Category Archives: Schooling…

Creating an Ideal World..

“Why do these kids grow up so fast? I miss the days when they were innocent babies!” This is something all of us have felt when we feel that our babies are growing up way too fast. But when we meet innocent children trapped in adult bodies, we choose to call them ‘special’ or ‘differently abled’.

On Saturday, we were invited to be part of the annual day function of Vimarsha Charitable Trust and the beautiful show put up by the ‘special children’ was a memorable experience.

For an hour, we were transported to an ideal world  not a perfect one.

It was an ideal scenario with the participants and teachers putting in their best for an extremely supportive and non-judgmental audience.

Nobody expected perfection. It was all about acceptance and appreciation.

The excited participants gleamed with pride when their names were announced an enthusiastically performed what they were trained to do. During one performance there was a power failure. All the participants showed their disappointment but within moments their mood changed. Once the power supply resumed, they were smiling and ready to restart their dance.

The teachers beamed with pride when they saw their students on stage.

We noticed family members happily clicking pictures of their children performing on stage. After an impromptu dance by one of the students, I noticed a man, most likely the boy’s father, wipe his tears.

For guests like me it was a learning experience. It was about relishing simple pleasures, appreciating little moments and just enjoying whatever we do.

Just as we celebrate prodigies and high achievers and seek to emulate them, it is important to have an inclusive society where the ‘special’ or ‘differently abled’ have a role to play.

The children, their families as well as the teachers who work with them- we have so much to learn from them all.

Institutions like Vimarsha give these children an opportunity to do well. The teachers and the families teach us how acceptance and appreciation can make a positive impact on every individual.

Above all working towards an inclusive society would help us all lead more content lives. We could hope to have an ideal world where people do not compete to be the best but work together to bring out the best in everyone.

We walked out of the auditorium happier, wiser and proud to have just been part of this experience.

Whatever the reason..Kids hate it when you visit their school!

Somethings never change! Children hate the idea of their parents visiting their school or interacting with the school Principal and other teachers.

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While my boys are extremely curious and supportive of my work in the area of waste management, they strongly believe that I need to draw a line when it comes to their school.

Initially they were extremely excited when I told them that I would be meeting their school Principal to discuss the possibility of the school hosting a zero waste event.

The school was extremely supportive and our team ‘I Am For ZeroWaste’ worked with them to considerably reduce waste generation during a major tournament held a week ago.

My boys were thrilled. But the idea of me meeting the school Principal hads my 11 year old son quite  worried. “What do you discuss with Principal Maam?” he asked me rather cautiously after my first meeting at school. I told him that our discussion was about waste management at the event.

On the day of the event, we had the opportunity to meet the school management as well. When I mentioned this at home, his immediate remark was, “Who all were there?” and later reassured himself saying, ‘anyways I think the Chairman sir does not know me!”

I realized that my little boy was paranoid that his mother and her gang of waste volunteers were very likely to embarrass him.

He strongly believes that he knows all about waste management – waste reduction and segregation. He is confident that if the need arises, his brothers can help him and together they can ensure that their school goes ‘zerowaste’.

Well now I have at home a true Green Crusader who will work to ensure that amma does not get to interact too much with the school!

He is in School because it is Safe for him!

Back to school and I noticed some of the old students had quit. For a moment I wondered, had they moved to another school or had they just given up!

It is a scary thought but not impossible considering the conditions some of these children come from.

Meeting Karthik and dealing with him was a rather disturbing experience. In my 4th standard class was this quiet wide eyed boy who just stared at me blankly all the time. He would not respond to my queries nor would he talk to anyone else in the class. It then occurred to me that he probably did not understand a word that I was saying.

Karthik was the native a small village along the Orissa- Bengal border. He spoke some dialect of Bengali, understood Hindi but could not speak it. His mother worked in some apartment complex in Bangalore and he was looked after by his aunt. He stayed in the Children’s home run by the same people who ran the school.

I cannot even imagine how scary it must have been for that child. Alone in a strange city amidst people who talk a strange language!

Finally we arranged a Bengali friend to come and interact with him. Karthik smiled happily the moment he heard her talk in Bengali. He was very happy to see her and after that first meeting, he seemed to open up in class. He had communication issues but he seemed more comfortable.

“What is the point in having him in the 4th standard when he cannot even read!” I asked. The Head of the School explained that a 10-12 year old child would be too embarrassed to sit in a class with 3 year olds, even though academically he knows only what they do. We just need to keep him in school. He is safe here!

