Educating for a Sane Society

Proceedings of the conference held at Centre For Learning,Bangalore

December 2006

Centre For Learning is grateful to Wipro Applying Thought in Schools forsupporting our conference, Educating for A Sane Society

Contents

Introduction 5

Part 1: Talks and Discussions 7

CFL Presentation 9Invited TalksComments at Centre For Learning 17

(His Excellency Sri Gopalkrishna Gandhi,Governor of West Bengal)

Reinventing Education for an Inclusive World 28(Prof Yash Pal)

Life Skills in the Curriculum 38(Dr Shekhar Seshadri, NIMHANS)

Some Questions Raised by Modern Life 43(Jayashree Nambiar, The School, KFI)

Dialogue in the Primary School 47(Anjali Noronha, Ekalavya)

NCF 2005: Vision and Perplexities 56(Rohit Dhankar, Digantar)

Vikasana 75(M C Malathi)

The Kanavu Experience 77(Shirley Joseph)

The Forest and the City: The Urgency of Change 83(Suprabha Seshan, Gurukula Botanical Sacntuary)

Small Group Dialogues 96

Part 2: Workshops

Introduction to Workshops 108

Section One: General WorkshopsDialogue in Education: CFL Teachers 109Art in CFL: Radhika Neelakantan 122Craft: Lalitha Manjunath 128Role of the Body in Learning: Stefi Barna 139Drama: Vijay Padaki 141The Open Library: Usha Mukunda and Sunila Rau 142

Section Two: Workshops for Junior Age Groups

Junior Math: Arthi Saktheeswaran and Suseela Kumaravel 157Circle Time: Suseela Kumaravel 185Nature Journal: Suseela Kumaravel 188Kannada Workshop: Leela Garady and Kavya Biradar 193Toy Making: Vidula Mhaiskar 203

Section Three: Workshops for Middle and Senior Age Groups

Math for Middle School: 204Shashidhar Jagadeeshan and Kamala Mukunda

Three Strands of Mathematics Teaching: Shailesh A Shirali 234Social Science Projects: Diba Siddiqi 237Creative Writing - Old Words for New: Jane Sahi 245Authentic Assessment: Keerthi L. Mukunda 252Science - An Experimental Approach in the Classroom 275

Yasmin Jayathirtha

Educating for a Sane Society

arose during those five days, althoughthe conference itself was not explicitlystructured in this manner.

Thus the questions and observationspresented below go well beyondspecific contexts, into the broader fieldof education as a central element ofpersonal and social change. As youread the rest of this document, wewould like you to reflect upon thesequestions and ideas, considering theirimplications in your own contexts.Teacher growth

Teachers need opportunities andplatforms to express themselves inmany areas.They can question the educationalsystems they are a part of andbecome agents of change.They need to recognize that theyare at the heart of educationalwork, and not merely ‘middlemen’in educational transactions. They canmove from feeling powerless tobeing powerful.Teachers from very different kindsof schools need to meet and realizethe commonality of their purposesand intents.What is the scope of thepossibilities when individual teacherschange their approach and mindset?

This document contains the talks,discussions and workshops sharedduring a unique five-day conferenceorganized by Centre For Learning,Bangalore, in 2006. Our aim for theconference was to gather teachers andeducators from all over India (andabroad) in order to dialogue aboutcrucial areas of concern in educationtoday. These areas included: curricula,dialogue, nature, assessment, school andteacher autonomy, and the emotionalwell-being of children. We felt thatdifferent voices and perspectivesspeaking together would generate aunique, inspirational energy. At the endof the entire process, thanks to thecombined efforts of many, both withinand outside CFL, we felt our dreamshad been realized. Over 150 participantsfrom schools both rural and urban,formal and non-formal, came togetherin a spirit of friendship and sustainedenquiry.

The essential ideas that emergedfrom the conference can be organizedinto three widening circles ofawareness: teacher growth, schoolenvironment and the social dimension.These, we feel, capture both thecomplexity and the promise of thechange we desperately need ineducation. They emerged as wereflected upon the many insights that

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School environment

Schools can be cooperativeventures, allowing for non-hierarchical and consensual decisionmaking, involving parents, teachers,administrators and students.Can this engender a feeling ofcommunity, from which responsibleenergy and action flow?In this way, the school becomes avital centre of regeneration insociety.

The social dimension

What, if any, is the purpose ofeducation in creating a ‘sane’society?

How do we view educationalinnovations within and outside the‘mainstream’? Upscaling can destroyquality, and yet ‘islands ofexcellence’ touch only a few.How can the State and privateinitiatives learn from and help eachother?The document consists of two

parts. The first includes all invited talks,the subsequent question and answersessions, and summaries of the smallgroup discussions. The second part,titled ‘From Philosophy to Practice’,contains workshop material in severalareas of practical teaching.

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Part 1Talks and Discussions

The contents or parts thereof may not be reproduced for any purpose without permission of theauthor or speaker.

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CFL Presentation

do in the name of educating isunsatisfactory. At one end of thespectrum large numbers of childrenhave no access at all to qualityeducation. At the other, even in theenclaves of the relatively privileged,learning has been reduced to a strugglefor certification leading to a successfulcareer.

The reference to a “sane society”may be puzzling or even provocative.Let me clarify. There is muchunhappiness and incoherence atpersonal, social and global levels thatseems resistant to long term solutions.CFL exists on the premise that theseare all related; and that education canand must contribute to deeperunderstanding and change. I do notimply that this is easy or that the wayforward is well-understood. Yet, wemust begin and persist. This conferenceis an invitation for precisely that.

In exploring the possibilities ofsuch an education, I would like toproceed by highlighting the following:

We must question both ends andmeans. Many of the goals of oureducation systems are implicit andunstated. They do exist as abackground, all the same, and havepowerful effects. Many of themethods and practices we adopt in ourschools and classrooms flow from

Introductory remarksN Venu, CFL

We at Centre For Learning wouldlike to introduce and explore some ofthe questions and themes that underpinour work. However, we will notpresent a history of CFL; nor will thisbe a detailed description of the workbeing done here. Where appropriate,those details will emerge in variousdiscussions and workshops over thenext few days.

We are aware that the educatorswho have come here do not all sharethe same background. Many work incontexts with unique constraints. I donot suggest that methods and structuresfrom one context can be blindly clonedelsewhere. Still, there is much that canbe fruitfully shared and talked about.This conference is an expression of thebelief that such an interaction is vital;that in spite of differences, aseducators, we share common groundand similar challenges.

I also wish to make clear that theissues and themes are being presentedtentatively, in a spirit of dialogue, notas self-evident truths to be acceptedwithout question.

The title of this conferenceindicates a concern with the socialimpact of education. Implicit in thisis a criticism that much of what we

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these goals and have acquired a life oftheir own. Rigid school organization,excessive focus on rote, andexaminations and curricula unresponsiveto student needs are examples. Wewould like to question this focus onnarrow goals and rigid methods.

Secondly, we need a vision ofeducating that is not merely schooling.Schooling as we know it is partly theresult of history. It is too deeplyentrenched in current socialarrangements with their inequities andrigidity. There is pervasive bias inprovision and access: gender, class andcaste biases, for example.

In addition, schooling is increasinglyseen merely as a passport to personalsuccess. Surely, education must aimmuch beyond this and nurture a senseof responsible relationship to others.Thus we need to keep both theindividual and the collective aspects ofeducation firmly in mind. These are notin conflict. One without the other islimited.

Thirdly, such an education mustcontribute to individual and collectivewell-being. Well-being is a wider andricher notion than mere material successand personal accomplishment. It toohas a collective dimension. Aneducation that is socially aware needsto address both. A private heaven forthe few is collective hell.

To summarise, I have outlinedthree strands in the re-examination of

our educational priorities. A willingnessto question both goals and methods;exploring education as more than mereschooling; and a concern with well-being, personal and collective. Theseare not exclusive priorities. We will,hopefully, have the opportunity toexplore these in some depth.

I now highlight three processes thatsupport such an educational vision andnurture well-being. They have been atthe core of CFL’s work. For ease ofpresentation, we call them learning, co-operation and reflection. They are notarranged in a hierarchy. Nor are theyisolated compartments.LearningVenkatesh Onkar, CFL

I’ll begin with what learning meansin its broadest and most general terms.

At the outset, I’d like to make theobvious distinction between ‘learning’on the one hand and ‘educationalstructures’ or ‘curricula’ on the other.‘Learning’ is a vast field that potentiallyencompasses all aspects of human life:the psychological, the cultural and thesocial. We are learning beings,participating collectively in this activitythat has infinite dimensions. Educationalstructures and curricula, on the otherhand, are historically specific. Theyinterpret this field of learning accordingto their own purposes. Currenteducational systems come with theirown set of assumptions and goals. It is

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important for us to keep in mind thatthese systems are not permanent orinevitable. They have changed in thepast and will doubtless change again inthe future. As educators, it is importantthat we keep this in mind, that we donot take curricula as absolutes, butconstantly evaluate them against thebroader background of learning andhuman well being.

In the process of questioningpresent frameworks of schooling andthe learning they offer, several issuescome up.

Education as it is commonlyconceived seldom engages children ininteractive processes in their owncontexts. In what ways are childrenactively engaged with the learningprocesses in their own lives? Curriculaseem concerned with abstract contentand information rather than meaningfulengagement.

On a similar note: is ‘learning’ inthis context just a passive consumptionof messages and information? In otherwords, are curricula authoritarian andpower driven? Current educationalframeworks tend not to encouragequestioning; instead, they emphasizemessages and concepts that seembeneficial but which are problematic ifwe examine them more closely. Anexample is the use of national curriculato build the concept of ‘nationhood.’

A powerful prevailing feature ofconventional curricula is the fact that

ideas are severely compartmentalizedinto watertight disciplines. It is not clearwhat the advantages of such watertightcompartments are. We must questionthe relevance of these distinctions thatserve to remove the discipline from thechild’s life rather than integrate the two.

At quite another level, we may ask,why does schooling emphasize externalrewards, such as certification, marksand prizes, to such an extent? Islearning meaningful when driven almostentirely by external rewards, regardlessof psychological impact and costs?Internal intrinsic motivation does play atremendous role too.

Finally: are these educational modelsmerely training the young to fit intosociety? Education offers the learningof a set of skills that will allow youngpeople to earn a livelihood andsupport themselves, and obviously thisis necessary and right. But does itallow a radical questioning of societyand the reasons for social inequality, ordoes it perpetuate these inequalities?

If the questions and problems Ihave raised are valid, what are ouroptions and alternatives? A lot of thework we do at CFL is our responseto these doubts I have brought up.

It is clear to us that learning mustbegin with a quality of scepticism. Thebeauty and power of this approach liesin the fact that we can be sceptical andinvestigative about every area in ourlives. A child can investigate the natural

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world and the social world; she canequally investigate her own psyche andlearn about her relationships in all theircomplexity. Such learning is open-endedand non-prescriptive. The emphasis ison learning, doubting and questioning,not on content to be mastered or skillsto be acquired.

A central feature of such anapproach is the creation of anatmosphere of non hierarchical learning.It is important that learning is notpassive and that knowledge is not usedas a means to power. Children can beencouraged to question, to doubt andto challenge. This kind of questioningcannot obviously be restricted to withina classroom; once the process ofscepticism is unleashed, it mustencompass many dimensions of life.However, creating and sustaining suchan atmosphere can never be taken forgranted. It will inevitably take a greatdeal of commitment from parents,teachers and children. We needcollectively, as a society, to realize thepotential of this approach.

Other features might emerge fromthese ideas. Observation and attentionto natural processes and the beauty ofthe natural world is an importantfeature, right from a young age.Context-based academic learning isimportant, with an emphasis onunderstanding and analysis rather thanmere rote and memorization. We needto encourage children to gain an

understanding of the incrediblecomplexity of our social world and allthe subtle forces at work in it. Abalance between intellectual work andwork with the hands, between textoriented study and studying the ‘real’world first hand, is necessary. We musttry to present the whole field oflearning in an integrated rather than afragmented manner.

We have observed over the yearsthat it is possible for children to learnfree from pressure and fear. Externalmotivators are no longer the onlydriving forces; there can be space forchildren to learn and discover with asense of freedom. Learning can andmust happen with a great deal ofspace, leisure and enjoyment.

Our basic question is whether we,both adults and children, can learnabout ourselves and our psychologicallives. Without such a deep investigationand understanding of ourselves, anyattempt to understand society andsocial issues seems pointless. Each of usis reflected in society and is a reflectionof that society. To understand ourcomplex world, the first inevitable stepseems to be that we must begin tounderstand ourselves.

I would like to emphasize the factthat learning is never a private, isolatedactivity. Learning is an active processthat happens through collectiverelationship and investigation. Aninvestigative process focused both

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inwardly and outwardly, offers thespace for radical change. Similarly,change sustains the tremendous energyrequired for reflection and investigation.A mode that is in essence investigativeand reflective, as I had mentionedearlier, is never a given. It has to becreated through a huge commitmentof energy.Co-operationYasmin Jayathirtha, CFL

Learning is thus an attempt tounderstand the world, includingourselves. This is a very urgent tasksince society is trying to come to gripswith huge material growth and a desireon the part of every one to have anaffluent lifestyle. In the recent years,this is coupled with a growingrealisation that this will have majorimpact on the earth leading to climatechange and loss of diversity—besidesjust not being sustainable in the longrun.

Studying global warming in achemistry class, a student asked: whatcan we do cut down the amount ofCO2 released? I answered –consumeless. His response was—no, no –Imean realistically! He is a fairly sensitivefifteen year old but he realises that it isdifficult to consume less, that society’smessage is the opposite: success equalsconsumption.

Children who go to school spendthe largest part of their lives there andthis is where they learn to socialise,

adding to attitudes already learnt fromhome.

There is a terrible dichotomybetween what value classes teach—sharing, compassion—and what isexpected in the classroom: achievementand individualism.

It is clear that we have to learn tothink of the world as being a part ofus. Holistic education, educating thewhole child not just a part, is talked ofa lot. What phrase should one use foran education that teaches that you are apart of the whole and that youractions create the society you live in?

A classroom has to teach you tothink about the effect of your actions.The structure of the classroom has tohelp us learn this and hence the needfor co-operation. What do we meanby co-operation? It is a sharing, apartnership, not necessarily equal butone in which any authority comes notfrom position but by taking onresponsibility.

We are talking about a classroomwhere students cooperate with eachother and their teachers and vice versa.For this to occur we will see later howit will have to extend outwards. Ifwe consider the classroom as amicrocosm, we will have to worktogether to create an environment whichwill enable every student to participateand not be forced to drop back. Thiswill be a place where individual successis not achieved at the cost of group

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learning and students are not passiverecipients. For this co-operation toexist there has to be a relationshipbased on mutual responsibility anddialogue. This will be hard for theteacher, since it means giving up aposition and being vulnerable, but thegains are many. At a very surface levelit constantly refreshes your teachingsince each class/student will respond toa statement made by you differently. Itcan illuminate your teaching showingyou why some methods work andothers do not.

At a deeper level, this relationshipallows you, an adult, something veryvaluable, an ‘in’ into your students’lives. You can share your concernswith them and they will listen, becauseyou are a partner. Since you are notportraying yourself as an authority andthey can question you, you get thesame rights.

What are the difficulties? One realdifficulty is that of assessment: how doyou gauge students’ understanding? Insmall groups, it is easily done, bythrowing individual questions orobserving them. In a more structuredclassroom, what will take the place ofweekly tests? One school we knowuses the tests in an ingenious manner:they give the tests but do not hand outthe results, but instead use it to tailorhomework to aid learning.

It raises questions of what isassessment, what are we assessing, whyis a time frame for acquisition ofknowledge important? All these arevery disturbing questions for a societywhich administers as many entranceexams as ours does.

The second difficulty is motivation.Competition as a tool to getperformance is lost from your hand inthe classroom. Only the lazy and brightstudents will mourn its going since theydepended on it to work and you withthem will have to find other ways tokeep them from getting bored. In acooperative set up they can help theless able, deepening their ownunderstanding in return. But in asociety which measures success andfailure in microseconds and fractionsof centimetres and marks, can astudent cope? Obviously, not alone –the structure in the classroom must bereflected in (or rather extended to) theschool and home. So structures therehave to become non hierarchical, basedon dialogue and relationship rather thanstrictly defined roles – teachers have toconstantly work with each other andthe parents to allow dialogue andrelationship to dictate events. This willshake our accepted ideas and can bevery scary. Adults will have toquestion long held truths and be opento questioning both by others and bythemselves. None of this will bepossible without the third strand of ourwork – reflection.

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ReflectionN. Venu, CFL

The inclusion of reflection as partof this trinity of processes arises fromour feeling that an inward journey ofquestioning and attention is a necessarypart of any learning environment, foradults and the young. However, weneed to be cautious. These words canbe interpreted in many ways, andcould result in confusion.

Hence it is important to clarify inwhat sense we use this term. To us,reflection is an open-ended engagementwith our inner world that reveals itsconnection with the external and viceversa. It is a dimension that is difficultto capture in the conventional ideas ofcurriculum and method. As a process,reflection is intimately related to bothlearning and co-operation. It is not apsychological technique or a trainingprogramme.

