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The 26th January is Republic Day in India. This is the day on which India’s constitution was signed in 1950, 2 and a bit years after Independence and since then it has been celebrated with pomp across India- particularly in schools.

A central part of the celebrations is the PT Parade which is essentially a millitary parade, performed in New Delhi by some of India’s select regiments, but also at every school across the nation. They call it PT parade.

Now, no-one I’ve met seems to know what the PT stands for. No-one seems to know why it’s performed by children all across the nation. But they do know that it’s essential. It’s a part of their national identity and must be performed with militaristic rigour every Republic Day (and Independence Day).

However, the entire nature of the Parade is at odds with what Hunar Ghar stands for. It is a symbol of force and military might. It is also a display of group discipline- forcing every child int othe same ritualised routine. And it is another example of hegemonic cultural tendencies, which people don’t understand, but must perform out of habit and learn-by-rote schooling and disciplining.

Last August Ed started a debate around the necessity to perform a PT parade, when there are ample other activities (plays, songs, dances, special food) that could be performed to celebrate and symbolise what the day means to the village. However, the teachers were reluctant to engage and felt the PT parade was a necessity. In the end, Ed dictated that it shouldn’t happen- a rare top down order at Hunar Ghar.

On Friday we engaged in a similar debate for the upcoming Republic Day, and feel like the teachers understood our reasons to an extent, but still would have continued with the PT parade if it wasn’t for our insistance that it shouldn’t take place.

Considering that most of the activities at Hunar Ghar involve and encourage the active participation and involvement of the teachers, if not the community as a whole as yet, it is difficult to know if our approach regarding the PT parade has been the right one. On the one hand it may be destructive and create the impression that many processes at Hunar Ghar are less democratic than we suggest, but on the other it is sometimes important to set in motion the changes we would like to see and wait for understanding from the team to follow. The debate around the PT parade highlights the complex and tentative nature of power relations in seemingly participatory processes. I’m sure the teachers face similar conflicts when trying to negotiate with the children- it’s important to get them involved and listen to their opinions, but when is it important to just tell the children how things are going to be done?

We’re after a programmes coordinator for all our activities in India. See the job profile here.

For the 9th of Feb, or four months. I’m still waiting to hear from MGIS about the job in Ahmedabad, but I thought I’d go ahead and get my flights booked, that way I can start looking forward to seeing Hunar Ghar again soon.

I’m flying into Delhi and will head East initially, to visit Ash on his placement then we can visit a few interesting informal education schools which are over there, before coming to Hunar Ghar together. It’s going to be tough not to go straight to Hunar Ghar but good, because I never usually get to see other parts of India! In the east it is a very different place and they don’t speak Hindi, so I’m going to feel like a tourist in India all over again!