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Introduction:
The
project undertaken involved the documentation of the work done by SRISTI in
education and towards setting up of supplementary schools and ashrams in
selected villages of Rapar taluka, Kutch area. It is part of the ongoing
rehabilitation effort SRISTI is providing to the affected villages and peoples.
My
work involved visiting the villages and seeing how much of an impact the efforts
of SRISTI had made there. I’m no educationist but most of us have this innate
ability to distinguish between what is right, what we think is right and what is
not quite right. I would prefer to address the efforts of SRISTI in specific
terms as in “A SRISTI school in a village” rather than SRISTI schools in
villages, as each village has its own not so wonderful set of oddities and
peculiarities.
I
do hope this will make interesting reading and serve as a future guide to the
efforts made by SRISTI in the villages of Gujarat.
Neil
Mascarenhas
Methodology:
As
the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen put it, “ What we choose to describe is an
interpretation in itself”. How we go about the choosing in an art as well.
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A interaction with teachers and students |
SRISTI Volunteer meeting
students in a makeshift camp School |
What
initially was hoped, for were the personal life, the aspirations of the
villagers, the trauma and the pain they went through following the earthquake.
That we did get, but it seemed the same for all the villages. They did lose a
lot, but they hardly lost anything at the same time. Their spirits were intact.
What we had to look for were the hidden expressions and gestures that showed
themselves in their responses and speech.
Two
SRISTI workers, Ramesh and Anil, stationed at base camp in the Neelpar village,
proved indispensable to the efforts made in traveling to, and in the collection
and documentation of information from the villages we visited. We visited
Dardhro,
Pratapgad, Khanpar, Pethapar, Shyangadh, Pagiwad, Thoriyali.
In
each village, we spoke to the parents and the elders of the village, their
children, many of them students at the school, then the teacher volunteers of
SRISTI and if we could, the government appointed teacher. It is important to
understand that most of these villages had government built schools, ruined
after the earthquake. The new schools were either concrete structures erected by
NGO’s, or a temporary structure, known as a tumboo. The teachers were
government appointed and were supposed to be present everyday, to educate the
village students.
The
villagers were questioned on various aspects of their life, work, crops,
thoughts, the aftermath of the earthquake, their children, their relations with
the other villagers, their attitudes towards education, their attitudes towards
emancipation of women, and towards the concept of education. In their responses,
we looked for the interest levels pertaining to education and what they thought
of what we were trying to propagate. We were very happy with the responses of
some and let down by the responses of others. However, all in all, it still is a
paintable picture.
The
documentation also includes photographs of the schools and the students.
Education
Efforts In Kutch:
A
need for the educational rehabilitation in the Rapar Taluka, Kutch area was felt
by SRISTI and a Shodh Yatra, a symbolic march towards the scouting of innovators
and the betterment of the villages, was undertaken. The Shodh Yatra took off
from Dabhuda in the Rapar Taluka and from June 16th to June 23rd
went all the way up to Sarasla. The Yatra covered about 15 villages and in
eight of them, schools were set up by SRISTI. Teaching materials and study
materials were provided by SRISTI for the teachers and the students. Meetings,
biodiversity contests and discussions were held to tap the latent knowledge and
build an interest in education in the children. Small libraries were also set up
and many books like the Gujarati Encyclopedia (Vishwakosh) were donated by
SRISTI.
SRISTI
hoped to achieve their initiative of the education through alternate learning.
Education isn’t limited to what is learnt in school and it is by this that
SRISTI hopes to make an impact in the villages, hence the term alternate
education. This can be imparted through poetry, song, dance, games, practical
work and workshops. Education was minimal at the existing government schools
with the non-attendance of teachers and students. After the earthquake, most of
the school buildings collapsed. Hence, education had come to a virtual
standstill. The literacy levels were below low even though the area flourished
in biodiversity. Another problem was the migration away from the village after
the earthquake due to causes relating to the earthquake or otherwise. SRISTI
made an effort to stop this migration through the opening of ashrams in some
villages and were able to mobilize a few local teachers for this cause.
Infrastructure was created in the villages by SRISTI and an awareness was
created among the villagers as to the importance of education.
Most
of the villages are plagued with social problems and do not understand how
education can help them. They see education as a means to an end. They do not
see the full implication of education in their lives. To help them, SRISTI
appointed a teachers in every village who were capable of imparting knowledge to
the students and improve their thinking and self confidence. Their task was
enormous as the villages were fraught with issues like caste, status of women,
poor infrastructure, drought, bad crops, poor markets, etc. Hence it would prove
quite a task. SRISTI organized a meeting among the innovative teachers to map
out a plan to achieve their aim of educational rehabilitation in the Kutch area.
Highlights
of the Discussion:
Prof.
Anil Gupta, founder of SRISTI shared his experiences of the Shodh Yatra with the
teachers and the committee.