Why is reflection important?Much of the turmoil both in thepersonal and in the social realm has itsorigins in our flawed understanding ofour own nature. Destructive emotionsdeployed to protect rigid personal andcollective identities are a prime causeof unhappiness and violence in ourlives. The pursuit of individualismwith its excesses is increasingly beingmistaken for freedom. Well-being then,is clearly a casualty. Attempts by states-men and saints to offer us moral

advice have failed routinely. We do notneed more advice. We need betterunderstanding.

This understanding, that is bothself-understanding and a sense ofresponsibility for the other, has to bean integral part of any educationalenvironment. It opens our hearts toco-operation and learning. A just andpeaceful society, a sane society, if it ispossible at all, will need citizenseducated in such environments.

I would like to conclude with thefollowing comments:

We have outlined three paths in theexploration of a radically differenteducation and mentioned threeprocesses that support it. Webelieve that it is possible to explorethese processes in many ways and inmany settings.We do not claim to have given acomplete and exhaustive picture ofthe possibilities open to us aseducators. Nor is this an attempt tocreate a new theory of education.Our effort has been to highlightinsights that will help us focus onmany core issues over the comingfour days.Our interaction here will includediscussions, workshops and activitiesthat emphasize one or the other ofthese aspects. We hope that at theend of it we will have gained anunderstanding that will enrich eachone of us.

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Needless to say, we feel that theseconcerns with learning, co-operationand reflection are not merely for aprivileged few. The challenges thatwe face as a society, and perhapsthe unknown challenges of the

future, continue to need radicalresponses, not business as usual. Andin one way or another, we are all inthe same boat.Thank you and a warm welcome,

once again.

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Invited Talks

In this section, we present the various invited talks given at the conference. Thespeakers presented on themes broadly related to the aims of the conference. Wehave tried to include verbatim talks where possible; in a few cases the talk has beenreconstructed based on notes. We have tried to maintain the voice and tone of theoriginal talks.

Comments at Centre For LearningGopalkrishna Gandhi

Bangalore 18 December 2006

Friends,Tagore’s Gitanjali written in 1912

won him the Nobel Prize. His lesser-known but hugely instructive little storycalled ‘The Parrot’s Training’ written in1918, won – and wins – him gratefulreaders. Many of you must know it.But if there is even one here who doesnot, it would be worth reading a briefexcerpt from it for that person:Once upon a time there was a bird. It wasignorant. It sang all right, but never recitedscriptures. It hopped pretty frequently, butlacked manners.Said the Raja to himself: ‘Ignorance is costlyin the long run. For fools consume as muchfood as their betters, and yet give nothing inreturn.’He called his nephews to his presence and toldthem that the bird must have a soundschooling.The pundits were summoned, and at once wentto the root of the matter. They decided that

the ignorance of birds was due to theirnatural habit of living in poor nests.Therefore, according to the pundits, the firstthing necessary for this bird’s education was asuitable cage…A golden cage was built with gor geousdecorations….The Raja at length, being desirous of seeingwith his own eyes how his EducationDepartment busied itself with the little bird,made his appearance one day at the greatHall of Learning.…The Raja was satisfied that there was noflaw in the ar rangements. As for anycomplaint from the bird itself, that simply couldnot be expected. Its throat was so completelychoked with the leaves from the books that itcould neither whistle nor whisper.Nevertheless, nature occasionally triumphed overtraining, and when the morning light peepedinto the bird’s cage it sometimes fluttered itswings in a reprehensible manner…‘What impertinence!’ growled the kotwal.

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The Raja’s brothers-in-law looked blank, andshook their heads, saying: ‘These birds not onlylack good sense, but also gratitude!’With text-books in one hand and baton inthe other, the pundits gave the poor bird whatmay fitly be called lessons!The kotwal was honoured with a title for hiswatchfulness, and the blacksmith for his skillin forging chains.The bird died.Nobody had the least notion how long agothis had happened. The fault-finder was thefirst man to spread the rumour.The Raja called his nephews and asked them.‘My dear nephews, what is this that we hear?’The nephews said: ‘Sire, the bird’s educationhas been completed.’‘Does it hop?’ the Raja enquired.‘Never!’ said the nephews.‘Does it fly?’‘No.’‘Bring me the bird,’ said the Raja.The bird was brought to him, guarded by thekotwal and the sepoys and the sowars. TheRaja poked its body with his finger. Only itsinner stuffing of book-leaves rustled.Outside the window, the murmur of the springbreeze amongst the newly budded asoka leavesmade the April morning wistful.

That is Rabindranath Tagore at hisimaginative, sensitive, creative best. Asyou know, Tagore started Santiniketanwith a school.

Now, hallucinating for a moment,let us reverse the story.

In a tale of future horrors, mostof the human race has become extinct

– perhaps no great regret. But let usassume it has – doubtless by theblowing up of cities – with a BiggerBang than the one that brought it intobeing. But before that actually happensand a nuclear winter sets in, a little boatof brave humans launches out to sea ina new Ark, to reach some shore wherethey can perhaps become the nucleusfor a new human family. After a long,long journey through increasinglyunbearable privations the vessel reachesan unknown island, which has beenmissed by ancient navigators, medievalexplorers, even by the most sharp-imaging of modern satellites. Sadly, bythe time the little vessel nudges the softshore of that island, every single oneon it has succumbed except a littleinfant girl, who had only just begun totoddle before the brave team had setoff.

This very strange island is bereftof human life but it has parrots,hundreds and thousands of them,inhabiting it like some ancient tribe ofhumans might have, unbeknownst toothers. Each parrot is a living,throbbing bulb of green that glowsyellow at dawn, subsides to its ownemerald at dusk, catching the orange,pink and purple of the setting sun onits plumage before it sleeps. But whenflying in a group, the parrots are acanopy of the brightest green, thechlorophyll brilliant against blue sky orwhite cloud, moving with a propulsion

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that has rapture within its speed, asense of discovery rather than ofinvention, and a great spirit ofcollectivity that is without uniformity.

On this parrot island, the humanchild toddles ashore. The boat itselfgoes gently down as if to say itsattenuated purpose – depositing thechild ashore – has been served. Thechild looks around to see the boat butfinds no trace of it. And then, in herdaze, she looks up to see what she hasnever seen before – parrots uponparrots, screeching, singing, laughing,chattering, flying, looping loops, injoyous abandon. Had it not been forthis spectacle, she would have probablybroken into a wail.

There are no other birds on theisland nor indeed any other forms oflife, only these parrots, bright green andyellow, swift of flight, smart as smartcan be, tremendously confident,whether in flight or on the ground andtotally in charge.

The island has trees in profusion,though – trees that flower, trees thatfruit. They are the parrots’ food-provider. And the parrots are thetrees’ propagators. These parrots havealso, over centuries, acquired thecharacteristics of flightless birds. Theycan walk like fowl and when they doso, which is often, they resemblepoultry.

They have developed forthemselves something else as well: a

system of government with a Kingand a Prince.

When the great brood of parrotsin its swift and musical flight, wingingup and down, moving like light, rollingfrom side to side, joyously, sees thisstrange creature, wingless, beakless, nogreen or yellow on her, toddling,puzzled, on the edge of the island, itgoes into collective shock. For theseparrots have never seen something likethis before. The fast-moving cloud ofemerald stills mid-flight, like a paper-kite halted by a tug of the kite-flier’sstring. The leader of the parrots, witha greater intellectual capacity than theothers, waves his right wing and says‘The God of Evil has sent a winglessCreature to destroy us, let us havenothing to do with it’. But another,gentler parrot, with a greater spiritualcapacity than the others, waving her leftwing says ‘No, this thing is a gift to usfrom the God of Good, let us take itwith us and give it to our Prince’.

All the parrots agree with thegentle parrot and come winging down,settle around the girl, and curling theirwing-feathers around her hand, walkher lovingly down to the King’s tree-home. The Prince is thrilled beyondscreeching. ‘We will feed this walkingbird with our very best flowers’, hesays, ‘We will leave her to wanderwhere she likes, sing, dance’. Andpointing to her hands, he says ‘Thosefunny featherless things sticking out of

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its sides with five digits at the end ofeach, will surely become wings in duetime and it will then become a parrotjust like us!’

The King is pleased that his son hasa new toy. ‘Lavish love on it’, hedecrees, ‘and lavish food – the nectarof the sweetest flowers, the buds ofthe most delicious flowers, but aboveall tenderest petals of the choicestflowers’. All these are brought. Softpetals, sweet petals, petals of differentcolours, varied textures, diverse feels.They are brought with the love ofblessing, the care of an offering madein thanksgiving and hope.

The child loves the taste of nectar,of honey. It is pure. She does not, ofcourse, know what ‘pure’ is or couldbe. But when she tastes the honey thatis placed by a parrot beak gently intoher tiny mouth, the tongue comes alive.The touch of this substance is fluidand yet not flowing, sweet yet notsugary. It has the essence of flowersand yet from somewhere deep insidethe flower, where the flower is morethan a flower. And she finds in hermind the meaning of the word ‘nectar’.Then come the flower buds. She likesthem too but not quite as much as thehoney. They are tiny, soft and bothfragrant and delicious. The petals offlowers, however, are a different matter.She takes them in only because theyare brought with such bright-eyed

unblinking love. Petal after petal offreshness is sent into her until she cantake no more. “It has had enough ofbeauty and of nature for onemorning,” the parrots say to each otherand let it be.

And so it goes...this human infantwho has had but the faintest beginningsof human memory begins to forgetthose images of her earlier life. Sheoutwears the little dress she has on her(‘Look, look, her old feathers aremoulting’ the gentle parrot says). Thechild forgets all mental conditionings,forgets repetitive habits of the humanmind that had come down to herthrough the processes of geneticinfusion over millennia. And she beginsto live in her new freedom. She ceases– almost – to be a pre-conditionedhuman and becomes – almost – a freeparrot. Only, she cannot fly.

As time moves on, a sadnessbegins slowly to come over her. Shebegins to sicken on the fruit. Shebegins to crave for something whiteand warm to drink, for something tocover her body with, something whichcan be slipped over her head and ontoher tiny shoulders. And then hermemory, dimming but not gone,shows her one picture, like a forgottenphotograph, of faces which wereflattish, beakless, but full of somethingshe cannot name but knows – humanexpression.

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The child is not just sullen, she issad.

One day, when waters pour downfrom the skies in sharp sheets, theworld of parrots, with the natural easeof its kind, finds ways into nest holeson trees, crevasses, hollows. Theparrots do so without resentment,without resistance. That is Nature, theyknow. It is not just futile but wrong toresist Nature. We are Nature, they say,so is rain. We are the rain and the rainis us. With one quiver of the body,raindrops fall away from their plumes.With one flap of the wing, the wetnessglides away.

But the child? Oh, she is wetthrough. The rain clings to her skin,cold and unfriendly. She scampers intoa low bush that has some boughsgrowing out of it to make a kind ofshelter and she cowers into it,whimpering, shivering, fearful.

And in that sanctuary, she recalls,dimly, another glowing image: thewarmth of a lovely indoors. Arocking chair, a lap, the faint image ofa window, a glass window, throughwhich she as a baby is shown watercoming down on the garden outside.And she remembers a sound, a humansound, a voice, a human voice, whichsays something to her like “r-a-i-n” -and urges her “Say with me, baby, ‘r-a-i-n’ - that is rain...” And then the childremembers for the first time a wordshe has not spoken for days ‘M-a-m-a’.And she loses consciousness.

The parrots are in consternation.Now, the parrot world has,

through the work of some subliminalcollective memory over millennia,perhaps through a parrot that hadtravelled to the human world orescaped from some ship, learnt of two‘humans’ – one with a single-syllabledname it can pronounce, ‘Blake’, andanother many-syllabled it just cannot,who taught humans to walk, notwander, not march, but walk, wearing,while in a land called India (weatherpermitting) no heavy shoes or socks,being barefoot.

The parrot world has also learntof an image. This image is outside ofits experience and yet within itsunderstanding; unfelt and yet tactile. It isthe ultimate of all horrors, the omegaof all nightmares. It is the hatedpossession of the parrot world’sgenetic memory. It tells the parrotworld that there is something altogethertoo dreadful, too unthinkable, toounacceptable and it is called ‘cage’.When the child goes into the bough tosave herself from the rain someparrots in outrage and disbelief say,‘Oh no – the Gift-Parrot has sought acage!’

‘Cage!’ There is alarm in the King’spalace. ‘I told you’, the Prince says, ‘Wehave not given it enough freedom, wehave denied it the opportunity to roamfree, to fly unrestricted, to seek thebeauty of the setting sun, the moonand the stars at night’.

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One day, when the little one isbarely able to sit up because of thepacked density of the petals stuffedinside her, a gentle breeze plays aroundher. And there is a sound in thebreeze’s movement which is differentfrom that of the flapping of parrotwings or the murmurings of leaves shehad got so used to. It stirs somethingwithin her and that is the sound of asinging voice, not a chirping voice, buta singing one. And a human-singingvoice. It sings softly, indistinctly, andmakes her want to curl up and sleep.It is a lullaby.

The parrots, of course, have theirown song, their anthem, which goeslike this:

We are sane, we are free tu-wit, tu-wee Our home is the leafy tree

We soar, we ski tu-wit, tu-wee We’re so, oh so, hap-ee

‘Beware of the cage’ Said Blake, the Sage ‘That puts all Heaven in a Rage’

‘Rid doors of locks’ Said another in his talks ‘Free feet from socks’

‘Don’t cram, just See’ Don’t fret, just Be’Said He

We are sane, we are freeTu-wit, tu-weeOur home is the leafy tree

We are free, we are sane.We have no ‘code’, we use no caneWe kiss the cloud,we sip the rain

We are sane, we are freetu-wit, to-weeOur home is the leafy-treeAfter the child comes to, the King

sets up a small choir of parrots toteach her this song, softly, softly,without any compulsion on the poorlittle thing. There should be no forcingof the exercise on it, he says, whetheron the accent or the pitch, the rhymeor the reason. But try as she does, thechild cannot learn this parrot-song offreedom.

The child tries to lisp some notes,which come to her from some dimhaze of memories, mixed up with theimage of a woman’s face, her mother’s,and the sound of some rhymes andwords like ‘sleep’ and ‘hush-a-bye’ inthem. Tears well up in her eyes andchoke her voice.

Friends, hallucinations must notextend. Parables must have a stricterword limit than ‘speeches’. Mine does,and has ended. If I have offendedanyone by my remarks about sanityand freedom, I apologise to them

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most sincerely. My only purpose was toshare the thought with all of you,teachers and students present here, thatregimentation in schools or elsewhere –except in the uniformed services – iswrong. But the alternative to it has tocome not from out of a book ofantonyms but from a register ofalternatives. The alternative has to relateto the individual, to the context, to thetimes. People who cage parrots dowrong. ‘Parrots’ who uncage peoplecan also go wrong.

Whenever I visit a place of learningI genuflect - mentally, of course. Andthis has nothing to do with the kindof school that I am at. For these areall places where learners are beingtaught by other learners to learn thatlife, the biggest teacher of all, gives usof its lesson in unexpected ways. Andthe biggest of these has to be thelesson of balance.

Tagore and Krishnamurti had andshared with us, balance. They showedus that balance was not a Euclideanproposition, true for all timeeverywhere. They showed us thatbalance depends on two factors: thegradient of the challenge and the abilityof the one facing the challenge, to takea stand on it.

If schools are to impart balance tostudents, they can do so only in termsof the recipient’s abilities, self-imageand bhava, not the school’s own ability,self-image and bhava. If the

regimentations of the assembly-line arewrong, the regimes of no-line-at-allcannot be right either.

Tagore wanted his beautiful school-experiment in the Patha Bhavana atSantiniketan to meander, not proceed insome straight line like an excavatedchannel. He wanted, thereby, themeandering course of the pupils’ livesto find their natural bent. He sent hisown son Rathindranath to that schoolwhen it began, in 1901, with fivestudents and five teachers. The storyof each of those students and teachersin that remarkable 1:1 ratio is worthstudying. I will not take your time withthat except to say – by way of anaside – that one of the teachers wasastonishingly different from the otherteachers (and from most people). Hewas, of course, a good teacher andwas loved by his students but his bestfriends were - caterpillars! In hisashram home he bred hundreds ofthem and at the end of an exhaustingday at work would go to sleepwrapped up - of all things -in newspapers with his pet caterpillarslet loose to crawl on them. What thecaterpillars thought of this freedom tosaunter over world news we can neverknow, but Lawrence Teacher obviouslyslept the better for this procedure. It isno surprise that not long thereafterTagore’s school requested LawrenceTeacher to shift to other forms ofassisting Santiniketan.

Independence does not have to be

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eccentric any more than self-disciplinehas to be regimental.

For freedom to be responsible, forexperiments to be non-erratic and tolead to balance, Tagore andKrishnamurti have set standards andleft examples. We must experiment butnot become prisoners of tentativeness.If we do, we will become prisoners inunbarred cages.

