Delhi Gangrape, Death Sentence, etc

With the brutal death of the gangrape victim in Delhi, there has been heightened demand for capital punishment (death sentence) for rapists.  Many of my facebook friends have sent me a Cause.org or Change.org requests to sign their petitions demanding death sentence for the rapists.

I don't sign those petition, simply because I cannot support death sentence.

The arguments of the supporters of capital sentence for rapists are convincing, and I want those rapists to be given the harshest punishment, but not death sentence, I'll not send someone to his/her death.

There are many arguments against capital punishment as an intolerable denial of civil liberties and is inconsistent with the fundamental values of our democratic system, it is a tit-for-tat system, or a violent end to violence, etc.

One simple arguments is, if severe punishment like death sentence can deter crime, then permanent imprisonment is severe enough to deter any rational person from committing a violent crime.

But my argument is: I'm just a human, and I don't deserve to judge who deserve to live and who deserve to die!

What is your caste?

What is your caste? This is one question that I keep facing as I started working in the mainland India. The Care-taker of the house where I stayed asked me twice, his neighbour asked me once, and when I told them that I have no caste and that there is no caste system in my society, they dismissed me, telling each other that I don’t understand their language.

But when I interact with class-V students of a Govt. school in one remote village, the last question I expected them to ask me was 'my caste'.  The students were in the age group of 9-12, and I was with them the entire morning observing their classes. It happened during the break when the student came rushing towards me and thus we started interacting. Obviously they were curious about me, not only was I a stranger, but I look totally different, and as such they have lots of questions to ask me.  

I told them, as I used to tell the caretaker of my place, and his neighbour, that there is no caste system in my society, and we can freely mingle and mix with each other. The subject died with that.  But it got stuck in my head, because that was the least expected question from a bunch of boys from a primary school.

I was often told that caste discrimination and segregation was not so rampant here in Chhattisgarh compared to other rural areas of India.  And from a casual observation, such glaring discrimination mostly visible in many rural areas is nowhere to be seen.

Still, the fact that a group of little boys from a primary school were so concerned or curious about my caste underline the fact that such class/caste distinction do exist, and that they as a little kid have become aware of it.

But what worries me about the caste system is the place it holds for each one of us.  There is no denying that any educated men/women would say that caste have very little role in their life, and they don’t practice discrimination based on caste.  I believed them, but I also know when it comes to marriage, they would stick to their caste.

At least to me, caste per se, is not a bad thing as I see it only as a group of people.  But when people are discriminated because of the accident of birth, it becomes a problem. And the last thing we want children to worry about while in school is about the caste of others.

Why School Management Committee Failed

School doesn’t directly engaged parents in the class-room process, and the parents don’t make any effort to get involved either.  But the worst thing is, parents are given the opportunity to get involved in the affairs of the school through the School Management Committee (SMC), but they have failed to take full advantage of that opportunity. 

Most schools have planned for a monthly SMC meeting, and most of the time, the parents never showed up for the meeting.  Even when it was held, they just let the Head Teacher do all the talking, and even worse, when discussing about the class-room process, they just handed everything into the hand of the teacher saying that they know nothing and have full faith in the teachers.

The problem with SMCs everywhere is that, the average SMC members are people who can ill-afford to give up their daily wage to sit around in a meeting in which they don’t see any value, and they are usually illiterate. But worst still, they don’t feel they can hold a government school teacher or anyone in authority accountable as they thinks government school education is a free service, and as such, just a charity.

Also, apart from the charity aspect, parents who are uneducated find it very difficult to question an educated Head Teacher and so are unable to pressurize the HT to correct things, or take steps for grievance redressal if it involves interacting with government officials.

If the quality of our education in Government's schools is to improve, parents must not only get involved with the management of the school, but also must get themselves involved in the class-room processes, and take full ownership of the school and the education system itself!

Reflection based on Reading of John Holt’s How Children Fail

 

John Holt’s HOW CHILDREN FAIL (1964)
Penguin Education Publication

 

“Most children in school fail…because they are afraid, bored and confused”.

John Holt draws upon his observations of children both in school and at play to identify ways in which our traditional educational system predestines our young people for failure. He argues that children fail primarily ‘because they are afraid, bored, and confused’. This, combined with misguided teaching strategies and a school environment that is disconnected from reality and real-learning, resulted in a school system that kills children’s innate desire to learn.