1) Temporary schools were started in about ten villages during the Shodh
Yatra.
2) Libraries were created in around 10 villages and around 20,000 pages of
books were donated, including encyclopedia.
3) Biodiversity contests were help in the villages to tap the latent
knowledge of the farmers.
4) It was planned that those farmers possessing indigenous knowledge would
try to disseminate it in the SRISTI school for the benefit of the students, an
emphasis on alternative.
5) Innovative teachers would try to impart alternative education to the
students in the SRISTI schools.
Outcome
of the Discussion:
1)
In the Rapar Taluka there is a great distance between schools and hence
the students and teachers find commuting a problem. This is also due to the
shortage of teachers in this area.
2)
The degree of seasonal migration is very high, due to the drought and the
need for work outside the village after the harvest. The parents migrate to make
charcoal or mud or collection of salt. They either take their children with
them, or leave them behind with the extended family. SRISTI has tried to curb
this by establishing ashrams in these villages.
3)
The education of women is pathetic with fewer than six percent of the
females attending school. This problem is endogenous and is a social problem.
4)
The infrastructure of most of the villages has been destroyed. Houses
have collapsed and the school buildings have fallen. The villages are in the
process of rebuilding and many of the students are still traumatized by the
earthquake.
5)
The NGO's have done an admirable job in most of the villages, but a more
concerted effort is required.
6)
Enrollment in school is not enough. Attendance of both the teachers and
the students is very important to sustain the effort.
Educational
Management:
Plans
were discussed as how to go about in the initial stages of the education
development. This was done keeping in mind the discussed issues and the respects
of the village people.
1)
There was one group of 6-7 teachers. More teachers should be trained to
work in each of the villages. Experts in various educational fields should
impart the training.
2)
A coordination committee would be set up to monitor these groups.
3)
The groups should collect specific educational statistics and a database
should be prepared.
4)
The ratio of enrollment, and the constraints regarding the education of
girls should be examined, before and after the earthquake.
5)
Teacher recruitment, temporary teachers, were mostly educated locals
selected in each village to run the school.
6)
Effort to curb the migration problem in some villages to be seen to.
7)
Opinion and review of the local society needed.
8)
Details and statistics on the health and nutrition of the children
attending the school as such factors have a positive correlation with education.
9)
Base-camp to organize these efforts were set up at Neelpar at the Gram
Swaraj Sangh. The SRISTI personnel conducted all activities from here.
This
is a general overview of the initial stages of the programme and the groundwork
done to that effect. What remains to be seen, is how much the programme has
taken off in these villages and what more is required of the villagers and the
SRISTI personnel. With this, I
embarked on the trip to Kutch.
Sun
and Sand.
This phrase is most often used to describe holiday resorts. But not here. This
is the unforgiving Rann of Kutch. The green Rann, full of the parasitic and
almost useless ganda babal and cacti, is home to a few talukas and far flung
villages. Traveling is a definite problem here and the few modes of transport
available are the rickety State transport buses, the jeeps shuttling between
villages and the chhakda, an improvised rickshaw cum Enfield bullet. The
villages all come under the purviews of the Rapar taluka and its jurisdiction
stretches for a radius of about 50 kilometers.
The
first village that we planned on visiting was Dardhro. While waiting for a bus
to get us there, we chanced upon the teacher chosen for the SRISTI school in
Dardhro. His name was Jethabhai Sadur Kohle. Meanwhile, we met a curious
passerby who introduced himself as Kirti Morbia, a contractor living at Rapar.
He didn’t paint a particularly rosy picture for us regarding the
infrastructure for education provided by the government. He spoke about the
government apathy towards the cause of education, keeping mostly the
construction of temporary schools and the repair of the dilapidated buildings as
their first and only priority. He showed us the school building in Rapar, which
had partially collapsed and had been hastily repaired by the government. Morabia,
being a contractor, had questioned the repair of a dilapidated structure. “Why
not put your own kids in such buildings?” he told the authorities.
The
Tata Relief Committee had offered to build a proper earthquake resistant
concrete structure, but were turned down by the government favouring a builder
who put up a temporary shed as a school. What is ironic, is that all the
collapsed school buildings in the villages and in Rapar, were constructed by the
government, which collapsed a few months later on charges of corruption.
Morabia,
also a teacher of Feng-shui and Vaastu, spoke of the time when the then Prime
Minister Chandrashekar, at the behest of a few NGO’s, had visited and a huge
ceremony was held in his honour where he promised to build 51 buildings for the
needy. A tape of the ceremony was made to obtain funds for the project, but the
money that came in was never seen and no buildings were made. “NGO’s don’t
make a difference as they are not doing what they are claiming” he rues.
The
system of education in the rural areas also leaves a lot to be desired, he said.
