The best part of the movie was when the girls bashed up the boys. They asked for it. Whistling at the girls from the North East deserved the punishment they got.
The other thing that interested me was the National Stadium and the facilities provided to our athletes. It is the same old story- taps leaking, unbearable toilets, dark and dingy dorms. Somehow this never changes. Maybe it is patented. After all CPWD has been at it for 150 years. The facilities were non-existent. This stands in stark contrast when they go to Australia to take part in world championship. Does the government want to tell us that it has no money to spend on sports?
It extends beyond sports. Take any primary school. There are four bare walls. There are no desks or chairs. Children squat on the floor. The walls are painted clinical white. There is a blackboard and few chalk pieces. Why can't the walls be painted a more cheerful colour? Why not posters to relieve the tedium? Why not desks and chairs? Why not play items like see-saw in the playground? Why not make the school a fun place?
The teacher's training program does instruct the teachers on the use of teaching aids. But where are the teaching aids?
The funniest part was the government school that we visited. The principal said that the school had a library.
"But the books are for the teachers. There are no books for the children."
Great! So you teach the alphabets. You teach them to string them together to make words, sentences, and lo, they can read a sentence. But when there are no interesting books to read, no story books to lose oneself in, why should a child retain interest in the magical world of reading?
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan-III
Her name was Deepali. And she was in Class II. She went to the government school.
"Do you like going to school?"
A very emphatic shake of the head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Sirji beats me."
Her mother piped up:
"If you do not study, will not Sirji beat you?"
And this was very common across villages. Sirji beats us. But if we do something wrong, it is but right that Sirji beats us.
I do not know whether Sirji beats because these are dalit students or Sirji generally beats because he believes that is how children should be taught.
It was also funny how the children always referred to Sirji. There were no madamji. Male teachers predominate in schools. Aanganwadis, on the other hand, are always run by women.
"Do you like going to school?"
A very emphatic shake of the head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Sirji beats me."
Her mother piped up:
"If you do not study, will not Sirji beat you?"
And this was very common across villages. Sirji beats us. But if we do something wrong, it is but right that Sirji beats us.
I do not know whether Sirji beats because these are dalit students or Sirji generally beats because he believes that is how children should be taught.
It was also funny how the children always referred to Sirji. There were no madamji. Male teachers predominate in schools. Aanganwadis, on the other hand, are always run by women.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan-II
At one of the villages, we asked the routine question:
"Are the children enrolled in schools?"
One of the women said:
"They are refusing to admission to my daughter. They are saying that she should be 10 years of age before they admit her."
"In the primary school?"
"Yes. I took her to the school but the principal refuses to admit her. He says she is not old enough. But two years back they admitted her sister."
"Is there an aanganwadi?"
"Yes."
"Then they have absolutely no reason to refuse. You can enroll your child in aanganwadi at the age of 3 and the child will continue in the school till primary education is finished. Even other wise, the principal has no reason to refuse admission. A child who is 6 years old is admitted."
The principal and the assistant teacher both are upper-caste men. They do not want the lower-caste, especially the Mushaar community, in their school.
Every time I visit UP, I stuck afresh by the caste politics. There are layers within layers within layers.
In this case, we finally asked Visvesh Bhai to have a chat with the principal and ensure that the children are admitted to the school.
Even as the government is trying to do its bit, the villagers themselves prefer to send their children to the private school if money is available.
In another village this was so evident. This was an SC community. The children were much neater, wore clean clothes, and were attending private school.
It is completely another matter that neither the government school nor the private school teach much.
"Are the children enrolled in schools?"
One of the women said:
"They are refusing to admission to my daughter. They are saying that she should be 10 years of age before they admit her."
"In the primary school?"
"Yes. I took her to the school but the principal refuses to admit her. He says she is not old enough. But two years back they admitted her sister."
"Is there an aanganwadi?"
"Yes."
"Then they have absolutely no reason to refuse. You can enroll your child in aanganwadi at the age of 3 and the child will continue in the school till primary education is finished. Even other wise, the principal has no reason to refuse admission. A child who is 6 years old is admitted."
The principal and the assistant teacher both are upper-caste men. They do not want the lower-caste, especially the Mushaar community, in their school.
Every time I visit UP, I stuck afresh by the caste politics. There are layers within layers within layers.
In this case, we finally asked Visvesh Bhai to have a chat with the principal and ensure that the children are admitted to the school.
Even as the government is trying to do its bit, the villagers themselves prefer to send their children to the private school if money is available.
In another village this was so evident. This was an SC community. The children were much neater, wore clean clothes, and were attending private school.