About John Holt: John Holt (1923-1985) was an American author, a teacher, an educator who first propounded Home-schooling, and a pioneer in youth rights theory. Through-out his life, Holt was very critical of the prevailing education system, and has written extensive critiques on it. Despite some of his radical writings, Holt remains a prominent figure in the field of formal education system; and his numerous books and critiques had led to reforms and changes in the education systems of many countries and inspired many of the later progressive education thinkers and institutions.

The Book: The book “How Children Fail” was first published in 1964 and revised in 1982. Even today, it is considered as an educational classic and a must-read for those who are involved in the field of education. As noted by the author in the forward, the book was divided into four major topics: strategy, fear and failure, real learning, and how school fails.

1. Strategy: This part deals with the ways in which children try to meet, or dodge, the demands that adults make of them in school.
2. Fear and Failure: This part deals with the interaction in children of fear and failure, and the effect of this on strategy and learning.
3. Real Learning: This part deals with the difference between what children appear to know or are expected to know, and what they really know
4. How School Fails: This part analyses the ways in which schools foster bad strategies, raise children’s fears, produce learning which is usually fragmentary, distorted and short-lived, and generally fail to meet the real needs of children.

Based on the structure of the book, this review will also follow the same pattern in presentation, discussing the major themes that arose from the reading, and see its practicality in our present education system in India.

1. FEAR AND FAILURE:

Schools promote an atmosphere of fear that not only quells a child's love of learning and suppresses his native curiosity, but also makes him afraid of taking chances and risks which may be necessary for true learning to occur. Some of the steps taken to address the issue of fear and failure in school in our Indian education system are:

• Prohibition of corporal punishment (including verbal ‘name calling’)
• Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation that evaluate a child’s learning and capabilities in a holistic manner
• Prohibition of test/exam up to a certain class in school
• Prohibition of with-holding/retention of a student

The above mention steps taken are just a step towards reducing fear and failure in school, it still fails to address the bigger issues, that is, the psychological aspects like humiliation from peer groups, and fear of failing our parents and their various expectations.

Secondly, parents are the one who wants and demand that their child be, in the word of Holt, a ‘producer’ that parrots what the teacher says. It shows that majority of parents’ lack understanding of the ‘aims and objectives’ of education, Unless the parents change their perspective of seeing education as an economic investment, school and education will always be a burden for the student!

Thirdly, teachers are also aware of the parent’s expectation, and many teachers took-up the role of a parent to the child in school pushing them towards a certain goals which they have in their mind without ever consulting the students. The achievement of this goal also serve the teachers’ need for a better reputation for their school as a good-mark scoring schools. Besides that, many teachers assumed the role of moral guardian, and think that disciplining the students to be their role. Disciplining students in the name of moral guardianship or to see the reputation of the school goes up, teacher forced their students into a uniform set pattern of behaviours and mannerism which can only kill the child’s unique individuality and creativity.

When I visited Limtara M/S for drawing of greeting cards for teacher’s day, the fear of being wrong can be easily seen among the students who constantly asked what to draw when asked to draw whatever they want, and also, the teacher pushing them by playing vigilant and telling them to do this or that. Such vigilant actions, and disciplining from the school can only result in a confused child who distrust their own ability, and breed a dependent nature in them.

2. BOREDOM:

Schools demand that children perform dull, repetitive tasks which make limited demands on their wide range of capabilities and as such, it becomes boring to most students. Some of the steps taken to address these issues include:

• allowing each states and region to design their own curriculum based on certain frame-work and guidelines
• making each lesson as activities oriented as possible under CCE
• inclusion of teaching-learning materials
• including play/sports at least once a week in our school’s time-table

The synonyms of boredom when it comes to class-room will be ‘interesting’ or ‘vibrants’, and we can’t exactly call our curriculum very interesting or vibrant because the simple fact that we have a ‘uniform curriculum’ for a group of ‘individuals in a class-room’ fails to address the diversity of our students and their capabilities!

Looking at the various progressive schools like Totto-chan’s Tomeo, AS Neill’s Summerhill, Reggio Emelio schools, etc. one thing they have in common is a flexible curriculum where the teacher prepared the lesson plan based on their understanding of the interests of the students.

