Of
meanings and means
Learning
is a life-long process. When an elderly grandmother and
a fresh graduate study together and think about child education,
the learning becomes all the more interesting. That is what
Vikramshila’s Early Childhood Learning (ECL) training is
all about. It is a training course where trainees feel a
change within themselves after nine months of exposure to
the world of early childhood. They learn to look at the
child from a different perspective. That is why, after completing
the training one trainee feels inspired to work for deprived
children, another makes use of it to bring up her grandchild
at home, whereas a third one dreams of opening up an ideal
Montessori House where children would be allowed the freedom
to live their lives as they need to live. The course has
been attracting a mixed group of people simply for its unique
content and practical applicability. Its popularity is rising
every year. Young girls from orthodox Muslim families, housewives
from conservative Bengali families, chic college students
– all find something worthwhile in the training.
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A
pleasant experience in the land of rolling hills and lilting
music
We had
another truly memorable experience last month. We were invited
by the Government of Mizoram to give training on "Effective
Classroom Practices". The sixty participants of the workshop
were all very important in their respective jobs – joint directors,
deputy directors, professors, lecturers, school principals,
et al. In spite of being inaccessible in the physical sense
of the term, Mizoram has made an impressive headway in the
field of primary education ensuring 100% access to children.
The capital city of Aizawl, the venue for the training, has
only recently been connected to the rest of India through
Calcutta by air. The participation of trainees from the remotest
corners of the state, covering a distance of more than 250
miles of winding mountainous roads, was an indication of the
priority given to education, and how they have come about
achieving this kind of result. The Mizos are very shy and
soft spoken, so we were delighted to find them breaking into
loud exuberant laughter, much to their own surprise, while
doing some funny exercises on Creativity during the training.
The training was unique in the sense that it covered a large
area – teaching English to beginners, motivating teachers
during a teachers training, teaching social sciences in higher
classes and removing "blocks" about Maths! We received a call
from them last week telling us that the participants were
already applying the inputs with great enthusiasm. 
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Teachers’
Day was celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and vigour by
the students of our non-formal education centres in the
city. They confidently put up animated performances in each
centre. While watching them perform, it was hard to tell
that they were all children from the slums and streets,
and not from the so-called elite institutions.