Annie Besant broke with westernconvention, giving Theosophy newvigour. Krishnamurti and RukminiDevi broke with Theosophy – andeach other – leading to the foundingof the ‘K’ schools and of Kalakshetra.The process continues. Every break isa new amalgamation, which is boundto break again. Life is like a sheet ofpostage stamps. Some look at itsvisuals. I am drawn to the serialperforations that dot it in intersectinglines. Is each perforation thereimportant, or the jointure between eachperforation? Do I say the line ismeant for tearing or for holding? Asociety – the Theosophical – led to agreat Exiting. The Exiting, with theExiter’s name got Incorporated. The‘Inc’ has led to the teaching of theTeaching, which has led to a Walkaway,if not a Walkout, and a Centre hasbeen born. Do Centres ‘hold’? Do‘falconers’ remote-control each ‘falcon’?There is in every one of us an anarchand a systemiser. Buddhas walk awayfrom palaces that are prison-like to

found or inspire Councils which havetheir own bars, systems, schisms.Schismatics become prophets, prophetsgenerate schism. Life has given toeach of us (or positioned in each oneof us) a ‘zero’ and a ‘one’, engaged inendless play, the ‘zero’ prefixing the‘one’ and saying “you are nothing” onlyto find the ‘one’ ahead of it and sayingto it “We are ten”. We cannot teachnon-teaching teacherlessly. We cannot –and should not – cage the parrot. Wecannot – and should not – teach theunwinged to fly. We can and shoulduncage the parrot, teach the unwingedto stand, to walk, to run and tochoose between being still or inmotion according to what seems andperhaps is, right for that moment.Choose between the ‘zero’ and the‘one’ in us to use those two values todifferential effect. The ‘zero’ will tellus that life itself is perhaps a trap andthe body a ‘cage’. The ‘one’ will tell usof the entrapments and cagings ofcircumstance from which others needto be released. The ‘zero’ is the ‘vitacontemplativa’ we need for ourselves,the ‘one’ is the ‘vita activa’ we need asmembers of a social order.

If I may conclude with a non-thought or two from a non-teacher.

Schools must see themselves asworking with today’s student in today’sclassroom, in today’s multiple andmutually canceling realities. Who teachesthose? Holders of B.Ed. and M.Ed.

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degrees? No, those who haveexperienced these realities. Let schoolsbring in as Teachers Emeritus suchpersons, young or once-young, fromthe different theatres of our realities.Not itinerant Governors and fleetingexperts but real people who havetaken their share of knocks in life.And let students gather around them, intune with their own aptitudes, and learnreal lessons about real life from realpeople. A potter in my old schooland an old Haryanvi mithaiwala in mycollege taught me as much about lifeas my teachers taught me about mysubjects of study.

You will, you must, ask me what Imean by ‘realities’. I have in mind,principally, the realities of India’scontemporary contradictions anddivides. Be assured, I am not going todeliver myself of a homily on the rich-poor, urban-rural, sectarian-secular story.There are, apart from those, certain oldand certain new divides that comprise adaily, hourly reality. Paradoxically andtragically, we are witnessing what maybe called attitudinal divides that areacquiring disturbing proportions. Thosewho want to protect the environment,save the forests, and its denizens standcategorized by some perfectly realpeople who stand on the edge of thedestitution line, as ‘elitist’ and ‘people-unfriendly’. How right is that dividingline? Those who want to protectanimal rights are categorized by some

real people as the kutte-billi walas whoaccord the insân, a lower priority.Those who have an interest in khadi, inhand woven fabrics, in crafts, aretypecast by those who out of practicalnecessity and low budgets, use syntheticmaterial as fashion-walas. Examplescan be multiplied. You know thembetter than I. There is, however, areality within these realities of the GreatIndian Divides – GIDs we can callthem – which gets drowned in the dinof agitations. This greater Indianreality – GIR we can call it (invokingthe great lions of Gir for blessing) – isthat, in the long run, conserving forestsis people-friendly, protecting animalrights is about being civilized notsentimental, khadi and crafts help very,very poor people. The GIR needs tobe redeemed from the GIDs, thegreater from the great, the truer fromthe not-untrue. This requires a goodgrounding in both precept and intactics. ‘The road less travelled-by’ is anunforgettable phrase of Robert Frost’s.Schools such as CFL may help studentschoose – not between right andwrong, truth and untruth, non-violenceand violence – that is easy. They musthelp students learn to choose by self-enquiry between two truths, betweentwo paths both of which may be truein part. That is not easy.

Schools stand divided. Those thatare ‘standard’ and ‘assembly line’ areself-described and self-defended in

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terms as “after all, we have to bepractical; we live in a world thatcompetes, grades and employsaccording to grades unless of courseyou have ‘pull’ “. And those schoolsthat ‘experiment’ like Tagore’s orKrishnamurti’s, howsoever unshod andunsocked their students may be are, onthe other hand, regarded as ‘elitist’.

Schools need to look uponstudents as individuals with distinctbackgrounds, specific aptitudes. Aparrot can be caged; a parrot can cage.The word ‘special’ is used now forstudents with ‘special needs’. Everystudent is, actually, ‘special’, for eachhas invisible deficits. But also becauseeach has invisible strengths. That‘thingness’ – negative or positive – ineach student needs discovering andattention. Let no school say Tagorecould do that because his school hadfive students and we have fivethousand. That argument is notwithout force, but is often used as amatter of course. There are ways ofdiscovering the ‘special’ in each student.And ways of telling that ‘special’ howto grow through and out of cages.

One balance that is needed is onthe gradient of perceptions about whatis ‘sane’ in a society. Extremism, in anycause, including and especially in thecause of learning is wrong and unwise.No one can claim a monopoly oversane living. We can only claim to havebits and pieces of sanity. We can

aspire to enlarge those segments bytrying to understand why some feelcomfortable caged and some not.

Schools that are located on ‘theroad less travelled-by’ share somethingwith the gurukulas of old. But we livein times that have gone beyondgurukulas (though gurus of a new kindsprout all over). Until not very longago, leaders of Indian opinion fromthe so-called English-educated elite –the ‘upper crust’ – like Tagore inBengal felt and spoke for gurukulas,handicrafts. There was an ideologicalcompact between the two poles. As inthe railways, the transition made by themost famous Indian of our times wasstraight from the train’s 1st Class to its3rd Class. Today the IInd Class 2 tierand 3 tier – in other words, themiddle class – is the dominant class.It is that class which characterizes the1st as the elite and has virtually doneaway with the 3rd. But the railways,great and representative of India thatthey are, are still not the whole ofIndia. An equivalent of the old 3rd

Class does exist – in the shape of ourdeprived and marginalized, many ofwho are tribal. And in the shape ofgender discrimination across all Classes.The GIR – the greater Indian reality –is also about them and their future.The GIDs are also about a reality andneed attention but not at the expenseof the GIR. Here are two competingtruths. And choosing from them takessomething.

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Centres for learning, if they areaware of these realities, must preparethemselves to address the Great IndianMiddle Class about its illusions anddelusions. They must not luxuriate inthe false dichotomy of ‘standardeducation’ and ‘liberal education’ butprepare students to address real-life, therazors’ edge of the moment wheresituations in today’s India call for

choices to be made, and for a balance.They must prepare students to rageagainst complacent calm and to becalm against incendiary rage. For wehave both amidst us – calm where acreative rage is called for – as againstinjustice. And rage, real or simulated,which destroys. To achieving thatbalance, to achieve the skills of RightChoice, may your deliberations beaddressed.

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Reinventing Education for an Inclusive World1

Prof Yash Pal

Personal observation and experience donot change what is required to be learntand the manner in which it is to belearnt. A defined collection ofcompetences and well-listed pieces ofinformation constitute education foreveryone, with little or no room forpersonal variation. Not only the learnerbut also the teacher is bound bycontours, in expanse and in depth. Theinterconnections with allied areas arenormally frowned upon but whenallowed they are restricted to examplesthat might not be relevant any more.The testing methods ensure thatdiversion from the well-defined pathdoes not take place. Even the pathwaysfor excursion are defined to the extentthat they too form a part of theinorganic contour that contains thesyllabus. This works reasonably well forrestricted training but not for growingminds that might wander off intounexpected but often exciting newareas. We are not honed for creatingnew disciplines.

Why is this the way it is? We mightargue about the reasons that madeeducation as mere training for a worldcreated by others.

Let me share my thoughts on whatseems to me an important challenge

Modes of acquiring informationhave been changing very fast. We areso exposed that our own faculties ofreasoning and model making are notused very often. Fashions havepredominance, in thought as in dress.Yet in the middle of tremendousforces of uniformization the rebels andnonconformists need not besubmerged or eliminated.

Means of acquiring informationmight have been transformed buteducation still needs teachers and fellowstudents. Libraries are necessary aids;they have existed for a long time butthey have never been universities. Norwould they become so in theforeseeable future. But a radicaltransformation in the character andmodes of learning is definitelyindicated. In fact it is already happening.There are tremendous advantages to bederived through the emergence of thenew - like digital libraries and theInternet. There are also some pitfallsand dangers that might destroyeducation and replace it with meretraining for skills. This needsexplanation.

My complaint against the presenteducation system in our country is thatit tends to be contextually disconnected.1 UGC Golden Jubilee Lecture, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, 26.11.03Prof. Yash Pal was unable to deliver his lecture in person due to sudden illness. This talk was read tous by Prof. N. Mukunda.

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before the present world. This concernsthe need to combine globality andintimacy: for education, for socialinclusiveness, and a sustainable futurefor humanity.

Over a quarter of a century ago Ibecame enamoured of the possibilityof quickly interacting with and reachingmasses of our people living far fromconcentrations of infrastructure usingspace communication and spacebroadcasting. In addition there was alsothe element of forecasting weather andmonitoring of resources. I felt that thistechnological possibility had beenspecially invented for a country likeours. This is how I got involved withthe setting up of the SpaceApplications Centre at Ahmedabadand the first large-scale socio-technicalexperiment in communication using asatellite. The aim was to reachthousands of remote villages, and onlyvillages, via direct reception TV. Thiswas when television in India wasconfined to a couple of hours oftransmission a day in Delhi andBombay.

This experiment involved severalthousand man-years of effort bytechnologists, social scientists andcommunication experts, in addition tothe NASA satellite ATS-6. It did notradically change India but it didinfluence the life of a large number ofpeople – some of them directlyinvolved and many who were

influenced by the effort. A number ofthings became clear during ourengagement with thousands of villagesspread across the length and breadthof our country. Bridging the distancewas a great advantage but giving voiceand initiative to the enormous diversitytherein was not so easy. I began torealize that intimacy is crucial. However,it is seriously violated when the physicaland cultural distance of the sourceincreases. Space communication is amarvellous gift of the present epoch,but by itself it can be best used forsermonizing, indoctrination oradvertising. Even though a lot ofinformation can be delivered, trueeducation and development needgreater contextual connection andparticipation. On the other handwithout a long range connection,intimacy by itself would lead toparochialism and alienation from theworld. The challenge is to find ways ofaddressing this dilemma.

I am convinced that many beautifulaspects of being human arise fromcloseness of a limited number ofpeople. Crystals and gems arise fromresidual short-range forces. This isequally true of naturally existingelements and molecules. Leaveeverything else and think about themolecules like the DNA, so central tothe happening of life. Language,humour, music, plastic arts and crafts,architecture of different places, even

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science would not show their peaksunless some people were together andcommunicated through a languagemuch beyond mere words. This is notsomething that happened only in thedistant past. Great educationalinstitutions would not become greatunless people could infect each other atclose range. That is why people striveto go to places where there are someoutstanding teachers, researchers andgurus, notwithstanding the fact thatbooks and papers written by thedistinguished academics in theseinstitutions can be accessed in print orover the net and in libraries all over theworld. In our country we traditionallyrecognized that learning could not betransported as books or instructionsuniformly applicable to all the learners.We believed that it comes through thechemistry of interaction between theteacher (guru) and the learner (shishya)– the tradition being known as theguru-shishya parampara.

Basic talent of humans is evenlyspread across the world. Much of it ishard wired in our make up, thanks toour common evolutionary past. It is apity that a large fraction of peoplecannot participate in the process ofcreating new knowledge and newthings. Therefore we have come to astate where a few are in a position tocondition the world and the rest areonly conditioned. There is a smallconcentration of creators who might

be excused for believing that they arealso the ones who have the right tocreate the world in their own image.This situation prevails all across theworld – not only between countries,not only between the North and theSouth, but also between peopleseparated by religion, race and caste,between men and women, andbetween the countryside and themetropolis.

In the field of education ourcountry has always had somediscrimination between those whocould afford and most others whocould not. Now this has been taken toa vulgar level. This is being donethrough various mechanisms, partlyunintentionally but mostly with apurpose to keep the riff raff out.Exclusion is becoming extreme. I donot have to give examples of thisphenomenon, but a few remindersmight be appropriate:

Private schools, usually called Publicschools, some excellent, many prettybad with their distinction being thatthey also want children to carryheavy bags and start with English atNursery level itself.Municipal and Government schoolsSchools that have no buildingsSchools that have no trainedteachersNo School in the neighbourhoodThe first category of schools mightcost (per child) much more than theaverage per capita income of anIndian.

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The mismatch between the load onchildren and quality of teaching issuch that a large fraction of thestudents need to join coachingclasses. In metropolitan areascoaching expenses per child reach 5to 10 thousand rupees per monthin the last years of the school! Thishas become a fine mechanism ofsocial exclusion. Sometimes I feelthat many of the ills of our systemarise from a huge conspiracy ofcoaching institutions. Indeed in manya case coaching has replacededucation. How much lower canwe get?I may go on but even this small list

makes it clear that our system isdesigned for excluding a large fractionof our population.Academic reasons for thebarrenness and non-inclusivenature of our education

If I were asked to name onemajor direction that could drasticallychange the nature of our educationand research enterprise fromkindergarten to the university level Iwould say:

Build on individual competence andexploration and couple with the lifearound you.If this advice were taken seriously itwould imply that:Learning is not delivered; it iscreated.

The process of creation necessarilyrequires building on what the childalready knows, what it observesand explores, the experiments itdoes while playing, studying anddealing with the world around.Since the experience of one childmay be different from that ofanother, the syllabus for learningwould also be different.If that were so we would not

insist on centralized examinations. Wewould examine each child the way amusic or dance guru examines his/hershishyas, or an ustad or craftsmantrains his/her apprentices. We wouldnot make children run a competitivehurdle race to get that extra mark ofdistinction. There would be no needof education destroying coachingclasses.

Learning would not be imprisonedwithin disciplines. Nothing would beout of course if it were comprehensible.

The system would require fullfreedom to teachers to learn, exploreand grow with the children under theircare. They would also form allianceswith each other and others outside theschool to pursue their learning intouncharted areas.University level

What I have said above in respectof school education applies even morestrongly at the college, university andresearch levels. If we engage with

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society and couple with its arts, craftsand industry while learning and findingout, each of these sectors would gain.The fresh minds of young studentsalong with their energy would lead tomutual transformation. Researchstudents would not be waiting for theirguide to hunt for a new problem fortheir dissertation. This would haveemerged naturally through theirengagement, with each other and theenvironment and industry around.

For our research areas this wouldbe rejuvenating. For example, therewould be a chance for physiologistsand physicists to work together. If theyboth happen to be in a university andare also engaged with industry, theymight get to a stage when some ofthe new marvellous technology formedical diagnosis would be invented inour country. This would be a way tocorrect the imbalance in which mostresources are spent in nationallaboratories while most of our youngpersons are in colleges and universities.

There are many tricky areas wheresocial sciences and physical sciencesneed to work together. This is requiredeven for defining what would be agood society and furthermore themeans to achieve it. A lot of newthinking is required in economic,political and social spheres. If this isdone without including scientists andengineers, even the new would becopies of what obtains elsewhere, orimpossible to achieve.

For all this to happen we need tobreak walls and couple. Couple andengage with our society. I am sure thatif we design our education andresearch enterprises this way all theother problems would resolvethemselves. The sheer excitement ofsuch a free Manthan and missionwould ensure that. The silly competitiveexams on which we expend so muchenergy would acquire a diminishedimportance and then disappear. I donot know why we are afraid of goingthis route.Foreign universities

I am not surprised that so manyforeign colleges and universities want toset up shop in our country. The goodsthey come with are not different fromthose brought by sellers of TV,computers, cars, motor cycles andcosmetics. They will sell so long asthere are buyers with money who canflaunt foreign degrees. We are alreadydecoupled from our society. All theywould do is to decouple us somemore. We should not be too worriedbecause the individuals they wouldcapture in their net would be relativelymediocre (not being able to get intogood institutions on the basis of theirmerit) besides the fact that they mighthave already decided that emigration isthe most desirable step towards theirfuture. I may not be too worried butthat would change if we begin to

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believe that this would lead to importof truly high-class education into ourcountry. I do not think too manyNobel Laureates are going to be onthe staff of these outside teachingshops who would be available forrelaxed interaction with students hereand consider their presence in theseshops as significant steps foradvancement of their own thought andexploration. As I said earlier, goodeducation is not delivered; it is imbibedand created.Information technology, theinternet and the web

Let me first state that I agree withmany people that coming in of thistechnology has had, and will in futurehave even more seminal impact on theway the world develops. But there isneed to develop specificities andconfigurations suited to our needs andaspirations. As far as education isconcerned I find it amazing that at myage, without travelling out to a libraryevery day, and without the help of anoffice and stenographer, I can stayfairly active and in contact with theworld. If spectacles had never beeninvented I would have stopped readingby the time I was fifty. I got anothertwenty-five years lease after I got myglasses. I was getting a bit hazy invision, particularly at night, till I got alens implant in both eyes and now Isee as well as I did when I was forty

or younger and I am mobile twentyfour hours a day. If I had been bornfifty years earlier the world would havebeen saved from my meddling for thelast 25 years. Poor world – now that Ican exchange conversation and botherit with what I think might be usefulideas even now. Yes, it is good to haveInternet and the Web. But Internetalone cannot provide you witheducation or wisdom. Internet worksbetter for those who are alreadyengaged with something. If you arenot, then Internet is like having adictionary with the hope that youwould learn a language and become agreat writer! Well, not quite, firstlybecause a dictionary does not have asmuch misinformation as the Net, andsecondly because the dictionary is not asalive and changing as the Net. Internetis mostly full of rather superficialinformation and that is what youwould encounter if you just surf.Indeed you could almost say that youhave to wade through lot of noiseand sometimes you can get fond ofnoise, much like you can get fond ofloud unmusical music. There is atendency to avoid depth andimmersion. If you get addicted to thatyou might be moving away from thehabit of independent thought.Downloading from the net and usingthe image making facility of yourcomputer, you can easily use lot ofeye-catching and colourful presentations

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as substitutes for a well thought outargument. It is easy to fool people andsometimes, even yourself that what youhave said is not without real content. Itmight appear that you have lot ofinformation, that you have learnt a lotand it is easy to mistake it forunderstanding. Lot of dependence onNet surfing can encourage a culture ofeducation in which informationsubstitutes for understanding. Indeed itmight be easy to forget what after all is‘understanding’. Such a thing would befatal. In fact that is the main flaw ofeducation now. We load children withenormous amounts of information toremember and pass examinations with100 % marks but we do not give timefor or value understanding. There is adanger that thoughtless use of the Weband other manifestations of IT like CDROMs might encourage this tendencybesides another of our present failings– we are already decoupled from ourenvironment and might begin doing soeven more enthusiastically.

