National Public School- with TFI

Few interesting and exciting things happened this week.

The week started with TFI (www.teachforindia.org) inviting applicants to visit a school where TFI fellows were teaching a class. I was unable to make it to any of their previous “weekend coffee chats” but decided to go to this one since it seemed like a good opportunity to get acquainted with some ground issues in education. Even after considering that I had to wake up way early than usual and that the school was in Shahdara, it turned out to be a great decision!

The site of crowded naked red-brick houses as the metro crossed the Jamuna was prompt in reminding me of the reality of our cities and societies. The locality of the school- perhaps a worker's class colony on the vicinity of an industrial area made me even more pensive. However, my mood was instantly lifted as I stepped into the school courtyard. The sounds and the feel of a generation being forged! About 7-8 of us were soon welcomed into a class by a young, smiling teacher and the echoes of “Good Morning Didi, Good Morning Bhaiyya” from all over the tiny classroom... The whole place oozed a cheerful positivity... It was after a while that I was returning to a classroom and it was amazing to see how Ghazal (the teacher) introduced India's constitution to kids of 9-10, the way she encouraged kids to think, prodded them with questions, encouraged them to answer, appreciated their efforts... she was so into it! Tottaly made my morning!! All the walls of the class were filled by colourful charts- displaying the "stars" kids had earned, instructing them to speak in English and so on... My favoritest idea was the "curiosity box". Whoever had a question to ask, wrote it on a chit and placed it in the box... what a cool idea! :) Later Ghazal patiently answered our questions about teaching and TFI... After the class visit was done, Mohit- a former fellow, also shared his experiences about working to bring a change in and outside the classroom.

One of the most important take-home message for me was TFI's professional approach to teaching... When I had begun filling their application form, I was frustrated by the same thing- professionality in the information they asked for... But perhaps achieving a real and tangible change on the ground needs much more than the right intent and spirit... We had tried being more systematic when I was involved at Manavya and the Hadapsar project of DreamIndia, but somehow I could never sustain it! But quite motivated by the visit, today I offered Kaushal to help him bring a more professional approach to their efforts in teaching kids in the Timarpur area. The plan is to document and monitor progress- assess and record student levels, keep realistic goals, choose teaching strategies based on an objective analysis, and follow the progress periodically. Have to make it work this time!

I have also filled in the TFI application for 2013... Have to think about where that's going. Probably no where, but still...

Meanwhile, 80% of students enrolled in the Economics class on Coursera are males!! What a shame!

Inspiring a Revolution

Why are we not inspiring people to challenge themselves with problems that they can solve with the power education is giving them? Why are we so obsessed with earning descent survival via money?

CAn we change this? Can we inspire people to bring a revolutionary change- in our society, in our human, relations, in science and technology to our lives?

Do you have a solution? Write comments at this blog.

We and the Indian Dream

Let me start not by the problems that we (henceforth by we I mean India, its people) are facing; but by where we dream to stand. The point being to momentarily forget that we have any problems and to start afresh to achieve this dream.

As I said, by any country what we mean is its people. Of course it includes a lot of other components, but ultimately what we want to achieve is a dream that its people see. So, the way to achieve the collective Indian dream is via achieving the dreams of all of its people. Now the question is, do we all have a dream? Does each one of us imagine himself standing somewhere ahead of where he is now? Do we want to change the way we are?

I think the answer is a little complex than a mere yes or no. The factors to be considered are individual thoughts and perceptions AND social and economical conditions AND professional section.

The needs and aspirations of any human are at 3 levels ( for a more accurate description google for Maslow and theory of motivation).
1. Most basic are the needs of shelter, food, clothes necessary to survive
2. Somewhat intermediate are the needs of emotional sharing and support
3. And then come the aspirations to achieve something more than that is necessary to merely survive.

To put this in the perspective of social and economic conditions-
1. Economically and socially weak class- A huge class of Indian population still striving to satisfy their basic level 1 needs.
2. A lower middle class- They have earned their survival and want to move into the upper middle class.
3. Upper middle class- In this socially and economically stable class I see 2 groups of people.
a. A group that is satisfied with survival and stability. There is no dream.
b. A group that has a dream. They may or may not know how to achieve it. But they are struggling.
4. Rich class- The group that either had a dream and they achieved it or they belonged to the established dynasties. Some of them want to expand their kingdoms and some just want to maintain them.

I hope now it becomes clear, that what we want to achieve as a nation is not a single goal as is usually portrayed. Each socio-economic group is driven by different dreams. The ground realities and issues invloved in achieving these dreams also depend on the professional sectors (agrarian, industrial, service) It would be foolish to expect all groups to work passionately towards a single dream.

