Reflecting on the “In-service Teacher development” Conference at Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, state capital of Odisha is a canvas where tradition breaths with modernity at ease, was the host of one of the big exercise in deliberating on teacher training. Presence of International agencies in the event, joining with persons and agencies in India gave the event a dimension of size that befits the importance of the issue. Implementing right to education with right earnest in a populous country with wide diversity like India has to assume a reasonable size of dimension. Format of the deliberation and the deliberations itself befitting the concern appeared to have been in sync with conventional approach of Indian education policy which is the traditional content of the conference at Bhubaneswar addressing the modernity of implementing Right to education.

In academics or Government policy document, not only for school education, the issue of educational planning had regularly considered the teacher as the primary unit. The policy in this regard formulated in the past or at present was based on such foundation of idealization in consideration of the teacher as embodiment of education more as an individual person than a professional. Such idealization finds a teacher teaching more out of her moral-ethical standard that is very personal of him. This sub-continent celebrates that person as a teacher. The deliberations of the Indian counterpart in the conference, flowing out of such idealization up-scaled did not lost its focus in putting the teacher at the centre; the policy framework never lost this centricity and the formulation always found the teacher with primary attention. The deliberations singularly were to track down the teacher who otherwise is a person as anybody in the street outside classrooms.

The focus of the international agency on the other hand focused on professionalizing the person who is a teacher through meticulously laid design of training with objective target. Arguably targeting human resource development is a debatable issue especially when the precise knowledge/information on the need is not fully understood; the conference itself was most interesting in exploring the need that expands from linguistic diversity to socio-economic differentials. Again it need to be recognized that here is a system of school, the architecture of which has in the past prepared students who is occupying best chairs all over the World—in academic sphere or as corporate boss. That puts international experience rather simplistic on such differentials and the strength of the existing system for the very simple reason—reducing the entire so called under developed countries as a homogeneous state of situation. However even such proposition do not leaves the singular focus, the centrality remains with the person only who is a teacher.

Sitting behind the deliberating excitements, somewhere the missing element of the institution was felt, around which education of this country has always evolved. At the outset, a person like any other person in the street transforms into a teacher within the institutional framework physically and professionally. A teacher after all is contextual with the ‘school’ where she is located. It is the school that transforms the person as a professional complete with his obligations. Beyond one’s personal moral-ethical attributes, what matters is her competence to deliver as a teacher and that is overarched by the institutional standards. Institutional standards reflected as professional ethical value opens up a discourse that is least explored while formulating educational policy. Nonetheless, enumerating its functional role is not fully explored either since the role of school in shaping up a professional out of a teacher is least understood.

Another area of understanding that has been least explored in such exercises in countries joining ‘education for all’ regime is ‘School as functional/structural organizational component of the system’. School as an organization is recently been exposed to sociological scrutiny exploring contents of recognizing a teacher as a functional component of the institution, with defined responsibilities and role operating within the structural framework of the institution. Interestingly, school as a ‘set’ not only locates the teacher within the framework but absorbs individual differentials too in both the senses. A better practice being emulated, a not so better act was condemned within the group. Supported by structural attributes such functional idealization of the school as institution again turns out as ‘learning situation’ for individual teacher’s development enforcing institutional standards—such an idealization can well redefine the approach to the formulation of In-service training of teacher. The modules proposed in the conference on In-service training generally opted for a considerable period of in-school activities interspersed with short contact programmes. Such proposition again brings the context of the school. Connecting the learning experience in the contact programme with the in-school activities reasonably requires a degree of institutional capacity in the schools to make the programme yield any result. An institutional structure there in the school again locates the teacher with the context. The individual teacher as the unit of educational planning otherwise seems to be in limbo, without any bearing of her coordinates. As a matter of fact, degree/diploma course formulated by NCTE coupled with the In-service modules puts the school importantly on the fore and we just cannot ignore the context for ‘it’ occurs there, a teacher in reality do not exist otherwise!

Considering a school a ‘set’ redeems an interesting angle in locating a parallel from the discourse of economic development. Conceptualization of the state of the economy that is put into developmental regime is an exercise in analyzing the contributing factors that needs attention. The development plan framed out of such conceptual understanding taken separately put to further use for the economically differentiated areas within a progressive list of higher and lower achievement is a common practice.

A similar approach is followed in locating provinces and/or districts of the country as sets measured using a list of defined development indicators. The thought that tickled sitting behind is to consider the schools within such sets measured by a list of indicators what describes a school as it is expected and/or projected. That has been regularly done to record physical facilities alone, may be what it needs there is to add academic, curriculum-management and organizational components too. An idle exercise of argument may be but this is to examine the status quo of locating a teacher as a basis for planning of human resource in education. What this argumentation emphasizing is, development of teacher’s competence within an institutional framework does not involve the teacher-trainee only there are other organizational issues too. Again the trained teachers performance in her work station obviously depends upon the facilities/ambience [I am consciously avoiding the word—infrastructure] that shelters the teacher who intends to cause a change in the system. [Cases of ‘de-skilling’ of teachers in hostile/insensitive organizational situations have been studied in the recent years.] Such sheltering/encouraging ambience after all is the indicators of school that is projected as target [and conventionally that is expected of only of the teachers]. Surely there is a lag there, this massive exercise did stated the position of the superstructures responsible for In-service or Pre-service training again focused the teacher only, and this is my area of interest. How does, making an aprior statement of the structural organizations reflects the problem is a concern and this somewhere raises a question—if such an exercise is an act of shifting responsibility?

Education as state responsibility in a top-up design obviously flows from the policy framework that flows down through a number of institutional/organizational structures till it reaches the person in the classroom, the teacher. There armed with her wit she is to celebrate the success of the policy. Failure of the policy projection regularly involves the person who is a teacher while in a different situation the person is not always celebrated. Celebrating a teacher treating her as an individual however not always locates contribution of the institution in which she is functioning. This brings back my argument of not considering structural failures and/or dysfunctioning of the system and putting entire responsibility on the functional attributes of the teacher involved in the system. Remarkably, this argumentation/perception forms the basis of ‘In-service teacher development’.