Although he sat with the 4th standard children, our job was to teach Karthik the English alphabet. Within a few months, he picked up a bit of Kannada and seemed happy here. He enjoyed sports. I hoped he would soon adapt to life in Bangalore and enjoy school.

Karthik is not back this year. I hope he has gone back to his native village. If not, I hope he is safe wherever he is!

Can School Meet Their Expectations?

Back to school to begin the new academic year! It was a real pleasure to meet the students again.

There were several new children, bright eyed, and dressed in their best clothes for the special day! Many of the younger children were accompanied by their anxious parents.

A young couple smiled at each other happily as they left their young child in school. What struck me was that these parents realised that school would probably provide their children the opportunity they never had, or had missed in their childhood. Like all parents, they wanted to provide the best they could for their children.

It is nice to see people from the lower economic strata who have barely completed schooling understand the importance of education.

The household income of the young lady who helps me with the cleaning of my house is under Rs.10000. She sends her children to a private English medium school. It is her dream to see her children speak English fluently! The Government school, she feels is not good enough and her family spend over Rs 1000 every month for the education of their two children.

Many children, in the school I teach, come from similar backgrounds. Their parents do not want to compromise on  education. They send them to the best school that they can afford. Also, they are aware that they are not equipped to help their children with their studies. So they send their children for private tuitions in the evenings. All this is done to ensure that their child does not lag behind.

They see education as the key to secure a better life for their children. But can the schools meet the expectations of these parents!

Those Children vs My Children!

Ever since I started volunteering as a teacher in a school for underprivileged children, I cannot help but notice the difference between those children and ‘my’ children.

Children are the same everywhere. These children are cheerful, fun-loving, curious, and full of life like ‘my’ children. Like ‘my’ children they are smart, neatly dressed, well mannered and eager to learn.

However there are a few, probably children of malnourished parents, who seem to be of what we call ‘low IQ’. Perhaps they suffer from some form of Learning Disability. Unfortunately our academic system has failed them all miserably.

Initially I was shocked to note that some of the children about 10 years of age, studying in the third or fourth standard, were barely able to read! How did they get to this level? I wondered!

To my shock I discovered that many of the children had joined this school after studying in the local Government school for a few years. These children knew even less. They had now come to this school in search of better education. However the authorities were unable to get them to repeat a class because the Government states that a school cannot ‘fail’ a child until the 7th standard!

At the age of 10, the children are perhaps 3-4 years behind students from the more privileged strata of society, I shudder to think what the gap will be like 10 years hence. Will these children be able to compete with ‘my’ kids? How do you motivate them?

Education can be called a great leveller but is the failure of academic system widening the gap between rich and poor in India?

What Does a School for Underprevileged Children Really Do?

“Do not compare these children to your children! They do not have the same opportunities”

Why not? I wondered every time I heard these words. Everyday I saw these kids from my balcony. I could hear them recite their morning prayers, watch them run and play during their free time, they are not very different from my kids, I felt.

In December 2012, I chanced to meet the lady who runs this school. I decided to volunteer as a teacher for a few hours two days a week. On stepping out of my comfort zone it dawned on me that it was not a mere compound wall that separated that school from my apartment complex, the wall perhaps symbolises the larger social divide between the haves and the have-nots!

While some of the children here are orphans, in some cases deserted by one parent, many come from large families. What struck me was that these are the children of people we interact with on a daily basis; nameless, faceless people who provide a range of services for us – maid servants, security guards, drivers, gardeners, vegetable vendors and so on. People we meet everyday but know so little about them!

This school was started by a few educated individuals who wish to make a difference to the lives of underprivileged children. Unhappy with the standards of education in Government schools, they started a small school to provide good education to these children. There are about 30 students in this school from nursery to standard 5. The medium of instruction is English.

Volunteering at this school has been a learning experience. Many of the pre-conceived notions I had about schooling and education proved to be totally wrong.

I had assumed that lack of funds was one the biggest challenges this school, like many other such schools faced. I was wrong. Money is just one of the many challenges.  Availability of trained and committed staff members, lack of motivation to study, poverty and illiteracy of the family, health issues are numerous serious problems faced by the people who run the school.

It is a huge challenge, a mind boggling task that the founders of the school have taken up. I realised that the authorities understand that their school is not merely to educate poor children. Their aim is to provide a safe haven for the children and protect them from the dangers lurking on the streets!

The lady who runs the school has this very practical view. She says, “We will do all that we can for them. Maybe we cannot help all of them to become highly qualified professionals. But we can ensure that these children do not become rag pickers or child workers and perhaps even protect them from becoming drug addicts or prostitutes!”