My belief is that Internet shouldbe used to increase the dimensionalityof our education and not just itsinformation content. This woulddemand that we begin treasuringdiversity of learning and move awayfrom standardized, industrial productionof graduates tested on machines wecall ‘common examinations’. Such aneducation would also encourage respectfor and inclusion of people who haveacquired their capabilities and skills with

different or no certification.Possible socio-politicalsignificance of the web

The most important feature of theWeb is that people can communicateeven if they have different voices andlanguages. They can communicate andaccess. No one is superior; no one ison top. No one has to give up his/herway of expression. No culture isinferior. The Web has a texture that isinclusive.

In my book, the basic philosophyof the Web should be to move theworld away from the presentmanifestation of globalization that has afew innovators and creators and therest consumers; a few influence and therest are only influenced. If we do thatwe would benefit the whole world. Wewould benefit not only by increasingthe variety of directions in whichinnovations would occur but alsothrough sharing the joys and depths ofwisdom developed under differentenvironments. In addition there couldbe, in my view, a fundamentaltransformation that might lead todifferent concepts of equity, harmonyand inclusiveness – indeed in the waywe organize the world from now on.I will presently dilate on this assertion.

Let me step back a little. We allrealize, I hope, that a propensity forcloseness to a limited number andcategories of humans comes naturallyto us – evolution has ordained that. To

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repeat what I have earlier indicated,intimacy is that precious thing thatdefines humanity. Without intimacy wewould have no love, no literature, noceremonies, no ways of dressing, nocuisine, no festivals, no dance, no waysof greeting, no compassion, noreverence, no nothing. Intimacy is aproduct of evolution and longmemories of myth and fable situated inspecific environments. We are designedto treasure it. We are built to care forthose who are close. We seek closenessfor assurance that we would be OK.We consider it essential for oursurvival. It defines for us what we are– it gives the contours of our social“self ”. We tend to define this “self ”variously in terms of our country, thenation, ethnicity, race, language, religionand ritual. However, we must recognizethat this essential element of humanityhas also produced our heroes, patriots,colonizers, conquerors, despots,dictators and now, in large numbers,our technically equipped terrorists. Weare in a serious bind and we have tofind some way out in the next fewdecades of this century. I put such ashort time scale for doing somethingso radically different - firstly becausethe problems have accelerated but alsobecause we have an inkling of the waywe might go about it. Till very recentlywe did not.The real issue of modern times

Let me, at the end, come to the

basic question impinging on the searchfor the architecture of an inclusiveworld. I will not spend too much timedefending its desirability. There is nofuture for a civilized existence withoutthat. That such an architecture wouldnecessarily demand a change in the wayof thinking goes without saying. But itmight also need inventions suited toour present predicament. I will notdemand that every one on this planetshould become equally affluent.Inclusiveness should not be so muchabout equality. Nor should it includeany element of charity. The drivingforce has to be an enlightened self-interest. Without meaning to soundpontifical I would summarize myexhortation to the world and to us -my formula - in the following words:

No individual, no humancollectivity, no country, noprofessional, no corporation, indeedno one shall be only, or be madeinto only, a consumer.

As a young man I was much takenwith the independence movement ofIndia. Our supreme leader wasMohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Hehad the pulse of the country and everyone followed him. He was not apolitician in the normal sense of theword. Even though some of theyoung people were on occasion a bitsceptical about several things he saidand did, there was an instinctiveappreciation of the fact that freedomhe was seeking was not for the country

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but for the lowliest of individuals inthe land. Simultaneously he was alsoseeking an enhancement of those whogoverned us at that time! He was areligious man but the most valuableinsights he provided were not that of areligious leader. Even when he talkedof religion it was not any one religion.He picked thoughts from everywhere.In any case his important ideas aboutthe essence of freedom andorganization of a value-laden societywere not based on moralistic teachingbut as an insightful architect of aninclusive society. I do not think this waswell understood by his followers orother charismatic leaders who latercame to rule the country. This isunderstandable because at that time inhuman history his deep yet simple-looking ideas were not sustainable. Sowhy am I bringing him into my talktoday? I am doing so because I feelthat Gandhi came too soon. Today hewould be sustainable. A fewimplications of this statement are thefollowing:

Gandhi talked about the conceptof Gram Swaraj. This implied that noone should be controlled from adistance. This implied responsibility forindependent thought and action. It alsoimplied that if you wanted you couldgo your own way without beingdominated by distant powers. He alsoemphasized that no one should be onlya consumer. It was almost immoral tobe so. He said he wanted production

by masses, not mass production. In thearea of learning and education hefirmly believed that lot of learninghappens through physical involvementwith your environment, designing andmaking what the community needs.When such activity is combined withbook learning then you become a truescholar. Such an approach wouldintroduce contextual elements intolearning and make it more creative. Hecould be considered as the firstenvironmentalist of the last centurywhen one remembers his statement“there is enough in the world for everyone’s need but not for every one’sgreed”. Though it might be difficult totake each of his statements literally wecannot escape the discerning directionhe was suggesting. There was clearunderstanding that distant control wouldusurp real freedom. That using goodsand services provided by otherswithout a similar thing being given inexchange would also lead to anenslavement and economic and culturaldomination. That learning and creatinghave to be simultaneous. That lot ofeducation can happen through fingerswas an instruction we certainly neededin our colonial days and we still do.And all these ideas were soaked in anambience of non-violence. In Gandhi’sdays technology was massive andcould not be easily decentralizedwithout losing the advantages of scale.This is no longer true for most ofmodern technology. Not only software

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but also hardware production can nowbe decentralized much more easily.Information can be accessed andshared. You do not have to travel outfor information you need or want togive out. You have the option of livingyour own way and yet be connected.You can also change at your pace andchange others with whom you interact.Gandhi’s slogan “production by massesand not mass production” can now berealized. If the world needs a “jihad”then it should be to make peopleunderstand that this seems to be theonly way of having decentralizedintegration, only way to preserve andenhance diversity, the only way to givefulfilment to individuals. Such anenterprise would need the best oftechnology. People would not live intheir wells. They would be connectedand yet in control. That needs a majorupheaval. I do not know who wouldbe equal to this challenge. PerhapsGandhi did come a century too soon.Perhaps socially oriented technologistsand their friends can make it happen.

To summarize, the basic challengeof today is the following: As the worldglobalizes at breakneck speed, theintimacies feel threatened. Intimacies areessential to being human. They haveproduced music, culture, values,language, art, literature, and evenhumour. A quick assault on these seemsto human entities an assault on theirexistence. Much like the immune

response of a living system, theresistance is almost automatic andsometimes most virulent. Often itmanifests itself as mindless terrorism. Itis my view that modern terrorismcannot be combated only throughmilitary means. It has increased inparallel with the process ofglobalization, with superficialuniformisation of the world, with“Cola-nization”, as a friend2 has said.Besides the cultural assaults there arealso economic consequences. All thisseems to have been foreseen byGandhi. Now it should be possibleto have a different kind ofglobalization, without assaulting theeconomic and cultural autonomy ofhuman collectivities. Globalizationshould be subsumed in a deeper globalconsciousness. On this substrate ofglobal consciousness, call it newglobalization if you like, humancollectivities could live an autonomousexistence, in control of themselves, notin a well any more but networkedwith the world and the universe. Thetechniques and technologies for doingthis have now become possible. This isthe architecture for a truly inclusivesociety that I would commend. Itwould be recognized that for this tohappen we would need to develop theWeb in dimensions that might not havebeen so far touched. We have to movein a direction where there would be aWeb of people with all their diversitiesand not only of computers with theirspecific quirks.

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Life Skills in the CurriculumDr Shekhar Seshadri, NIMHANS

When talking about education for asane society, where do you pitch anyeducational programme? At the levelof ideas and ideals, or at the level ofthe child’s everyday reality? The cuttingedge of this reality is the central factof oppression. It is here that actualreflectiveness starts. We practitioners seethis side of the Indian family every day– the violence, the conflict – and theways in which the child copes with allof this.

The question raised by the Yashpalcommittee of 1985 (Learning withoutBurden) was this: education for what?It has been long recognized thateducation has a wider function than thetransmission of subjects: Math, Englishand so on. For example, there havelong been subjects such as ‘moralscience’, ‘family life education’, and later‘socially useful productive work’. Butactually there is a serious desyncbetween school and out of schoolreality. There is the reality of day-to-day issues: how to negotiate with anautorickshaw driver who demandsexcess fare, a sub-registrar whodemands a bribe. These are realitiesthat one has to contend with. Doeseducation have to do this, or does thefamily deal with it? This debate, ofwhose responsibility it is, is becomingtiresome.

There are also all kinds of imagesin the media, on the Net, aboutrelationships, conflict, conflict resolution,about people, men and women – howare children responding to this? Whatare they imbibing, how are theyconstructing how they think, how theyfeel and so on? Take for example anyHindi, Kannada, Tamil film. If thewoman is molested, she has only fouroptions open to her: become acommercial sex worker, drinkinsecticide and die, marry the guy inquestion, or her father and brothermust take revenge. What is the basis ofthe knowledge that virtue resides in onepart of the female anatomy? How dochildren construct this knowledge?Krishna Kumar says in ‘What is WorthTeaching’ that schools must be countersocialisers to traditional images that themedia depicts. When there is an absenceof cultural discourse between adultsand children, how will childrenconstruct knowledge?

Here is a list of contemporaryconcerns for children:

ConflictsRisk behavioursGenderPeer pressureSexualitySubstance abuse

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ValuesAffiliationHIV-aids pandemicHistorically, we have never been

free of conflict and we will never befree of conflict. We must accept thisreality and work towards mechanismsof conflict resolution and that is whereeducation plays a role.

The HIV crisis spawned a wholelot of educational programmes: sexeducation, values education; NGOs,national AIDS control organizations—and the teachers threw up their handsand said, excuse me, how can I do thiswithin the regular school curriculum?!There is too much load particularly ongovernment school teachers who havemany other duties. One way toapproach this problem is from a LifeSkills perspective, which is a series often paired skills:

Decision making – Problem solvingCritical thinking – Creative thinkingEffective communication – I/PrelationshipSelf awareness – EmpathyCoping with stress – Coping withemotionsDecision making spans a variety of

contexts, from the innocuous to theserious. There are many examples: thedress we choose to wear or the needto relocate for a new job. One life skillcan operate in many contexts: conflictcontexts, gender contexts, sexualcontexts, peer pressure contexts.

Conversely, many life skills can operatein a single context. In a street fight, youhave to decide: do I hit him, do Iwithdraw? You are trying to cope withstress. More than one skill operates.

While running a Life Skillsprogramme in a school, there is adistinction between the skill or thecontent, and the context in which it isapplied. For example, gender is thecontext; gender violence is the content.Gender violence is the context; impacton women is the content. Impact is thecontext; interventions are the content.

This interplay between the contentand context is important for the teacheror facilitator to recognize because it isanxiety alleviating for a teacher. It givesyou the scope to focus on interventionswithout straying into areas you are notprepared for. Actually the student orindividual just wants a specific piece ofinformation to clarify an idea, and notthe kind of detail you might imagine.

The triangulation between life skillsand the context in which they areapplied is completed by methodology.There is a need to shift from traditionaldidactic methodologies to experientialones. We need to move from outcometo process. We need to shift fromtransmission of information to therelational mode. Traditionally educationhas been conceptual and we need toshift to the performative, so that weapproximate the truth that children arelooking for. The shift to experiential

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and relational modes has a tremendousimpact in education.

When the child enters the schoolgates, how do we know what she mayhave experienced at home thatmorning? Conflict, violence, hunger? Sheis trying to concentrate and the teachersays “Do your work properly.” Themind is disturbed. “You get out ofclass.” Teachers can and do relatedifferently and more compassionatelywith students, and this has tremendousand often lasting impact on the student.

The classroom is a collaborativecommunity with purposeful activityinvolving whole persons for the jointconstruction of knowledge. Activitiesare both situated and unique; thecurriculum is a means, not an end.Outcomes are both aimed for andemergent.

Theatre is a good example of aperformance art which we use as anexperiential pedagogy in schools forlife skills. Theatre in education can beused to teach subjects, but it can alsobe used differently, for Life Skillseducation.

(Two brief demonstrations of the roleplaying technique to explore life skills followed).

If you want to introduce contentlike gender, sexuality or conflict, whatis the teacher’s location with regard tothe larger contexts in which theseoperate? Is it based on personalexperience? It could be denial: no,sexual abuse doesn’t happen. Or

withdrawal: I know it happens but Idon’t want to deal with it.

Or on an action dimension: what isthe personal location of the teacher?What can be her response if sheherself is a victim of violence? Manyadults have unresolved issues, includingtheir own biases about the constructionof the difficult contexts that childrenhave to contend with: for example,with regard to homosexuality. Is it adisease, an adversity? What thereforeare the conceptual categories that ateacher must prepare for? With gender,for example, the conceptual categoriesmay be biological sources ofdifferences, the socialization of gender,what are gender roles, what are genderstereotypes etc.

When we do a programme inschool, what is the reach and scope?Do we do one programme a year,going skill by skill? Session one,decision making; session two, problemsolving? Do we go context by context:gender, sexuality? Or do we keep itopen and flowing? So the school ismerely a discursive space, an enablingenvironment for enquiry and reflectionand activity?

How do you calibrate theprogramme for age? Here is where weuse the window method. If yourcontent is conflict resolution, sessionone is disagreements. Session two isbullying. Then you can come intoconflict. This process gives the

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possibility of building windows acrossage groups.

Any programme can start withgeneric experiences to open outdiscourse. My last holiday, what I like,what I dislike. Or with specificexperiences, like arguments, examtension. There are the contexts in whichthese experiences take place such as thehome, school and neighbourhood.Institutions within these contexts suchas friendships and marriage.Experiences and feelings within theseinstitutions such as love and attraction.Then your program focus, which canbe gender, sexuality and so on. Thisbuilds in comfort level both for thepreceptor and the student.

What kind of support will such aprogramme have within schoolsystems? Is it considered as importantas math or science? Or is it extracurricular? It has to be institutionalizedso that it doesn’t depend onindividuals, however wonderful theymay be.Questions and discussion

Q: I’m an old teacher. I havecome to see that all things areconnected when it comes to learning.You can move from one situation intoany direction, into any subject. Includinglearning about yourself.

Q: Thank you for that; it wasfascinating. A Life Skills teacher has tohave both confidence and competence.

The quality of the programme willdepend entirely on the freedom andclarity with which the teacher can talkabout things like relationship. Technique,even role play which you demonstratedso powerfully, can only succeed in thehands of a confident teacher. That’s themajor bottleneck I see in translatingwhat you’re saying. Also, I amconcerned about the separation of“subjects” and “life skills.” For example,physics has a connection with my dailydecision making. My second concern is,when we talk of “this” versus “that,”there is the question of swing, andtherefore of balance. When we swingfrom didactic to experiential learning, letus not forget that the didactic has aplace as well. Both sides have to belooked into.

S: Yes, I agree that creating aneither/or situation is problematic. Just abrief response about comfort levels.We also have had to struggle; genderand sexuality were not even part of themedical curriculum. I think therelegation of sexuality outside themainstream discourse, and itsconstructions as an abnormal extensionof ourselves, like a pimple or a wart,is a problem. There is also a languageproblem: the language of gender andsexuality is so technical that it isincomprehensible, or so colloquial thatit’s embarrassing. We have to build ourown skills in creating a lexicon ofdignity. It’s trainable. Will every teacher

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be able to do it? No, just as everydoctor will not be able to do it.

Q: Yes, it is difficult andembarrassing but if it is important, wewill have to learn how to do it. Thatis what we mean by “the adult aslearner.”