I am surely not contesting but raising an issue theoretically on whether the system requires structural or functional reinforcement. Surely, in raising the issue I am not including a teacher in ‘In-service training’ as a structural component of the system but as a ‘functional attribute of the system’. And I am surely curious to learn about the capacity of the structural/organizational components of the system to cause a change; I won’t mind exploring the possibility of In-service development of the capacity of such structures, if required.

My position is not in discord with the objective of the conference but intended to open up another option only. Somewhere I guess, this idea of opening up a third option was provoked by the innovated hospitality offered during Bhubaneswar conference. My gastronomic experience with such conference at National level always was within the binary of northern and southern cuisine. It was always a choice between Idli or Byriani. Here in Bhubaneswar there was a third option, a variety of delicious Odishi dishes! Locating the context, the ground where it occurred. Education after all occurs within the structural ground of the institution—locating the centrality of educational endeavour albeit is a different proposition, may be a third proposition.

11 Nov 2010

সাথ-সঙ্গতে শিল্পী ও শিল্প বা জলছবির ছবি।

তেলরঙের বস্তুপুঞ্জের ভার এবং স্পেস তথা আয়তন ঘিরে ঘিরে যে দৃষ্টিভার সৃষ্টি করে তার সাপেক্ষে জলরঙের ছবি বিশেষ করে ইউরোপীয় ঘরানার, ইম্প্রেসনিষ্ট কলম যে মায়ার সৃষ্টি করে তার অনেকটাই ব্যক্ত আর অনেকটাই অব্যক্ত। ছেড়ে যাওয়া স্পেস, আলোর আভাস এবং রঙের ঘনত্ব বস্তুপূঞ্জকে চেপে ধরে এবং অনায়াসেই সেই ভার এক অনাবিল শূন্যতায় ভাসিয়ে দিয়ে বস্তুপুঞ্জকে ভরহীনতায় অব্যক্ত কাব্য তূলনায় স্পন্দিত তথা ব্যঞ্জনায় উত্তীর্ণ করে। তাই বোধহয় জলরঙের ছবি বিশেষ করে প্রকৃতির অনুচিত্রন দর্শককে মুগ্ধ বিস্ময়ে অবতীর্ণ করে; যেমনটি করে এক সার্থক কবিতা। তার, ভাষা আমাদের পরিচিত জগৎ থেকে আহরিত হলেও, অপরিচিত অনাবিস্কৃত ব্যঞ্জনায় কবিতা ছেড়ে দেয় অনেকটা জায়গা, সেইখানে পাঠককে নিবদ্ধ করেই যেন তার শান্তি, এক একটা শব্দকে হঠাৎ এক আশ্চর্য্য অর্থব্যঞ্জনায় আবিস্কার করে নিস্তব্ধ করে দেয় সমস্ত জিজ্ঞাসা। একটি ক্ষণ, একটি মূহুর্তের দ্বিধা থর থর চেতনা কি করে সময়ের প্রবাহকে থামিয়ে দিয়ে চিরন্তন হয়ে ওঠে।

অলকেশ ঘোষ, এক বিশিষ্ট শিল্পী। জলরঙই তার শিল্পমাধ্যম। তিনি ছবির রঙ আহরণ করেন প্রকৃতি থেকে। প্রকৃতি বদলে যায়, বদলে যায় তাঁর রঙ নির্বাচন, তাঁর প্যালেট। বস্তুপুঞ্জ ও তার বর্ণ, এই দুয়ে মিলে যে সুষমা তার মধ্যে থেকে বর্ণভাস বিশেষ করে বর্ণের তরলতা এবং তারই অনবরত সন্ধান চলে তাঁর চিত্রে। নদীর পাড়—অদুষ্ট নদীর ধার—তার পাশের জনজীবন, তার ইতিহাস, তার সমাজ অলকেশবাবুর ছবির মুখ্যপাত্র নয়। শিল্পীর তুলিতে ধরা পড়েছে তার নান্দনিক রূপ তথা তার অরূপ—যে রূপ নিয়ে প্রতিদিনের জগতের বর্ণনা; ৪০ বছর ঢাকা শহরে বাস করেও যে জগতের সঙ্গে সহবাসী হওয়া গেল না, রূপের সেই জগৎ অলকেশবাবুর কাছে রিয়ালিস্টিক জগৎ। ব্রহ্মপুত্রের ধারের শৈশবস্মৃতির নিয়ে জামালপুরের সেই বালকটি এখনও খোঁজে সেই অরূপকে, সে রূপ রিয়েলিস্টিক নয় তাই অরূপ, অপরূপ।