The rural people want fast money, as they need it. The government should start
vocational courses in machining and plumbing and electrical fittings as you can
earn anywhere with these qualifications. Everyone is after money, that was his
point.
Keeping
this in mind, we caught the bus to Dardhro with the teacher Jethabhai.
Dardhro
Dardhro
it first seems was pretty much a dust road bus stop. The village was hidden away
from the road by the numerous ganda babal trees. We surveyed the tumboo put up
by SRISTI as an initial effort in the village. Soon interest in us grew and a
few village men approached us. We sat in the shade of the tumboo and began our
assignment. The men of the village
vaguely remembered the Shodh Yatra undertaken by SRISTI earlier. They peer into
the distance in recall.
To
many of the villagers, education seems a relatively unheard concept. A villager
Dayalbhai has a boy and 2 girls, none of whom are in school. He simply claims
not to know that they should be in school. “What’s the use?” he asks. We
tell him that education is for the child to improve and see opportunity not
available to his parents, and that the future generations would benefit.
Unfortunately, Dayalbhai sees only the promise of a non-existent government job
in his child’s future.
The
teacher Jethabhai says that 52 students are registered in the school out of
which only 36 attend and that too very irregularly. The government teacher as
well comes irregularly. “He does not teach well” echoed the village group.
Later
in his home, Jethabhai confessed that he had wanted to become a teacher as he
didn’t particularly like the village work. Luckily, the villagers liked the
fact that Jethabhai wanted to teach and elected him as their village teacher.
The only drawback was that they didn’t want to send their kids to the school.
A
village elder Anadabhai agreed that education is important to get government
service and to become business people. We made them understand that their level
of education and the fact that their children don’t attend school won’t help
much in their pursuit of a government job. The only villager in the group that
agreed with what we said, was a Border Security Force soldier on leave,
Bikhabhai Bimakhwania. He had been posted near the Pakistan border and had faced
the realities that required quick thinking that he believed was developed
through education.
Jethabhai
developed an interest in the kids through stories and games. He narrated the
story of the crow and the pot of water wherein the crow raised the level of the
water by dropping stones in it. This pleased us immensely and we used this story
as we moved to the other villages. We asked Jethabhai if he had ever
demonstrated the story to the children. He hadn’t done so.
The
villagers spoke of the problems faced by some of them, their electricity had
been cut off due to the officials having absconded, the water table having
lowered after the earthquake and the drought they faced for the last 5 years.
They had been forced to seek work elsewhere making salt and this kept them away
from the village for months. This didn’t particularly help the cause of
education in the village.
The
status of women as well in the village left a lot to be desired. The group
spokesperson Lakubhai said, “the only time a Kohli caste women goes to the
bazaar is when she is ill, otherwise never”. What he meant was that on her way
to see the doctor in the market area, she would have to do the shopping as well!
He also commented about the Rabri caste saying “Rabri caste women do all the
work from fifty rupees to five paise, cause the men have no mind”! The few
things the women do in the village are the usual housework and child rearing and
the removing of weeds in the field. They don’t do much embroidery either. Then
women study only till the fourth standard and hence are relegated to the
background. This was seen by the non-attendance of girls in the school.
Our efforts to show them that women can be an important asset were
unheeded. We used examples of Amul and other cooperatives to show them how women
have come up elsewhere, to no avail.
Jethabhai
then took us to another vad in the village where we had an audience with the
villagers, mostly women. We preached the importance of education to them. I was
beginning to feel like a prophet spreading the Good News! The women told us that
the children of their village used to attend school at the main Dardhro village
but were reluctant to go back to the school after the earthquake, more out of
fear as the previous government built school building had collapsed.
This
vad was proficient in embroidery and showed us many samples of their work. We
were awed and asked why didn’t they sell it. They claimed that there was no
market for such garments. They gave
us a glass of chaas to drink and sang bhajans for us. Soon, we were on our way
back to base-camp at Neelpar.
Observations
at Dardhro:
1) There seems to be a general apathy towards education in this village. The
villagers aren’t interested in sending their children to school.
2) They lack the basic amenities like electricity and cleaner water that the
other villages enjoy.
3) There is a lack of a sustained effort of NGO’s in the villages. A metal
bathroom has been erected by an NGO in the village, seems a waste as it is never
used. It serves no useful purpose in their lifestyle.
4) Both the government and the NGO’s neglect the village.
5) There is a lack of practicality in the teaching regarding both the SRISTI
and the government teacher.
6) The attendance of the girls at the school was nought. The status of women
in this village was much worse than in any of the other villages visited.
7) The attendance of the students in general at the existing school is
pitiful. A stricter approach should be made towards this problem by informing
the parents. If there is noncompliance from the parents, then they should be
shamed in front of the villagers.
8) There seems to be a hoping that education will give the villagers a
government job. This false hope should be killed as soon as possible.