Q: Some of us work with slumchildren and girl children in verydisadvantaged communities. When wehave to help them with their problems,we can come home very depressed.What would your suggestions to us be?

S: There is a concept of “care-giving stress,” especially for peoplewho work with trauma. Every threemonths, care givers need a meeting todiscuss their problems. This isrecommended to take time off for

reflection. It’s absolutely necessary. Youcan set these up within your group orwith a professional who listens andgives you a perspective so you growfrom strength to strength.

Q: Thank you for this fascinatingand very insightful lecture. You havebroadened life skills education toencompass the whole of education.Initially, life skills began withcommunication, personality develop-ment, health etc. When there was apressure that this was too narrow anarea, it moved into decision makingand critical thinking and other moreserious things. Then the ends ofbroader education became synonymouswith those of life skills education.

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Some Questions Raised by Modern LifeJayashree Nambiar, The School, KFI

relationship, aloneness, silenceThe crisis facing our children today

is a crisis of self absorption, ofinsecurity and of a lack ofresourcefulness.

I look at what appears and isoften regarded as trivial and a passingphase in children’s lives - the first area– under a magnifying glass, as it were,and view it through many facets. Theother two areas I will work withbriefly.

One critical aspect of technology-driven entertainment is passivity. Theviewer’s imagination is not activelyengaged. The entertainment is a finishedproduct which requires no effort fromthe viewer except the click of a buttonor mouse. The other aspect is that ofcontent: the aim of the game, themanner of the resolution of conflict,the creation of an enemy and theviolence in dealing with the enemy.

If these two aspects were putaside there are other aspects oftechnology-driven gadgets andentertainment that can be looked at. Asmore and more games, toys andgadgets fill the market, there is a desireto possess things and a need forimmediate gratification that the childexperiences. Often one sees inrelationships among peers that a child’sself esteem is linked with the gadgets

The aim of this paper is to lookat questions raised by modern life forchildren and educators - in thegrowing up of children, and in theirlearning. This is in many ways ‘workin progress’ and I draw from myexperiences at the school I teach in,from the stories of my friends andfellow teachers from other schools,from children I observe and from myreading. While most of what I sayapplies directly to children from themiddle and upper classes of society, Ihope that what I say will find the valueof application in the varied grounds ofeducation that the people hererepresent.

While examining the questions thatmodern life poses for us, it is difficultto speak of change without communi-cating inadvertently that the past wasbetter than the present. This is a fallacy,and I do not wish to fall into this trap.The present is different from and poseschallenges that are different from thoseof the past.

There are three areas in whichmodern life has impacted the lives andlearning of children that I wish to lookat:

technology, entertainment andpleasurea culture of homogeneity andconformity

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he possesses. The reverse is true, too.Children who do not play with suchgadgets feel a sense of denial, a fearof not being equal with peers. Thesecond is the danger of addiction.Much of the new forms ofentertainment and play are designed tokeep the viewer/player ‘hooked’ – toacquire the next version, to climb tothe next level. The third is a sense ofalienation from reality. The pace of thegame is fast. While the background ofa game may mimic real situations, theactions and resolutions are quiteuntenable in real life. Quite practically,time spent with the game in front ofthe computer is time taken away frommaking friends, from growing andlearning through play, from becomingsensitive to others and takingresponsibility.

Three quick instances might helpunderstand these points better. Twostudents entirely absorbed with aparticular on-line computer game couldonly relate with each other and othersremotely interested in the game. Theyfound little meaning in their activities atschool and derived little enjoymentfrom any of the activities. Within aweek of having the game stopped athome, the children were back tofootball, to smiling and talking withtheir parents and at school, and eveninterested in their subjects. In anotherinstance a child had taken a decision toabstain from school for a year because

he found himself unchallenged atschool. His parents supported this.However, when it emerged that thechild was at his computer playing overtwelve hours a day, the situation athome seemed both negative and verygrave. In another instance a parentspoke of how her child enjoyed histime in the village – playing outside,making things, and running around. Thesame child within hours from the cityon his return would call his friends tofind out how far they had proceededin the game so that as soon as he gothome he could join in the game. Andthat is what he did. This was almostcompulsive. Instances are plenty andthere are, as always, as many instancesto prove the contrary. However, whatneeds to be understood here is thecompulsive nature of technologicalentertainment, the artificial atmosphere itcreates that parades as true to life, andthe peer pressure and sense ofsuperiority that it generates.

Teachers and schools occupied withdelivering efficient academics andstudent examination performance donot often concern themselves withquestions of this kind. Parents findthemselves in troubled spots withdifficult thoughts and questions:

My parents could not afford tobuy me things so why should I notbuy what I can afford for mychildren?If my child does not get what he

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wants would he feel left out amonghis peers?A large number of the games thatare available in the market, andtelevision programmes haveeducational value and are useful.My child will understand if I tellhim and when it becomes aproblem I will deal with it.Is removal of the television and thecomputer from the house the onlyway out?My child might rebel and I mightlose my communication with him ifI do not do what other parents do.Perhaps it is teachers and parents

who are in crisis. And the children arethe victims. I have often wonderedwhat would give parents of childrentoday the strength to work throughthese issues and take action. In caseswhere the parents have taken a stand,what might give the child the ability totake his position among his peerswithout feeling denied and lesser thanthem? Finally, at what age do childrenneed access to the internet, to playgames on the computer, possess aniPod or a mobile phone? As long asthe child does not experience sufficientchoice of activity, the passive and theaccessible will be the most sought after.And as long as children do not haveuse for the gadget, it can only be aplaything.

As an educator I have otherquestions. How do we teach our

children the value of money when wewant to give them expensive thingsevery time they want them? And whatabout the responsibility that goes withthe use of such gadgets? How do wehelp children be strong and creativedespite the peer dynamics that thisexcessive consumerism generates? Howdo we understand the increasing anger,greed, desire for control and frustrationthat children feel? How do we explainto these young people that happinessdoes not lie in possessions or what canbe bought? How do we communicatethat the pace, the solutions, the sense ofcommunity that one feels online withfellow players may not be real at all?

There are some ways ofaddressing these issues:

not giving children what they wantimmediately - delaying gratificationoffering children the experience ofactivities that have the capacity todelightcreating for them an experience ofthe slower natural rhythms of life –teaching them to observe, watchand wait . . .There is another area that I have

been thinking about. I have beenincreasingly concerned with thetendency among young people to clingto the familiar. This in turn inspiresconformity. Understanding that one’sexperience of reality is limited is veryimportant. Another important thing isto learn to relate with differences. I

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have found that these two things arevery necessary and are going to be verydifficult in a world that is growingincreasingly intolerant, insecure anddistrustful. A conscious study of thenews, visits within the city and tovillages, and participation in meaningfulwork are fertile areas for consideration.

I feel strongly that in schoolschildren must be able to experiencegood relationships with their teachersand peers. Children need to learn towork together with responsibility andcare for each other. They need to growsensitively. I think children also need toexperience being alone and to enjoybeing silent. It is ironic that both being

alone and being silent are most oftenused as punishments. Children need toexperience self-discovery, find creativeforms of expression, and learn to bereflective.

Schools need not do more.Through their structure, schools cansupport active engagement andrelationship with what children studyand see around them. This comesfrom observation, listening andconversing. Can schools in theexperiences they offer children helpinculcate a sense of delight? A senseof delight: separate from pleasure, notself-serving – the joy of the simpleand the beautiful?

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Dialogue in the Primary SchoolAnjali Noronha, Ekalavya

people, somehow conversations anddialogues end up being very frustrating.There is often a feeling that you arenot being understood or that you don’tunderstand the other person. I havebeen wondering about why thathappens or what you don’t mean tosay. Because, any sentence can have alarge number of interpretations. But,you may be interpreted very differentlyfrom what you want to say and youmay be doing the same. Why don’t weexplore what the other person is tryingto say rather than respond to what wethink the other person is trying to say?This has been a constant feeling whichis why this opportunity has been goodfor me. I will start very briefly so thatwe are on common ground and definethe terms that we will all be using. Iwill be using the terms ‘dialogue’ andsometimes ‘conversation’ too in lighterstrain. I will also use ‘dialogue’ in amore serious strain, as something inwhich one is exploring new under-standing which gives rise to newmeanings. Rather than looking forsomething which is already there, thiswould give rise to a new collectiveunderstanding. This is different from adiscourse where we are trying to get toa fixed position and where we try toconvince one another of our position.

Dialogue is a process in which each

It is very nice to be with so manypeople who are thinking abouteducation and conversing abouteducation. The themes of theconference have also given a lot ofopportunity for reflection on our ownexperiences. Since I was also asked tokeep this in mind to explore about thethemes of the conference, I thought oftalking about dialogue. I had a chanceto reflect on our own experiences inprimary education where oral discoursewith children in exploring concepts andunderstanding concepts was a definitepriority. But then, the quality of verbalengagement with children can be ofvarious kinds – it can be a dialogue, itcan be a discussion, it can be anargument, it can be didactic. I lookedat our own experiences in this fieldand in the past two days and also inJayashree’s presentation. She ends withthe issue of conversation – conversingon various issues. I think that it is agood moment to start looking into thisissue of dialogue. Yesterday’s discussionswe had in small groups and theworkshop on dialogue have also helpedme clarify ideas.

One of the concerns from an adultperspective, as to why an engagementwith dialogue, has been bothering mefor quite some time. That with the bestof intentions, even among like-minded

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participant opens himself to the otherso that he understands and accepts theother point of view as worthy ofconsideration whether or not he agreeswith that point of view. This isimportant in that we often reject theother point of view itself. We don’tconsider it worthy of exploration andthat is often where dialogues andconversations stop. It is also a kind ofsocial relationship that engages itsparticipants in widening their horizons.Each of us has our horizons comingfrom where we are. We have ourbiases and prejudices. In trying to putourselves in the other person’s shoes,we try to see the horizon from theirperspective, from another point ofview. In that sense, we perhaps widenour horizons and we also constructnew horizons and new meanings. So,this is the sense in which I will beexploring the idea of dialogue and thenalso come to the issues of what isnecessary for a dialogue to happen. Iwill then share with you some of theexperiences, even at an early stage,which are perhaps possible even in on-going curriculum rather than makingnew spaces or creating new spaces fordialogue.

It is quite obvious that todayconversations and dialogues are nottaking place very effectively. Dialogue isone powerful, yet non-violent way toresolve a lot of conflicts we seearound us. It is an essential component

of democracy and if we want tocontinue with democracy and extend itsmeanings and extend it to new areas, Ithink dialogue is one of the mostimportant and essential ways ofextending reasoned response and toextend therefore reasonableness insociety.

In dialogue, whenever we assert abelief, we are also prepared to offerreasons behind that belief if asked.You may not ask, but whenever weassert in a dialogue-like situation,whenever we assert a statement, theinherent assumptions are being offeredfor enquiry and if asked, we have to beopen about sharing those assumptions.

So, if these are the kinds of thingswhich are necessary, then if we have tohave a dialogue with two people or ina larger group, there are certain thingswhich are in a sense pre-requisite for adialogue to take place:

The concern for the other and forthe viewpoints of others.Then, there is trust. We have totrust to take others at face value andnot if we think that there is a riskinvolved. It may not be the wayyou are, but you have to assumethat trust – that the person ismaking those statements with allgenuineness. We have to haverespect for the other person. Justbecause they differ in their opinions,it does not mean that we do notrespect that opinion. We need to

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appreciate, we need to value – wehave to have some kind of valueand affection for the other personas a whole. But importantly, weengage in a dialogue when there is ahope or possibility of some-thingnew. Often we feel that we arerepeating ourselves and not gettingacross and if there is no hope of anew understanding emerging, wedon’t feel like having a dialogue.For a dialogue to happen, the

participants must suspend theirassumptions for a while. This does notmean that they have to give up theirassumptions. Rather they may be open,offering their assumptions for enquiry.Therefore, the assumptions are held upto scrutiny. Participants must view eachother as colleagues and peers. It isessentially a conversation betweenequals. This is a very important aspectand perhaps a kind of subversive formof dialogue in a situation where weare in a very unequal kind of society.

In order to cultivate the spirit ofdialogue, a facilitator is needed, initially.Otherwise, you can easily get intoarguments and an opinionated kind ofdiscussion. A facilitator may look at thestands of the dialogue and offer waysin which dialogues can continue, butnot intervene with points of view.

There is a need for dialogue tostart happening very early because insome kinds of communication, theremay be lot of talk, but little

communication. Does this happenbecause we do not have a widerunderstanding of what is required for adialogue to take place? Or is it a lackof commitment to the process ofdialogue, a feeling that it is unnecessary?We can do it on our own. Why shouldwe keep entering into a dialogue? It isa waste. Can dialogue help ineducation? Can it begin in primaryschool?

Often people say that in primaryschool children are too young anddialogue is something serious and needsto come in later. But, I think that invery many ways in terms of verysimple issues that concern children ofthat age, the practice of dialogue canbegin in simple ways at the primaryschool level. I will be sharing some ofthe examples that I am puttingforward as initiations of dialogue. Youall could give your responses as towhether you feel these are kinds ofdialogue or not and we can havediscussions on that.

In the Primary School curriculum,there is immense opportunity in allsubjects for cultivating dialogue. Youcan use pictures as initiators, you candiscuss stories and poems in terms ofwhat the child liked in some of thesecontexts and why he/she asked certainquestions, exploring creative relation-ships. For example, giving them an ideaof what are the uses say of paper, tryand think of unusual issues – unusual

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relationships between say, paper andchair, why do you think thatrelationship is there. So, thinking out indifferent ways initiates various aspectsof dialogues. Now, in the nationalcurriculum as well, there is anotheraspect where we will probably beconstrained by subjects in terms ofcoming to some conceptualunderstanding in the subjects. Perhaps,the space for dialogue gets limited andthat is the reason why yesterday in thedialogue workshop what ShekharSeshadri talked about in terms of lifeskills, we are looking for other spacesas if there is no scope for dialogue ingeneral education. We must have aseparate space for dialogue whether interms of life skills or personal dialogue,sessions or cultural classes..

I would like to say that there isimmense possibility in different aspectsof the curriculum – Language, EVSand Social Sciences. It depends on themanner of initiating the dialogue – theperspective by which you initiate adialogue rather than the subject per se.But, I would perhaps conclude that ifthe subjects are very water-tight, thenperhaps the limits of exploration comevery fast and therefore the free-flowingnature of a dialogue is restricted whichis why we look at other spaces.Yesterday when we were looking atthe child’s own views and things whichare important and the child’srelationship with peers, friends, relatives

and so on, that is perhaps somethingwhich needs a separate space. Then Iwas looking at the national curriculum.The EVS curriculum at the primaryschool level is interesting. I think peopleshould look at the syllabus that hasbeen made. Many of these aspectshave come in. The first theme is tounderstand oneself and relationshipsaround oneself. I think that offers a lotof scope for dialogue in what istraditionally called EVS. We could alsodebate on whether putting thatformality constricts the dialogue andwhether we still need to have aseparate space.

In this, the teacher is the initialfacilitator and needs to have a specialrole. This is a big challenge. I will endwith some of these issues which willconcern the teachers later on. Acceptingeach child as equal which is an essentialfor dialogue is something which comeswith great difficulty to teachers becauseof the way education has been earlier.The teacher also needs to open outopportunities for dialogue and look forthem, instead of closing conversationand dialogues. The teacher and thestudent both need to participate inreason-responses. The teacher may notbe able or ready to offer reasons, butwould ask for reasons from youngerchildren. This requires a relationshipchange between the teacher and thetaught, so to say that they become partof one community. This is the major

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challenge in developing dialogue.Here are some examples that we

have tried to introduce right from ClassI. (Slide shown.) These are children’sdrawings and if you notice, we haveselected ones which particularly offerthemselves for open-ended discussionsand for various kinds of interpretations.They are not static. If it is a clearpicture of a girl or a boy, or a cat ora fish, then conversation tends to endthere. This first page from the Class Ibook gives a place for children’s owndrawings. It gives an importance, itsends a message that the child isimportant, their drawings are importantand things which may not be real-looking in that sense are still importantto converse on.

These are some of the instructionsthat we have given teachers along withthe book. Here, we ask the teacher notto expect only one answer in responseto the question ‘What is this?’ A figuremay be called a cat, a girl orsomething else for another child.Encourage children to articulate whythey feel it is what they are saying it is.Encourage children to make their ownpictures. Don’t direct them into makingwhat you think is a good picture.Rather, talk to them about what theyhave made and appreciate it. These areinitiations at a very simple level andthere are familiar examples. With thispicture of a fish, there is a suggestionto make one’s own story or ask the

children to tell their own story. Onemay stop at a point and tell the childrento take the story forward, letting theirimagination run and then extend thedialogue to the habitat and nature of acat and a fish, of land and wateranimals. So, initiate to a point and asthe children go along, flow along withthem rather than constrict them.

This is a picture which is againtaken in a way which provides a lot ofopportunity for various kinds ofinterpretations, dialogues. You can keepcoming back to it. What might theparrot be saying, where are they sitting?Understanding pictures is alsoimportant. This was in rural areas andtwo-dimensional pictures were a newworld which these children weregetting used to. So, things which mightbe obvious to us – parrots sitting on atree because we see the branches maynot be as obvious to someone else.