মিতবাক, আত্মনিবদ্ধ এবং বা শিল্পী অলকেশ ঘোষকে, তাঁর শৈলী, তাঁর সৃষ্টিকে আমরা জানলাম শবনম ফিরদৌসী’র তথ্যচিত্র—জলছবি’র মাধ্যমে। শবনমের চলচিত্রায়নের একটি ব্যক্তিগত শৈলী রয়েছে, তার ছবি কখনই পরিচালকের দৃষ্টিকোনকে প্রাধান্য দেয়না। ৫০’এর দশকের বিশেষ করে পশ্চিমী ঘরানার নেপথ্যে উচ্চারিত ধারাভাষ্যবাহী তথ্যচিত্র রচনার যে শৈলী তৈরী হয়েছিল, যা সাধারণভাবে তথ্যচিত্রের নির্মানশৈলী হিসাবে সমধিক ব্যবহৃত এবং প্রচলিত; শবনমের শৈলী তার থেকে আলাদা, ইংরাজীতে যাকে বলে নন-ন্যারেটিভ শৈলী তাই।, ফলে ছবির বিষয়বস্তু অনুযায়ী চিত্রায়ন এবং তার পরিবেশন এক বিশিষ্ট চরিত্রের। ৬০-৭০এর দশকে ইউরোপীয় এই শৈলী’র এই মহাদেশে অনেকেই ব্যবহার করেছেন, কিন্তু তথ্যচিত্র অ কাহিনীচিত্রের ভেদরেখা অতিক্রম করার কৌশল তথা প্রকরণ অনেকেই আয়ত্ত করে উঠতে পারেননি। শবনমের এই ছবিটি সেই বিচারে স্বমহিমায় উজ্জ্বল। ছবির প্রথম দৃশ্য থেকেই, ফস্‌ করে দেশলাই জ্বেলে যে মানুষটি আমাদের সামনে নিজেকে প্রতিষ্ঠা করেন, তাঁর সম্বন্ধে ঔৎসুক্যের যে টানটান আকর্ষণ তৈরী হয়; কোন পূর্ব বিজ্ঞপ্তি, কোন পূর্ব ঘোষনা ছাড়াই তথা কোন নেপথ্য ভাষণ ছাড়াই শুধুমাত্র চিত্রকল্প ও দৃষ্টিকোন নির্বাচনে সাবলীল এবং আন্তরিকভাবেই শিল্পী নিজেকে ও তাঁর শিল্পকর্মকে ব্যক্তিগতভাবে উপস্থপিত করেন। শিল্পীর সাথে পরিচয় হয়ে যায় আবার একটা ঔৎসুক্যও গঠিত হয়। এই পর্য্যায়ে শিল্পী অ তাঁর সাধনার বর্ণনায় শিল্পীর নিজেরই ভাষ্যে যে সংলাপ তৈরী হয় তার সার্থক সাথ-সঙ্গত রচনা করে চিত্রগ্রহন এবং মোক্ষম সম্পাদনা। উচ্চাঙ্গ সঙ্গীতের সাথ-সঙ্গত অনেকটা পায়েস রান্নার মতোই—দুধের পাক এবং মিষ্টত্ব এই দুয়ের সঙ্গতে যেমন ঠিক পায়েস হয়ে ওঠে, তেমনই ওস্তাদের তানের সঙ্গে সঠীক মাত্রার তেহাই গানকে উপভোগ্য করে তোলে। শবনমের চিত্রগ্রহন ও সম্পাদনা অলকেশবাবুর ছবির সঙ্গে সাথ-সঙ্গতে সার্থক এবং উপভোগ্য; দুয়ে মিলে। শিল্পীর সামান্য কথায় যে পরিমিতি, চিত্র নির্বাচনে ও সম্পাদনায় সেই একই পরিমিতি—সাথ-সঙ্গত।

শবনম, ছবিটিকে কোন পর্য্যায়ে বা অধ্যায়ে ভাগ করতে সম্ভবতঃ রাজী হবেন না, কিন্তু ছবির মেজাজ এবং গতি অনুযায়ী অথবা বিষয় পরিবর্তনের যে ধারা তার বিচারে যদি ভাগ করা হয় তাহলে, শিল্পী যখন আত্মঅমগ্ন হয়ে দৃশ্যপট নির্বাচনের কথা বলছেন সেই অংশটাই তাঁর ব্যক্তিগত সাক্ষাৎকারে একটু ঘন। ইতিমধ্যে, শিল্পীর সঙ্গে যে পরিচয় ঘটিয়ে দিয়েছেন চিত্রপরিচালক তার দাবীতেই মনে হয় আরো একটু যেন শুনতে পারলে ভাল হতো। যে ঔৎসুক্য গড়ে উঠেছে, তার নাটকীয়তা রচনায় শবনমের মুন্সীয়ানা এবং ঐ যে বলছিলাম, তথ্যচিত্র আর কাহিনীচিত্রের বিভাজনরেখার বিলুপ্তি—তারই সুবাদে বেশ কিছু প্রশ্ন তৈরী হয়ে যায়। এই পর্য্যায়েই শিল্পীকে দেখি শহরের প্রেক্ষিতে এবং এই প্রেক্ষিত সম্বন্ধে শিল্পীর মতামতই তাঁকে এবং তাঁর শিল্পশৈলীর যুক্তি তথা বিশিষ্টতাকে ধরিয়ে দেয়। অকলুষিত, অদুষ্ট প্রকৃতির প্রতি এই শিল্পীর আগ্রহ, নিবেদন চিত্রটিকে ব্যক্তিমানুষ সম্বন্ধে তথ্য পরিবেশন থেকে মুক্ত করে, প্রকৃতি ও মানুষের আদিম সম্পর্কের রোমান্টিকতায় পরিবেশ বিপর্য্যয়ের যে সংবাদ গড়ে তোলে তা ব্যক্তি, স্থান ও কালের মাত্রা থেকে উত্তীর্ণ এক আধুনিক বিপর্য্যয়ের প্রতি ইঙ্গিত করে। আর, এই মাত্রাটিকে স্থায়ী সুরের ব্যঞ্জনা দিয়ে শবনম ছবি শেষ করেছেন দীর্ঘ্য প্যানোরামিক লং শটে আধুনিক শহরের এক কর্ম্যব্যস্ত রাস্তায় গোধূলির নেমে আসার বিষাদের সুরের বিস্তার দিয়ে। এই স্থায়ী সুর রচনায় চিত্রনির্মাতা তাঁর নিজস্ব মন্তব্য উপস্থাপন করেছেন, যা শিল্পী অলকেশ ঘোষের জীবন ও তার শিল্পসাধনা সম্বন্ধে চিত্রনির্মাতার একান্ত মতামত থেকে উত্তীর্ণ হয়ে ব্যক্তি অলকেশ ঘোষ’কে ছাড়িয়ে যায় এবং একটি সাধারণ মন্তব্যে মানুষ ও প্রকৃতির বিরহের সুরটি ধরে ফেলে। চিত্ররচনার বিশিষ্ট শৈলীতে, ছবির শুরু থেকে শিল্পীর ব্যক্তিগত কোন পরিচয়ই দেওয়া হয়নি—শিল্পীর সঙ্গে পরিচিতদের কাছে এই বিষয়টি লক্ষ্যনীয় না হতেই পারে, কিন্তু অপরিচিতদের কাছে এই এক আগ্রহ একটা টান তৈরী করে, ধরে রাখে; আর তার নির্বৃত্তি হয় ছবির শেষাংশে। প্রচলিত প্রথায় ক্রেডিট কার্ডের বদলে আমরা এক চিত্রপ্রদর্শনীর ফেস্টুন থেকে শিল্পীর পরিচয় জানতে পারি এবং তাঁর সম্বন্ধে যে আগ্রহ গড়ে ওঠে তার নির্বাহ ঘটে নাটকীয়ভাবে এবং প্রায় এক কাহিনী চিত্রের আকার পরিগ্রহ করে।