It is completely another matter that neither the government school nor the private school teach much.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan-I
The schools have been renovated. Every primary school in UP wears a fresh coat of white wash, a green band running through the middle indicates that this is a primary school (Red band indicates middle school), and construction activities are frenzied. Each school now has ample classrooms. In the school that we visited there were 8 rooms: 5 classrooms, 1 office, and 1 Aanganwadi. Classrooms are bare; there are no teaching aids, and children sit on the floor. Now, funds have been provided for purchasing desks but only 10 at a time.
On one wall, the mid-day meal scheme is enumerated. The scheme is lavish and provides wholesome nutrition. On Monday the children would be given roti, vegetable, and soybean. On Tuesday they would be provided rice and dal. And so on. If prepared. There are hurdles. The gram panchayat secretary is the signatory. He/she might not be available to sign the documents. He/she has to send the utilization certificate to the government and might not have done it. The grains and money might not have come from the government. So, there are schools where the scheme does not run.
And in schools where the scheme does run, parents complain that the children are provided kichdi every day.
"And it is unpalatable," the women complained.
Only two teachers are appointed per primary school. To compensate Shiksha Mitra have been appointed. It does not matter. Teachers do not teach. They have government duties to do: Pulse polio campaign, election duty, census taking, collecting statistics for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and so on and so forth.
On one wall, the mid-day meal scheme is enumerated. The scheme is lavish and provides wholesome nutrition. On Monday the children would be given roti, vegetable, and soybean. On Tuesday they would be provided rice and dal. And so on. If prepared. There are hurdles. The gram panchayat secretary is the signatory. He/she might not be available to sign the documents. He/she has to send the utilization certificate to the government and might not have done it. The grains and money might not have come from the government. So, there are schools where the scheme does not run.
And in schools where the scheme does run, parents complain that the children are provided kichdi every day.
"And it is unpalatable," the women complained.
Only two teachers are appointed per primary school. To compensate Shiksha Mitra have been appointed. It does not matter. Teachers do not teach. They have government duties to do: Pulse polio campaign, election duty, census taking, collecting statistics for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and so on and so forth.
Monday, August 20, 2007
There is a faint breeze of hope
We have been supporting Jeevan Daan Samiti since 2002. Vishvesh Bhai who heads JDS came to the Kaithi meeting and told us how he would start in the morning, bicycle from village to village teaching children.
Today JDS runs 6 non-formal education centers in Ghazipur district. Each center has an enrollment of about 30-35 children per year. All these children belong to an community known as Mushars (Rat-eating). In the hierarchy of castes, these people fall in the outer most section. Even the dalits consider them untouchable.
For the past couple of years, the samiti has been actively encouraging parents to get their children enrolled in the primary schools, whether private or government. It has been an uphill task and continues to be one for the teachers do not like to have these children enrolled into their school. But the organization and the parents have persisted. There has been an increase in enrollment.
For the past couple of years, we have also realized that teaching alphabets is meaningless. Yes, the child can read but where is the reading material? So we sponsored libraries in almost all of our project. Each library has 500 books. Children can either read them at the center or take them home to read.
And all this adds up. Finally.
This year when I asked the children to read a book, they read confidently. They could add, subtract, and do basic math.
The story was repeated in other projects too.
But the most heartening scene was that of uniform-clad children walking to the school in the morning.
For the first time, since 2007, I felt there was a faint breeze of hope.
Today JDS runs 6 non-formal education centers in Ghazipur district. Each center has an enrollment of about 30-35 children per year. All these children belong to an community known as Mushars (Rat-eating). In the hierarchy of castes, these people fall in the outer most section. Even the dalits consider them untouchable.
For the past couple of years, the samiti has been actively encouraging parents to get their children enrolled in the primary schools, whether private or government. It has been an uphill task and continues to be one for the teachers do not like to have these children enrolled into their school. But the organization and the parents have persisted. There has been an increase in enrollment.
For the past couple of years, we have also realized that teaching alphabets is meaningless. Yes, the child can read but where is the reading material? So we sponsored libraries in almost all of our project. Each library has 500 books. Children can either read them at the center or take them home to read.
And all this adds up. Finally.
This year when I asked the children to read a book, they read confidently. They could add, subtract, and do basic math.
The story was repeated in other projects too.
But the most heartening scene was that of uniform-clad children walking to the school in the morning.
For the first time, since 2007, I felt there was a faint breeze of hope.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Something called Fate
I took the Shivganga express for New Delhi-Varanasi-New Delhi trip. As usual I had booked by second class.
Rekha Chauhan, who heads Mahila Swarojgar Samiti, was very concerned about the trip.
