October 2004

From the Editor's Desk

Hello readers!
Shubho Bijaya!! This issue got delayed by a couple of days, and I apologise for it. Actually we had been on our toes since the last two months regarding organising a very interesting seminar, the detail of which I’ll be sharing in our next issue. When we bring across our work through this newsletter, we also wish that the readers share with us anything that had caught their interest. In this way, we can be mutually enriched. So please, keep writing to us. A couple of our readers had expressed their interest to know about education and related issues-on our ideas and views on the same. This time, at the end of the newsletter, we have kept such a matter as a hyperlink; interested people can open and read it. If you like it, at times, we can keep such matters as part of the regular content.
- Anupama (Editor)

A rejuvenating capacity building initiative

Tripura is a tiny little north -eastern state which shares a common language and culture with West Bengal. Naturally, we were quite excited when we were invited by the Government of Tripura to conduct an intensive Master Training programe for a group of 40 teachers, who would then become their state resource persons and train about 12,000 teachers in the coming 10 months. It was a 21 day course which we designed very carefully keeping in mind the context and the need –a challenging task but we enjoyed every moment of our work and our stay in Tripura from 15.9.04 to 6.10.04. The 40 trainees were highly qualified teachers handpicked by the Education Department from Government High Schools, with their experience ranging from 7 to 27 years. The entire experience was like a roller coaster ride – their initial resistance and reluctance giving way to a childlike eagerness and exuberance. We shared with them the joy they experienced for the first time the liberating taste of thinking outside “boxes”. What touched us most was the honesty and openness of all their responses. The School Education Director too was struck at the amazingly positive group dynamics and the high level of commitment of the group to “make a difference” and went out of his way to free them from all bureaucratic tangles so that they could get on with the onerous task of training thousands of teachers and bringing about a change in the education system. We were greatly touched by the tremendous co-operation and proactive role of all the state government officials we interacted with.

Tripura - an experience which we are surely going to cherish for years to come.

Vikramshila's Diary

A wonderful interaction

Ms. Joan Lombardi is a child and family policy specialist, serving as an advisor to a number of national organizations and foundation across US on early care and education issues. She served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She had come across our short film, “Life and Learning” on the Bigha school and had liked it so much that she expressed the desire to meet us during her visit to Kolkata. On September 18th, we organised an informal discussion, where she along with her husband Mr. Neville Beharie, shared with us (we and a few other grassroot organisations) about the public education system in the US, highlighting certain interesting things like state government’s responsibility for spending on education, the positive role of corporate organisations, the medium of instruction et al. Afterwards all of us had a healthy exchange of thoughts on our own experiences and Indian realities, and picking up from her emphasis on significance of police intervention in after-school programmes, we spoke of our Nabadisha initiative. It instantly caught their admiration for the novelty of the concept. All in all, it turned out to be a memorable interaction for all of us.

A successful advocacy effort

Hope you remember that we had made a short film on our rural school at Bigha, a few months back. The basic purpose of this film titled “Life and Learning” was to capture the essence of the programme, and use it as an advocacy tool. We organised a screening of the film on 14th September at Bikash Bhavan in Kolkata. This was attended by the Presidents/Directors/ Secretaries and officials of the various school Boards, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT). We just couldn’t stop smiling when we heard the officials discussing among themselves that they would like to promote this as a kind of rural ‘role model’- albeit with a few modifications!

Towards institutionalisation of Nabadisha

A one-day teachers’ workshop was held in Lalbazar (Kolkata Police Headquarters) on the pattern of education imparted in Nabadisha schools. The idea of this workshop was to bring all NGOs implementing Nabadisha under one fold, with guidance by Kolkata Police, for bringing some kind of uniformity in the curriculum and methodology for Nabadisha children. After five years, this programme is in the process of getting institutionalised. It is inspiring to see that curriculum and pedagogy practiced in Vikramshila Nabadisha centres are going to be a part of the overall framework in the Nabadisha centres of other organisations.

NabaDisha completes five years

Like every year, Teachers’ Day was celebrated this year as well with all our teachers of NabaDisha. Though this year, it was a bit more special. NabaDisha has completed five years. There are a few teachers who had been with it right from the beginning, and this occasion was just right to felicitate them for their efforts. Mementos were presented to five such teachers, and beautifully handmade cards and flowers for all. And the cultural part was definitely there - a perfect blending of songs, dance and jugglery performances by children. Dr. Abdus Sattar (President, WB Board of Madrasah Education) and Md. Refatullah (Consultant, WB Board of Madrasah Education) graced the occasion with their presence and appreciation.

Democracy and Education

With years, democracy has acquired strong emotive overtones. There are various perspectives as to how we perceive democracy. In this age like ours, ‘social democracy’ is what is perhaps desired – a political system in which, in addition to conventional liberal rights, there exists a considerable measure of collective action to create social and economic equality. The widely used concept “Democracy” has undergone change from the days of its origin. In Greek times the demos was a section of population (the poor and the numerous), and all types of government were thought of as sectional government. But in modern times, democracy has come to mean rule by the whole people - what is meant is, in a democracy, legitimacy is a function of laws being a product of a majority decision, where access to that decision-making process is not restricted to some particular class or group.

Well, this type of political system appears to be very promising, but isn’t there pre-conditions for the effective working of such democracy? Take for example, a group of people/ a country comprising of many, who enjoy universal adult suffrage, who are apparently having the power to elect a representative government. The genuine concern is, are they empowered enough to make ‘informed choice’, if the populace is entrenched in poverty, ignorance and various other types of economic and social handicap!

Civil society is based on the concept of human rights, which are essential for the dignity of the individuals. No polity can be a democratic one, if it does not recognise this premise. Theoretically, in Indian Constitutional scheme, ‘people’ is the pivot around which all the powers rotate. Pt. Nehru had voiced, “I trust that the Constitution itself will lead us to real freedom that we have clamoured for and that real freedom in turn, will bring food to our starving people, clothing for them, housing for them and all manners of opportunities of progress.” But has the concept of human rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution being properly honoured.

Democracy believes in giving freedom to the people, but if the people are not educated and are not groomed for social good, then the significance of freedom gets diluted. So, a democracy, which is based on faith in the dignity and worth of every single individual, must succeed with the help of an education system that aims at the full and all-round development of every individual’s personality. Equal access to education with equal opportunity and broad access to education with democracy in education are the keynote to democratisation of education. Democratising education does not only mean giving more education to more people, but also involving more people in educational management. Would it be right to say that it just doesn’t mean equality of educational opportunity, but also implies standardisation of educational facilities…..