Village School in Bada Lewa village, UP

News on thehindu.com:

The application of the 2010 RTE Act leaves much to be desired. But the initiatives at the primary school in Bada Lewa village, Uttar Pradesh, inspires optimism. 

They call it tracking. A group of 12-year-old students of the Primary School in Village Bada Lewa, Hamirpur, walk into their village during school hours, looking for children who are enrolled but have not been coming to school regularly. They will counsel the parents and get the children to attend school regularly and offer support and solutions where required. The word ‘tracking’ is now part of their everyday vocabulary.

On one such tracking mission, Jyoti, Dharam, Gomti and three others have a list of five absentee students whose homes they will visit. They run into seven-year-old Anjali, wearing her school shirt and balancing her younger sister on her hip. Jyoti takes the lead in confronting Anjali’s grandfather who is sitting in the verandah.

“Dadaji, why haven’t you sent Anjali to school today?”

“It is harvesting month. Anjali’s mother is away in the fields. She has to look after her younger sister.”

“Dadaji, Anjali will miss too much in school and then she won’t be able to catch up. Why don’t you handle the baby till the mother returns?”

“I can’t handle the baby.”

“You are our elder, Dadaji,” Jyoti reasons. “Anjali is still a small child. She needs to be regular in school. Please help her to go.”

“Whose child are you?” the old man asks, trying to place Jyoti.

She names her father. She tells him where her home is. One of the boys in the group is patting the buffalo. Eventually the elderly man asks his grandchild to run along to school. He nods approvingly at the children, who seem to be ushering in a new age in the village. The children move on to the next home on their list.

This government-run Primary School in Hamirpur district in Uttar Pradesh is one of the eight per cent of schools in India that comply with most of the norms and standards stipulated in the RTE Act. The RTE Act that came into being on April 1, 2010, casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement the fundamental right of children to free and compulsory education. It lays down detailed guidelines for the development of curriculum, training of teachers and pupil-teacher ratios. Furthermore, it emphasises child-centric and child-friendly learning and an environment that is free of fear, trauma and anxiety for children. It has been exactly five years since the RTE Act came into being, and only a fraction of its promise has been fulfilled across the country.

Even that fraction throws up impressive statistics: 110 million children are served meals in the mid-day meal scheme making it the world’s largest school-feeding programme; 199 million children are in schools and studying. A study by the Azim Premji Foundation, quoted in the report released by the RTE Forum recently, shows that in semi-urban and rural areas, the belief that private school education is better than government schools is a myth. This was reflected in the experience of the parents in this village in Hamirpur too.

Gurudayal is the President of the School Management Committee in the Bada Lewa school. This committee comprises parents, teachers, elected members of local government and educationists or NGO workers from the area. They meet once a month to oversee the infrastructure and administrative needs of the school.

Gurudayal contrasts the present scene in the school where children of all castes sit together, as they are served meals, to a decade ago when the Dalit teacher in the school was not even allowed to sit on a chair throughout the day. He reiterates that parents in the village have taken their children out of local private schools and enrolled them in the government school because the quality of education has improved tremendously. “Don’t even ask me about the time when I was studying in this school,” he says. “Times have changed dramatically now.”

Just like the School Management Committee is a voluntary body of adults, all the children of the primary school are members of a Bal Panchayat that meets once a month to discuss their issues. The students who go tracking in the morning are leaders of the Bal Panchayat. Aided by their teachers and trained in workshops conducted by Samarth Foundation, an NGO based in Hamirpur, these children are encouraged to be assertive and proactive about addressing and fulfilling their needs.

Jyoti Devi and Gomti Devi are President and Vice President respectively of the Bal Panchayat. They have travelled to Lucknow to attend workshops organised by Oxfam where they learnt how to set agendas and follow up issues when they conduct meetings. Other posts include Education Minister, Cleanliness Minister and Mid-day Meal Minister. 

The students make a list of infrastructural needs like a broken tap and an open window that needs the panes restored. They reiterate the four rights of children as laid down by the Convention for the Rights of Children and talk about the duties and responsibilities of students in the school.

Spending time in the school and village of Bada Lewa inspires an optimism for the outcomes that are possible when parents, teachers, local authorities, non-government and state agencies come together on a small scale to invest in making quality education a reality for their own children. Almost everyone in Bada Lewa village has a version of the before and ever since RTE norms have been enforced in this primary school.

The nationwide scorecard on implementing the RTE Act leaves much to be desired. Six million children are still out of schools and 75 per cent of them belong to Dalit, tribal and Muslim communities. The most deprived and marginalised communities have received the least benefits. Half the children who enrol in schools still drop out before Std. X.

Deepak Xavier leads the Haq Banta Hai Campaign at Oxfam India that is campaigning for full implementation of the RTE Act along with the RTE Forum. “Education is the greatest equaliser against inequality. By ensuring full implementation of the RTE Act, we can achieve both quality education for all children and a reduction in inequality,” he says.

India is going to be the world’s youngest country by 2020. The Kothari Commission recommended in 1966 that public spending on education needs to be at least six per cent of the GDP in 20 years. Today, nearly after 50 years of accepting this recommendation, public spending on education has been stagnant at three per cent for the last 15 years.

The RTE Act is substantial and well thought out but it needs the will of the state and sustained resources to be implemented to its full potential. The children of Bada Lewa village, tucked away between the Yamuna and Betwa in Bundelkhand, are a fine example of how empowering and well received the benefits of the RTE Act are.

When asked if they are scared of speaking up before their teachers, 12-year-old Dharam Singh, says in a small voice, “Yes, I am.” After a pause, he adds, “But our teacher says, ‘Don’t be scared of me. I have no right to hurt you. I will not hurt you’.”

