Out of the Box

The school at Athikuppe is interesting, not just for its academic performance where it scores a perfect 100 in all the four ASER tests , but also for its success in getting the stakeholders involved.  Within minutes of our showing up at the school, we were joined by Umashankar , a member of the Panchayath who has been active in promoting the cause of education and the school in the village. He proudly pointed out the various schemes that are in progress with funding from the local body, which included a separate building for the kitchen to prepare mid- day meals and relocating the Computer room in the area vacated with suitable modifications. He was candid enough to admit that he had political affiliations but he would not let that come in the way of seeking assistance for anything that is related to the education of the kids. The HM too was frank in his appraisal of the situation that they faced in the village, which only reflected the dynamics of rural life in their area. The functioning of the school administration is not smooth all the way; neither is it too difficult to handle and get some results. The experiment in social re- engineering here is worth a close study; it may hold interesting possibilities for other communities to emulate. 

 What interested me most was not any of the above, though they do merit a special mention. In our work with the schools, we have been noticing an alarming decline in the enrollment levels in the 1st Grade- a trend if it persists does not bode well for the healthy evolution of the Public Education System. Some of the contributing factors:

The perception that State run schools do not push study of English adequately at the primary level

Anganwadis which effectively function as the pre- school stage for Government schools are a poor substitute for the Kindergarten schools that function in the private stream. Parents admit their children in the latter - a process that leads to private schools by default

Aggressive 'marketing' by the private schools to attract kids in the age group - 3 to 6; and the inability of the Public Schools to project themselves based on ground realities and merit

We found Umashankar to be surprisingly well sensitized to these issues. He went on to make his own suggestion on what the State should do to promote and utilize the resources that it had created specifically for the benefit of the common people. You can hear this in his own words in the video clip shown alongside.

I feel there is a lot of sense in what he says; if people are really poor enough to claim benefit from the State under the BPL category, how can one justify their action in admitting their kids to a private school paying a 'hefty' amount? Maybe, there is a case for some restrictions here as advocated by Umashankar.

As for me, I am excited at the emergence of this new spirit - of participation and questioning- in the rural environment. Many of us may not agree with  the above idea; however i am sure about one thing: we do need more Umashankars...

E S Ramamurthy