When visiting Mandroud P/S for class-room observation, I observed a MGML class of Class I & II. While observing, the teacher instructed them to read whatever were written in the wall and left me to take in-charge of the class. The children can, not only read, but memorized each and every word written in the wall and recite them with ease. But before finishing their recitation, most of them stopped and started playing. When I asked them to continue their recitation, one of the class-II students responded by saying that they have been reading it all since class-1 (the previous year). Looking at the small Class-I children, I can observe that peer learning was happening through recognition of word, and association of alphabets and sounds, but in the name of peer learning, we bored the students of Class-II and thus gradually alienating them from learning altogether.

There are various forms of boredom. Totto-chan’s boredom is mostly because of curiosity about the outside world, but some kind of boredom that is commonly observed in our schoolS, including Mandroud P/S, is that of ‘lack of varieties’. There was nothing in their vicinity to arouse their curiosity, they have already explored them including the TLM given to them, and the plants and insects near their school –all they need is a new insights and perspective, and to make sense of it, and that, to a great extend depends on the teachers!

3. CONFUSION:

Once enrolled in school, the child often founds himself being taught things that contradict what he had learned from his parents or other adults, and many other things that don’t make sense. Confusion is a big term, but when it comes to the disconnection between reality and class-room, there definitely is a big gap.

In India, under the NCF 2005, attention has been paid towards forms of knowledge and forms of understanding based on the age-group of a child to ensure that appropriate things are taught among particular groups of children, besides curriculum reform, contextualization of text-book and concepts, activities oriented class-room, field-trips, etc. are some of the steps taken to reduce confusion and bridge the gap between classroom and outside world.

Holts himself talked about his helplessness when it comes to the teaching of various concept which are similar, like a problem that can be solved in different ways. He dryly said that ‘no explanation is better than a bad explanation’. But the ability to explain a concept in the most simple term that will make sense to children require for special skills, and in a big education system like in India faced with shortage of teacher, such skills are not available everywhere.

Also, Holt emphasized that student should be allowed to explore and discover on their own, and to let them learn and own their knowledge they discovered. Most of the progressive school practices such kind of freedom of learning to their students. But to provide an environment for freedom of learning come with a heavy financial cost –the cost of infrastructure, provision of multiple learning materials to arouse children curiosity, provisions of resources to answer their curiosity, and most importantly, we need highly qualified people to manage and stir such environment into a learning environment.

4. REAL LEARNING:

Every expert has different views on what should be included in a child’s curriculum, and furthermore, much of what is taught in our schools is outdated by the time children need to apply that knowledge to real life. This reinforces Holt's belief that there is no single body of information that all children should learn.

It is true that we never know what piece of learning will be relevant to the child in the future, that’s why curriculum are planned for a ‘future just-in-case’ situation. For example, we learn about how to provide basic first-aid because it is important that we know. But left alone, the child will rarely learn by themselves unless they have a practical reason to learn it by getting themselves or someone they know met an accident.

Holt believed that real learning can happen only in the real world i.e. outside of the school and as such he encouraged home-schooling. But how practical and affordable home-schooling is for rural India? And the more important question is, will your real-life learning be counted as a proper qualification when you apply for a job? If we want that real life learning is to be counted as a proper qualification, then the whole concept of formal education and our perspective towards it need to be overhauled.

Besides, to consider a real life learning as a proper form of learning, we have to assume that every adult that the children dealt-with are qualified as a model to the child, and that they are capable of providing the proper answer to the child’s question, which isn’t true at all.

5. CONCLUSION:

How children are systematically failed? Over half a century after Holt criticized our education system, the criticisms still stands valid. Every word that he said are true, but the saddest part is even Holt failed to come out with an alternative system that would provide real learning to our children.

Each and every stake-holder in the child’s learning has failed them. Our education system and our approach to education drive children into answer producer who parrots their teacher through our evaluation and examination system. Parents see education as an investment with quick and observable returns. Teachers see the child’s education as a job, and deliver it as a job. And the community is more than happy to have a ‘producer’ rather than a ‘thinker’.