Esther Preethi and the true meaning of education

http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/esther-preethi-and-the-true-meaning-of-education/

Esther Preethi and the true meaning of education

K. JAVEED NAYEEM writes: The week that has gone by had a mixed bag of events that have left me with mixed feelings, both happy and sad.

The news that really stirred my soul and elevated it to an unusually lofty level of happiness was about the Sri VenkateswaraUniversity in Andhra Pradesh postponing its engineering examinations by a full week to let the students of one engineering college collect donations to save the life of one of its students —Esther Preethi, the daughter of a poor taxi driver from Madanapalli in Chittoor District, now doing her final year engineering at NBKR Institute of Technology in Nellore.

She reportedly developed liver failure for which she was advised a liver transplant costing almost Rs 50 lakh.

Her father was crestfallen as this amount was far beyond his means and even what he could hope to garner from sources open to him. That was when his daughter’s college-mates decided to do their bit by collecting donations from the public to pay for Preethi’s surgery.

Since the need for surgery was very urgent, as it usually is in such cases, about 540 students of final year engineering rushed to the director of the college, V. Vijayakumar Reddy, with a request to allow them to go out and collect donations by skipping classes.

Touched by the students’ resolve, the college management, too, offered financial assistance and allowed the students to spare no efforts to save Preethi’s life.

Forming about 30 groups, the students went around Nellore town and nearby villages and started collecting donations. Since their examinations too were just round the corner the students again pleaded with their college management to speak to the Vice-Chancellor to postpone the exams on humanitarian grounds.

In perhaps an act of unprecedented magnanimity, the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) responded to their request and postponed the first semester examinations of its final year, which had to begin on November 14, to give time to the students to help save their ailing friend.

“This could be the first time that a University has rescheduled examinations to allow students to collect funds for a noble cause,” Reddy said after SVU Vice-Chancellor W. Rajendra issued a notification acceding to the students’ request.

My joy is naturally very great because this is the true meaning and spirit of any real education. There is no point in simply quoting rules and applying them mechanically as is usually done all around us when a more humanitarian approach would do much good in a delicate situation.

When the powers vested in us permit us to be kind rather than curt, it is important to take the former approach. I salute all those who did their bit to save Preethi’s budding life and wish her a speedy recovery.

(K. Javeed Nayeem is a practising physician who writes a weekly column in Star of Mysore, where this piece originally appeared)

UNESCO to put up list of genuine and accredited universities on its website

In a novel step to check mushrooming of fake educational institutions, UNESCO has decided to include in its website names of genuine and accredited institutes of all countries.

About 30 countries, mostly Europeans nations, have already provided the list of their accredited institutes to UNESCO which has displayed them in its website, a UNESCO official said.

India has decided to provide its list of accredited institutes to the UNESCO by next month. HRD Ministry has entrusted the work to Education Consultancy India Ltd (EdCIL) to coordinate with the UNESCO in this venture.

The students can verify from the UNESCO list whether an institute is genuine or not.

"Now, we have given the list of genuine institutes of 30 countries. In next few months, accredited institutes from 60 countries, including those from India, will find their names in the list," the UNESCO official said.

The UNESCO is also preparing a set of criteria that can help students identify fake institutions.

The official said there is no accurate data about the number of fake institutions operating across the globe, offering higher education.

"But majority of them claim to be offering education in distant mode. Once our criteria are put in the website, students will be able to differentiate between genuine and fake institutions," he said.

The trend is very rampant in the US. About two lakh students are issued fake degrees by these institutions every year in the US alone, he said.

The fake institutes are duping a huge number of students in India every year, government sources said.

Books as birthday gifts by school-kids

An interesting tradition is being set in Bhave School at Perugate, Pune. Students have started a tradition to offer books to their school as their own birthday gift. The school has received about 40 books in last seven months. Principle of the school stated that boys have done with the practice of lighting candles on birthday cakes and instead have, in a way, lighting candles of knowledge this way. They buy a book for themselves and gift one to the schools. Even the boys who are economically handicapped participate in this idea.

To take this idea further, this school has decided to keep its library open even in during summer vacation. When new students join school every June, the school gifts a book to each new student. On a off period when there is no teacher a box of about 60 books is offered to students and they are happy to use that period for reading a book of their choice.

Barefoot College of Tilonia (Rajasthan, India)

In 1972 Bunker Roy formed Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) at Tilonia, Rajasthan. He believed that education system of today is biased towards urban elites and has no place for rural poor. He decided to delink education from literacy and experience from qualification. Illiterate or semi-literate, socially and economically backward and vulnerable can apply and are accepted in Bearfoot College (BC).

Experiment started with groundwater survey of the region, fitting of hand-pumps and gradually developed health and education programmes. It believed that villagers themselves can decide their path of developement. All decisions are taken jointly. Everybody is equal irrespective of class, sex, cast, religion. Puppetry is extensively used as means of communication and education.

40% of the funding is given by Rajasthan government, 40% by institutions like UNSECO and 20% comes for sale of handcraft products and solar energy kits.

BC now operates in area of more 500 sq, miles with 1500 night schools.

Students may do courses in parts in institutes of their choice

University Grants Commission (UGC) had set up a committee on academic reforms. It has suggested a slew of reforms. Its recommendations on credit accumulation and transfer will help students to perrsue courses in segments in universities as per their choice. As per the system, students can also do courses in parts in different departments within a n university. 

The recommendations have come at a time when UGC is planning to launch a scheme to facilitate M. Phil and PhD students to do part of their coursework outside the university where they are persuing studies.

The committee also suggested universities to take feedback from students about peformance of teachers.