What
SRISTI can do:
1) The Shodh Yatra hasn’t made much of an impact on the villagers. So
another way has to be found for them to realize the importance of education. One
way would be to take the villagers out of their village to a proper school and
show them what education can do. This would be a more practical approach rather
than preaching to them in their own homes. The villagers must be moved out of
their limiting confines for them to really ‘see’.
2)
A sustained effort has to be made by SRISTI towards education in a
village like Dardhro. They may not trust their own teacher and psychologically
depend on the SRISTI volunteers who seem ‘greater’ in comparison. Out of
sight is out of mind. So the volunteer should visit the village at least once to
twice a week in the beginning to see that everything is on track.
3) A study pattern or syllabi within a time frame has to be set by the
educationists chosen by SRISTI in consultation with a competent authority. The
teaching imparted should complement what the government teacher is doing. Eg.
The government teacher and the SRISTI teacher are both teaching the students
alphabets and numbers. It serves no greater purpose then of having a special
SRISTI teacher.
4) There should be a joint effort of NGO’s in that region. Eg. If the
villagers worry about their water situation etc, then the education of their
children does get affected as in most villagers it is the little girls who have
to walk for kilometers to get water. So SRISTI should coordinate with the
NGO/govt. (UNICEF) to cover the village under their water provision plan.
5) A proper school with a table should be set up in the village. The school
would seem like an office and there would be greater respect for the system
then.
6) The syllabi and the teaching should be more practical. The lessons taught
should be followed by a practical example which would appeal to the young minds
and impart a greater understanding and ability to think.
7) ‘Women as an asset’ should be stressed in the village if they have
any hope of improving. The women should be brought together and form a group to
perform any commercial activity.
8) SRISTI should as an additional effort, help the village at what they are
good at. Eg. The nearby vad of Dardhro was proficient in embroidery. SRISTI
should invite and coordinate with an NGO working in the area of women’s
traditional industries to commercialise the efforts of the women there.
9) Education should be marketed to the villagers for improving themselves,
finding better ways to do things with less effort, improving their imagination
and thereby improving how they live. Eg. If a village boy is trained in
pipefitting, he possibly can figure out a way of irrigating a field from the
borewell using a network of pipes. SRISTI or another NGO could provide the raw
material for this task. A villager could probably build a better house simply
based on what he has seen or read or imagined using the simplest of materials.
10)
The
hope of getting a government job seems to be a norm among all the villages that
we went to. This false hope should be addressed, or even this fact could be
exploited. Officially, the government provides employment for villagers if they
have studied till the 9th or the 10th standard and even
then, it is corruption riddled. The fact could also entice villagers to study
till the 9th standard.
11)
When parents of students leave to go to work elsewhere for months, their
children should be put into the SRISTI ashrams at Pagiwad or Khanpar, as this
would intensify their education and keep them free of compulsions from other
families in their village.
Pratapgad
“Ek
meri dingli ko eysi sajaoo
Ek
nakh may nuthnee pehenaoo”
This
melodious refrain of a village girl brings to an end our lazy afternoon siesta
on the porch of the house of the teacher Narseebhai Bijalbhai. He shows us with
pride the survey he is carrying out of the nearby vads of the number of children
that come to school and we appreciate the interest Narseebhai is exhibiting.
He points to the new school, a plywood building, the old government built
one having collapsed in the earthquake. “Today being a Sunday, a holiday, you
may not get to meet the students” he says. But our presence draws the ever
curious children closer. They sit in a circle at the porch, spot the camera and
demand a photograph, both the boys and the girls, the girls a little shyly, of
course. We indulge them happily.
Slowly
we draw the children into conversation. Parvinbhai in the 6th
standard says “studying is good as it makes us get knowledge”. We don’t
disagree. They are all one, giggling away and offering useful bits of
information. They unanimously stand by their government teacher and by
Narseebhai. “The teachers are good as they can teach well” echo the boys.
All this while the girls remain smiling, but silent. Parvinbhai says he wants to
be a teacher. After his 7th, he wants to go to Chitrod and study till
the 12th. We look at Narseebhai and we can see the satisfied glee on
his face.
He
later confides that the previous government teacher was extremely irregular and
was changed. “The new teacher Arvind Asari is good” he says, “he is an
adivasi”. The kids say that they study and do their lessons everyday. We are
happy and we ask them to sing a song for us. The silent girls can now be heard
the loudest. We let them go.
Narseebhai
points out that the problems of the school of nonattendance lie mostly with the
students and not the parents. After the parents go to the fields, the children
run away and play and return before the parents return. The boys sometimes go to
play with and tend to the bulls. The parents have no problems with the school.
They send their children regularly. They even come and check while he teaches.
The parents of around 25-30 students realize the importance of education in the
village and their children are regular. The rest 60-70 come off and on, during
the rains. The village school boasts a registration of a 102, including students
from the nearby vads.