Here is a look at some of the approach adopted by the so-called progressive school which can give us a quick comparison with our own system, and a quick assessment of their adaptability or the dilemma with the approach when it comes to the Indian education system.

Approach & Process:

• Experiential learning (a lived experience)
• Emphasis on group work and peer learning
• Free or minimally guided learning environment with emphasis on teaching-learning material
• Highly qualified, well-trained and passionate ‘teachers’

Aims & Objectives:

• Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
• Understanding and ability to apply in practice as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge
• Development of social skills
• Education for social responsibility and democracy

Curriculum:

• Integrated forms of knowledge
• Flexible curriculum focused on thematic units
• Selection of subject content by looking forward to what skills will be needed in future society

Support Systems:

• Educated and highly aware parents and general population
• Active involvement of parents and community

Concluding Remark: After the 2^nd World War, the education systems of many western countries were influenced by the Japanese who enjoyed rapid economic development attributed mainly to its education system that emphasized on rote memorization and curriculum overload. Starting from the late 1980s the Japanese gradually adopted the progressive approach reaching its peak in early 2000s with their ‘room to grow’ approach and constantly appeared among the top 15 in PISA score, however, in early 2012, they reverted back to their previous system allegedly due to its efficient recall power.

Now, can we say that, in the words of John Holt, ‘producing a producer’ is such a bad thing if one of the major aims of education is to create someone who can contribute as a ‘producer’ to the economy, and if that is what the parent’s want for their children?

Violated Human Rights in the Context of Human Trafficking

The first fundamental human right recognized by international law was ‘freedom from slavery’. This global acknowledgement occurred in 1807 with the abolition of transatlantic slavery, and was further entrenched in 1948 when the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

So why, after over half a century later, does a global network of human trafficking and slavery still flourish in numerous forms and manifestations?  It is clear that the horrific trade of human beings functions in stark violation of Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but how many other articles of this declaration does trafficking defy?

Here is a list of International Human Rights that are violated in the cases of Human trafficking, and you can add it further by including the laws of your own country.

Human Rights Violated in the Context of Human Trafficking	Corresponding International Legal Instruments and Articles
Right to Health and Social services	·         Articles 22 and 25(1) of the universal declaration of human rights(UDHR) ·         Article 12 of the international covenant on economic social and cultural rights(ICESCR) ·         Article 24 of the convention of the rights of the child(CRC) ·         Article 12 of the convention of the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women(CEDAW) ·         Article 5(e) (liv) of the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (ICERD)
Right to Education and Training	·         Articles 26 of the universal declaration of human rights(UDHR) ·         Articles 13 of the international covenant on civil and political rights( ICCPR) ·         Articles 28 29 of the convention on the rights of the child(CRC) ·         Article 10 of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women(CEDAW ·         Unesco convention against discrimination in education
Right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose one’s residence	·         Article 13(1) of the universal declaration of human Rights (UDHR) ·         Article 12(1) of the international covenant on civil and political rights(ICCPR)
Right to decent work	·         Article 23 of the Universal declaration of Human rights(UDHR) ·         Article 8(3) of the international covenant on civil and political rights(ICCPR) ·         ILO convention 29 ·         Article 23(1) of the Universal declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) ·         Article 7 of the international covenant on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women(CEDAW)
Right to Freedom from slavery	·         Article 4 of the universal declaration of Human rights(UDHR) ·         Article 8 of the international covenant on civil and Political rights(ICCPR) ·         United Nations Slavery Convention Supplementary Convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and institutions and practices similar to slavery
Right not to be tortured and/or submitted to other cruel, inhuman or degrading Treatment and Punishment	·         Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) ·         Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) ·         Convention against torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Right to Peace and Security	·         Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR)
Right to Non-discrimination	·         Article 1,2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR)
Rights to Access to Justice	·         Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights(UDHR)
Right to Freedom of Expression and Participation	·         Articles 19 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR)

[Compiled from policy paper no. 142 –Human Trafficking in Nigeria – root causes and recommendations, and adapted from human rights standards for the treatment of trafficked persons published by the global alliance against trafficking in women (GAATW)]

A tale of two mela

The Dhamtari field institute of APF has organized a series of bal-mela in primary schools around Dhamtari district in preparation for the official launching of the district institute wherein a mega-mela was organized.  