If this is what dialogues andconversations are all about, then in atypical government school situationwhere we have children from all kindsof socio-economic and culturalbackgrounds – is it really possible? Is ita political question that we need toaddress? In Madhya Pradesh, a largenumber of teachers are from upperclasses and this may vary from state tostate though the situation may besimilar in many states. So, taking a Dalitchild’s world or a female Dalit child’sworld on an equal footing or at par

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with other children, is that at allpossible in this? The other questionwhich comes to mind is whenever weinclude any aspect of education in theformal sphere (because in our country,formal education system is veryassessment or evaluation – driven), thenit starts getting under the pressure ofassessment. If we are spending somuch time on this, how do we assesswhat is happening? What are the levelsof development of dialogue? Arethere other ways of assessment, shouldit be assessed? Are there problems inassessing some of these things? Andhow open-ended should the process bebecause education is a purposeful kindof activity, you expect something tohappen out of it. So, how open-endedcan dialogue be? What is the balancebetween open-endedness andpurposefulness that we might need tokeep developing in a dialogue? And onthe basis of the confession that wewere having in the earlier session ininformal spaces, a lot of us felt thattoday there are a large number ofmiddle class, poor middle class andeven upper class families where bothparents are working and children arealone at home because of single shiftkind of schools. At least 3-4 hours athome alone and particularly in smallertowns and cities, there are noopportunities for other things. So, Ithink whether it is the school or thecommunity, we need to start exploring

the informal out-of-school spaces forboth sports, libraries and activitycentres which run for two hours, inwhich children have an opportunity fordialogues and conversations to develop.We are doing some of this work in acity like Bhopal, in smaller towns likeHoshangabad and Shahpur, of runningthese community-based libraries wherethe volunteer is from the community.We train the volunteer in some ofthese facilitative aspects. Books are veryinteresting initiating points aroundwhich a lot of discussion and otheractivities happen. Recently, a schoolworking for the school transformationproject has opened its doors in theafternoon for children who come toschool for this activity. So, thecommunity volunteers are running it.Informal but social spaces are verynecessary for engaging both youngerand older children. I am talking in thecontext of primary schools, but youthare also included in this activity.Questions and discussion

Q: With regard to dialogue as alife skill, what is at least one importantfactor to be successful in training theteacher as a facilitator? It would benice to know what you have done inthis area to train teachers. And a relatedquestion: How do we extend this toparents?

A: With regard to training teachers,the aspect of taking the child’s world as

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worthy of consideration and includingit in the discourse is something inteacher’s training that one really has tostruggle with. There is a tendency, dueto the teacher’s own perception, of theteacher telling and leading children intosomething. So, opening out that spacefor children (and when it happens, it isdifferentiated), some children andtheir opinions will be valued more andit is the greatest struggle to get to thevalue of the perceptions of theoppressed or under privileged child.But, we do have such sessions withlibrary facilitators or with the teachersand there are also tangential sessions ofexploring one’s own childhood orexperience.

When you have a dialogue orassume that you have a dialogueespecially with younger children, as it isthere are too many adults —aunts,uncles, relatives, teachers and everybodyelse telling them what to. You arealready sitting there trying to makethem talk or rather attempting to havea two-way conversation. There aretimes when you try to do that. Allthese kids are really true in what theysay and what they do, and they comeup with something that paralyzes yousometimes. When you go with anagenda of having some conversation,or have something to flow, that doesnot happen in many ways and all thesechildren are just saying ‘you told me toshare’, ‘I am not interested in sitting

with you just now’, ‘I want to go andbreak that wall’ or ‘I want to go andscrap something there’, or,‘ I just don’twant to sit and talk about this’.

Q: This is more of a sharing.Separate space for a dialogue class andhow relevant is it? It just occurred tome that it is absolutely important for adialogue to happen even in subjectclasses so to speak, where there is acontent and it is much better toconvey it through dialogue rather thansomething else. But for me, I thinkfrom experience, I can say that havinga separate dialogue class which is meantjust for us to be together, the adultand the children, and share ourthoughts or expressions or whatever itis, it is a ‘space’ that seems to create itsown strong bonding between the adultand the children because when youhave a dialogue in a subject class,however you put it, there is a purposeto it – that the content needs to begiven to the child or the child has tolearn something out of it. So, there isan aim or end in view, whereas in thiskind of setting, it is more open-ended.It seems to relax certain constraints andit creates its own special atmosphere.For me, it feels very valuable.

A : Open-ended and purposeful tome seemed very important. I think‘open-ended’ and ‘purposeful’ gotogether. The question would be howwould you guard against certainopinions? How are we not kind of

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subtly guiding it towards a certaindirection? Or moving it with a certainagenda actually? How would one reallyguard against that seems to be the keyquestion. I think the very definition ofa dialogue is implicit in that.

Q: If you put dialogue at thesame level as conversation anddiscussion, I feel that may be we shoulddefine these things differently. Whenyou say ‘dialogue’, I think you aretalking about something else rather thanwhen you are talking about discussionor about conversation. I think dialogueis a different kind of opportunity andwhen we talk about dialogue betweenchild and child and between adult andchild, we need to be cautious about itspurpose. If we look at the perceptionsof school teachers, ‘Have I been ableto draw out their curiosity?’, there is animportance in the statement itself aboutthe purpose of an adult-child dialogueand therefore, we need to perhapsseparate ‘conversation’, ‘discussion’ and‘dialogue’ in a more careful manner.Whether we want to create a space for‘dialogue’ and what kind of issues canbe brought up in the sessions in‘dialogue’ and whether ‘dialogue’ in thesubject class is the same as ‘dialogue’period separately. I think these areimportant questions.

A: In the beginning, I did try todistinguish between ‘dialogue’ and‘discussion’ particularly. ‘Dialogue’ and‘Conversation’ differ in terms of rigour

and seriousness. Also, according toFrere, they differ by one more aspectin that a dialogue also leads to criticalaction. For this discourse, I have used‘dialogue’ and ‘conversation’interchangeably and what I am talkingof at the primary level is more akin toconversation. But, even in conversation,it needs to be open-ended andexploratory. It needs to have all theother elements of concern, trust,putting forth one’s assumptions forscrutiny and enquiry is necessary.Perhaps, what we can talk about isdeveloping conversations in primaryschools and leading to dialogue; andmore serious dialogue including criticalaction at the middle school level.

So, these are the concerns that youface when you are speaking withchildren who have these emotions, whohave those feelings at that point oftime. So, when you go with this agendaof an open-ended dialogue, thechallenge is how to face that kind of asituation and what to do. When you letthat flow, it is interesting to see whathappens.

In levels 1-4, dialogue is animportant aim as classroomcompetency in subject classes. We needto understand better the distinctionbetween communicative skills anddialogue Are we talking of the samething? We need to unpack it a littlemore and may be in smaller groups.Some group will take up this issue,

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because I do not think it is the samething. The exploration in dialogue iswhat is important, not your speakingskills or comprehension of a cassettewhich you are evaluating. That is adeeper issue that we really need tounderstand. If dialogue is initiated inconversation development in the largersystem, there is a possibility ofsimplification and therefore the wholespirit behind dialogue and conversationdevelopment gets vitiated. I think weneed to be a little careful about thatand then may be it would be useful todiscuss and understand. Since we havetried to develop this kind of a child’sworld and it connects with yourquestion that whenever a child wants toraise an issue, ask a question, it may berelated to anything. It is basicallychanging the nature of the classroomand teacher-student and peer-peerengagement within the classroom whichone is talking about. So, whether a

maths session is going on and they aredoing an activity and something strikesa child, the space to explore the issueis always there and sensitive teachersmay explore issues to an extent. Theyhave to make a decision at that point.But, they do start exploring those issues.We do not have experiences ofseparate, just dialogue classes. But, wedo have experiences of children saying‘I don’t want to do this’, and therehave been both successful and not-so-successful ways of dealing with it. Onehas to either allow the child the spaceor let the child go depending onwhether the child wants to speak aboutthe issue a little more. Those are thekinds of things one has to play by earwith the situation. But, I do see thosekinds of situations coming upwhenever a classroom is made an openspace or when you have a separatespace for dialogue.

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NCF 2005: Vision and PerplexitiesRohit Dhankar, Digantar

what Ralph Taylor said and there aremany critics of Ralph Taylor who say -perhaps I am going back about half acentury - curriculum seeks to answer atleast four questions:

1. What educational purposeshould the school seek to achieve? Oneexample would be to make all peopleloyal to the state or the King. That is avery good aim of education. Or makeall people believe in God. They maysound very strange today. But, bothhave been the educational aims ofsignificant systems in the past. This isstill an aim of many educationalsystems even today in many parts ofthe world. It could also be to make allpeople socially useful productive units.This has been one of the mostsignificant aims right in 1991, when wesaw the document MLLs (MinimumLevels of Learning). You can also havean aim of making all peopleindependent thinkers and actors whichis an aim of the present nationalcurriculum framework. So, this is onequestion the curriculum should answer.

2. The second question is whateducational experiences should beprovided to children to achieve thesepurposes? This simply means whatshould be the syllabus? What kind ofsubjects, what is the scope of thosesubjects and what kind of exploratory

I feel privileged to talk to thisaudience about education, because inthe last few days, I have seen theirpassion and concern for education.

In the last two days, I have beengetting signals. The first charge is that Ioften talk about something which hasno relation to reality and therefore isabstract and obscure. I admit I do that.The second charge is that wherever Igo, I talk about the aims of education.Again true. The third charge is that Ioften talk about curriculum andframework. Again true.

I have a tendency of rambling. Ihope you will help me make sense ofwhat I say and also construct somemeaning out of what I say.

I am going to talk about theNational Curriculum 2005 and some ofits critiques. There is often confusionbetween a curriculum and a curriculumframework. Whenever we talk aboutcurriculum, we talk about curriculumframework and vice versa. Therefore, Iwould like to explain in what sense Iam using these terms. These terms areby no means fixed. They are quiteflexible and people use them indifferent discourses in different manner.So, I have to explain how I am usingthese terms in this discourse.

Curriculum, to me, is a plan toachieve educational aims. If we go by

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experiences we should give to children?3. The third question is how can

these educational experiences bemeaningfully organized in a school?This is pedagogy. What kind ofpedagogy do we use?

4. How do we ensure that theseeducational purposes are indeedachieving the objectives we set in thebeginning, that is, the educational aims?

So, according to this definition ofcurriculum, it should seek answers to atleast four questions; about the aims,syllabus, pedagogy and evaluation.Evaluation, in this definition, is tied tothe aims and not either to the contentor the pedagogy. That is one way oflooking at the curriculum. Now, if thisis curriculum, what is curriculumframework?

A broad framework of basicprinciples, defined broadly which helpsteachers and planners to formulateanswers to these questions - that is thedocument which could probably becalled a curriculum framework.Curriculum framework is not supposedto give detailed answers to each ofthese questions, but rather to give aframework of principles within whichpeople can seek answers to thesequestions in their own contextualsituations. So, these are the ways inwhich I will be using these two terms.I have taken a lot of time to avoidcertain kinds of misunderstanding.

Importance of a NationalCurriculum Framework

In India, as we all know, states canhave their own curriculum framework,they can have their own syllabus, theirown textbooks etc. There is a lot offreedom to the states in this sense. So,what is the significance of having anational curriculum framework in India?This is not the same as the NCF in theUK. In the UK, NCF is a legaldocument which is binding on theschools and the people who arerunning the schools. Our NCF seemsto be slightly different, of a differentorder. If we look at the NewEducation Policy 1986, it says that theNCF should be seen as a means toevolve a national system of educationcapable of responding to India’sdiversity of geographical and culturalmilieus, while ensuring a common codeof values along with academiccomponents. So, it seems that it has atwin purpose. One is having somethingcommon which we can all call‘national’, and therefore binds ustogether and the second purpose is thatit should be open enough to givespace to the cultural and geographicaldiversity.

It has a two-pronged aim which ispulling away from each other. I thinkthat is the source of many of thedebates on our NCF in the past aswell as in the present.

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Therefore, what we should expectfrom a NCF are broad principleswhich connect education with ourpolity, with our socio-cultural reality,with our economy, give direction to itand underline the concerns of the times.This is the kind of area with whichthis kind of documents deals.

What we should not expect fromour NCF is an answer to what do Ido in my classroom to teach fractions.But, if the curriculum framework doesnot have any principle or any allusionto how and where we can findanswers to these questions, thenperhaps this CF is not doing its job.Otherwise it is doing more than whatis expected of it. So, this is the kindof framework in which we are talking.

This new NCF has been loved bysome and hated by some others. Thereare lots of debating points. I would liketo mention only three; they are rathercommonplace. Perhaps you have heardof them. Still, I think it is worthopening a debate on them.

1. This is an enabling, rather thana prescriptive document – partly this isinherent in the definition of acurriculum framework. But then, thisdocument emphasises this a little bitmore. So, it is worthwhile to dwell onthis issue more. What is it to be anenabling document rather than aprescriptive one?

2. The second thing I would liketo say is that it takes a broad view of

human knowledge and to some peopleperhaps a more updated view ofknowledge and more encompassing.But, there are also people who do notagree with this.

3. The third one is that it takes avery serious view of learning,pedagogy and its connection with theschool. We will focus on these three.

Enabling rather than aprescriptive document

A curriculum framework andmore particularly, a curriculum, couldactually be set for the whole nation andgive answers to the four questions Iraised in the beginning, for the wholenation. There have been attempts likethis in India. Though people say thatMLLs were not curriculum documents,it was more like a standards documentand for achievement testing etc.; butsince nothing else was there with MLLs,it acted like a curriculum document inisolation. Therefore, one could say thatit was one document which tried toprescribe everything for the wholenation. If you go back further, therewas another document called MLC –Minimum Learning Continuum. Thiswas in 1978. The MLC was morerational than the MLLs and was moreopen and answered the four questionsfor the whole nation. So, that could bea prescriptive document. Enablingdocument, as I have told you, wouldgive some basic principles. But, if you

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actually formulate and look at thesetwo documents, an enabling documenthas two aspects to it. One is, givingpeople the freedom to choose, statingin black and white that you canformulate your own CF for yourcurriculum, syllabi and textbook. Statingthat in print alone is not going to givepeople the ability to formulate theirown syllabi, textbooks etc.

Therefore, the second part ofenabling is capacity building or makingresources available. So, in thisframework if we look at the givenNCF 2005, then it seeks rather than toprescribe, to enable teachers andadministrators and their agenciesinvolved in the design of 1) syllabus, 2)textbooks, 3) examination reforms tomake rational choices and decisions.This means that this is a documentwhich tries to give some sort ofavailable knowledge base and rationalbasis to make these choices.

A quote from the same documentreads: “We expect that it willstrengthen the on-going process ofreforms such as the devolution ofdecision-making to teachers and electedlocal bodies”, while it also identifiesnew areas for attention such as the needfor plurality of textbooks, urgentimprovement in the examination system.Now, textbooks and examinationsystems in our country are old andmany documents have talked aboutthis. To put what is in this quote into

context, I have to go back to theKothari Commission. The KothariCommission admits that a curriculumframework can only give principles andall other things should be worked outat the ground level.

But after about 100 pages, when ittalks about textbooks, it seems to getscared of its own prescription andasks: How shall we maintain thenational standards? Then, Rajasthan,Kerala and Karnataka might havedifferent standards of learningmathematics. They also talk of biasescreeping into the textbooks and noauthentic knowledge in the textbook.Therefore, they say this problem couldbe solved through very well written,centrally written textbooks for thewhole nation.

Therefore, the prescription orrecommendation made at one point isundone at another point. That is why Iam bringing in the issue of the pluralityof these textbooks. If someone isallowed to formulate their own syllabi,their own curriculum in their own statesetc, then plurality of textbooks wouldbe a useful thing. In actual debates andparticularly at least in my paper, whichis also part of the whole literature,there was a very lively debate onwhether districts could be allowed toformulate their own curriculum,whether it is possible to have differentsyllabi for different districts dependingon their own geographical cultural

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contexts. There were two views and itseems the document favours the viewthat given the adherence to certainprinciples which are same throughoutthe nation, given the adherence tocertain kinds of standards ofachievement which again could bemore or less same through out thenation, every district could perhaps begiven and should be given the freedomto formulate its own curriculum, syllabiand there should be a multiplicity oftextbooks.

Now, this reason comes from theidea that schools should beautonomous in their decision-making, intheir pedagogy. At the moment,schools are given autonomy inpedagogy – that is how to teach in theclassroom. Schools are supposed todecide on their own what kind ofmethodologies they use to teachMathematics, History, EVS etc. But,beyond that, textbooks are prescribedin the government schools at least andsyllabi are definitely prescribed.

Therefore, there is a move in thisparticular document which argues forgreater autonomy for the teacher andfor the school. In this sense, it is not adocument to be followed in total, buta framework to be debated,understood, and adjusted according toone’s needs, used with responsibilityand freedom; responsibility to adhereand to understand the commonprinciple and the freedom to choose

what you like after that. That is whyNCF 2005 is not a single document.

In the exercise of developing NCF2005 document, there were also 21focus groups which had different kindsof subjects ranging from pedagogy ofdifferent subjects to systemic reformsto various kinds of issues – educationof girls, dalits and tribal children,handicrafts, art and so on. Manymaterials will go together with theNCF document. So, the total packageis supposed to be an enabling packagein the sense that it provides basicprinciples as well as reference materialfrom which one can source ideas.Now, the beautiful thing about thesefocus group papers is that if you readthem, you will find many contradictionsin them. One paper may becontradicting the other and a singlepaper may be contradicting itself.

