Reach India Foundation

Classrooms or Prisons! -By Vijitha Rajan   Vijitha is currently a research scholar in Central Institute of Education, Delhi University Not until recently have I realized why Kumar’s (1991) description of a teacher as a ‘meek dictator’ has appealed me to the core of my understanding about Indian teachers and classrooms. As I went through his book – Political Agenda Of Education – second time during last summer, almost as an epiphany, I realized that the author, Kumar, was describing my life as a teacher and not just the colonial teachers. When he described the nature of teacher training and teachers’ work during the colonial times, I was reliving my own experiences of teacher training and work as a school teacher. Though there are changes in state standpoints and policy level reforms regarding our school and teacher education classrooms, the underlying processes that define our classrooms haven’t really undergone any fundamental change. And that is why...

A lesson on Values. “Let us organise an event in the village with the help of the students to raise awareness” responded the teacher in response to a query by an anxious parent. Student enrollment in this school was declining alarmingly. I was following a conversation between a parent and the teacher on the issue of dwindling school enrollment. One might be forgiven for thinking: Why on Earth does a parent care about the school enrollment of a government school? We will come to this question in a bit, but it is interesting to note that this question is puzzling not just parents and teachers but even governments! Regardless of the continuing philosophical debates over the merits of public and private education, the trend is there for all to see. Private schools and educational institutions are on a steam roll. Just to rest the case in point, Wayanad, where I am based, a tribal district of Kerala, has almost 40 per cent children aged 6 to 14 enrolled in the private schools acco...

                                                       Padhana Veedu.......a narrative. There were fifteen kids aged six to twelve along with the local facilitator and I squatting on a dimly lit porch. Each one of them held a notebook and a pencil/pen in their hand. Some of them had to be cajoled out of their home and still others were escorted from the play ground. It had been ten minutes since were sitting idly. The facilitator, a locally appointed teacher, is attending a phone call. Children curiously ask my name and they smile on hearing my name. Perhaps, is rather odd that a male should have a feminine sounding name.  Giggling went on for five minutes until the facilitator returns. He opened one notebook and scribbled vowels in Malayalam and instructed the child to copy. Next he opened another notebook and wrote few single di...

                                    A Story, a dream continues... -by Vaishnavi Mohan and Deepthi J Students at Azim Premji University Our visit to Reach India Foundation was intended to give us some field exposure so that when we return to our classrooms after our semester break we go with a richer experience and a big bag of questions. That was exactly what happened in the few days we spent there. We met interesting people, had long conversations about things that we held valuable and learned a little bit about the education system that exists in the Thondarnad Panchayat.  Enjoy the lunch at Naadan Bakshana Shala Our initial interaction with Janaki had taken place when he came to Azim Premji University for Kappi Aur Charcha. Further interaction with the team members gave us better clarity on what this new organization was intending to do. It was the brainchild of few Mal...

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 ...

Sufaid, Jalal, Impana, Sufian, Dilshad and Illias visited Reach India during the weekends. Impana and Sufaid reached at the wee hours on Saturday morning. I picked them up from Mananthavady. Jalal joined us on Saturday afternoon and Sufian made his presence felt late on Saturday evening. While Sufaid and Impana rested of Saturday morning, I went on to attend the Gram Sabha at Korom. It was evening by the time I came back home. When I returned, Jalal had already joined Sufaid and Impana. Mask painting! As the evening progressed, Impana suggested to paint and decided to paint Warli paintings on the wall. Jalal was experimenting with mask painting on Sufaid’s face. Sufaid had a cool camera and I started experimenting with aperture and shutter speed. Following the dinner, I requested Sufaid to sing Khwaja ji. Sufaid has a mesmerizing voice and post dinner we sat for almost an hour singing one song after the other. Mostly it was Sufaid’s personality that set the tone for t...

Kunhome AUP school. A tall man, brownish in complexion, clean shaven with an unobtrusive  moustache approached and with his body leaning on a pillar  introduced himself. "Hello, I am Satheeshan A.M. There are a lot of  Satheeshans in Kunhome AUP school, so remember A.M too. I am a Maths teacher. Keshavan Sir introduced your name to me even before you  arrived here today and  I am glad to meet you." Without losing a  breath, he continued, "You see, I have a problem. I am not in a  proper state of mind. I am fine to teach, but rest of the things do  not make sense to me. I am not in a proper state of mind because I  lost my son recently." It came out spontaneously.  He went on to tell  about his son who was studying in seventh standard in  Kozhikode. Satheeshan lost his son 45 days ago- in a road accident apparently  due to reckless  driving. The driver who rammed his car on two boys was less than eighteen years ...