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Educating poor children in India: Why not?

By John Gore - posted Thursday, 27 March 2008


What does an education officer do when he retires? Travel the world, holiday in exotic places or visit all those friends? No, let’s volunteer to go to India and teach in a school for children from really poor backgrounds.

In July 2007, I retired as a chief education officer in the New South Wales Department of Education and Training. My wife Elizabeth, a science teacher, and I had applied to a group, Operation Mobilisation (OM), to teach for seven weeks in a school in India to broaden our educational experiences. It was set up as a response by a Christian organisation to provide schools for the Dalit (scheduled tribal and “untouchable”) children of India.

This would not be our first visit to India. Twice before, mainly as tourists, we had “discovered” India. On our second visit, we learnt about a different India to the one of tourist spots and the western style hotels, thanks to our relationship with an Indian family. Everywhere I travelled I had to come to terms with the poverty, the homelessness, the children on the street who should have been in school and, for me, the unacceptable living conditions of so many. Some jobs, for example on building sites, dealing with garbage and sewerage, that would be done by machines in western countries were done by hand. Who were these people?

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Our hosts did not share the concerns we had for these people who were mainly untouchables, known as Dalits, and lower caste Indians, . They believed that people are born into their caste from a previous life and that, according to actions in this life, they could be born again into a better or worse one. As Hindus, they often argued that the caste system has been corrupted from its origins into a class system, but as people benefiting from being at the top of an entrenched religious and social order, they were not inclined to support change.

We learnt that the Dalit Freedom Network was established in 2003 to assist Dalits in the areas of education, social justice, economic development and healthcare. All religions were invited by the Dalit leadership to educate their children by establishing English medium schools. In response, the All India Christian Council set a target of 1,000 schools and Operation Mercy Charitable Company (OMCC), the development and education associate of OM India, is moving to contribute to this target with 67 schools established to date. It was in one of these Dalit Education Centres (DECs), Kindergarten to Year 10 schools, that we were to teach.

Who are these people?

There are estimated to be about 250 million Dalits in India. Most western people hear that untouchability no longer exists in India. The Constitution and Government outlaw untouchability. In the front of the students’ textbooks is written “Untouchability is a sin. Untouchability is irrational. Untouchability is a crime. Untouchability is anti-national”, but passing a law does not easily change entrenched social practices.

Then why does caste and untouchability continue? Dalits have carried out the work that no one else would do. Their jobs were dirty, hard labour and for small wages. Traditionally they have not been able to drink out of the same cup as a caste person, live in the same area, or even draw water from a common well because they would contaminate these things.

Hinduism in its many forms remains the dominant religion of India. Many of its priests continue to teach about and uphold the caste system and therefore, by implication, untouchability. Examples of discrimination on the basis of caste can be seen across the social structures of India. Even marriage outside of caste is difficult.

While the Government and the law is focused on change to guarantee equality, many argue that the practices in the cities and villages of India have made only small advances. Caste and untouchability are still significant underlying influences on society in both rural and urban India.

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India today and tomorrow

How would we find the people, and particularly the children, of India as we taught in a school? Would the Dalit Education Centre be different? How does all this information fit with the current economic view of India as an emerging superpower?

As one of the oldest religions, Hinduism has a history of changing and mutating to accept political and social change, even adopting some aspects of other religions. No doubt economic change will improve the lives of many Indians and bring new opportunities, but I am not sure the growth rate will be as high as in China or that the poor will be major beneficiaries of these changes, not that I am sure that they are in China either. The redistribution of income will be one of many challenges for these governments.

For many Dalits, their acceptance of caste and social position results in little incentive to change, a lack of desire to gather the resources for change and less access to employment opportunities that lead to higher incomes.

The Governments, national and state, are caught between opposing political views, some wanting affirmative action for Dalits and others claiming equal access to all. Establishing Dalit Education Centres (DECs) is one non-government intervention. In providing schools, many children who would never have the opportunity to go to school are getting it. An education in English and a job can change the economic circumstances of a whole family.

It is into this social context that Elizabeth and I went to India to work voluntarily in one of the first DECs to have secondary students. Aware of the political and social contexts we had just one focus, learning - educating the children presented irrespective of their socio-economic background, religion or caste.

Getting started

We arrived for a one-week training period and during the training visited a slum on the outskirts of the city. It is in some of these areas and rural villages that DEC schools are started. Our group entertained the children and spoke with parents. The children were very keen to have their photograph taken and slowly the mothers with children and adult men wanted to see their image in a digital camera. This proved a very unifying activity for the community and provided some excellent photographs.

One man brought his father who was very old and I took his picture and showed it to him. His thanks were overwhelming and he kept grabbing and shaking my hand: I realised that no one had taken his picture before and this was the first time he had seen his image.

We shook hands with everyone who wanted to join in over and over again. It is an important sign of acceptance to Dalit people that we would touch them and embrace them in friendship. It was such a little thing, but so meaningful and symbolic.

We visited this community again later and I took my laptop to show them the photographs. They loved them to death - nearly my death, as I was swamped by about 20 children of various ages. Living in these communities children get used to fighting for what they want to survive the rigors of slum life, nonetheless the children were friendly and warm towards us.

This is the background to many of the children we were to teach. They were wonderful, non-pretentious children who accepted discipline and respected their teachers. They were not always well behaved, but they were always lovable.