"Didi, what will you eat on the train? Should I make you chappatis?"
I told her to relax. I will find something to eat on the train. It was hardly that important. But she worried and worried and then found out that a friend of hers, an ex-MP, was traveling to Delhi by that very train. So she called him up and asked him to organize the meal for me.
"Just two chappatis. Didi does not eat anything else," she told him.
The ex-MP, Dr. Bizay Shastri who is from Kaithi and is with BJP, happened to have high regard for Rekha. The upshot was that I found myself moving from S8 compartment to AC two tier. Apparently, a member of the National executive council, BJP, had booked an entire coupe for himself and his wife. And they gave me one berth. So I ended up listening to the BJP spiel.
In the S8 compartment, I was sharing the seat with a Muslim family. The lady was loaded with jewels. The police came around to check and warn the passengers. Very duly they warned her.
In the S3 compartment, a dacoit was being taken to Delhi under police escort. There were plenty of police and the dacoit was indulging in his favorite past time-gambling.
The BJP party members made comments on it conveniently forgetting that they too had given tickets to many criminals. Ah well.
Just before Kanpur the dacoits stuck. The S8 compartment was the target.
Draw your own conclusions.
The Shivganga express was delayed by 6 hours as it halted in Kanpur for recording the passenger's statements.
All I can do is to thank my guardian angels and Dr. Bizay Shastri.
Rekha Chauhan, who heads Mahila Swarojgar Samiti, was very concerned about the trip.
"Didi, what will you eat on the train? Should I make you chappatis?"
I told her to relax. I will find something to eat on the train. It was hardly that important. But she worried and worried and then found out that a friend of hers, an ex-MP, was traveling to Delhi by that very train. So she called him up and asked him to organize the meal for me.
"Just two chappatis. Didi does not eat anything else," she told him.
The ex-MP, Dr. Bizay Shastri who is from Kaithi and is with BJP, happened to have high regard for Rekha. The upshot was that I found myself moving from S8 compartment to AC two tier. Apparently, a member of the National executive council, BJP, had booked an entire coupe for himself and his wife. And they gave me one berth. So I ended up listening to the BJP spiel.
In the S8 compartment, I was sharing the seat with a Muslim family. The lady was loaded with jewels. The police came around to check and warn the passengers. Very duly they warned her.
In the S3 compartment, a dacoit was being taken to Delhi under police escort. There were plenty of police and the dacoit was indulging in his favorite past time-gambling.
The BJP party members made comments on it conveniently forgetting that they too had given tickets to many criminals. Ah well.
Just before Kanpur the dacoits stuck. The S8 compartment was the target.
Draw your own conclusions.
The Shivganga express was delayed by 6 hours as it halted in Kanpur for recording the passenger's statements.
All I can do is to thank my guardian angels and Dr. Bizay Shastri.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
On Vaccination
There is a debate raging on vaccinations. There are parents who believe that their child became autistic because of vaccinations. And then there are scientists who say that there is no connection between vaccination and autism. While the debate rages on and we wait for the last word to appear on vaccinations, I can only quote Arabella Simpkins. Arabella Simpkins appears in many of William books, and whom the author describes as a red-haired, long-nosed girl, who automatically constituted herself the leader of any group of which she formed part. This particular episode is described in William and the Evacuees.
"I have been 'vacuated", said a small, foursquare child proudly. "It made my arm come up somethin' korful."
"Shut up, Georgie Parker," said Arabella. "It is a diff'rent sort of 'vacuated you have done on your arm. It's to stop you turnin' into a cow you have it done on your arm."
"Thought it was to stop you gettin' chicken pox," said Frankie, wrinkling up his snub nose in perplexity. "Someone told me it was to stop you gettin' chicken pox anyway."
"It is nothin' to do with chickens," snapped Arabella. "It's cows. Everyone what's not 'vacuated on their arms turns into cows. Half the cows you see in fields is people what weren't 'vacuated on their arms."
"I have been 'vacuated", said a small, foursquare child proudly. "It made my arm come up somethin' korful."
"Shut up, Georgie Parker," said Arabella. "It is a diff'rent sort of 'vacuated you have done on your arm. It's to stop you turnin' into a cow you have it done on your arm."
"Thought it was to stop you gettin' chicken pox," said Frankie, wrinkling up his snub nose in perplexity. "Someone told me it was to stop you gettin' chicken pox anyway."
"It is nothin' to do with chickens," snapped Arabella. "It's cows. Everyone what's not 'vacuated on their arms turns into cows. Half the cows you see in fields is people what weren't 'vacuated on their arms."
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