguin Publishers, London 1971)
Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics – Teachers’ understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States (Liping Ma, LEA Publishers, London 1999)
Knowing Mathematics for Teaching – Who knows mathematics well enough to teach third grade, and how can we decide? (Deborah Ball et al, American Educator, 2005)
Knowing mathematics for teaching – baseline study of practicing mathematics teachers (Sheshagiri K.M, 2007, Supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
What the Karnataka textbooks say on things that matter
Recently, I had the opportunity to do a quick study of the Karnataka State Social Studies textbooks to see how the idea of the modern nation is represented. Specifically, I looked at the construction of values and ideals of 'national progress,’ ‘democracy,’ and the 'ideal' citizen. Inclusions and exclusions in terms of gender, caste, class, religion, ethnicity and location (rural/urban) were also noted, along with the role the textbook content explicitly/implicitly assigns to education in national development. The study was an eye opener in many ways, and I ended up asking more questions than I have been able to answer!
Brief description of the textbooks studied
The books studied are the two Social Science textbooks of Class V used by the government schools in Karnataka. The books have been published by the Karnataka Textbook Society. The core curricular areas for Class V have been represented through the textbooks in the following manner – barring language, which has dedicated textbooks for each language (Kannada, English, Urdu, etc), the other subjects are all clubbed together in two textbooks, one for each semester (the academic year is divided into two semesters at the primary and middle school levels). Thus, semester 1 has a combined textbook for Social Science, General Science, Environmental Studies and Mathematics. The same is the case with the semester 2 textbook. The reason why this is so, is not clear. However, what is clear is that curricular or pedagogical concerns have not informed the production of these ‘all in one’ textbooks – for instance, there is no integration of content across disciplines. There are merely separate sections for each subject. It is quite possible that the effort has been to reduce the total number of textbooks that children need to carry (and hence reduce the load of the school bag)! Another reason would be to economize textbook printing.
The Social Science part/section of the composite textbooks is further divided into the areas of History, Civics and Geography. The topics dealt with each of these areas are described below.
Semester 1 topics (History) -- History of India – land and people; pre-historic India; Indus Valley Civilization; Vedic Age; Jainism and Buddhism
Semester 2 topics (History) -- Ancient North India; Mauryan Empire; The Kushans; The Gupta Empire; India after the Guptas; Ancient South India
Semester 1 topics (Civics) -- Civics and its importance; Public Property
Semester 2 topics (Civics) -- Rural Communities; Urban Communities; Panchayati Raj; Civic and District Administration
Semester 1 topics (Geography) -- The Solar system; Latitude and Longitude; Weather and Climate; Effect on daily life of weather and climate
Semester 2 topics (Geography) -- Physical features and climate of India; Agriculture and Industry; Population of India
Aspects of the ‘modern nation’, such as values and ideals of 'national progress', democracy, the notion of the 'ideal' citizen, inclusions and exclusions in terms of gender, caste, class, religion, ethnicity and location (rural/urban), and the role of education in national development, are all implicitly or explicitly addressed in both the Class V textbooks. They are not situated in any particular chapter, but are spread across the entire text. In particular, the strongest linkages/references are seen in the sections that deal with the subject of Civics. In the coming paragraphs, we will look at examples of how the textbooks approach the above mentioned aspects of the modern nation.
The ‘ideal’ or ‘good’ citizen
Lesson 6 of the semester 1 textbook (P.39) begins with a statement about citizenry. A citizen is referred to as somebody ‘who is a member of the country or nation and who abides by the rules and regulations of that country.’ Further, ‘A Good citizen loves and respects his country. Every citizen has certain rights and duties.’ Civics, it is stated, ‘tells us about the role of the citizen in society and in the government.’ Conducting oneself in a disciplined manner and respecting the needs of others is identified as one of the key aspects of a ‘good civic life’.
On page 40 of the above book, the ‘Characteristics of a good citizen’ along with those of the ‘good civic life’ are outlined thus:
• Keeping the school premises clean
• Keeping the house and street clean
• Helping children and old people
• Following a queue system
• To respect national flag and national anthem
• To protect public property etc
• To defend the country in times of need
• To pay taxes without fail
• To cast vote during elections
• Not to participate in anti-social activities
• Understand that giving or taking bribe is an offence
The second semester book also (on P.60, 61 in the chapter on urban communities, and further on P.96 in the chapter on Population of India) outlines certain duties of citizens (interestingly, these or any other duties do not feature in the chapter on rural communities):
• To keep surroundings clean
• Not to smoke in public places
• To dispose waste materials
• To reduce the use of plastic bags
• To use electricity and water sparingly
• To develop the habit of working hard and live by earning
• To obey the law and lead a peaceful life
• To control population explosion
From this description, one cannot help but get the impression that the good or ideal citizen is a passive person one who has to ‘obey’ or follow a range of rules set by/in his nation so as to preserve order (whose order?) in society. This almost sounds like a mechanical list of ‘things to do’ in order to qualify for the tag of a good or ideal citizen. While sensitivity to the needs of others is mentioned, the rest of the items listed above seem to require an almost blind belief in the following of rules set out by the powers that be. Neither the textbook content nor the questions that follow provide much space for exploration by the teacher and children. For instance, what could respect for the national flag and anthem mean? Why should standing up when the national anthem is played be construed as good citizenry, and not otherwise? In the same vein, what could ‘anti-social’ activities mean? Would participating in a meeting/dharna/procession that critiques government policy be considered anti-social?