The school

The school had classes from Lower Kindergarten to Class 9. Unlike many Indian schools, it had almost as many girls as boys. There was one class per year and class sizes ranged from 46 in Class 1 to 18 in Class 9. One class, Class 6, had a small storage room with one only small window and was without desks, otherwise students had classrooms and desks, although in the younger classes there were often three students to a double desk. Two new classrooms were under construction. The school had playing equipment, but the playground flooded during rain and took some days to dry. These facilities and conditions are common in India.

The students were drawn from the surrounding area and 80 per cent were Dalit, many from the poorest socioeconomic circumstances, including those from a village made of pipes (large 2m diameter faulty concrete pipes abandoned behind a factory) which was near the school. Of the remaining 20 per cent, some were Muslims and some were from lower caste families in similarly poor economic circumstances. All children paid a token school fee each term with the bulk of the school’s income coming from overseas sponsorship of individual children.

The teachers were dedicated: on top of teaching 5½ days a week, they often gave considerable out of school time to ensure students had all the benefits that the school could offer. A small room did multiple service; it was used by the Manager, the Principal, the office staff and as the teaching staff room and as a store room.

The school followed the state curriculum and testing program using published text books for students and other materials written to the examinations. It provided term reports, three a year, with percentage marks in each subject and position in class based on overall performance in all subjects.

Classes were organised so that Lower Kindergarten, Upper Kindergarten and Class 1 had a class teacher for most of the school week. Classes 2 to 9 had a basic daily timetable with the same subjects each period. The curriculum for Years 2-9 comprised daily lessons in Telugu, English, Hindi, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and some physical education alternated with other subjects in the additional period. Period 8 each day was set aside for students to do homework, for across class group activities and for general knowledge learning and practicing English.

In addition to the state curriculum, the school has one period on Saturdays where the students are taught about Christianity rather than instructed in that religion. The integrity of each student’s religious beliefs is respected. The students are overwhelmingly Hindu with some Christian and a small number of Muslims. Poverty is the requirement for enrolment, not religion and certainly not caste. There are a few higher caste students who because of socioeconomic circumstances attend this school.

Students were provided with text books for each subject and at least one book to write in for each subject. Teachers had a blackboard, chalk and few other resources.

Teaching followed the state-published textbook which is crowded with facts, and like the examinations, light on understanding.

Students from Classes 4-9 played an important part in the running and administration of the school, accepting responsibility for morning assemblies, supervision of students coming to and going from school and during breaks. They shared these responsibilities through a house system that spread the load by making students in one house responsible for a particular day. This aspect of the school was as good, if not better, than anything I have seen in Australia.

Working in the school

After a welcome by some staff we were able to observe classes. However, with some teachers absent I ended up taking the Year 9 class for Social Studies. The students were very good, but reticent to give their own opinions and always looking for the right (textbook) answer. Elizabeth watched some Science for about 10 minutes and was then asked to give an impromptu biology lesson. So much for observation!

Meanwhile, a colleague, not a trained teacher, was asked to take 40 Year 1students packed into a small room with many students three to a double desk. This class had a number of new students who had little English and communication was very difficult. She saw me passing and called for help, but there was little I could do. Year 1 is not my expertise and we both floundered. Fortunately, Elizabeth joined us and was able to do some mathematics. I stood at the back trying to separate petty arguments, keeping them in their seats and attempting to get them to pay attention. We managed to get through to lunchtime. I developed new respect for all early years’ teachers.

From there we settled into a routine of some teaching and some observations. I continued to take Year 9 each day for Social Studies and Year 6 for two periods of English a day plus working with them in Period 8.

The curriculum set by the state posed a number of problems for us. It was huge in detail and light on understanding and the examinations matched this. Students had to know the whole box of Trivial Pursuit answers, but were not required to demonstrate much understanding. This exam driven approach to huge amounts of knowledge is common in Indian schools.

One area in which Elizabeth was able to assist the secondary classes of the school was to prepare a list of science and social studies resources including equipment, chemicals and models as a base for all secondary schools. Due to the generosity of our friends, who had given money to be used on the school, we were able to purchase all this equipment and other resources. The cost of items was so inexpensive, for example, wall charts with wooden ends and laminated were A$1.70. We even included a monocular microscope at A$54. The balance of the money went to storage facilities and a laser printer.

Each Australian dollar can buy more than four times what it can in Australia so when considering supporting overseas organisations don’t send expensive goods bought in Australia which need to be shipped, send money because almost everything is available in India.

On our second visit to this school we were able to focus on teacher professional development as well as teach some classes. In addition, OMCC sent me to a number of schools in southern India to assist with quality assurance by paying a support visit and evaluating the education occurring. Having established 67 schools, these schools need to be providing a high standard of education and policies, professional development of teachers and quality assurance programs that provide accountability are being put in place.

At the end of our time, it was difficult to leave the teachers we had got to know and for me the children of Class 6 who had taught me to teach again.

The school had a special assembly to say goodbye and we were presented with messages from classes; the notes from students made from paper and a couple of coloured pens were enough reward to have me keep going back. We will be doing more to help this emerging school system to provide quality education for some of the poorest children in India by continuing with some policy development, professional development for teachers and by assisting with quality assurance. It will be a long term commitment, but one that makes retirement not only stimulating, but very fulfilling. There is certainly no time for trips around the world, just to India.

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Anyone wishing to enquire further about the work of Operation Mercy Charitable Company (OMCC), or in sponsoring children to attend a Dalit Education Centre or who may wish to volunteer to be involved in this work can contact Operation Mobilisation Australia through the website www.om.org.au.



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About the Author

John Gore is a retired education consultant from New South Wales.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by John Gore

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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