Meet the innovators who are reimagining learning
Several
experiments in alternative education are happening across the country. Some educationists believe learning doesn’t have to be ‘mainstream’,
but ‘many stream’
More than 100km from Nagpur, in Baba Amte’s Anandwan,
a motley bunch of mavericks from the field of education met last weekend. The
group that calls itself the ‘Indian Multi-universities Alliance’ had a clear
agenda: ruminate on ways to challenge the country’s formal education system
entrenched since the days of the Raj. “The idea was to collaborate and build a
network of people who are creating alternative models,” says Manish Jain,
co-founder of Udaipurbased Swaraj University where programmes are designed by
the learners themselves.
No degrees or diplomas in this
Ladakh institute
Two years ago, Dilip Jain took a sabbatical from his
corporate job and joined hands with wellknown education reformist Sonam
Wangchuk to establish HIAL (Himalayan Institute of Alternatives) in Ladakh,
which focuses on tackling issues faced by mountain people. “More than 70% of
our students are mountain people. Our approach is very hands-on. For dealing
with water scarcity, they are introduced to the unique innovation of ice stupas
wherein wastewater during winters is stored in the form of huge ice cones. The
cones start melting in spring and thus water can be used to fight scarcity,”
explains Jain.
Through a crowd-funding campaign, he has managed to
raise Rs 6 crore for HIAL, which also promotes eco-tourism and ecologically
sustainable houses. “We are not giving any degrees or diplomas as we believe in
learning by experience,” says Jain.
Teaching through river yatras
In Puducherry, Anita Pathak shares the same belief.
After her husband’s death, Anita did not want her son to “lose another parent
to work demands” and decided to shift to Auroville, where she became the
founder director of Anveshan — an experiential learning and unlearning centre.
Having grown up in the foothills of Himalayas, Pathak
has always had a close connect with water and was troubled by its
commercialisation and pollution. As a result, most of the programmes at her
centre are river journeys where young explorers delve into ecological, social,
economic, cultural and historical aspects of rivers like Ganga, Yamuna and
Cauvery.
From studying the architecture of temples along the
river or the herbal plants on its banks, to analysing the problems of
communities living around it or the water pollution, a student can choose his/
her calling. “During Ganga yatra, a girl was only clicking black and white
portraits of people travelling near the river. Students are free to follow
their passion, we just give them a framework and introduce them to experts
during the journey,” says Pathak.
At the end of a ‘yatra’ whose duration depends on the
length of the river, students prepare a project report for community
presentation. The centre’s unconventional programmes are now finding a place in
school curriculums. “We have convinced a Noida and a Chennai-based school to
incorporate such journeys in their curriculum. We have designed special modules
for school students,” says Pathak.
Rise of the unschoolers
Bhubaneswar’s Rishin and Rajni Chakraborty are among
the few parents who are letting their daughters, ages four and eight, be
‘unschooled’. In fact, the kids are not even homeschooled, and are ‘learning’
and ‘unlearning’ in their own creative ways. “The elder one has picked up
reading and is already ahead of kids her age. Like in the first few years, we
are inherently designed to learn crawling, standing up, walking and talking on
our own, we learn other things the same way,” says Rishin.
Parents who choose to keep their kids away from
mainstream schools have challenges of their own. “We live in a country where
not sending a child to a conventional school is violating child rights,” says
Rishin.
Meanwhile, in Goa’s Parra village, environmentalist
Claude Alvares is “motivating kids to get out of schools”. Stating that the
Right to Education is being wrongly understood, Alvares says that exercising
the right should be left to the parents. “If a parent does not want his child
to attend a formal school, the government should not interfere. It is not about
degrees anymore,” he says.
Claude substantiates his claim: “Leading global
companies like Penguin, and Ernst and Young have announced that a degree is no
longer a requirement for job applicants.”
According to Deepak Menaria, founder of Nagpur-based
Lemon Ideas which organised the meet in Anandwan, diploma is a disease.
“Companies are beginning to understand it now, and the government should too.
Those who are frustrated with mainstream education need an alternative and the
government should let alternatives exist without bringing them under its framework,”
he says.
TNN 20MAR18
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