People who know me know that itirritates me a lot in its inconsistency.This process has made me understandthat if you have a very consistentdocument throughout the nation, thenyou are likely to leave most people out.So, if you want to have something thatreflects the concerns and all the strainsof thinking and ideas in education, thenyou have to build in some sort ofinconsistency in that. I am fromMathematics and this reminds me ofGodel’s theorem – who said that in afinite system, you can either haveconsistency or completeness. This

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means, suppose in a system likeGeometry - you have your axioms,you have your rules of inference andyou can prove certain theorems. So,completeness means being able toprove all theorems which are true inthis system. If you want to try to dothat, your system becomes inconsistentand if you want to remain consistent,then some of your theorems remainleft out. So, that seems to be applyingto the curriculum document. If youwant a very consistent document, itleaves a lot of strains and people out.If you want to bring every legitimateconcern in, then it has to do with acertain amount of inconsistency. Thatis one character of this document.Broader view of knowledge

This is the second important issueand this document actually takes asignificant departure from our earlierdocument in defining knowledge. Iknow that some highly respectedintellectuals have noticed and areextremely angry and we will share thesource of that anger also sometime.

Let us look at the characterisationof knowledge which goes into thisdocument. Knowledge can beconceived of as experience organizedthrough language into patterns ofthought or structures of concepts, thuscreating meaning which in turn helpsunderstand the world we live in. Imight be here reading this definition to

an audience which has already boughtinto it. But this definition might bevery unsettling for people who thinkof knowledge in a different sense.

The second part is that knowledgecan also be conceived of as patternsof activity or physical dexterityinterwoven with thought, contributingto acting in the world, creating andmaking things. This unsettles peopleeven more. Let us see what thesedefinitions imply. The first one is thecharacterisation of knowledge and lessof a definition. But, knowledge mightbe trying to articulate a notion ofknowledge. It says that this is based onexperience. Then, it says that there is asignificant role that language plays inorganizing this experience, integratingthis experience with one’s earlierexperiences. As soon as the bee stingsyou, you may connect these things withhigh disturbance, flying of bees, sting,pain, swelling and other experiences andlanguage plays a very important part inconnecting these various concepts. So,there is experience organized throughlanguage in systems that are governedby some principles and not heapedhaphazardly.Learning and its connectionwith the school

The third thing is that it has anintimate relationship of connectionbetween understanding, how we lookat the world, how we make sense of

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the world, how we interpret theexperiences. This kind ofcharacterisation of knowledge allows usto include activity and creativity in it.

Therefore, a significant departurewhich is noted in the document assomething new, which does not occurin any other curriculum document, ispractice. Though it is available in ourknowledge discourse, our curriculumdocuments so far do not talk aboutwhat it means to say knowledge inpractice. Let us take one example.Usually pottery, weaving and carpentryare seen as crafts, based on narrowskills that can be applied throughrepeated practice and not involvingmuch of intellectual understanding.Therefore, in a way, the knowledgewhich we seek to impart to children inthe classroom is more the knowledgewhich could be formulated in thelanguage which philosophers sometimescall propositional knowledge and whichour subjects are composed of andoften we create this dichotomy betweentheory and practice. We call thatknowledge theory and we call thesethings practice and we feel that thesepractices are themselves not less, thoughthey may have a knowledge base andthat is the kind of ideas in which thesekinds of things are analyzed.

But if we take a different notionof knowledge, experiences organizedinto thoughts, into concepts andstructures, then it becomes possible for

us to look at knowledge in a slightlydifferent manner and bring theknowledge of practice also in thegamut of learning.

Just for a quick inventory of thingswhich will give an indication of this, tobe a carpenter in a small community,what are the kinds of things a personneeds to practice the craft ofcarpentry?

In the morning, when I wasthinking, I listed down a few things –understanding of wood, suitability ofwood, where do you get it, how doyou treat it. Then, understanding ofgeometrical forms – table, chair,plough, charpai or householdimplements; ability to shape wood intothose kinds of forms – cut, boreholes, fit together. You require a lot ofdexterity and imagination ofgeometrical shapes and how they willfit together. So far, we are in the realmof a general kind of understanding ofthings. But, if we go slightly further,then for a carpenter to be a successfulcraftsman or a successful tradesman inthat society, he also needs tounderstand the socio-cultural significanceof the objects in that society. Forexample, a craftsman in Rajasthan maybe making charpais and ploughs moreand a carpenter in Karnataka may bemaking something else more.

Then, there are certain kinds ofthings which are made for specialoccasions such as festivals, as religioussignificance or made during marriages.

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Therefore, the whole lot of connectingone’s own craft to the social andcultural aspects of the community andeconomic viability of course is thecentral issue in this.

When we look at these crafts in asituated manner in this way, thencertainly the trade of carpentry meanssituating the practitioner in the way ofsocial relationships, his or her ways ofcontributing to the society and then itbecomes a rich enough source toderive a feeling of self worth. Thisbecomes a way of my connection as acarpenter with the society. That is thesecond aspect of the view ofknowledge that NCF 2005 takes.

Another important aspect whichwas there in our educational discourse,but not much attention was paid to itwas about the basis for different schoolsubjects and disciplines. There is anintuitive understanding, there are peoplewho understand it very well and havecertain theories. But in formulating ourcurriculum documents, use of thisknowledge has either been absent orminimal. We have been taking subjectsas something God-given. Thisdocument tries to scratch the surface. Itdoes not do justice to the issue, butgoes slightly ahead.

To emphasize the point, let megive you an example here. We are allperhaps familiar with this debatebetween integrated curriculum v/s asubject-based curriculum. Then, there

are certain others who are votaries ofthe integrated curriculum which saysthat the child sees the world as aunified whole and does not distinguishand that these distinctions are artificial.

There are certain other people whowould say that human knowledge hasgrown so much that without havingsome sort of organizing principle, youcannot handle it and you are not goingto go too far. But, there is no seriousattempt in the curriculum document tohint what kind of reasons can come tobear upon this kind of debate.

Therefore, curriculum frameworktries to bring in some aspects of howone can think about these issues. Onecan call it one-sided because acurriculum document has limited spaceand therefore it takes only one examplewhich is the form of understanding.That is, you start thinking about whatthe difference is between historical andmathematical knowledge and ways ofcreating and ways of validation andwhether our investigation into thesethings give sufficient grounds to see thesimilarities, inter-connections as well asthe special significance of each subjectin the total curriculum.

The approach taken by thecurriculum document is to exploreforms of understanding and it givesabout 7 or 8 forms of understandingwhich are assumed to be enlighteningour pedagogy as well as choice ofvarious kinds of subjects. Also, thedocument looks at the relative

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importance which should be given tothe subjects and the choice of specificcontent within each subject. So, that isanother important aspect in terms ofknowledge which this curriculumframework talks about.

There is another debate in whichthis curriculum document is attacked:that it makes too sharp a distinctionbetween information and knowledge.Now, I know most of the peoplesitting here would be happy to makethis distinction. But, there are alsoproblems with this distinction, becauseif you take one of the traditionaldefinitions of knowledge as justifiedtrue belief, then perhaps the distinctionbetween information and knowledgedisappears. So, any particular piece ofbelief which is true, which is justifiedand which you believe in, becomes yourknowledge and therefore the kind ofdistinctions we make in day-to-dayinformation and knowledge do notlook very sound in that perspective.

From the pedagogical point ofview, the distinction betweeninformation and knowledge isextremely important. A philosopher canlive happily without making thisdistinction. But a teacher will find lifevery difficult. Though there is a slightdanger of going over a very wellknown thing, I would like to give asmall example of how this can makesome difference to us and how NCF2005 looks at it.

Let us take a sentence like “Hospetis a district in Karnataka”. Now, thiscould just be a string of wordsresponded on queue. If you ask thechild to name a district of Karnataka,then he will say “Hospet” and may notattach any meaning, may not have thenotions of the district, but is verypracticed. Many of our children learnat that level. At the information levelperhaps you can say that the child canproduce other relevant strings ofsimilar kinds of things and also has anotion of what a district might be.

For a teacher to get it to the levelof knowledge, you have to integratethis piece of information into the largerbody of the child’s knowledge where itcould be utilized either to learnsomething new or decision-making ornew information about the districtHospet or derive new conclusions. Forexample, if anyone understands thestate, the district and governance, thenmakes an intelligent guess about thelanguage spoken there, size of Hospet,that there may be a collector there, apolice chief there and several otherstructures. So, this alertness to connectall these things together to make a totalpicture and which could be utilized indecision-making, can perhaps be calledknowledge. The information aloneperhaps may not serve the purpose ofthe child. This point is made so manytimes in the document and with suchforce that this has almost become

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clichéd. It is repeated too many times. Ithink there is justification for that also.The justification is that this is one ofthe biggest problems in our educationsystem.

The last thing about the theme ofknowledge that I would like to talkabout is engagement with localknowledge. That is another issue widelydebated. What is this local knowledgethe document is talking about? Weshould look at this issue in a little detail.In one of the seminars, I heard afriend claiming that Dalit and tribalmathematics has different epistemology.That is perhaps taking too far the ideaof local knowledge. Then, you aresaying that there would be differentways of generating knowledge,different definitions for knowledge anddifferent ways of validating knowledge.By validating, I mean when do you saythat something is true knowledge? Forexample, water boils at 1000 C or thatthe three angles of a triangle are 1800.How do we support that claim? So, toclaim that tribal or dalit or anycommunity has a different way ofproducing justification for this kind ofclaims, perhaps is too far and extremea view of local knowledge and thisdocument is not taking that view.

Another view is that could therebe something called knowledge oflocal validity. Some knowledge which isvalid here may not be valid somewhereelse. The local ways of people, theirvalidation systems might be the same.

But, people may look at themselvesand have a specific knowledge in a waywhich is useful in that local context. Forexample before we go in the sun, it isgood to eat onions. This informationmay be very useful in Bikaner inRajasthan. There could be informationand knowledge which is very importantin dealing with the local geographicalsituations. Similarly, there could beinformation and ways of understandingwhich could be very important indealing with the socio-cultural situations.

The document says that one has toengage with this knowledge. It doesnot say that one has to take that intothe curriculum. It says that it is anecessary condition of learning toengages with this knowledge and tosee the connection between theuniversally respected scientificknowledge and local knowledge andhow this connection could be workedout. Also, this means that we allperhaps would agree at some pointthat learning is nothing but connectingand therefore, if you want a child tolearn something, then you have toconnect that to the child’s presentmental state and structure. Therefore,you have no option but to start fromwhere the child is and all that the childbrings to class is his local understandingand local knowledge. If you discard it,scorn it, think that it is wrong andcomes in the way of scientificknowledge and this is inferior, then youare cutting the basis on which the child

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can learn. Therefore, engagement in thecurriculum, in the class, in the schoolwith local knowledge is extremelyimportant. This point is made quiteforcefully here.Pedagogy

Two things the documentrecommends are:

1. Constructivist and criticalpedagogies. They are not the same andthey are hotly contested issues.

2. It recommends a school wherethe child comes wholeheartedly, aschool which is well-organized andwarm and a school which givesprotection and a feeling of beingwanted to the child. The importancegiven to the school as a learning placein this document is far greater than inour earlier documents.

Academic and intellectual debatesare important and people who areraising these debates are doing asignificant service to the nation andeducational knowledge. Sahmat haspublished a small document called‘Debating Education’. In that, ShamimAkhtar tells us that native wisdom ofa child comes from his home. If achild is from a rich home there may bescorn for the poor and lowly. Genderbias may also be present. The functionof the school is not to help the childcreate his own knowledge, but todivest him of the social prejudices,beliefs and superstitions.

Now, that criticism to my mind isunwarranted. It may be true thatchildren come with a lot of biases andprejudices. But children also come witha lot of knowledge – sense oflanguage, making sense of the worldand also a lot of warmth and love. So,the child is not a one-sided entity. Thechild brings both and the job of theschool is to divest the child of thesenotions forcibly and throughindoctrination or through a generalengagement of the mind so that thechild moves slowly from one situationto another with full understanding andjoy. That is the question and perhapsthe critic does not see that question. Hejust attacks child’s knowledge.

Second thing is, knowledge can beseen as experience organized throughlanguage. This notion is also very hotlydebated and contested. Prof. IrfanHabib pores through the wholedocument, heaps a lot of scorn on it,produces no argument but pronounceshis mighty wrath that this notion is notacceptable. In the end, he gives us aone-liner that if feelings wereknowledge, then prejudices would alsobe knowledge. Now, where thecurriculum document mentions feelingsis that human beings in the last severalcenturies have developed a wholerepertoire of knowledge, ways offeeling, ways of expressing, and severalthings. The way we feel today is learntand developed through a repertoire

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over centuries. Prejudices are also partof our repertoire which we havecollected to deal with the worldoutside. So, this is true in this sense andagain the issue is not of accepting this.The issue is engaging with them and inthat sense, perhaps this is also true.

The third thing is very important. Itexpresses a certain kind of notionabout people’s knowledge. So, there aretwo kinds of people. Both are good.There are serious people who have aconcern for India’s children and theirwell being. So, let us not doubtintentions on either side. But, this isvery important to know how people’sknowledge can be seen. Again, Prof.Habib tells us that a great danger lurksbehind the glorification of primitiveviews contrasted to scientific concepts.So, by indulging in it, one would openthe gates to all kinds of superstition,infiltrating school education. So, if youbring in people’s views, ideas, values,knowledge and discussing in the school,then you will be opening the gates ofschool to prejudices and superstition.Now, this reminds me of a veryfamous writer who has written a bookcalled Introduction to Logic. In one ofthe chapters, he deals with the use ofemotive language in arguments and hegives the example “that if I don’tchange my opinion, I am firm in mybeliefs. If you don’t change youropinion, you are stubborn.”

“If he, who is not present here,

does not change his opinion, he is pig-headed. I think my beliefs andknowledge are no less and your beliefsare superstition.” That is what I read inthis. But, there is also a biggerproblem. I am not going through thewhole analysis. We seem to be taking afixed view of knowledge which is inthe hands of a few intellectuals and weseem to be looking at the masses in acertain manner that they need to bebulldozed out of their ownunderstanding and should be broughtto our understanding. This curriculumdocument opposes this.

Is this document perfect? Far fromit. It is not clear, it is inconsistent, it isactually cliche-ridden. Sections of thisare very weak and need to be re-written. Language throughout thedocument is very bad. But, substance-wise, perhaps, this is by far the mostadvanced curriculum framework wehave in India. If you want a betterdocument, then perhaps we shouldhave more time to formulate it.Perhaps January 2007 is the time tostart working on the revision of NCFfor 2010. So, those who want that itshould be done, should raise a voicefor that.

The last thing I would say maysound as if I am trying to defend thedocument and it is very difficult at thetail-end of my talk to convince youthat I have not been defending thedocument. But I would still like to

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share with you that I have been tryingto defend certain ideas and not thedocument.

My purpose is not at all that. Thedocument may be thrown outtomorrow. The purpose is the idea ofan enabling document, the idea of awider perspective of knowledge, theidea of a pedagogy which is bothconstructivist and critical in spite of allthe controversies. The idea of people’sknowledge and people’s ways ofunderstanding should have a place inthe school. These are the ideas I havebeen trying to defend.Questions and discussion

Q: Coming from a Krishnamurtibackground, in this document I hear alot about knowledge but not aboutlearning, ‘learning’ as we call it in ourenvirons. For example, in consideringthe problem of local knowledge vs.mainstream/official knowledge/ science,I see there can be limitations and biasesin both. But, when I think of learningas a process where we questionknowledge, where we look at thingsafresh, where we learn to figure outour own assumptions, our own biaseswhich seem to me as somethingessential that we have to learn to doand that we have to help children todo, then it would not raise this kindof a problem.

R: What Lorenzo calls learning, Icall ‘critical thinking’, where you arequestioning the available knowledge,

and ways of looking at the world andmay be arriving at a different, deeperor more complete understanding ofthe world. Learning, definitely,Krishnamurti explains in a very richdifferent sense than most people, eitherphilosophers or psychologists woulduse. Psychologists would use learning asa process which would culminate insome kind of knowledge orunderstanding or abilities. Philosopherswould also use learning as making senseof the world and various kinds ofways for doing it. But then, this alsohas to culminate into some sort ofimproved understanding of the world,even if not complete, even if this is aconstant process which goes on. Andin that sense, I did not talk aboutlearning, but the document talks a lotabout learning, especially the wholechapter devoted to knowledge andlearning is perhaps the longest chapterin this. I deliberately chose “knowledge”because, that was more contested andlearning was less contested and I alsodid not have time to come to that, interms of connecting it with pedagogy.Learning has been taken into account,has been talked about, but not inKrishnamurti’s sense. Critical thinkingand critical pedagogy have been givena lot of place in the document.

Q: Often times, we find that interms of ideology or in practice for alarge scale educational curriculum or agroup of large scale educators, there is

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no conflict about the things that havebeen spoken about being clear aboutaims and working out a pedagogy.The constraint comes when the wholenotion of evaluation and assessmentcomes and how we have delivered, interms of the other end. So, can youalso share some of your insights aboutevaluation and assessment?