ওয়াহেদ তারেক, ছবির সঙ্গীত রচনা করেছেন। প্রায় নির্বাক এই চিত্রের সাউন্ডট্রাকে সামান্য অথচ অনিবার্য্য সুরের আলাপ ছবির মেজাজ অনুযায়ী পরিবেশিত। সঙ্গীত রচনায় বা সঙ্গীত যন্ত্রের নির্বাচনে, শিল্পীর স্থানিক চিহ্ন ধরা পড়তে পারতো। দেশী সুর বা সারিন্দা কিংবা বাঁশির ব্যবহার কি ছবিকে আরও বিষয় অনুগ হতে সাহায্য করতো? এই জিজ্ঞাসা নিজেকেই করছি, আবহসঙ্গীতের অনবদ্য পরিমিতিকে স্বীকার করেই। অন্যদিকে, পিয়ানোর স্টাকাটো আঘাতই কাম্য, বাঁশীর উদাস রোমান্টিকতার থেকে, হয়তো। ওহাজেদ কামালের চিত্রগ্রহন শান্ত ও নরম। রঙ নির্বাচনে বিশেষ করে ডিজিট্যাল ফরম্যাটে যে মুন্সীয়ানার দরকার, সেই ছাপ ও তার অব্যর্থ প্রয়োগ, আগে যে সাথ-সঙ্গতের কথা বলা হয়েছে তা সার্থক করেছে। প্রথম দৃশ্যে, কখনো যদি মনে হয় সফট লেন্স বা ডিফ্যুজড ফোকাসে প্রাথমিক নিসর্গমূলক দৃশ্যাবলীকে জলরঙের আভাস দিতো, ইম্প্রেসনিস্ট ছবির আভাস দিতে পারতো তাহলে এটাও মনে রাখতে হবে যে শবনম তার ছবিতে কারিগরী কৌশল তথা গিমিককে একেবারেই ব্যবহার করেনি। আর তার ফলে সমগ্র ছবি যে ঋজুতা স্বচ্ছতা পেয়েছে তার বোধহয় ব্যঘাত ঘটতো। তবে, ছবির প্রথম দৃশ্যের বৈপরীত্যে সফট ফোকাসে ধরা শহরের ব্যস্ত রাস্তায় সন্ধ্যা নেমে আসার শেষ দৃশ্য এক অসাধারণ সমাপতন। ছবিটি যে সুরে বাঁধা তার ছন্দ ধরে রেখেছে দীর্ঘ্যায়িত লং-শট এবং অব্যর্থ সম্পাদনা। ছবির মেজাজ অনুযায়ী, তারকোভস্কি সুলভ শান্ত সুস্থির আবার কখনো অনিবার্য্যতায় নির্মম। পোর্টেট অঙ্কনরত শিল্পীর ক্লোজ-আপ থেকে শিল্পীর প্রতিকৃতির দৃশ্যাংশে যাওয়ার খন্ডাংশে ছবির সম্পাদনা করেছেন এম এচ পাহালভি, ওয়াহিদ মুরাদের ওস্তাদিটা ধরিয়ে দিতে, বাহবা দিতেই হয়—নিখিল বন্দোপাধ্যায়ের সেতারে ছুট তান শুনে যেমন মুখ থেকে আপনিই বেড়িয়ে যায়—কেয়াবাৎ!

বাংলাদেশে দক্ষিনডিহি গ্রামের রবীন্দ্রনাথের পত্নী মৃনালিনী দেবী'র
পিতৃগৃহ।
সৌজন্যে- সুমন্দ্র [ঋজু] চট্টোপাধ্যায়

Rabindranath, Dewey and Shiksha O Sanskriti: A Note

Pre Second World War American Education system and the reforms it was passing through proved critical in the nation after the First World War seeking for its identity facing the war torn Europe. The Second World War saw the decline of political colonialism especially in the Afro-Asian countries and an expansion of American economy in such areas. That was an expression of the free economic policy of America that flourished individual entrepreneurs and their exploits. The economic activity of America had a background, that explored the possibilities with the idea of progressive education in articulating an agenda of its own and in negotiating with the emerging world in the post First World War years. Among the major theorists of the time John Dewey surely had a major impact in the articulation of the agenda. Among John Dewey’s many such propositions ‘Arts as Experience’ that appeared in 1935 was summation of his propositions. Relating education with the social reform in projecting a just and equitable society, Dewey not only argued with the contemporary education that was more or less a copy of British system but also related the functional role of education in developing and nurturing a culture that would express the wishes of what America in the post First World War was complete with arguing the social injustice meted with the Black Americans there. The education system under all such issues, social, political and economic coupled with the developments in the Europe was in the process of reform in America where the idea of progressive education occupying the major space in public discourse.

Looking ahead for an equitable and just society free of colonial occupation the then India, a British colony striving for political freedom had reason to feel camaraderie in identifying with the idea of progressive education. Poet Rabindranath, the major educationist in colonised India conspicuous in the public domain since pre First World War years was more respected during pre Second World War years with his presence in an International arena of literature as well as with his radical educational ideas materialised in the institutional existence of Visva-Bharati. The article penned by the poet in 1935 that is under discussion here had an interesting pretext—it was provoked by an article published in some American journal [the identity of the article however is an archival inquiry and kept hidden in the printed text available]. Given the preoccupation with educational reform in contemporary America and the arguments presented in this article proposes an interesting study following the methodology of Comparative Education that has emerged in present area of Educational studies especially in understanding issues that involves comparing situations in which such ideas were conceived and proposed in different spatial context but agreeing with a common basis of argument. Shiksha O Sanskriti, here offers such an option in comparing the context as well the basis of such contextualisation.