One of the major objectives of the melas was to provide children with an environment where they can have fun and learn at the same time.  In the melas, various stalls were organized based on a theme or subject.  We had six stalls, viz. science/math, language/art, mask-making, origami (hat making), clay modelling/pottery and fun corner.  Each stall was coordinated by resource persons from the foundation where they prepared various activities aimed at certain learning benefits for the students.

Between the first and second mela, we have changed our approach towards the organization of the mela, and the differences that changes in approach make to the children, the environment and the learning is, in one word, amazing!

The first mela in Doma was a well-organized, well-coordinated mela where each and every student had the opportunity to participate in each and every activity.  Before the start of the mela, the students were divided into six groups based on six stalls, and the groups were rotated every 45 minutes during which they participated in all the activities planned by that stall and then moved to another stalls. The final outcome is that it was a well-orchestrated mela where each and every student got a chance to participate in every activity and learn what was planned for them to learn.

The second bal-mela in Mandroud was based on our experience in Doma. There were no changes in the stall and activities planned, and the resource persons were the same but our approach was different. Children were no longer divided into groups, and we set them free.  They were free to go wherever they want to go, and do whatever they want to do. The children can drop-in and join in the activities, or leave the activities when they want to. The final outcome was that it was a major success with fun-filled learning and exploring experiences for both the students and the resource persons.

Why I said the mela at Mandroud was a major success compared to the well-coordinated mela in Doma is that children in Mandroud are free and happy, and most importantly they learned what is interesting to them.  Even though the students in doma are happy and learning, they were no free to do what pleases and interest them; they are bound by the group and its schedule.

If we are talking about the accumulated learning, the one in Doma will perhaps be a better mela because each and every student participated in all the activities planned for them, and learn what is planned for them to learn.  But that learning is of the resources person’s and the students never owned the learning outcome and process.

 

But if you look at the meaningful learning that occurred, the learning in Mandroud would be more meaningful and useful for the children because a free and happy learning environment is an ideal and priceless environment!

A Tale of Two Schools

When visiting Limtara and Puri M/S to coordinate the painting/drawing of greeting card for teacher’s day, I cannot help comparing the students and their learning environment of the two schools. One of the schools is a ‘model’ school with all the basic infrastructures including library and computers in place whereas the other school is struggling to meet basic infrastructural requirement.  Besides the infrastructure difference, when it came to drawing/painting, the freedom with which the children expressed their imagination was contrasting between the two schools.  

Which of these two drawings exude more creativity?

In both the schools, before we started, we told the students (class VI to VIII) the purpose of the drawing, and encouraged them to ‘draw/paint/write whatever they want’ telling them that the blank page in the greeting card was for them. 

The first school that was struggling with basic infrastructure and has a ‘lesser reputation’ compared to the other, showed two observable features. Firstly, there was little interference from the teachers, which can be interpreted in different ways, i.e. the teachers didn’t care, or that the teachers trust their students, or that they expected us to interfere on their behalf. Secondly, the drawings of the children came out very vibrant and colourful, and most importantly, very original in such a way that just by looking, we know that the drawing come from their own imagination.

On the other hand, the students of the ‘model’ school saw lots of interference from the teacher, beginning with one of the teacher twisting our words to tell the children that it was a painting competition and the best will get printed in the newspaper. The teachers also played vigilant, checking the drawings from time to time and telling the children ‘what to do and what not to do’.  One of the teachers also apparently advised the students to ‘copy’ picture from their textbook resulting in majority of the drawing being a reproduction of the illustrations from their text-book like the solar system, human digestive system, etc.  

In more simpler words, in the model school, the students were more dependent, in the sense that they were waiting for us to guide them and tell them what to do, and asking us from time to time if what they did was right or wrong; and most importantly, the ‘fear’ of being wrong or being reprimanded was observable which was not there in the other school. 

Incidentally I recognized the Head-teacher of the ‘model’ school as one of the participants in a CCE Review meeting I attended earlier wherein he argued about the need for disciplining students.  And, from my observation of the two schools, it is apparent to me that the kind of environment in the school (i.e. interfering teachers, disciplining) can breed dependency and kill all confidence the children have in their own ability and capacity, and thus kill their curiosity and creativity.