It is interesting that the characteristics listed above of a good/ideal citizen do not seem to include a critical element or faculty, such as the ability to question a given phenomenon, or form a strong civil society to struggle for people’s rights, or engage political representatives in serious discussions about a range of issues that affect people’s lives. Further, there is absolutely no discussion about why the abovementioned list of characteristics are so often in short supply in everyday life, ranging from motorists who routinely break traffic rules, to the more complex phenomenon of how the state itself can perpetrate acts of violence against its own people (several examples can be given here). Perhaps it is too much to expect a state sponsored textbook to be critical of the state! But the point here is that the text does not problematize the notion of the good/ideal citizen, thus cutting out the possibility of critical engagement by the teacher and students. On the other hand, what comes across implicitly is that the country or the government is always right, and works in the interest of all people. Therefore, it is the duty of a good citizen to always obey the rules and laws of this country.
Descriptions of ‘rural’ and ‘urban’
Rural communities
There are interesting ways in which ‘Rural Communities’ and ‘Urban Communities’ have been described in two separate chapters of the semester 2 textbook. The competencies children are expected to pick up after the rural communities chapter are the following:
• Know the important occupations of the villagers
• Understand the problems of villages, measures taken by the government to improve their conditions and get themselves involved in development programs
After acknowledging the importance of the rural community in general and the farmer in particular for national progress, the textbook presents a rather idealized view of the village. It states that ‘Villagers fulfill their needs among themselves. They work together to form a village community.’ This is an oversimplified description of the village, perhaps even a distorted image! To this is added another idyllic image: ‘In villages there are rivulets, ponds, tanks, pastures and sacred groves. Villagers celebrate festivals and worship gods and goddesses.’ Almost immediately, as if to correct this description, the idealized pictures are replaced with a section on the ‘Problems of Rural Communities’ – these problems are either ‘Economic, Social’ or of illiteracy (due to lack of education). The few sentences under ‘Social Problems’ are vague and do no justice to the intricacies and complexities of rural life (italics mine): ‘Some rural communities still practice untouchability. People of some castes are not allowed to enter temples, use public wells and participate in public functions. Further, some people are superstitious.’
It is not clear why there is so much vagueness in this description. Who is referred by the word ‘some’? Why are the identities of people termed as ‘some’, hidden and why are they made faceless? Where do these people stay? Why are things like this? These questions beg for explanations in the book. It looks as if the textbook authors are hesitating to discuss upfront the real problems of Indian society, such as the divisive and discriminatory caste system that has existed for thousands of years. What is therefore clear is that there is a downplaying of the deeply hierarchical and divisive nature of Indian society, which has historically led to discrimination and exclusion of groups of people labeled/classified as the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes etc. By skirting this discussion altogether, the 2nd semester textbook of Class V in many ways actually excludes, from the learning experience of the child, the very existence of these marginalized communities. Thus, an opportunity to critically examine and understand important features of Indian society is lost. However, we may note that the terms SC/ST are freely used in a following chapter on Panchayat Raj, which is mainly a factual account the three tier system of local governance both in the rural and urban contexts.
If the issues such as caste find such casual and careless treatment, the aspect of gender, class and religion (again factors that contribute to Indian society’s stratification and division) do not find mention either, anywhere in the body of the text of the class V books. There is a passing mention that (P.52) ‘…farmers take up other occupations like rearing cattle, sheep, poultry farming and making baskets. There are blacksmiths, potters, barbers, stone cutters, weavers, cobblers, goldsmiths, tailors, oil millers and washer-men in our villages.’ This long list does not educate us about the structure of Indian society—it is just that there are different people doing different things.
Having identified the ‘problems’ of rural communities, the lesson goes on to state that the government provides, through development programs ‘…drinking water, education, employment and medical facilities’ to improve the standards of their lives.
There is one full page illustration (in the form of a collage) of ‘rural life’ in the chapter on rural communities with the caption ‘Development is the fruit of hard work’. One part of the illustration shows a village scene in which a woman walking away from the hand pump, carrying two or three pots of water on her head, while another is filling hers. Another part shows a big dam with the power grid in the background of a village with tiled houses (actually, the power grid leads away from the village, and we have no way of knowing if the village is supplied with electricity!). There is mechanized farming in this village, for we see a tractor in the foreground. Also is shown a woman serving a man with food. The third part of the illustration in the collage shows a train in the background passing by the village, while in the foreground, there is a postman delivering a letter to a woman. In the distance, a group of women are seated in a circle in front of their houses, doing some domestic work.
From the illustrations, one can make out that women manage the house while men seem to be the more mobile of the two (this is of course based on only two or three examples). The distinct aspect however concerns the technology – the big dam, the power grid, the tractor and the train, are the technologies that are expected to improve the living conditions of rural communities. Of course, the hand pump provides clean water. All of these are seen to be contributing to the development and modernization of rural communities. Again, this appears to be idealized and simple.
Urban communities
The rural/urban distinction is first established in terms of population (high in urban areas) and occupation of people (‘productive’ like agriculture in case of rural folk, and ‘services’ like offices, factories etc in case of urban folks). Another distinction is that urban areas have factories, which rural areas do not. Urban problems revolve around (a) Pressure of population, (b) Problem of housing, (c) Environmental pollution and (d) Social problems. Again, these are not problematized. Why, for instance, is there a population problem? The textbook answers this by stating that ‘people go from villages to cities and towns in search of jobs’, which in turn creates problems for housing. Further, this results in lakhs of people not even having basic facilities. Slums thus get created, and their ‘clearance’ becomes a ‘great problem in urban areas’.