The
other problem of nonattendance comes when the parents leave for months to make
mud. Sometimes the parents take their children with them, against the wish of
the teacher, as they are good students, or leave them behind with Narseebhai who
takes care of them till their parents return. His house is an ashram especially
during festivals like Diwali. We marvel at this 20-year-old teacher. His sister
sits nearby and listens. We see a different light in this village, one that is
much brighter and full of hope.
Narseebhai
tells us that a village woman may soon help him out. She has offered to. His
friend Veljibhai Kasanbhai does so as well. We ask Narseebhai what he teaches
the children. Other than the normal alphabets, and songs and poems, which the
government teacher teaches, Narseebhai show them new things like crops and
different vegetables. He teaches them mudwork and how to build houses and such.
“The children want to learn more” he says, “they are open to ideas”.
We
wait for the parents, but they are away in the fields. We thank Narseebhai and
move for Khanpar. We hope we shall see this bright light there as well.
Observations at Pratapgad :
On
the whole, we were pleased with the effort of Narseebhai at Pratapgad. The
results of his survey on the number of students in the village and nearby vads
should be out soon.
1) Narseebhai has made a good start in undertaking the work of SRISTI in the
village.
2) Gender discrimination is not much of an issue here. The girls and boys
attend school together as equals
3) Boys are aloof and bunk school very often.
4) Some parents are stubborn and do not allow their children to continue
school when they migrate toward better prospects.
What
SRISTI can do
:
1) This would be a good time for SRISTI to introduce a pattern of study or a
syllabus in the school as Narseebhai would need to increase his field of
teaching later.
2) The villagers whose children attend regularly should be appreciated for
their foresight and values for pushing their children to go to school.
Presenting them something they could use in the home during a short ceremony
could do this. This is necessary as rituals play an important part in village
life.
3) The volunteers should visit the village often to help, even if
symbolically, so that the efforts of Narseebhai and his help can be sustained.
Khanpar
This
was by far the best village we visited. We had decided to bed for the night at
this village and were welcomed warmly by the teacher Navjeebhai. This village
suffered no water problems. They received chlorinated water directly from a
UNICEF tanker even though they had a huge water reservoir a stone’s throw away
from the village. Somehow it didn’t strike me to ask why they were provided
water inspite of there being a clean water body besides the village, while other
villages who hardly had water, got nothing.
We
ate a meal of onions sautéed in peanut oil, dal, rice, rotis and rotla, a type
of a roti made from bajra, a gujarati favorite. The meal was washed down with a
glass of chaas, and then we settled down. As Ramesh and Anil chatted with
Navjeebhai and his family, I gazed upon the sky pregnant with stars. The sight
was breathtaking! The moon, though not in full bloom, lit the sky, a permanent
dawn.
Early
next morning, we went about our task. We called upon the acting headman of the
village, Karsambhai. He summoned the elders and the fathers of the school
children. The children had already gathered in the school for their morning
lesson. The school was a partially enclosed cement structure erected by SRISTI.
The school had a blackboard, a few plastic chairs and a steel cupboard. We sat
and Ramesh proceeded with a small ceremony of the laying of hands and breaking
of a coconut, that renewed the contribution of the villagers towards the efforts
of education in the village. The coconut and jaggery were then distributed and
consumed by all.
The
villagers fondly remember the Shodh Yatra. They remembered seeing the video clip
on agriculture on the Laptop computer. We asked Navjeebhai about the attendance
at school. He said that most of the children of the 30 odd houses come. We did
notice a low attendance among the girls, and our enquiry sent the fathers
scurrying to bring their daughters. Jinnabhai enthusiastically said, “ the
parents of those students who do not come to school will be fined 50 rupees”
We
later brought it down to 10 rupees. We asked the parents why some of the
children do not attend. They said that their parents migrate to make kholsa or
charcoal. “For the last three years we have received very little rain”
informs Tezabhai Shamabhai. The villagers go to the Khawada Taluka, to Banni to
make kholsa. The earthquake hasn’t
dampened their spirits and they tell us they won’t leave even if another
earthquake comes. However, if they get money and a house in the city, then they
wouldn’t mind leaving the village.
They
are happy with the work of the NGO’s in the village, but are wary as well
owing to a bad experience with a Bangalore based NGO, who took money from them
to build houses and was never seen again. “Now, we first tell them to build
and then we give them money” says Jemabhai Kasambhai, wiser from the
experience. A government official
Dhirubhai Shah visited the village and promised them monetary relief. He kept to
his word. The villagers are happy as every thing is going pretty well for
them.
We
asked the villagers whether the women take an active part in the education of
their children. A village man said “the women don’t know anything, so don’t
do anything”. There are 15 girls in the school. A father hopes his daughter
will get into government service, or luck will see her through. “The girls are
good at embroidery”, he tells us.