Shikshar Hepher (1892) is being considered as earliest articulation of educational issues penned by Rabindranath in raising a public debate. Re-reading of the same would attract a singular set of argument that emphasizing on the social function of education. Rabindranath’s proposing reform in education reform systematically had followed this argument in his later engagements. But when education was not a social function in this society? Education rather had been always a social function in this society’s history. If arguing historicity of education’s social function is being proposed in questioning Rabindranath’s proposition then, such proposition in actuality would prove the point Rabindranath had presented in the first place. In his argument Rabindranath was uncompromising and stubborn in recalling the historical social function of education but with a degree of moderation contextual with the contemporary social reality; that locates him as modern educator. The same argumentation is again articulated to negate the then society and its normative that was being more regulated and phrased by the colonial rule. His proposition of returning to the historical engagement of education with required reform in deciding societal had an agenda of questioning legitimacy of education proposed by logic of colonial rule. That calls for a reform in the meaning and value of education that the society had decided historically. Such reform in proposing a separate set of values certainly would put the values in conflict with what is been in practice to sustain a society that accepts colonial control. This asks for breaking away with the present reality that is being phrased with the logic of colonial rule to look ahead into a society that is just, recognising the democratic rights of the colonised Indians, equitable recognising the social discrimination imposed by the same society historically and civilised recognising the values celebrated historically by the same society.

John Dewey, in proposing Progressive idea in education had distanced himself from the idea of education that is imposed from apriori and prescribed. In his idealisation of education, he proposed human mind as unique omnipotent and creative in building one’s own knowledge. Such argumentation is radical to proposing the child as a vehicle to be loaded with knowledge acquired by else, that in turn the child would carry along without questioning the worth of it that again is not in consort with his/her personal experience. Liberating the child to acquire his/her experience in the process of educating his mind Dewy had proposed the child’s connects with the immediate environment that includes the society around. Progressive educators however, shall not leave the child as a passive observer only acquiring experience from his/her surroundings but would engage them in criticising. Criticising again is an exercise in differentiating between what is acceptable and what is not. That assumes a responsibility with the function of education, proposes a capacity to engage and participate in the process of changing what is not acceptable argued by his/her education. This active engagement in that sense proposes the idea of ‘reform’! Such an initiative in ‘reform’ argued with the idea of Progressive education invents individual right to criticise that in other words his/her democratic right to decide what is acceptable and what is not. In the history of educational ideas, this saw Progressive education with the agenda of ‘democratization of education’ as a popular slogan. American society, freed from colonial rule caught the imagination in such a proposition and preferred a reform discovering a sense of Pragmatism in such a ‘slogan’!

Critic of the colonial rule, Rabindranath had expressed his discontent with the systematic supplant of knowledge and values that are essential with the identity of the society and its history. The history of such knowledge and its values defined as tradition again prompts to locate ‘culture’ as an expression of such tradition. But the modernity illustrated in Rabindranath’s idealisation would see ‘sanskriti’ not exactly as it connotes ‘culture’. Connotated as tradition, impromptu designates the epistemology of ‘culture’ with a static value; we cannot question or change the tradition that is embedded in the past. Sanskriti derived from Sanskrit could be understood with a process that moulds and shapes up individually and as part of the collective with certain standards that were perfected through the history of the collective. Elsewhere as well in this article Rabindranath had idealised ‘sanskriti’ as an active engagement in breaking away from the what is being defined and fashioned by material fetish [not as used in Marxist literatures]. That adds a dynamic attribute into the idea what evolves through time as common basis for social relationship, and material fetish as a primitive attribute of human civilization. For Rabindranath, such an endeavour to free one’s mind from her occupations with acquiring material conditions civilizes one’s mind with the process and its attributes what is organic in him, human in her while the reverse holds him back in primitiveness. Hegelian discourse would not debate such differentiation between material [/body] and mind but surely would question the idea of celebrating human creativity and inquiry into unknown independent of the material basis of consciousness. Elsewhere in ‘Spirit of Freedom’ Rabindranath opens up with-“[W]hen Freedom is not an inner idea which imparts strength to our activities and breadth to our creations, when it is merely a thing of external circumstance, it is like an open space to one who is blindfolded. In my recent travel in the West I have felt that out there freedom as an idea has become feeble and ineffectual. Consequently a spirit of repression and coercion is fast spreading in the politics and social relationships of the people.”

Freedom and un-freedom argued by ‘inner idea’ and ‘things [imposed by] external circumstances’ here had been asserted here in distinguishing between ‘man trapped in material fetish [!], and cultured man [the word ‘culture’ is to be valorised by the idea of sanskriti as referred before]. This being opening statement he argued education [he actually used ‘shiksha’ here which in his literature don’t always translates to what the idea of ‘education’ stands for] as culture-intensive against the idea of material-intensive. Making such a statement the author supported his position that education has to be based on ‘freedom’ while material fetish restricts such an attribute imposing its own conditionality limiting the freedom of the idea of education. Proposing education itself an idea of expression of freedom the authors here takes an absolute position in asserting the role of sanskriti/culture in freeing human mind as an affirmative function of education.

Here is a radical position in distinguishing sanskriti/culture proposed by a person who is a modern educator. Here is a text that claims sanskriti/culture not a dead ritual but valorised as genuine courtesy of friendship. The assertion is being extended by proposing the role of such social friendship in giving ‘fullness’ to the ‘man sociated through education’; the assertion again affirms the central argument of imposition of un-freedom by material fetish.

The present text illustrates Rabindranath’s conviction in human-fellowship that he in many words proposed as human sanskriti/culture that was debated/defeated historically by individualism, a human attribute that in his view is a function of material fetish. Material and its accumulation being an individual attribute leave him alone by the primary logic of ‘have’ and ‘have-not’. Such individualism again puts one contesting against the other individual by the primary logic of accumulation of wealth. If that was an observation of social-ideologue, the educator in Rabindranath found a basis with the mainstream education that is based on acquisition of knowledge than sharing of experience.