The above description of the population problem directly contradicts what the earlier chapter on rural communities states (‘Villagers fulfill their needs among themselves…’)! Further, there is no hint regarding who these migrants are, and why they may be forced to migrate. There is not even one example to illustrate a point or argument in a deeper manner. Again, these people are faceless. In one sense, this is like using the word ‘some’ in the earlier chapter. Thus, voices and representations of those who are excluded (and who invariably become the migrants searching desperately for livelihood of any kind) do not find any expression again, as in the earlier chapter.
The text attempts to create or show other distinctions between rural and urban communities, but these distinctions are problematic and are not explored deeply enough. For instance, under ‘Social Problems’ (P.60), ‘poverty, unemployment, stealing, violence, exploitation of children and women’ find mention. Interestingly, unemployment, violence, and exploitation of children and women do not feature as problems of rural life. Also, environmental pollution and housing appear to be exclusive problems of urban communities.
One gets the sense from the rural and urban chapters that urban problems are numerous and are more complex than rural ones. This is why the authors perhaps felt that it was important to talk about the duties of citizens in the urban case, which they did not deem fit for the chapter on rural communities!
Values and ideals of national progress; democracy; role of education in national development
Moving on, the idea of ‘National Progress’ in the class V textbooks is linked to the notion of a ‘good citizen’ and his or her duties. In the chapter on urban communities (P.61, semester 2), it is stated that ‘If the citizens imbibe these qualities in their daily life, many problems that we are facing today will disappear. Our life will become golden. The country will progress.’ Thus, ‘good and obedient’ citizens are wanted and the authors seem to bemoan the fact that such citizens are in short supply! The fact that these long lists of qualities of a good citizen are included in the textbook suggests that school education is expected to play a critical role in the formation of good citizenry. Of course, this is implicit. Despite these safeguards, why is it that we continue to have so many civic problems? This is nowhere reflected upon. Has education failed then?
Another place where national progress finds mention is in relation with the farmer (P.51, 52, Semester 2) who is the ‘…backbone of our country. The country cannot progress unless the villages are developed.’ So, this is the second strand in the thinking on the values and ideals of national progress. There are some more observations in a later chapter (Lesson 12) titled ‘Agriculture and Industry’. In this chapter, it is acknowledged in the beginning that ‘India is a land of agriculture. Seventy percent of the population depends on agriculture for their living. India is self sufficient in food production.’ This, it is claimed, is as a result of the Green Revolution which adopted new agricultural technology for growth in production. Thus, the role of technology is central to national progress. It is also stated in this regard that: ‘By this (the green revolution) the country has achieved self-sufficiency in agricultural production and economic progress.’ This is a one sided view which completely ignores the ground realities (survey after survey shows alarming levels of malnutrition among more than half of India’s young children, women, for instance). It also contradicts what the same textbook says earlier in the rural communities’ chapter (P.52): ‘Most of the farmers have very small plots of land. The yield is not enough for the needs of the family.’ How can we then say that we have achieved self sufficiency in agricultural production and economic progress?
Technology is seen as an ideal force for national development. Industries, which use this technology (P.92, Semester 2) ‘…Play a great role in the development of the country’s economy.’
The word ‘democracy does not feature in the Class V textbooks on social science. Since I have not studied the Class VI and VII books, it is not possible to state if this topic has found treatment there or not. The topic could have been discussed in the chapter on Panchayati Raj, but the authors have chosen instead to present factual information on Panchayats without for a moment reflecting on the possible links between Panchayats and local democracy and governance. Perhaps the other place where democracy is implicit is the notion of good citizenry, which we have discussed in some detail earlier.
Summing up
This quick study/review of the fifth standard social science textbooks of the Karnataka government in connection with notions of national development, citizenry, democracy, inclusion/exclusion etc has thrown up some interesting observations, as I have already noted. One limitation of this review must be acknowledged upfront – that the review has confined itself only to Class V textbooks. It is possible that the missing pieces may find some treatment in books for Classes VI and VII. However, given the approach seen so far, it is likely that the treatment is going to be problematic from a pedagogical as well as curricular point of view. Issues such as the above, which might require an ‘open ended’ approach are instead presented factually and in an oversimplified manner, ignoring complexities and conflicts. In all cases, the government is seen as doing the right thing all the time. It is the citizens who have to buck up and play their constructive roles.
By presenting content in a factual manner and by not problematizing the study of Indian society, the opportunity for deeper, critical reflection has been greatly limited both for the teacher and the student. A word must be said about the questions and other exercises after each chapter – they merely promote memory recall. This effectively shuts out any possibility that may exist for developing a critical outlook. Only if the teacher rejects such content (or looks at it as open to debate and interpretation) will there be a possibility of rethinking fundamental assumptions that underlie the structures and processes in Indian society. This in turn can make the learning experience very enriching for every child. But how many teachers are likely to embark on this more difficult but rewarding journey?
One may argue that for children as young as ten years, it is not advisable to present the conflicts and contradictions of a society as complex as India. If this indeed is the case, we are undermining the intelligence and capability of children to grapple with complexity, diversity and conflict.
July 2009
Bengalooru
Brief description of the textbooks studied
The books studied are the two Social Science textbooks of Class V used by the government schools in Karnataka. The books have been published by the Karnataka Textbook Society. The core curricular areas for Class V have been represented through the textbooks in the following manner – barring language, which has dedicated textbooks for each language (Kannada, English, Urdu, etc), the other subjects are all clubbed together in two textbooks, one for each semester (the academic year is divided into two semesters at the primary and middle school levels). Thus, semester 1 has a combined textbook for Social Science, General Science, Environmental Studies and Mathematics. The same is the case with the semester 2 textbook. The reason why this is so, is not clear. However, what is clear is that curricular or pedagogical concerns have not informed the production of these ‘all in one’ textbooks – for instance, there is no integration of content across disciplines. There are merely separate sections for each subject. It is quite possible that the effort has been to reduce the total number of textbooks that children need to carry (and hence reduce the load of the school bag)! Another reason would be to economize textbook printing.