Ramesh
pulls Navjeebhai aside, and it gives me a chance to talk to the children. We ask
the children whether they have a lot of friends in school, but they say not
outside the village. The children of the other vads don’t come. At this point
let me relate this incident. We passed a vad as we went to Khanpar and spoke to
the villagers there. They were building a plinth structure for the house and
gave us interesting insight into its construction. We asked them if their
children attended the school at Khanpar village. They said that their children
used to attend but due to problems with the children of the Khanpar village,
they stopped going. They declined to give a more comprehensive reason. Ramesh
secretly admitted later that the school had become a sort of a status symbol.
The vad felt that they had enough houses, approximately 45, to have a school and
wanted a separate school in their vad christened Ramnagar. We were absolutely
unprepared for this, but were silently happy at the fact that the school had
some weight in the life of the villagers.
We
asked the children if they like the teachers at their school. “There are two
of them” they replied, “we like the first very much”. The first teacher’s
name is Mahendrabhai. “The second teacher beats us a little more, so we don’t
like him that much” the children chorus. As we leave the school, I bump into a
little boy Dinesh Virambhai. “So what do you want to be when you grown up?”
I ask him; “a policeman or a doctor, I love school” he says. We tell the
students that they need to study at least till the 10th standard. “We would
have to go to the city for that”, says the father of a student, “who will
give us the money for clothes, food, books and staying?” he adds.
This
village is a good model of the efforts of SRISTI.
Observations
at Khanpar
:
1) The village was a good village in terms of the infrastructure and the
villagers. They had received a lot after the earthquake.
2) They realized the importance of education. Many of the students were
regulars at the school.
3) Many of the girls didn’t come to the school. They weren’t disciplined
enough to listen to their parents or the teacher. They refused to come when
called and went about doing their own thing.
4) The only girls in the school were the girls in the 1st and 2nd
standard. It was also upsetting to note that it was not the parents of the
girls, but many a time the girls themselves that refused to go to the school.
5) There are many bright students as well who want to study till the 10th,
but the village school is limited.
What
SRISTI can do
:
1) Have a meeting with the parents specifically about the attendance of
their daughters at the school. A compromise has to be made between attendance
and their duties. The realities have to be faced rather than insisting that the
girls just attend school.
2) A scholarship scheme should be started for those deserving students to a
boarding school in the Rapar area. A good idea would be to start with the Gram
Swaraj Sangh at Neelpar where we had established base camp. This would spur the
good students on and make their parents proud. It is not necessary to wait until
they finish the village school, but if they show promise, then even earlier.
3) The problems of the nearby Vad have to be addressed. They have around 42
potential students in their vad and none of them attend school. This is not a
good beginning for the vad. Efforts have to be made to solve the problems of the
vad and the Khanpar village.
Pethapar
Pethapar
was the only village I visited that had suffered casulties in the earthquake.
Two young children lost their lives here. The village is under heavy repair.
Larsen & Toubro are undertaking the construction of earthquake proof RCC
houses for the villagers to occupy. We reached the school which was a tumboo
erected as the school building had collapsed. In this village, the efforts of
SRISTI have gone in vain. The SRISTI appointed teacher, Surajbhai claims that no
one comes to the school and the parents are not interested either. The students
say that he is a bad teacher and doesn’t come. All Surajbhai has to show is a
weak smile in reply. We reprimand him sternly.
The
village headman passes at a distance, and we ask him to talk with us, but he
says he has work. What Surajbhai is saying isn’t entirely untrue. A parent
comes and calls his son out of the school. We request an audience with the
parent. He dismisses us with a wave of his hand saying he’s not interested. We
meet the village school teacher Bharatbhai, who says that many of the students
don’t come. He requests the parents to send them, but his requests fall on
deaf ears. They are too busy. “The parents don’t want the girls to study”,
he says. Evidence of this is seen in the school where there is not a single girl
student. We invite a lone girl watching us curiously. She comes and sits and
then bursts into tears. We allow her to leave.
The
teacher tells us that there is a slight interest in education in the village but
harvesting and housework offset it. A few parents see that their children go to
school. Parvinbhai said that he wants to become a policeman. Ramesh demonstrated
the story of the Crow, the stones and the water jar and the children were
amazed. Rajeshbhai then told us a story of his own while his friend Rushbhai
provided the encouragement and then sang a song.
Bharatbhai
told us of the time when he personally went to the houses of the students and
after some persuasion and thought, the parents finally allowed their children to
attend the school. Now when he visits, the parents at least ask him what he is
teaching their kids. He does this alone and receives no help from anyone, not
even the SRISTI teacher in the village. As we leave Pethapar, we wish Bharatbhai
all the best and hope he will sustain his efforts in the village.