In the replies that follow later, I ll try to explore the relation between the dreams of these different groups and how they depend on each other, how the current economic and political condition in the country and the world affects it and what is our role in all this.

Not so simple, is it?

Who am I?

Sorry. This is not a article appropriate to the title.

I am going to tell you some opportunities that can help you answer this question "Who am I?" at least partially. They are excellent opportunities to evaluate your life, your convictions, your view of the world and probably to live a more honest and fulfilling life.

1. "Nirman" shibir- Dr Abhay and Rani Bang

NIRMAN is the initiative of SEARCH since 2006 to identify and nurture social changemakers and active citizens in Maharashtra.
It's a series of 4 residential camps (each of about 7-9 days) to be held at Shodhgram (SEARCH's campus). The camps are organized once in 6 months and the process continues for 2 years. You can participate in it while continuing your education/vocation.
NIRMAN deals with many important issues that a youth faces. The highlights of NIRMAN are:

1. Understanding self thoroughly.
2. Understanding the diversity around me.
3. Exploring the relation among society, nature and I.
4. Getting to know the various problems and challenges that surround us in the 21st century.
5. Experiential understanding of the grass root situation.
6. Interaction with eminent changemakers from various fields.
7. Life Mission: What does it mean? Do I need to have one? How do I identify it?
8. What can I do to grapple with the social, scientific and technological challenges around me?
9. How can I pursue a career that is deeply satisfying and meaningful to me?
10. A large panel of facilitators with varied expertise to help, guide and interact with.
11. Networking of the participants and further exposure to societal issues in the period of six months between two consecutive camps.

In the first series of 4 camps of NIRMAN (held in June 06, Jan 07, July 07 and Jan 08) about 60 youth (professionals, students) from all over Maharashtra participated. The experience was really interesting and inspiring both for the participants and SEARCH.

The next round of NIRMAN camps is beginning from June 2008. The first in this 4 camp series is scheduled from 29 June to 5th July at Shodhgram, Gadchiroli. It will include 60 youth in the age group of 18-25. The process of selection of the participants is in progress now.

If you want to apply, kindly fill up the application form available at http://www.mkcl.org/downloads/nirman/index.htm

The form does not have space for answers and so please write your answers on a separate sheet. The last date for submitting the form is May 15.

Please send the form, duly filled in, to SEARCH, Gadchiroli - 442605 or mail it to nirmaanites@gmail.com

Beautiful Country, Beautiful People and Us

Hi folks,

We all have come together with the dream of a beautiful country.And we agree that a beautiful country will be created by beautiful people.
What do we mean by beautiful people? Let me ask you to do this. Just try to remember the last time you were completely absorbed into something.Anything as mundane as writing a code, making a presentation, or reading an inspirational biography or maybe dreaming of a house you would like to build... Have you ever felt the excitement that comes whenyou are absorbed into something wonderfully creative?
Thats what I mean by beautiful people. Who are constantly doing something creative, something that willmake a difference, to them or to someone else. And they love what they do, they are completely absorbed in the work. No other thoughts, khana-pina sab chod ke just trying to achieve that single thing.

I had the chance to meet two such beautiful persons today.

Suraj is in Class 8 at Manavya. When we reached Manavya today, he and two other kids were sitting on thefloor with thermacol, cardboards, colors, scissors, wooden pieces... When I asked Suraj what was he doing,he told me that they were building the model of an Restaurant. He told me that it would be a garden restaurantwith a stream flowing in the mid. There will be a bridge on the stream. Food will be served in cottages surrounded by trees; there would be benches to sit and an area where you can dance. If you want you can havea candle light dinner or just sit on the grass and enjoy a picnic snack. He was completely absorbed while describing all these things to me and so was I. I immediately asked him whether he could build a college for me.He said yes and then we discussed our plans to do it. Suraj would probably become a wonderful architect.

Tushar is in Calss 10. He writes beautiful poems. Here is the one he wrote yesterday.

अंतराळाची सफ़र ही भारी
ग्रहांची दिशा ही न्यारी

अनेक यंत्रांचा शोध लागला
अनेक तंत्रांचा शोध लागला

अंतराळाची सफ़र....

शोध लागला बुध-नेपच्युनचा
शोध लागला आकाश पाताळाचा

अंतराळाची सफ़र...

You should have seen the glow in his eyes when I was reading the poems to other kids. Tushar would probably become a fabulous writer.