The Social Science part/section of the composite textbooks is further divided into the areas of History, Civics and Geography. The topics dealt with each of these areas are described below.
Semester 1 topics (History) -- History of India – land and people; pre-historic India; Indus Valley Civilization; Vedic Age; Jainism and Buddhism
Semester 2 topics (History) -- Ancient North India; Mauryan Empire; The Kushans; The Gupta Empire; India after the Guptas; Ancient South India
Semester 1 topics (Civics) -- Civics and its importance; Public Property
Semester 2 topics (Civics) -- Rural Communities; Urban Communities; Panchayati Raj; Civic and District Administration
Semester 1 topics (Geography) -- The Solar system; Latitude and Longitude; Weather and Climate; Effect on daily life of weather and climate
Semester 2 topics (Geography) -- Physical features and climate of India; Agriculture and Industry; Population of India
Aspects of the ‘modern nation’, such as values and ideals of 'national progress', democracy, the notion of the 'ideal' citizen, inclusions and exclusions in terms of gender, caste, class, religion, ethnicity and location (rural/urban), and the role of education in national development, are all implicitly or explicitly addressed in both the Class V textbooks. They are not situated in any particular chapter, but are spread across the entire text. In particular, the strongest linkages/references are seen in the sections that deal with the subject of Civics. In the coming paragraphs, we will look at examples of how the textbooks approach the above mentioned aspects of the modern nation.
The ‘ideal’ or ‘good’ citizen
Lesson 6 of the semester 1 textbook (P.39) begins with a statement about citizenry. A citizen is referred to as somebody ‘who is a member of the country or nation and who abides by the rules and regulations of that country.’ Further, ‘A Good citizen loves and respects his country. Every citizen has certain rights and duties.’ Civics, it is stated, ‘tells us about the role of the citizen in society and in the government.’ Conducting oneself in a disciplined manner and respecting the needs of others is identified as one of the key aspects of a ‘good civic life’.
On page 40 of the above book, the ‘Characteristics of a good citizen’ along with those of the ‘good civic life’ are outlined thus:
• Keeping the school premises clean
• Keeping the house and street clean
• Helping children and old people
• Following a queue system
• To respect national flag and national anthem
• To protect public property etc
• To defend the country in times of need
• To pay taxes without fail
• To cast vote during elections
• Not to participate in anti-social activities
• Understand that giving or taking bribe is an offence
The second semester book also (on P.60, 61 in the chapter on urban communities, and further on P.96 in the chapter on Population of India) outlines certain duties of citizens (interestingly, these or any other duties do not feature in the chapter on rural communities):
• To keep surroundings clean
• Not to smoke in public places
• To dispose waste materials
• To reduce the use of plastic bags
• To use electricity and water sparingly
• To develop the habit of working hard and live by earning
• To obey the law and lead a peaceful life
• To control population explosion
From this description, one cannot help but get the impression that the good or ideal citizen is a passive person one who has to ‘obey’ or follow a range of rules set by/in his nation so as to preserve order (whose order?) in society. This almost sounds like a mechanical list of ‘things to do’ in order to qualify for the tag of a good or ideal citizen. While sensitivity to the needs of others is mentioned, the rest of the items listed above seem to require an almost blind belief in the following of rules set out by the powers that be. Neither the textbook content nor the questions that follow provide much space for exploration by the teacher and children. For instance, what could respect for the national flag and anthem mean? Why should standing up when the national anthem is played be construed as good citizenry, and not otherwise? In the same vein, what could ‘anti-social’ activities mean? Would participating in a meeting/dharna/procession that critiques government policy be considered anti-social?
It is interesting that the characteristics listed above of a good/ideal citizen do not seem to include a critical element or faculty, such as the ability to question a given phenomenon, or form a strong civil society to struggle for people’s rights, or engage political representatives in serious discussions about a range of issues that affect people’s lives. Further, there is absolutely no discussion about why the abovementioned list of characteristics are so often in short supply in everyday life, ranging from motorists who routinely break traffic rules, to the more complex phenomenon of how the state itself can perpetrate acts of violence against its own people (several examples can be given here). Perhaps it is too much to expect a state sponsored textbook to be critical of the state! But the point here is that the text does not problematize the notion of the good/ideal citizen, thus cutting out the possibility of critical engagement by the teacher and students. On the other hand, what comes across implicitly is that the country or the government is always right, and works in the interest of all people. Therefore, it is the duty of a good citizen to always obey the rules and laws of this country.
Descriptions of ‘rural’ and ‘urban’
Rural communities
There are interesting ways in which ‘Rural Communities’ and ‘Urban Communities’ have been described in two separate chapters of the semester 2 textbook. The competencies children are expected to pick up after the rural communities chapter are the following:
• Know the important occupations of the villagers
• Understand the problems of villages, measures taken by the government to improve their conditions and get themselves involved in development programs
After acknowledging the importance of the rural community in general and the farmer in particular for national progress, the textbook presents a rather idealized view of the village. It states that ‘Villagers fulfill their needs among themselves. They work together to form a village community.’ This is an oversimplified description of the village, perhaps even a distorted image! To this is added another idyllic image: ‘In villages there are rivulets, ponds, tanks, pastures and sacred groves. Villagers celebrate festivals and worship gods and goddesses.’ Almost immediately, as if to correct this description, the idealized pictures are replaced with a section on the ‘Problems of Rural Communities’ – these problems are either ‘Economic, Social’ or of illiteracy (due to lack of education). The few sentences under ‘Social Problems’ are vague and do no justice to the intricacies and complexities of rural life (italics mine): ‘Some rural communities still practice untouchability. People of some castes are not allowed to enter temples, use public wells and participate in public functions. Further, some people are superstitious.’