Observations at Pethapar :
1) The village was in a rebuilding phase, and it seems as if the villagers
had a choice to decide what they want. We were like a product to some of the
villagers and they as consumers could choose to take it or not. This attitude
could have been brought about by the immense aid etc. given to the village after
the earthquake. Education was secondary in their life at the moment. Rebuilding
comes first.
2) Most of the villagers particularly care about the fact that there is a
government school, let alone the efforts of SRISTI there.
3) Girls do not attend school. Their parents don’t want them to
study.
What
SRISTI can do
:
1) SRISTI should either pull out of this village completely, or give the
villagers time to reach a natural equilibrium as their village is still being
built.
Shyangadh
This
village I shall remember as it was the only one we really had a problem getting
to and a greater problem getting out of. Travelling is a major problem in these
areas and has to be done either by bus, jeeps or chhakdas.
We
reached the village at siesta time and got to know that the SRISTI teacher
Darmeshbhai had gone to the town. However,
we managed to meet him and talk to him later as we left the village. As we
waited for him, his wife prepared us a meal of moong dal and rotla which we ate
with relish. We had our fill and asked one of the older students to gather the
children so that we could speak to them.
The
children were all enthusiastic; the girls and the boys sat together and answered
confidently. Two of them
wanted to become sahibs and two others said they would love to be masters. One
of the girls said that she wanted to study till the 10th standard.
We told them that they would get jobs only if they studied till the 12th
standard. “Ok”, they replied, “then we also will study to the 12th
standard”! They were all praise for their SRISTI teacher Darmeshbhai and said
that he taught well. After school the children played langdi, kho and musical
chairs. Both the boys and the girls did water work. “The government teacher
gives us lots of homework, because he teaches very little in school,” the
children said. We asked them to sing a song for us. They were a little shy in
the beginning but then sang away when we pretended not to look. We distributed
slices of apples in reward. The children happily accepted. Later, they took us
to see their field. We all sat in the shade of a tree, chatted and took
pictures.
On
the way out of the village, we chanced upon Darmeshbhai and his friend Maganbhai.
Both were extremely enthusiastic and happy to see us. They said there was
absolutely no problem with the parents in the village and the parents had
actually told their children not to worry about the housework but rather to go
and study. The parents of the nearby vads also sent their children to school.
They were happy with SRISTI’s ideas and the parents didn’t mind it too. They
had planned to start up an ashram in the village with SRISTI’s help and the
villagers had already offered to bring the bajra for the ashram. We were very
happy and thanked Darmeshbhai profusely; we thanked him even more when he
offered to drop us a part of the way as we weren’t getting a vehicle to return
to Rapar. So we left Shyangadh, four on a scooter.
Observations
at Shyangadh:
1)
Very good village, we were happy
What
SRISTI can do :
1)
Provide a lot more encouragement to the villagers and appreciate their efforts.
Pagiwad
Pagiwad
was a village away from the main highway, far in the interiors. A dirt road led
to it. A village man used to ply his chhakda up and down from the
highway
to Pagiwad. He had heard what SRISTI was doing and invited Ramesh to see the
village about the same time we were visiting Pratapgad. So we went to Pagiwad to
set up a school and an ashram for the children. This was the first time anything
was being done in the village by SRISTI, so all were excited.
Rudabhai
Waghla was a chhakda driver and also the newly appointed SRISTI teacher. We
spent many a time traveling in his chhkada up and down the village roads. He was
an enterprising man. He bought the books and the slates Ramesh had instructed
him to buy. The village men and all the children soon gathered in the council
hall, which had been built by the Samruth NGO. They told us that the government
had also given them a little money to carry out the repairs on their houses.
Their village of Bhausarnagar was created in Pagiwad after many of the
inhabitants moved out due to infighting in their previous village and partition.
They got new farms and houses in this village after payment. The division of
labour is the same as
among the Kohlis. The women take
care of the housework and the men work on the farm and also to make Kholsa. The
women are knowledgeable and are proficient in embroidery. Some of the village
men said that girls studying beyond the 7th standard would become a
social problem.
Hirabhai
one of the most educated and realistic man in the village says that the hope of
a government job was far from realistic. He said there was lots of corruption in
government jobs and only if you knew someone, or were of a particular religion,
you would get a job. Not otherwise. He spoke of government work at Kandla port
and that you would get paid to do nothing. He was the only villager we spoke to
among all the villages who was in touch with reality and had no false hopes. The
village was the farthest compared to all the rest, but still, Hirabhai was so
close to reality. So far away, yet so close.
The
next day, we set out to purchase the items to be used at the ashram in Pagiwad
and watched as the chhakda carrying them slowly chugged away.
What
SRISTI should do
:
Since
the school and the ashram has recently opened up in Pagiwad, SRISTI should make
an all out effort to sustain the education of the children as Pagiwad has
knowledgeable villagers and the village students have the potential to do well
with the minimum of hassles.