The article begins with an interesting statement-“My opinion in this regard has been well reflected in this article [the article published in the American journal]” The present interest in this article finds a curiosity with the fact that contemporary literature in education considers Rabindranath as an ‘idealist’ while Dewey as an ‘pragmatist’! Such designation has an immediate meaning of implication but don’t answers questions that are deeper than the immediacy. Such categorisation after all do not answers to the inquiry on whether it is the pragmatism decided by objective conditions discovers an idea as idealistic or pragmatic; or it is the idealism of the prevailing objective condition that decides pragmatic attribute of an idea as compared against an idealist one. How Dewey or for that matter Rabindranath is being celebrated in practice by the respective societies is a question again to answer the previous debate. Perhaps, this identification with idealism and pragmatism has the key to understand the educational idea of Rabindranath and Dewey that don’t appear to have lost relevance today. The idealism of pragmatism has to be understood against pragmatism of idealism in making a summative conclusion about Rabindranath as educator in comparison with other educational ideas; be it of John Dewey or the other.

14^th October 2009

Teaching ‘disadvantaged Children’: Vikramshila Experience

Discussion on ‘Teaching disadvantaged children’ always carries the risk of identifying the precise ‘disadvantaged’ of the children. Any such description has to be values loaded and such valorisation cannot be unquestionable. NCTE-NCF document, however qualified the ‘disadvantaged children’ as the socially and economically disadvantaged groups. Vikramshila Education Resource Society, Kolkata engaged in intervening in this issue is with an assumption that values like social or economic status are qualified by the availability of social and economic opportunities where education as a sub-text could be referred as a means through which such social and economic opportunities could be achieved in creating an equitable society and for the development of the society in general. The teacher’s role is critical there. Vikramshila considers teachers as agencies of change in that direction.

Historically, the student population in the schools in this country were mainly of two kinds: # One with money and time to spare and the other who had money but no time to spare. There were a third kind always; those who had no money or time to spare with no actual need for formal education and thrives on common knowledge that divides advantaged children from a disadvantaged. Vikramshila accepts that in removing socio-culturally mediated divide there is need for not only an intervention into the delivery system but also into the content of education through democratization of classrooms experience. Vikramshila’s endeavour is to relate common knowledge in the socio-economic and cultural life of the society into the knowledge system of the school to make education meaningful to the ‘disadvantaged children’. This proposition of democratic access in the education in this context is a modernization agenda that disengages from the accumulated practice of segregation decided by social and economic disparity.

State initiative on free and compulsory education have opened up option to reach out for those who were economically not well off to meet the cost of education. But interestingly, there is not enough data on the extent and degree of such socially-economically disadvantaged children in our schools. And, secondly there is an almost absence of the body of knowledge researched out on the practice of teaching disadvantaged children emerging as a distinct pedagogic discourse. There is no decided policy on how the ‘disadvantage’ shall be addressed: either as homogenous group or recognizing the inherent heterogeneity. This is not an argument in discontent but that is what Vikramshila learned in the process of intervening into the issue of ‘teaching disadvantaged children’. And, that provoked Vikramshila to embark upon Action research to understand the problem as an obvious choice.

Hypothetically creating a simulated classroom situation for the child, stripped off their identities that were forced upon her by the socio-economic realities certainly could be one of the solutions to this problem. Pursuing a knowledge ideal without being prejudiced by one’s personal identity in the society and the associated economic status is after all the basis of democratic learning deconstructing the power discourse in the schoolsphere. But the key question however revolves around the mentor of such classroom. Where preparing teacher is critical for such an idealised classroom as a space where the socio-economic divide caused by realities outside the classroom is consciously suspended.

Vikramshila’s ‘New direction’: Nabadisha: Mr D. K. Bajpayee the then Commissioner of Kolkata police in 1999 was concerned with the slum children mainly of Garden Reach area, ill famed for criminal activity. Police commissioner wished not only to mainstream them but maintain a formal link between the children of the locality with the police. Vikramshila otherwise was engaged with such children in rural Bengal for long, but here it was a new situation and Vikramshila found an option for engaging with the urban disadvantaged children that matched Mr Bajpayee’s concern. The project-Nabadisha i.e., New direction took off in active collaboration with Kolkata police. Local police stations of the area doubled as learning centres for the children. Deep in abject poverty the children there were mainly working in unorganized sector as domestic workers, rag pickers. Children of sex workers and children from religious and cultural minorities were unable to attend school despite having opportunity of access. In spite of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and special programmes such as Shikshalayas, a significant number of the children remained outside the ambit of education, apparently they didn’t need that and the rest were “dropped out”. Nabadisha began their action research with a hypothesis that the vulnerabilities faced by these children are of a different nature and the government school system have failed to address the problem. The project operated in 24 centres across Kolkata and its outskirts the initial fund was provided by CRY and logistic support was provided by Kolkata police.

Challenges faced by Teachers of Naba Disha

Age-wise or learning skill-wise un-segregable children from reluctant families which has no formal educational background being the major group of the children there, the initial problem confronted was to bring the child to the learning centre for a certain period of time. In general the challenges were related with (a) factors determined by the community’s disinterest with formal and mainstream schooling and (b) there were school related factors which pushed out the children out of the school. The challenges again articulate the life-situation of the children of Nabadisha centres in general and most interestingly the problems identified by Vikramshila are not essentially pedagogic but are socio-economic, that confirms the socio-educational aspect of the problem. The specific challenges the initiative confronted are:

Seasonal migration: Children attending Nabadisha centres were often taken away by their parents to their villages for about one to two months in the school year. This can be attributed to various factors, including search for work and looking after agricultural needs of their community. The absence frustrates their learning process.

Child labour: The children attending Nabadisha centres were often engaged in productive labour to supplement the family’s income. For instance, the child became sole earning member of the family as his father becomes indisposed for several months. Refusing to work is not tolerated and any resistance is physically assaulted.