It is not clear why there is so much vagueness in this description. Who is referred by the word ‘some’? Why are the identities of people termed as ‘some’, hidden and why are they made faceless? Where do these people stay? Why are things like this? These questions beg for explanations in the book. It looks as if the textbook authors are hesitating to discuss upfront the real problems of Indian society, such as the divisive and discriminatory caste system that has existed for thousands of years. What is therefore clear is that there is a downplaying of the deeply hierarchical and divisive nature of Indian society, which has historically led to discrimination and exclusion of groups of people labeled/classified as the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes etc. By skirting this discussion altogether, the 2nd semester textbook of Class V in many ways actually excludes, from the learning experience of the child, the very existence of these marginalized communities. Thus, an opportunity to critically examine and understand important features of Indian society is lost. However, we may note that the terms SC/ST are freely used in a following chapter on Panchayat Raj, which is mainly a factual account the three tier system of local governance both in the rural and urban contexts.
If the issues such as caste find such casual and careless treatment, the aspect of gender, class and religion (again factors that contribute to Indian society’s stratification and division) do not find mention either, anywhere in the body of the text of the class V books. There is a passing mention that (P.52) ‘…farmers take up other occupations like rearing cattle, sheep, poultry farming and making baskets. There are blacksmiths, potters, barbers, stone cutters, weavers, cobblers, goldsmiths, tailors, oil millers and washer-men in our villages.’ This long list does not educate us about the structure of Indian society—it is just that there are different people doing different things.
Having identified the ‘problems’ of rural communities, the lesson goes on to state that the government provides, through development programs ‘…drinking water, education, employment and medical facilities’ to improve the standards of their lives.
There is one full page illustration (in the form of a collage) of ‘rural life’ in the chapter on rural communities with the caption ‘Development is the fruit of hard work’. One part of the illustration shows a village scene in which a woman walking away from the hand pump, carrying two or three pots of water on her head, while another is filling hers. Another part shows a big dam with the power grid in the background of a village with tiled houses (actually, the power grid leads away from the village, and we have no way of knowing if the village is supplied with electricity!). There is mechanized farming in this village, for we see a tractor in the foreground. Also is shown a woman serving a man with food. The third part of the illustration in the collage shows a train in the background passing by the village, while in the foreground, there is a postman delivering a letter to a woman. In the distance, a group of women are seated in a circle in front of their houses, doing some domestic work.
From the illustrations, one can make out that women manage the house while men seem to be the more mobile of the two (this is of course based on only two or three examples). The distinct aspect however concerns the technology – the big dam, the power grid, the tractor and the train, are the technologies that are expected to improve the living conditions of rural communities. Of course, the hand pump provides clean water. All of these are seen to be contributing to the development and modernization of rural communities. Again, this appears to be idealized and simple.
Urban communities
The rural/urban distinction is first established in terms of population (high in urban areas) and occupation of people (‘productive’ like agriculture in case of rural folk, and ‘services’ like offices, factories etc in case of urban folks). Another distinction is that urban areas have factories, which rural areas do not. Urban problems revolve around (a) Pressure of population, (b) Problem of housing, (c) Environmental pollution and (d) Social problems. Again, these are not problematized. Why, for instance, is there a population problem? The textbook answers this by stating that ‘people go from villages to cities and towns in search of jobs’, which in turn creates problems for housing. Further, this results in lakhs of people not even having basic facilities. Slums thus get created, and their ‘clearance’ becomes a ‘great problem in urban areas’.
The above description of the population problem directly contradicts what the earlier chapter on rural communities states (‘Villagers fulfill their needs among themselves…’)! Further, there is no hint regarding who these migrants are, and why they may be forced to migrate. There is not even one example to illustrate a point or argument in a deeper manner. Again, these people are faceless. In one sense, this is like using the word ‘some’ in the earlier chapter. Thus, voices and representations of those who are excluded (and who invariably become the migrants searching desperately for livelihood of any kind) do not find any expression again, as in the earlier chapter.
The text attempts to create or show other distinctions between rural and urban communities, but these distinctions are problematic and are not explored deeply enough. For instance, under ‘Social Problems’ (P.60), ‘poverty, unemployment, stealing, violence, exploitation of children and women’ find mention. Interestingly, unemployment, violence, and exploitation of children and women do not feature as problems of rural life. Also, environmental pollution and housing appear to be exclusive problems of urban communities.
One gets the sense from the rural and urban chapters that urban problems are numerous and are more complex than rural ones. This is why the authors perhaps felt that it was important to talk about the duties of citizens in the urban case, which they did not deem fit for the chapter on rural communities!
