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After all the exciting goings on while Ed was out here, the past few weeks have been a time to step back and really look at our vision, what it is we’re hoping to do with this project and how we can translate theory into reality.

From this period of contemplation is born Hunar Ghar- the home of deep knowledge and skill- roughly.

The idea is simple, small groups of mixed age group children who gather with a facilitator and engage in projects set around village life and resources. Half their time is spent on ongoing projects such as community gardening and helping with solar cooking, while the other half is spent on short term projects- creating a local play, making their own books etc…

Through these projects they discover their own unique talents, while also learning about the world around them, providing service to their community and also picking up language and numeracy skills.

Over time it’s hoped that more and more of the community get involved in these projects- not just children, creating a village learning environment, in which everyone is happy to share knowledge and celebrate the skills that they have.

The plan for how we plan on how this can be done is still in its early stages and inevitably a lot will have to do with adjusting to reality on the ground, but a rough idea of the concept and how we plan on making it happen can be found in the document attached.

Happy reading, and as always, ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated!

This school sets the benchmark. We visited it yesterday in Ahmedabad while in search of inspiration and to get an idea of the kind of quality of education that it’s possible to provide in India.

What we found was indeed inspiring; children in classes of less than 20, led by initiators (the school’s teachers), who lead the children through 6month projects of anything from film making to water harvesting. These projects are led by the children’s interests, not by a curriculum- if a class is particularly musical, one of the projects may be to create a band, but within a project lasting half a year the initiators use their imagination, as well as that of the children, to draw out as many varied learning experiences as possible- the physics of sound, history and culture as reflected in music, design technology, linguistics of musical lyrics etc. There is no rigid curriculum, no fixed timetable and limited formal examination, yet the children end up learning all the useful skills taught in more conventional education, but without having to be dragged kicking and screaming through it; without the need to stifle each child’s individuality by moulding them into a set of hard and fast systems training them to jump hoops and pass exams.

In essence the pedagogy understands the immense complexity and diversity of knowledge and learning that can be found in almost anything, and realises that with resources and great initiators children can learn a great deal from a perspective that interests them. For example a 6 month dress making project can cover measuring, understanding areas of cloth, the technology that goes into fabrics, chemistry of dyes, fashion and culture from a historical perspective, aesthetics and design, how natural fabrics are grown and processed, an understanding of our own bodies and body shape, obesity, annorexia etc….

One  of the greatest testaments to the success of their education is the problem they have when children are ill- they just won’t stay at home! Seeing the school was at once a sobering and inspiring experience, confirming that the education we dream of is possible in India, but also reminding us of what a long way we have to go in order to provide it. It’s taken them 10years to create such a fantastic school, with fexcellent teachers, nigh on unlimited resources and in the midst of a city, with fewer problems of poverty and ignorance. We want to do the same, only in a place with no electricity or running water and no teachers in place with the potential to provide such an education. But for all this, we have an entire village as our playground- we don’t need to buy so many things into a fenced off city school to provide the experiential education- most of the things needed are already there in the environment that surrounds us. This is why if we can find the right people I believe we can provide an education that is more relevant and inspiring than that even provided at MG International School.

I have to say, it’s absolutely fantastic having Ed out here; seeing his continued energy has revitalised me and for the first time in months I feel as though there is someone here who has a sense of where this school is going and what it’s going to take to get there.

 It’s the first time that we’ve managed to sit together, within the physical space of the school, and discuss the direction it’s going in, the challenges we face and how we can overcome them.  And now that both of us have had a chance to experience the realities of life at the school, I can feel our theoretical vision condensing into a practical approach to making a school that fits the community we’re working with.

 We’re now coming up with real solutions to problems of low educational quality, difficulties with staff reliability and also paving the way for volunteers to start helping at the school. The plan is that over the coming months we go from being the people creating to the school to those managing a project that is being run locally and continuously improved!

Namaste from India!

It has been a long time since my last blog entry, and I fear that in the time that’s gone by my integration into Indian life has resulted in my forgetting how to write in English. No matter, I shall do my best.

The last couple of months (as with every other month before) have been an up and down affair, with events that have delighted me as well as those that have left me in the depths of despair.

On the school front, things are going fantastically well, with the villagers beginning to understand the long term benefits of the school as well as coming to trust us and our judgment. Where two months ago every new innovation was met with resistance and grumblings of extra work with no extra pay, now the staff enthusiastically take on new activities, often without prompting. We’ve started giving milk- an unknown luxury- to the children, with the cooks enthusiastically cycling off to the nearest town to collect. On the last school holiday my heart jumped with glee when I arrived at the village to find the teachers and children singing, dancing and playing our school Dholak (local drum) simply because they wanted to with the cooks serving up a small snack for whoever had turned up even though it was their day off.

Things, however, have hardly progressed on the administrative front, with no-one to keep an eye on things once we’re gone as well as our accounts being desperately out of date. I must admit that the difficulties I face with RBKS- our Indian partner organisation- often result in me neglecting this side of my responsibilities, but it seems that our long search for a coordinator we can trust may be coming to an end. I just need to convince RBKS that they should relieve him of his other duties so he can focus on our school. If we manage to bag him we should hopefully have a great system for monitoring, account keeping and continuing to improve the school established by the middle of February.

Other than this, it’s great to be reconnected with the wider world. I can sincerely say that not a day goes by when I don’t think about how incredible it is that people thousands of miles away have stopped to spare a thought for a few kids in a small school in tribal India and a few of these people have spared more than a thought in order make that school possible.