Problem with the Girl children: Girl children of the centre are expected to do household work and take care of younger siblings. That made it difficult to organize suitable time for them. This is added by the fact that the centre also accommodates the children who are in formal schools, and as such the time schedule has to be beyond formal school hours. There are serious concerns with the adolescent girls. Frequent incident of eve-teasing were a major matter of social tensions. Girls of that age group were keen to get married and elopements are not uncommon.

Community: The parents of Nabadisha children work as semi-skilled labourers such as painters and daily wage earners. Many remain unemployed for long periods of time. Most of the male parents are alcohol or drug addicts. Mistrust, more than ignorance with the formal education has kept the parent community away from formal education. Often argued by the futility or wasting of time in schooling. Marginalised socially the parent’s reasoning finds an argument for economic deprivation. Unable to break the vicious cycle of deprivation falling in the trap of illegality both the parent and their child’s response to education was critical in initiating the programme. Coupled with that, the parents could not be convinced with the play-way mode of school Vikramshila introduced that was soon discarded by them as below the standard. Providing a below the standard education for their child again strengthened their argument for deprivation.

Cultural barrier: School as an institution has its own normative and codes, that are usually a part of the culture of educated families what sustains an organic link between the familysphere and the schoolsphere. Those advents advantaged child to get through in the school culture. But without such cultural memory in the family, uninitiated with such codes and normative not only the ‘un-advataged’ child but her family finds them awkward. Out of this awkwardness the child normally fails to present his preparedness for the school or finds teacher’s commands and language unintelligible for them. There are obvious issues with negotiating with the power discourse dominant in the schoolsphere. This is one of the major causes of these children’s falling behind the expectations of the level in which they are learning. Added to these problems creating democratic ambience in the classroom remained an almost unrealistic proposition for the children whose life experience is more real with harsh and physical violence.

The impact: Before arriving at how these challenges were attended, let me jump to what has been achieved through the years. Incepted in July 1999, the programme is active for more than a decade. The programme today reaches out to 1800+ children and a total number of 3000+ children have been reached out along with their parents in their community. Other than joining mainstream school successfully, the children there are comfortably scoring impressively negotiating with the curriculum requirements. Outside such academic achievements the children regularly participates in:

• Radio journalism interviewing eminent persons as radio journalists.
• Life Skills Orientation Programme
• Functioning as scribe for cerebral palsy child regularly
• National and International Games. Two boys has been selected for playing Rugby and represented West Bengal at the National Level games and one boy has been further selected to play for India in London.
• Writing Skills Workshop
• Traffic Safety Awareness Programme and
• Capacity building of the Community
• Participated in the National Drama School workshop
• Receiving bravery award from the Chief Minister of the state.
• The child who is from red light area finishing her education has joined as teacher there in the centre.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the State Government, today, regard the Naba Disha Project, as a successful urban intervention. Recognizing the efforts of these center, the state government has also begun its mid day meal scheme in these center. SSA West Bengal sends visiting teams from other states to these centres. Recently a team from Andhra Pradesh SSA had come to the centres to see the Urdu pedagogy followed in these centres. IPS trainees periodically visit the centres as a part of their training programme. Police officials from Nepal, Bangladesh police has also visited the centres.

This list of achievements can be recognized as a major success story but Nabadisha broke through a new ground intervening in the community too adding a new direction, or naba-disha which can be enumerated as:

[Impact on the community] The Parents of often-orthodox communities have gradually begun to send their children to the center that expresses their aspiration for economic mobilisation. Their increased interest in the child’s progress is changing the static indifference. This is reflected in their eagerness in putting their children in mainstream schools.

The recent developments with Nabadisha alumnus taking up leadership at community level has created a visible change in the community dynamics; receiving bravery award recommended by the police surely a sign of makeover.

The heterogeneity of the community is more consolidated to take consensus decision in some of the issues related with common good and generating awareness about gender and socio-religious equality. The community a) felicitates mothers whose children have been regular and punctual b) discusses problems with mainstreaming, c) recent issues like epidemic d) the upcoming Matri yojana, e) BPL cards acquisition and eligibility, f) registering for Voter’s ID card,.

Curricular Intervention:

The impact of the programme certainly is a result of appropriate interventions that are more moderation and modulation of the existing curriculum and its delivery, available with contemporary pedagogy. The interventions hardly could be called “innovation” as it is the practice but in most cases apt application excelled as the right solution to the problem. In fact, the other way around identification of the problem is the key to the interventions employed in the programme. For example in order to deal with this issue of multi lingual classrooms the teachers found a solution in improving language coherence in the classroom. The process as a routine engages basics of language competency through listening, speaking, reading and writing but through listening and speaking the children have already acquired a huge source of vocabulary from their homes and peers through their life experience that connects with their community knowledge. The vocabulary stock was utilised by creating of vocabulary dictionaries. Word-lists and vocabulary dictionaries made by the children are used by teachers to introduce them with the idea of the same word in a different language. For instance, ‘safed’ in Hindi, means ‘shaada’ in Bengali. Lists are generated for colours, animals, fruits, birds and other objects or concepts. The dictionary kept on expanding and children learned more and more new words, increasing their verbal repertoire in a particular language, this not only connected the multi-lingual child but the teacher too who was not always comfortable with Hindi or Urdu. This appropriation of pedagogy may not be fresh “innovation” but the key is with the identification of the problem and engaging the right method that is surely imitable. The teachers as partner in the process active in identification of the problem are in an most interesting loop where they identifies not only the problem but the need for their capacity building thus setting the agenda for their training. And, reasonably the solution to the problem opens into newer situation asking for what is more capacity building than what is referred as ‘training’. This continuous negotiation discovers them as an action researcher. Proposing models for Curriculum Management, Stenhouse had conceived an idea of “Teacher as a Researcher”. Nabadisha teachers perhaps present them as an illustration to the theoretically conceived model. Apart from such theoretical implication at the applied level this functional role of Nabadisha teachers actually hold the key to the impact referred.