Values and ideals of national progress; democracy; role of education in national development
Moving on, the idea of ‘National Progress’ in the class V textbooks is linked to the notion of a ‘good citizen’ and his or her duties. In the chapter on urban communities (P.61, semester 2), it is stated that ‘If the citizens imbibe these qualities in their daily life, many problems that we are facing today will disappear. Our life will become golden. The country will progress.’ Thus, ‘good and obedient’ citizens are wanted and the authors seem to bemoan the fact that such citizens are in short supply! The fact that these long lists of qualities of a good citizen are included in the textbook suggests that school education is expected to play a critical role in the formation of good citizenry. Of course, this is implicit. Despite these safeguards, why is it that we continue to have so many civic problems? This is nowhere reflected upon. Has education failed then?
Another place where national progress finds mention is in relation with the farmer (P.51, 52, Semester 2) who is the ‘…backbone of our country. The country cannot progress unless the villages are developed.’ So, this is the second strand in the thinking on the values and ideals of national progress. There are some more observations in a later chapter (Lesson 12) titled ‘Agriculture and Industry’. In this chapter, it is acknowledged in the beginning that ‘India is a land of agriculture. Seventy percent of the population depends on agriculture for their living. India is self sufficient in food production.’ This, it is claimed, is as a result of the Green Revolution which adopted new agricultural technology for growth in production. Thus, the role of technology is central to national progress. It is also stated in this regard that: ‘By this (the green revolution) the country has achieved self-sufficiency in agricultural production and economic progress.’ This is a one sided view which completely ignores the ground realities (survey after survey shows alarming levels of malnutrition among more than half of India’s young children, women, for instance). It also contradicts what the same textbook says earlier in the rural communities’ chapter (P.52): ‘Most of the farmers have very small plots of land. The yield is not enough for the needs of the family.’ How can we then say that we have achieved self sufficiency in agricultural production and economic progress?
Technology is seen as an ideal force for national development. Industries, which use this technology (P.92, Semester 2) ‘…Play a great role in the development of the country’s economy.’
The word ‘democracy does not feature in the Class V textbooks on social science. Since I have not studied the Class VI and VII books, it is not possible to state if this topic has found treatment there or not. The topic could have been discussed in the chapter on Panchayati Raj, but the authors have chosen instead to present factual information on Panchayats without for a moment reflecting on the possible links between Panchayats and local democracy and governance. Perhaps the other place where democracy is implicit is the notion of good citizenry, which we have discussed in some detail earlier.
Summing up
This quick study/review of the fifth standard social science textbooks of the Karnataka government in connection with notions of national development, citizenry, democracy, inclusion/exclusion etc has thrown up some interesting observations, as I have already noted. One limitation of this review must be acknowledged upfront – that the review has confined itself only to Class V textbooks. It is possible that the missing pieces may find some treatment in books for Classes VI and VII. However, given the approach seen so far, it is likely that the treatment is going to be problematic from a pedagogical as well as curricular point of view. Issues such as the above, which might require an ‘open ended’ approach are instead presented factually and in an oversimplified manner, ignoring complexities and conflicts. In all cases, the government is seen as doing the right thing all the time. It is the citizens who have to buck up and play their constructive roles.
By presenting content in a factual manner and by not problematizing the study of Indian society, the opportunity for deeper, critical reflection has been greatly limited both for the teacher and the student. A word must be said about the questions and other exercises after each chapter – they merely promote memory recall. This effectively shuts out any possibility that may exist for developing a critical outlook. Only if the teacher rejects such content (or looks at it as open to debate and interpretation) will there be a possibility of rethinking fundamental assumptions that underlie the structures and processes in Indian society. This in turn can make the learning experience very enriching for every child. But how many teachers are likely to embark on this more difficult but rewarding journey?
One may argue that for children as young as ten years, it is not advisable to present the conflicts and contradictions of a society as complex as India. If this indeed is the case, we are undermining the intelligence and capability of children to grapple with complexity, diversity and conflict.
July 2009
Bengalooru
Monday, August 24, 2009
The White Matter Problem
Since the last twenty five years, I have been confronted by the ‘white matter problem’. No, this has nothing to do with the visible white matter in the universe through the astronomer’s telescope. Nor has it anything to do with the other problem that has puzzled cosmologists – the ‘dark matter’ problem – the mysterious invisible matter which might eventually decide if the universe will go on expanding forever, or contract back into a singularity after what might seem to be an eternity. Now, a singularity is a kind of entity that is difficult to understand – imagine all the matter in the universe squeezed into a point that has no dimensions! Further, imagine that the universe began from a singularity, at which point time actually = zero! I must return to this strange and perplexing discussion another day! I must understand it before I pass on into that singularity!
I’m not even talking about the grey matter inside our heads. The white matter above my head, but rooted in it is the issue that has caused consternation to certain people over the years. So, let me tell you that story.
In the midst of thick, jet black hair, the first white strands grew. I noticed it when I was thirteen I guess. I remember commenting about it to my mother, standing in front of a big mirror in the small living room of our Koramangala house. I’m not sure if she worried about it then. I didn’t, too – it was easy to hide the few white strands by pushing and patting them carefully below the black majority after oiling my hair with coconut oil every morning.
The years passed. There was no appreciable change in the quantity of white matter with its roots in my head. In 1987, the year I got into engineering, it hadn’t attracted much attention. Even if it did, I don’t remember it. Ditto in 1991, the year I graduated, least interested in the enterprise of designing, making and fixing machines In a couple of years, I got disgusted with the experiences of shouting every day at men on the shop floor, egging them on to produce more and more in less and less time. From that point on, more strands of white started sprouting, and people I knew began noticing. Still, the thick and jet black majority managed to obscure this fresh growth. However, it required some effort at combing time every morning. After a while, I began to wonder if this hiding business was worth it. As the days passed, I managed to ignore it altogether.
