Parents role in child education


On my way back home, walking along the tar road late in the evening, with paddy field swaying on the either side, and the sky turning crimson red, he pointed how mynas are useful birds since they eat the insects while parrots and pigeons are not since they not only peck the grain they cut the whole inflorescence. "I did not know that", I told him. Rajesh walking with me bare footed and 'mundu' folded patted me and smiled. Rajesh is a farmer, and a proud father.  

Rajesh Krishnan and Uma along with their five year old, Vani have recently moved to Kakavayal (near Thrisslery, wayanad). Both of them have moved to Wayanad from Bangalore last year. Uma is from Madurai, was bought up in Jodhpur since her father was in Army. Uma previously did a documentary on Pakistan refugees along the north west Rajasthan. Rajesh is from Trivandrum. Rajesh is now a full time farmer. His aim is to bring back indigenous varieties of rice and grow them organically. 

Vani is studying in the local government school. Rajesh has been elected as the chairman of the School Managing Committee. SMC is a body, mandated by government, consisting of local ward member, parents, student’s representative, head master. "The line separating the PTA and SMC is very thin. Most of them mistake one for the other". bemuses Rajesh. He is well aware of functions of SMC chairman. "The chairman of SMC is a powerful since the school cannot en-cash any expenditure on behalf of the school without his signature.All developmental activity related to school has to be agreed upon, in principle, by the SMC chairman."

Since, Rajesh has taken over the chairman of SMC, he has played a leading role in getting rid of the stick from the teachers hand. "A stick, even used only symbolically, is an instrument of fear and oppression and school is not a place to cultivate fear" augued Uma who taken keen interest in the developmental activities of the school. Toilets have been taken care. 

I learnt some interesting thing about the school by their description. "The assessment for Vani is not based on memory alone. Dialogue and enacting are part of the assessment." Uma was telling about how expressive the classrooms are. "The paintings are very well done" The enrollment in this particular government school, against the popular trend, is going up. In commensurate to the strength of the kids, the strength of the teachers is weak. Effort is being made to increase the number of teachers and build more classroom. 

Rajesh initiated the idea of bringing the children out of classroom and getting them on field during paddy planting season. There was resistance but he finally managed to involve the teacher to get their hands and feet into the mud. 

They refuse to be passive observant of what is happening in their child's life and indeed it is a conscious choice. It is encouraging to see Rajesh and Uma who choose not to buy into the beat of "School will take care of child's education". They are redefining the role of parents in child education 

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