Todays experience made me realise that we have an amazing chance to help build beautiful humans. Humans who would love their work by all their heart. I see this as a challnge in front of us. To help children explore what they like, to help them to nurture their passions and to help them develop into beautiful humans.
(And btw this has nothing to do with their being HIV +ve. We need to build a beautiful human out of every kid.)

Tell me your ideas about how can we help Suraj and Tushar achieve their dreams. Lets share this challenge!

SEZ policy: excerpts

SEZs- leading to the growth of labour intensive manufacturing industry: Out of the 404 formal approvals given till date, 137 approvals are for sector specific and multi product SEZs for manufacture of Textiles & Apparels, Leather Footwear, Automobile components, Engineering etc.. which would involve labour intensive manufacturing. The employment projected in the 172 SEZs notified so far is over 2142,089 additional jobs. SEZs are thus going to lead to creation of employment for large number of unemployed rural youth. Nokia and Flextronics electronics hardware SEZs in Sriperumbudur are already providing employment to 7932 and 2069 persons, majority of which are women. Hyderabad Gems SEZ for Jewellery manufacturing in Hyderabad has already employed 1200 girls majority of whom are from landless families, after providing training to them. They have a projected direct employment for about 30,000 persons. Apache SEZ being set up in Andhra Pradesh will employ 20, 000 persons to manufacture 10,00,000 pairs of shoes every month. Current employment in Apache SEZ is 3549 persons. Brandix Apparels, a Sri Lankan FDI project would provide employment to 60,000 workers over a period of 3 years. Even in the services sector, 12.5 million sq meters space is expected in the IT/ITES SEZs which as per the NASSCOM standards translates into 12.5 lakh jobs. It is, therefore, expected that establishment of SEZs would lead to fast growth of labour intensive manufacturing and services in the country.

Education System

Now I am trying to identify how close we are to such an education system.

I am reading the National Policy on Education (1986, revised in 1992). According to the NPE the essence and role of education (among others) is to-

1. Create individuals with scientific temper and an independent mind and spirit.
2. Create manpower for all levels of economy and Research and Development.

“Education is an investment for the present and future. This cardinal principle is the key to the National Policy on Education”

2 points are very notable-
1. Absence of focus on creating able individuals to achieve the above goals. There is no discussion on what qualities must such an individual have and how education can help achieve them. The education policy seems to focus on the social and developmental goals that education has to meet in general.
2. And if education is seen as an investment, what are the criteria to judge the returns and does the education policy ensure the returns.
The specific aims of higher education have been identified as-

1. Dissemination of specialised knowledge and skills.
2. Producing teachers for the system.

I can identify 3 components (in hierarchy) for achieving these goals-

1. A proper organization of higher education institutes and coordination amongst
them.
2. Infrastructural facilities in these institutes.
3. Efficiency of the grass root teaching and learning process.

Obviously, problems persist in all the 3 components and absence of any one component can lead to severe impediment of the output.

Being a student the teaching and learning process is the closest to me. I will try to identify the problems with this component.

Changing the system

’जाग्रुती यात्रे’ बद्दल वाचत होतो.

“You could be one of the 450 people selected to join the yatra which kicks off on 1st May 2008. We are seeking participants between the age of 18-25 to apply, especially those who have an interest in learning how to scale up grass roots social and business initiatives. If your application is succesful, you will have the opportunity to meet and learn from the real heroes and change makers of India and pick up on invaluable, life changing experience.”

As a part of their application they have asked us to fill up a questionnaire.

One of the questions was- “What is the single biggest challenge that India faces in the next decade? What will be your contribution towards addressing the challenge you mentioned above?”

I think that the biggest challenge before us as a country is to increase the efficiency in grass root processes in every sector including education, governance, bureaucracy, industry and commerce. For achieving optimal efficiency in any process apart from the suitable infrastructure it is necessary that the human resource involved is competent and willing to achieve the optimal efficiency. This will happen only when every individual realises his full potential and expresses it for achieving efficiency. So, the challenge is to create a society which will produce such individuals.

There are many factors that should form the part of such a society. The foremost being an education system conducive to our aim. (So the reforms have to inevitably begin with the educational system) What are the elements of such an educational system?

"Manavya"

I am workin with a group for a ngo called "manavya" which is home to around 50 HIV +ve kids...i try to go there every sunday and teach kids basic mathemetics, reading and writing marathi etc.

Its been a very nice experience so far...We have been there for 8-10 sessions and I have realized that teaching simply even to count is so tough.

What drew me to this is probably my liking for teaching and what i feel my current attraction to questions related to psychology (especially of children) and i guess also my still unexplored interest in handling such organizational system.

Overall I am tryin to explore myself with those kids...one of the quests...