General
Ideas and Suggestions:
1) SRISTI should concentrate its effort in a few villages rather than trying
to play saviour for all. Quality in a few villages is better than quantity with
no quality.
2) The Shodh Yatra hasn’t made much of an impact on many of the villages.
So another way has to be found for them to realize the importance of education.
One way would be to take the villagers out of their village to a proper school
and show them what education can do. This would be a more practical approach
rather than preaching to them in their own homes. The villagers must be moved
out of their limiting confines for them to really ‘see’.
3) A sustained effort has to be made by SRISTI towards education in a
villages like Dardhro and Pethapar. They may not trust their own teacher and
psychologically depend on the SRISTI volunteers who seem ‘greater’ in
comparison. Out of sight is out of mind. So the volunteer should visit the
village at least once to twice a week in the beginning to see that everything is
on track.
4) A study pattern or syllabi within a time frame has to be set by the
educationists chosen by SRISTI in consultation with a competent authority. The
teaching imparted should complement what the government teacher is doing. Eg.
The government teacher and the SRISTI teacher are both teaching the students
alphabets and numbers. It serves no greater purpose then of having a special
SRISTI teacher.
5) There should be a joint effort of NGO’s in that region. Eg. If the
villagers worry about their water situation etc, then the education of their
children does get affected as in most villagers it is the little girls who have
to walk for kilometers to get water. So SRISTI should coordinate with the
NGO/govt. (UNICEF) to cover the village under their water provision plan.
6) A proper school with a table should be set up in the village. The school
would seem like an office and there would be greater respect for the system
then.
7) The syllabi and the teaching should be more practical. The lessons taught
should be followed by a practical example which would appeal to the young minds
and impart a greater understanding and ability to think.
8) ‘Women as an asset’ should be stressed in the village if they have
any hope of improving. The women should be brought together and form a group to
perform any commercial activity.
9) SRISTI should as an additional effort, help the village at what they are
good at. Eg. The nearby vad of Dardhro and the villages of Kanpar and Pagiwad
were proficient in embroidery. SRISTI should invite and coordinate with an NGO
working in the area of women’s traditional industries to commercialise the
efforts of the women there.
10)
Education
should be marketed to the villagers for improving themselves, finding better
ways to do things with less effort, improving their imagination and thereby
improving how they live. Eg. If a village boy is trained in pipefitting, he
possibly can figure out a way of irrigating a field from the borewell using a
network of pipes. SRISTI or another NGO could provide the raw material for this
task. A villager could probably build a better house simply based on what he has
seen or read or imagined using the simplest of materials.
11)
The
hope of getting a government job seems to be a norm among all the villages that
we went to. This false hope should be addressed, or even this fact could be
exploited. Officially, the government provides employment for villagers if they
have studied till the 9th or the 10th standard and even
then, it is corruption riddled. The fact could also entice villagers to study
till the 9th standard.
12)
When parents of students leave to go to work elsewhere for months, their
children should be put into the SRISTI ashrams at Pagiwad or Khanpar, as this
would intensify their education and keep them free of compulsions from other
families in their village.
13)
The
villagers whose children attend regularly should be appreciated for their
foresight and values for pushing their children to go to school. Presenting them
something they could use in the home during a short ceremony could do this. This
is necessary as rituals play an important part in village life.
14)
Have
a meeting with the parents specifically about the attendance of their daughters
at the schools. A compromise will no doubt have to be made between attendance
and their duties. The realities have to be faced rather than insisting that the
girls just attend school.
15)
A
scholarship scheme should be introduced for those deserving students to a
boarding school in the Rapar area. A good idea would be to start with the Gram
Swaraj Sangh at Neelpar where we had established base camp. This would spur the
good students on and make their parents proud. It is not necessary to wait until
they finish the village school, but if they show promise, then even earlier.
16)
Provide
a lot more encouragement to the villagers and appreciate their efforts.
17) Many
of the villages are still in the process of rebuilding after the earthquake.
SRISTI should tactfully operate in these villages till the villagers can spare a
moment for them.
Conclusion:
The
efforts of SRISTI have taken off well in some places and not so well in others.
Time should be given to villages to recuperate and then a sustained effort
should be made to improve the quality of the programme in the existing villages
before nursing any more villages.
The
SRISTI personnel conducting the programme should have a definite idea in mind
carefully thought about and on paper, before they set out to accomplish
anything. Flexibility in their operations is to be done tactfully especially in
the area of education of females. The issue of education should be treated more
as a strategic game rather than a fundamental right if results are to be seen.
SRISTI should work together with NGO's and give the villagers a sort of a
package deal, which would serve to curb their choice to a certain extent and
also push the issue at the same time. To conclude, the efforts of the SRISTI
persons and the concerned villagers should be appreciated greatly for the hard
work and effort put into a concern which has become their own.
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