Nabadisha Action Research:

Put in a text-book example of Action Research, Nabadisha illustrates its early engagement with problematization of the research asking the most innocuous question like-‘Why is it so?’ The teacher as researcher are mostly without pre-service training and when it is there, the standardized version of pedagogic knowledge acquired so did not came to much use. Such skills and knowledge failed come with expected result for the children there had already rejected such expectations. The teacher-researchers were led by senor teachers and that is the Academic Support Group. Consisting of 5 core group members, it is responsible for looking into the day-to-day working of the Centres. They gave both academic and community based support to the teachers in entering the next phase of the research: participant observation’. That is critical for at this stage the capacity of the researcher’s was seriously challenged. It was left for the Academic support group to assess the need for capacity building of the teachers enabling for participation. But a pre-directed measure could not be taken easily for the degree and extent of capacity needed is not clearly known. Leading for a process of inquiry and involving others who could or should be involved in that inquiry, there Vikramshila Project Coordinator and Training Coordinators intervened. The need were analysed and capacity building sessions were organized. Such sessions went across the formal discipline of education. The sessions took them to get support from the Academic Resource Group and for sociological, economic analyses as well linguistic and social-anthropological appreciation of the problem. The sessions of seminars, workshops not only empowered the teachers to develop an appreciation of the reality of the children there but also had them to appreciate the theorizations by the other educator in locating the appropriate decisions. But that again is the phase to construct Hypothesis only. Moving to improved idea in abstraction of the reality always involves a creative ‘moment’ of transformation, an leap from ‘as it is’ to a glimpse of ‘as it could be’. When this refuses existing disadvantage or conditions for disadvantage the possibility of change assumes a political attribute. Such idea as ‘hypothesis’ need to be tested in action otherwise they remain merely ‘interesting ideas’ or ‘just academic’, an impact need to be realised. Participatory action research as an idea does not realise the impact through a predictive cause-effect theory instead suggests possibility and that impact is to be understood to embark upon fresh possibility.

The actions taken accordingly were monitored using a 44-point Quality Mapping Tool. The tool is to capture different features of the project including teacher performance, done on a quarterly basis by the Project Coordinator with support from the Academic Support Group. The monitoring report again is the basis to check the validity of the “hypothesis”. And, analyzing the outcome it puts the programmes in a loop of having another exercise by returning to the ‘problematization’ phase again.

Such description of function and structure may be referred to a system of In-service “training” in conventional vocabulary. May be the logical basis of such a system is continuously upgrading, updating and recharging the knowledge and skills and most importantly recycling of the same. Remarkably here is a system that has evolved that allows not only the teachers to look at the issues afresh, discover solution to the problem but the other functionaries too in looking afresh assessing the need and finding a solution with a sense of problematization capacity. Constant review of the system both vertically and horizontally again is perhaps the key to this programme. But that is precisely how the savage mind learns. Inventing a new sub-continent, Vikramshila had the same challenge taken over her through Action Research.

What I learned and as I understand, Nabadisha opened a different approach to the issue of teaching disadvantaged children which is more a socio-educational and hence political intervention than a pedagogic innovation. Nabadisha is not a school programme so far its structure is concerned. It runs outside the institutional structures of the formal school, for a few hours in the morning before school hours. Located in the police stations the centre at the outset brings the child close to the state power. Removed from the family and the society the centres as a ‘half-house’ opens up a space, which is neutral from the power discourses and the politics of stereotyping there in the family and the society. From such a neutral sphere the child not only gains to question the discourse of power but locates them in a position from where they finds a platform to look for social and economic opportunities. Supported by state power again that option has opened up a new direction for them as we have observed from the observations on the impact. That justifies Vikramshila’s theoretical position. The educational intervention is rather societal for it negotiates with issues that are rooted and manifested the structural attributes of the stratified society. And, it is political for it engages with the status quo in the society, causing thereby a change as we have observed in the impact analysis. The ‘half-house’ could be an ideal for other schools in this stratified society in negotiating with the power imbalance between the taught and un-taught.

In achieving this role of the teacher’s were critical. They for most part of their engagement with the problem, in a problem solving approach have actually gone through a serious Action research, and the periodic re-engagement gave their capacity building exercise an interesting meaning to the term-In-service training! For the teacher of Nabadisha certainly that is a learning situation that not only gave them an option to explore pedagogic knowledge and skills but the process had them reflecting with the social reality of the community. Their continuous interactions with the community in actuality are engagement with the status quo in the society, addressing the causal of the disadvantages of the child. It was an occasion through which the teachers discover her as “agents of change”. Interview with the teachers reveals that the process had educated them and maturing both intellectually and emotionally. As a matter of fact in most case they had turned out to be ‘community leaders’ than just a teacher. What interests much is the fact that even paid with a minimum remuneration the teachers are most happy a person. Other than only less than 5% of them left the job through this period despite the job profile does not provides much comfort and puts them constantly under challenges. If this re-describes the identity of the teacher, the description surely has a signature of modernity. In difference to the standard discourse of In-service teacher’s training where teachers were periodically upgraded with newer knowledge and skills as has been researched out in disconnection with the teachers, Vikramshila discovers a mode of constant negotiation with the problem by the teachers and recharging their capacity with a sense of ‘ownership’. That puts the teachers more as “active” implementers than passive “trainee”. The result such “Teacher driven” actions has brought forwarded may not be replicated by “system driven” as it is referred in the management literatures where the structures involved in Vikramshila experience cannot be ignored.

The NCTE curricular framework in in-service teacher training kept open “routes towards Teachers’ continuous professional development”. Concluding the presentation I wonder if this idea of Action research could be a route through which the programme of In-service training of teachers could be processed. But of course that needs to be articulated through structured investigation of the experience and putting it on anvil.

I acknowledge my thanks to the Project Coordinator and the Nabadisha team of Vikramshila for allowing me a rare peep-view into their activities and also taking part actively responding to my curiosity. I thank the Organizers of this seminar for allowing me to present my experience with Nabadisha. Thank you all !

Presented in the International Seminar on "In-Service Teacher Development" Organized by MHRD, NUPEA, NCTE and Vidya Bhawan Society at Bhubneswar from 21st to 23rd Oct 2010