In 1993, the year I became a schoolteacher, the kids I taught, noticed. So did my fellow teachers. There were not too many direct comments, though. May be no one wanted to offend me. I even suspected that some of my colleagues liked what they saw, especially some female colleagues. This hunch was only based on their appreciative but cryptic comments such as ‘It looks good’, for instance. On second thoughts, I wondered if it was a case of dripping sarcasm. In the hope that I could attract more female attention, I began conjuring theories of male-female attraction based on white matter – ‘older women get attracted to younger men with white hair because it makes them look matured; younger women also get attracted to young men with white hair because they are looking for someone wise to spend their time with’. Of course, these theories were hopelessly out of sync with the times and I didn’t land up any girlfriends young or old based on my white matter alone. To this day, I fervently believe in these theories, waiting for a miracle to happen!
In the mid-nineties, when I left the school to move to Raichur in North Karnataka to do some work in the village schools, I did business with the barbers with their open roadside parlors in the small and remote town of Deodurg. They started noticing, first thing.
Getting a haircut done in Deodurg was a different experience – unlike Bangalore, where you could sit for the haircut inside a reasonably well kept room with its large mirrors in the front and back, the Deodurg open barber usually had his shop under the sky – some had the mirrors usually fixed to a tree on one side of the road, and those seeking a haircut usually had to sit on an old wooden chair facing the mirror, propped up on carefully arranged stones that were flat. It was a bit of a circus in every sense of the word. What made it different was it felt very public. When I sat on one of those chairs for the very first time, I felt that everyone on the road – humans, dogs and pigs were watching me. Of course, they were only minding their business. The roadside tree barber would engage you in small talk, and if you were curious enough, you could get a colorful account of life in Deodurg town. They say that a barber is one of the best informants if you are doing some social research anywhere.
Anyway, the barbers got interested in my white strands because it had a direct business implication for them – the profits to be made from dyeing! Barber after barber wanted me to dye my hair and wanted me to look young and dashing again, with jet black hair. With fervent hope, they would always ask ‘Sir, shall I dye your hair this time? Sir it has spread Sir, all over the sides…that too at such a young age, Sir!’ Some of them indeed looked concerned. But I would generally remain unmoved, determined not to yield to their devious business suggestions. By then, I had developed a couple of stock replies: ‘Why should we hide anything?’ I would retort as if I was an open book for everyone to see and write on. And then assert, ‘Let me age naturally! Life will go on!’ This philosophical invective would result in an amused smile from the barber: ‘Ok sir, your wish.’ The next month he would repeat the same questions as if nothing had happened. Great triers, these barbers were!
In the late nineties when I moved to Delhi the white strands were no longer the minority. They were noticed often, comments were passed and I carried on, unfazed. To tempt me further, the East Delhi barber whose shop I frequented tempted me with a ‘package’ consisting of a haircut, head massage and dyeing. ‘But if I dye it will it not turn brown?’ I protested, based on my observations of those who wanted their hair to appear eternally black. I thought that would keep him quiet. But he replied easily. ‘Nowadays there are dyes which will not allow your hair to turn red or brown.’ Of course, I didn’t believe him. Such exchanges would generally end with my stock replies. The barber would then quietly go about his job. A haircut usually resulted in exposing more white matter. Given that I went in for short ‘crew’ cuts, the short, white hair would stand up straight for a few weeks – combing didn’t make any difference a few weeks after every cut.
In North India, they liken marriage to a laddoo. You are told that it is that kind of laddoo which you will regret not eating. And if you do bite into it, you would regret as well! It’s a bit like saying ‘Heads I win, tails you lose.’ Strange laddoo! Anyway, I swallowed this laddoo in 2000 after Herculean efforts by my father to find me a bride. The passport sized photo of mine which was shared as part of the correspondence still hid the white strands that were threatening to come out. I passed the bridegroom test just as she passed hers and we decided to eat the laddoo. I don’t think she noticed that much white matter – in any case, she didn’t look scared or put off. We didn’t get too close for her to notice the defiant white. She later said that she might have reconsidered her decision to bite the laddoo with me. I thought the coconut oil had done the trick!
In a workshop where we were attempting to develop a Country Strategic Plan (CSP) for five years based on what was touted as the ‘Security Framework’ (because we thought everyone was feeling so insecure in the rural communities where we worked!), my colleagues from this new organization I had joined in Delhi noticed the many white strands. It was two weeks before the D-day. During the tea break, I heard ‘Are you not going to dye it before you go to Bangalore?’ for the nth time. The others nodded in agreement. ‘No’. I said as a matter of fact. No explanations were given or asked for. ‘…salt and peppery hair…!’ One of them said as we went back to develop that CSP. I’m not sure if that CSP made much difference anyway in the lives of people. We are often very good at producing lofty sounding documents and think we are doing a great job of bringing ‘development’ to poor communities. And most of the time we spend writing these documents.
Post marriage, when we returned to Delhi, the white secret was out. She felt distinctly uncomfortable about it. I suppose there is this tendency among girls to compare their husbands with their fathers especially where they have enjoyed good relationships with each other. Her advocate father, I was made to believe, had few white strands at sixty. ‘No dyeing-wyeing for him!’ I felt myself shrink and felt like hiding somewhere when I heard things like ‘You look fifty!’ as a matter of fact. ‘You look like my uncle’. Even he looks younger.
Theirs must have been a family of jet black hair owners! Or so I thought, amused and angry. For some years after marriage, she tried hard to get me to dye, but I didn’t budge. Ego problem, some people said. Can’t you just please her? I let it be. Colleagues, friends and anxious sounding relatives kept reminding me now and then. By then, I had developed another stock reply: ‘Accept me as I am. Haven’t I accepted you as you are? The essence of any marital relationship, as I would realize later, is this acceptance. It reduces stress and unnecessary expectations. This argument, however, cannot be stretched too much – there will be cases where one is required to change if the relationship is falling apart or if there are serious problems of relating itself. But that is a discussion I do not want to enter into right now.
In 2001, we had a baby boy. My wife resolved to win him over to her side in her battle against the pure whites. ‘A good four to five years, before he starts pestering me’, I pointed out one day. ‘So what?’ She retorted. ‘At least then you will have no choice. You can’t afford to see him embarrassed in front of his friends by your white hair. He will not even call you his father.’
Till date, my son who’s just crossed eight has not bothered me with the question, except when he’s been pushed to do so. He loves his father as he is, white matter and all. Meanwhile, the proportion of whites has gone up significantly. It shows up in photographs. My wife still talks about it, though I guess she’s realized it’s a losing battle. We now have a darling daughter, all of two years. Perhaps she’s pinning her hopes on the little girl to win me over? After all, daddy’s girls wield tremendous power!
I must admire the barber’s patience, though. All barbers want better business. The dyeing bit brings in more moolah than the cutting bit. So they’ll keep asking the question. They now have a range of techniques and products designed to make you look eternally young. But I suspect it’s a losing battle. The whites, along with the wrinkles, are bound to appear sooner or later. As I write this, the whites have colonized newer areas. Pretty much like a tumor, they have spread to the moustache and the beard. Recently, I noticed a couple of stubborn sprouts on my right eye brow!
My relatives, who I do not meet often, appear surprised every time we get together. I’m sure they talk. Who cares anyway? Many of my cousins are into dyeing – I can easily make it out. Some six months back, at a social gathering, my cousin’s wife called me aside. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, she turned her attention to you know what. As we talked, there was not much eye contact – she was sizing up the white thingies. ‘Dye, dye, dye!’ seemed to be the message. I just had to look better.
There is this modern obsession to lose weight, look young, sexy and fair. ‘Eye candy’ is the term used to describe someone who’s just managed to look right after sweating it for hours in the gym. The industry behind this body manipulation is worth billions of dollars. It sends messages into our subconscious, and once these messages get there, they make damage, since we have been unable to filter them.
The white matter problem is only a small part of this industry, which promises much – smoothening skin wrinkles, whitening teeth, blackening and coloring hair, tucking the tummy in especially if you do not want to exercise, sculpting noses, buttocks and pulling up sagging breasts apart from growing hair on balding pates and god knows what. Approaches vary. In some cases, you are required to apply a cream which will have magical effects on your skin. In other cases, a dye will do the trick. The more complicated cases and desires get under the surgeon’s scalpel. The human body is seen as a commodity. The ads in the newspaper scream: Pay to lose 5 Kgs and lose the next 5 Kgs for free!’ The local barber I visit has a bewildering range of products that include massages and steam baths and so many things I cannot even remember. He is no longer the guy who mainly works with the razor, scissor and comb.
Nowadays my son attends a cricket camp nearby. A classmate of his also comes to this camp to hone his cricketing skills. The other day, we were playing a small game after their practice session. I was wicket keeping while my son’s classmate batted. In between he kept looking at me before taking his guard to face the next ball from my son.
‘You didn’t dye your hair?’ He asked. I reasoned, and if my wife could have heard me thinking, she’d have been delighted -- ‘Which boy would like to have an old looking father?’ But on second, stubborn thoughts, I asked: ‘What if this old looking father has a young heart, loads of questions about life, an insatiable curiosity and desire to live? What if this old looking father wants to stretch the limits and suck very drop from life? Wouldn’t that matter more? What if…?’ The temptation to yield to the dye was banished forever then. We worship the body so much that we forget the heart. The heart doesn’t grow old. And then, we want to live in zones of comfort. Does this not make us old already, even if we may look young?
The surest indicator to find out if you are young or old is to ask if you are child-like. There is a difference between this and being childish. Being child-like allows me to be young, white matter and all. It allows me to be alive to new possibilities every moment. The mind is not grooved in any one particular pattern of thinking and action. There are no self-limiting thoughts, and there is little fear of the unknown. Embracing uncertainty comes naturally in a child-like state. This is the state I aspire to be in, even as the whites conquer and colonize my body. My goal is to find that place inside my self where I am still a carefree child. This can be brought forth. I can therefore bring back my childhood – it is ready to be evoked and integrated into my being. The brilliant writer and therapist A. H Almaas says that this exercise of recapturing childhood is not merely a return to childhood but something more significant:
“When we look at a child,” writes Almaas, “we see that the sense of fullness, of intrinsic aliveness, of joy in being, is not the result of something else. There is value in just being oneself; it is not because of something one does or doesn’t do. It is there in the beginning, when we were children, but it slowly gets lost.”
As adults, it doesn’t quite matter whether one has white or dark matter on one’s head -- we usually lose track of that joy inside us, despite the numerous sources of pleasure and distractions that exist today. Even a very good looking adult with a toned body can still have very low levels of worthiness and satisfaction. The desire to be young again is a symbol of the deeper desire to remain new. Children take to this like a fish takes to water. By putting ourselves back in a childlike mindset, we open the way of learning. As Almaas puts it: “We are the pleasure, we are the joy, we are the most profound significance and the highest value.”
24th August 2009
Bengalooru
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Somewhere on the Kargil-Srinagar Road...want to join me?