R: About evaluation andassessment, this is interesting thattogether with the development of thisdocument, there was a constant debateand engagement with the CBSEbecause it seems the CBSE influencesthe assessment and evaluation patterns inIndia a lot and the Director of CBSEwas part of the steering committee andthere was a constant debate on that.You might have come to know thatCBSE has been trying to make somechanges giving a little bit more time tothe students for papers or for trainingdifferent kinds of questions which donot seek facts, but some kind ofthinking on the child’s part. One mightfind it trivial. But, there was a debateabout evaluation and assessment andthese people were acutely aware andthe document is also aware that at leastin the Indian education system, unlessand until you change the evaluationsystem, all other things are more or lessgoing to be the same.

That reminds me of DavidHorsburgh, who wrote in 1977-78 Ibelieve, that if you want to name the

single thing that has destroyed oureducation system, that is “evaluation”and the more and more evil waysthese theoretical evaluators keep ondevising for it. So, evaluation hasplayed havoc with our education.There is no doubt about it. At thisvery moment, NCERT is engaged inan exercise of developing a sourcebook for teachers on assessment. So,how to assess which is in line with thischanged definition or changed kind ofpedagogy and in a different manner?One does not know how successfulthis book is going to be. But anattempt is being made.

There is also a lot of pressure onCBSE to change its own ways ofassessment. So, the issue of assessmentis alive. Solutions so far are not veryeffective.

Q: The value of this documentwill only get realized when manyschools and educators get to engagewith it and understand what it meansand then interpret what it means forthem. Has any work happened intaking this document to schools andeducators? Has the NCERT donesomething? Has the government doneanything?

R: I think we should all worryabout it, whether in this document orany other document. because this is aconstant issue. We are working in adistrict and if we want 50 people fromthat district to get together and think

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about curriculum, then you will besurprised that there aren’t any peoplewho can connect the classroompedagogy and curriculum and thelarger perspective on education andwho can formulate syllabi. So, it seemsthat the division of labour in oureducation system has become too tightand this is detrimental to furtherdevelopment. There are some peoplewho will think theory. They do notknow how classrooms are run, becausethey will formulate the curriculumframework and curricula. There arecertain other people who know theirsubjects, they will come from theuniversity and they will tell you thesyllabi for Physics, Chemistry andHistory and will go back to theiruniversities. Then, there are certainpeople who will be left to write thetextbooks and these are again adifferent set of people and some ofthese syllabus writers are invited andthen, there is the last set of teacherswho are left with these textbooks.

By this time, the curriculum, thesyllabus and every document has gonesomewhere else. All that the teacher hasin his hands is the textbook and he issupposed to be teaching. Anand’squestion to my mind is very pertinent.If we take any kind of curriculardocument, not only this, any otherdocument, the earlier 1988 document,to the teachers, then at least aperspective on education would be

built and that is extremely important.But we all should be doing it and whoshould be doing it? Is it MHRD, is itthe NCERT, is it the state government?Is it people like us? Who should betaking it to the people? I think it is allthose who are concerned with it. At thesame time, I do not think I want toget into whether MHRD or NCERT isdoing enough. But, I can share withyou what they are trying to do. One,they have put the whole document onthe net and therefore interested peoplecan download it. Two, they had givensome money to each state to holdworkshops on it and formulate theirown curriculum. So, they are not sayingyou follow it. They are saying youformulate your own curriculum andsyllabi.

Thirdly, they are having regionalworkshops. At one time, there werealso talks of constituting a committeewhich will try to take responsibility totake it to various schools and teachers.But, I haven’t heard anything about thatlately. So, these are some of theattempts.

Q: You suggest that there isconflict between people who seediscipline as integrated vs. people whosee knowledge organized into variousdisciplines. I could not quite see theconflict because, at one level, whenchildren are learning, knowledge is sortof integrated. But, as they achievemore depth in understanding, they do

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become separate. So, where is theconflict between the two? Proficiency interms of exploration in knowledgewould necessarily lead to differentdisciplines. Because, each one by natureis different.

R: Regarding Vishnu’s questionabout the integrated vs. subject-wisecurriculum, you seem to have resolvedthe issue for yourself. You are sayinginitially everything is integrated and asthe child grows, different subjects arise.But, there are further questions. Whatare those subjects? For example, in thenational focus group on social sciences,the paper was no threat and for quitesome time, there were a set ofhistorians who said that history has itsspecific methodology and history is aspecific discipline of knowledge whichcannot be subsumed under socialsciences and social scientists were sayingwhat is history, but social science?There was a heated debate and in thatdebate arose the issue of whether inmiddle school you should have aseparate history textbook or syllabus orshould it be part of social studies.

So, this issue is very much alive andthis may not look very important atthis level. The second thing is that thereare many people who without goinginto the disciplines and their nature,would simply say that this is totallyartificial. This is a relevant debate. Ifsolutions are available, it is very good.

Q: What was the involvement of

students who are currently in the systemand, teachers from different schoolsincluding alternate schools? You all satin Delhi and did this, so was there anyinvolvement and what kind ofinvolvement?

Q: You did talk about getting aperson to be independent. Does theframework have any vision for theIndian society at all? In that context,have things like alternative models ofeducation such as home-schooling forexample, find any space at all? Whatabout non-examination recognition insociety? Have the focus groups reallygone into any of these? Or has thatbeen left to a certain amount ofvagueness?

R: I will tell you the process. Therewere about 400 people involved in this.There were 21 focus groups. Eachgroup had 12 to 23 members. Thesefocus groups were on aims ofeducation, language teaching,mathematics, science and social scienceteaching, education for disabled anddifferently-abled children, education fortribal children, systemic reforms etc.Now, heads of these focus groupsinteracted very frequently with a steeringcommittee which had about 35 people.Apart from that, there were 4-5regional workshops done by NCERTat different places. State governmentswere invited to hold their ownworkshops, generate ideas and to sendtheir recommendations. Ideas and draft

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chapters were put on the net andpeople were invited to giverecommendations or their ideas on that.

But, I still feel that the kind ofawareness and wide ranging discussionsthat should have been were perhapsnot there. This was perhaps better thanour earlier documents. But, to mymind, this was not satisfactory. And itis a very serious question. Because, in ademocracy, who has the right to set theagenda for education? This is not alegally binding document. Let usunderstand that this is a MHRD andNCERT document and states can saywe do not want to do anything withthis and they have said this. Rajasthanhas said that already that we do notagree with some parts and we doagree with some parts. So, you can doit. But, coming from MHRD andNCERT, it has a certain kind ofjustified aura. So, who has the right toset the agenda for education in ademocracy? Perhaps, everyone shouldbe counted in that. There wererepresentatives from alternate schools,NGOs, private schools, 2 to 3 teachersin the national steering committee andmany more in each sub-group,bureaucrats and people fromeducational institutions like DIT,DSERT and NCERT. There werediscussions with students, but not directinvolvement with students. For example,my focus group held 4 to 5 discussionswith students. But, let me tell you that

when you discuss with students in ashort time the answers students giveare those of their teachers and parents.We tried it again and again. Being ateacher, I know when a student startsbeing himself or herself. That is why Iam recommending that the nextprocess should start in January 2007.Because it takes a bit of time to getinto discussion.

This document is very strong onthe vision for the society. After theMudaliyar Commission, this is perhapsthe first document that relates educationto deliberative democracy directly.Earlier, we had this inkling, but we hadour preoccupation either withglobalisation or with economy. Thisdocument squarely situates educationfor a deliberative democracy in whicheach citizen is worthwhile in her self,each citizen is capable of defining a lifefor himself and pursuing it, each citizenhas the right and capability. That is thejob of education, to develop thatcapacity to participate in policydecisions.

I can read a few things for youfrom the document itself.

Concern about inequality in thesociety. This is addressed when it talksabout the guiding principles ofconnecting education and people beingeffective in their local bodies. Theguiding principles discussed earlierprovide a landscape of social valuewithin which we locate our educational

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aims. The first aim of education is acommitment to democracy, and to thevalues of equality, justice, freedom,concern for others’ well being,secularism, respect for human dignityand rights. This itself is a strong vision.Perhaps, if you look at the preambleof our constitution, you will find thatall these words are taken from there.

If you look at other aims, the nextaim of education is independence ofthought and actions. The third aim islearning independently. This also definesa certain kind of society. Then comesthe ability to contribute to economicprocesses and social change. Thenfollows the appreciation of beauty. Theweakness of this document is that itdoes not define explicitly how theserelate to the areas of studies whichcould be done very well, but it is notdone full justice.

Q: What we heard Dr. Seshadritalk about is the human dimension. Ithink it is common to all of us. Skillspertaining to that such as how do Irespond to situations like that where Iam very angry so that I am notinvolving others in risky behaviour orabout health or guarding against sexualabuse or a range of things like thatwhich help children wherever they areand may be even adults to handle theworld in a very human dimension,does that find any place in thecurriculum?

R: Regarding human dynamics and

people and children guardingthemselves, the document is aware ofdifferent kinds of situations childrenface. But, to my mind, I might bewrong there, the document does notput the onus on children to guardthemselves. Imagine a school andsociety which is protective, it does notmean that children should not havecapability. But then, it emphasises moreon what kind of school and whatkind of society we are that we cannotprotect our children well. So, it paysmore attention to that and it takes aview that the ability of independentthinking and judgment, when it comesslowly to children, guarding themselvesagainst abuse and disadvantagesbecome part of it. I tell you thisapproach works.

But I know many schools whichdo not pay particular attention to thiskind of thing. But, when it comes tochildren being faced with this kind of asituation, they negotiate their space. Ifthe schools are open enough, they allowquestioning, let children be themselvesand support them in forming theirown image as persons who areworthwhile and can think forthemselves. Then children can actuallystart acting on these things. So, this is apedagogical issue also.

Q: Does the document shareenough about children with physicaldisabilities or in that sense, children whoare in special situations? Since we are

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talking about integration so much thesedays, does it talk about teachers whoteach with different groups – withphysical disabilities and teachers whoteach children who are normalphysically?

Q: My question is about primaryeducation. After 1990, we see a lot oforganizations getting into primaryeducation, be it the internationalagencies or different NGOs ordifferent groups with different agendas.I see that in the district where I amworking, there are 6-7 agenciesworking. Some of these agencies donot work in coherence with each otherand there seem to be a lot ofcontradictions. Ultimately, it boils downto affecting the teachers who are reallystressed out. What is the stand of NCFon such issues? Are we reallystrengthening the system or creating asort of systemic pollution?

R: Physical and differently-abledchildren are both mentioned in thedocument. There is an attention tochildren who need special care as wellas there is a separate paper on specialneeds children. It runs into 40 pages orso. But the document also mentionsand talks of integration, rather inclusiveeducation as far as possible. But it doesnot take it to the level where itbecomes a disservice, a disadvantage to

the child who has certain problems.Therefore, it is also being sensitive tothe child in that sense.

In a democracy, I believe thateveryone, including the corporate andwhatever kind of bodies we form,has a right to come into educationThey have a right to work foreducation or use their own imagination.Let us try to understand that if westop the corporates by law, thenimmediately CFL and Digantar will beclosed. Because, in the eyes of theConstitution, you are no different froma corporate who wants to run its ownschool. So, openness is an essential partof a democratic society. But then, weall have to work towards certain kindsof goals and within a framework. Ourgoals, again, could be different. I canhave a school where I will say that Iwill train leaders for the society and Iwill take only the highest cream andconstitutionally you may not agree withme. The document states strongly thateducation should be of equally goodquality to all and that it should reachevery child in the nation. That is thefocus. But, at the same time, ifsomeone wants to run a school ofthat kind, I don’t think this documentcan say that don’t allow such schools.No document in a democracy can saydon’t allow such schools.

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VikasanaM C Malathi

(loosely translated from Kannada)

and adults both learn while doingthings together. We never feel there issomething we cannot do. We don’tneed to talk about co-operation andhelping, since it comes naturally. Thewords don’t arise. It’s not that life isalways peaceful; it is the way it is.

Since most of these children arefirst generation learners, there is no helpfrom parents who are passive. Thepositive aspect is that they leave thechild completely to me; I am like asingle parent. So there is no need tocompromise, and I can correct anyfaults immediately by myself. However,it is a great responsibility, since the childwould otherwise be working andsupporting the family. This is the feethe parent pays.

What do the children get out oftheir Vikasana education? Beauty, loveof nature and a sense of equality inschool. David used to say, “Teach whatis difficult”. So I have the opportunityto be a continuing learner in Vikasana.I must challenge myself in my teaching,by taking on subjects I need to workhard at.

Since the children can see that Imanage the place alone, they take upmany responsibilities. This is a formof freedom for them. We don’t needto talk about responsibility; it comeswith the freedom.

Vikasana is located outsideBangalore in a rural area. There arethirty four children between the agesof four and eighteen. At Vikasana,there is no comparison or competition;no one-upmanship. But there is thefacility to learn together. Children arethe best facilitators. They help us to runthe school more than we teach them tolearn.

I won’t describe here howVikasana started; there is publishedmaterial available about that, and aboutDavid Horsburgh, my ‘guru’. Westarted building our own houses andclassrooms, we even made our ownbricks. As we helped the children buildtheir homes, so they helped us makeour homes. We have turned ourchallenges into opportunities. Forexample, we make our owneducational materials. We have learnedhow to do it – to depend onourselves and to be self-reliant. We lookfor what we want from elsewhere, andcome back here and create it ourselves.

We don’t label children as having‘learning difficulties’, because we makematerials to aid each child. When achild ‘can’t learn’ we don’t give up; wethink about how to help this child tolearn.

In all these situations, the children

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Whatever is positive or negative inus, it all expresses itself. There is noplace to hide for any of us. Sometimes,we can handle it – then we say, notbad, we are capable of this. Sometimeswe cannot – then we say, well, theseare our limitations. Everything thathappens at Vikasana is a result ofpartnership. Vikasana is 70% from thestudents and 30% from me.

We don’t need to make verticalgroups formally. Since the younger andolder children share the same space, theyounger ones know what to expect asthey grow older. Everything is visibleto them; they see what they have todo and can do it, and so they moveforward. My job lessens, since in areaswhere I am limited, the opportunityfor the children increases. It is their life,they have to talk, they have to ask, theyhave to do. Vertical groups in this wayhelp the teacher and student a lot.

If there is a yardstick for success, itis that Vikasana is the children’s space.They have had freedom and space, and

they are independent and capable ofsharing. Not one child comes back totheir parents or to the system aftergraduating from the 10th std. – theygo out there and find their living.

You may ask, can I also do this?Can everyone create a place likeVikasana? People would say to DavidHorsburgh, what you are saying is onlytheory, not practice. So David startedNeelbagh to show that “I am doing it;everybody can do it.” Then peoplewould say, you can do it because youare a foreigner, or you are interested,but others cannot do it. So he trainedordinary people like us to be teachers.He taught that teachers have aresponsibility to give generously. In facteverybody, be he a software engineeror a plumber, can teach ten childrenfrom around his neighbourhood. Youneed not be a teacher. You can do thiseven for selfish reasons – for yourown growth and learning. The childrenare like organic material whose energyis all around us, who are not separatefrom us.

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The Kanavu ExperienceShirley Joseph

community. We do some programmesfor fund-raising, gather firewood. So,when we prioritize this, there is lesstime for academics. Therefore it is notthat we don’t value academics. We do.The thing is as far as academics isconcerned, we have to balance betweenlearning with living, and learning duringliving. So, there is a long list of thingswe have to do along with academics.It feels good most of the time. Butsometimes, especially during very tireddays and dark days, you have thishesitation. Is it okay to make childrendo so much physical work, plantingpaddy the whole day, gatheringfirewood in the sun? But, all I know is,in retrospect, all the days I haveworked on the land and inconstruction, those days look like theyhave been really lived out.

Another aspect is, all this learninghappens in nature. How do you classifynature? We have been lucky to live neara forest, near a river, we have openspaces. So, most of the time you canfind Kanavu staff, dogs, adults on themeadows and the river. That has beena very fortunate thing and it is not likeyou have to go for a nature walk. Youare walking everyday and learninghappens, not by design. It is eveningand the cow has not come home andthe youngster has to go in search of

It is very reassuring to be heretalking with people who you are surewill listen and who share your concern.In this session, I am going to deal onlywith my experiences with Kanavu, andconclusions and possibilities ofapplication should open up during ourdiscussions. So, I am just sharing myexperiences and as you all know,experiences need not make a person anexpert. In my case, it has rendered memore prone to hesitation, so I amsharing my hesitations.

Here, I present three aspects ofmy Kanavu experience. One is the lackof dichotomy between learning andliving. Second, living in nature. Ofcourse, you cannot live anywhere else.Three, handling conflict and treatingchange as an organic process.

As to learning and living, wefollow a very non-formal, not tooacademically intensive way of learning.Academics are not a very central part.That is very funny to say about whatyou call a ‘school’. We would like tolearn languages and science, we wouldlike to do higher math, geographywhatever. But then, priorities – like wehave to finish paddy planting, we haveto do the thatching, look after thecows, maybe give a helping hand toparents when they repair the house orwhen there is some problem in the

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that and he or she has to learn a fewthings about the forest at night in thedark. Maybe a little about theneighbour whose banana plantation hasbeen nibbled by the cow. Both kindsof learning happen. Wild elephants,boars – you feel lucky about it. Sinceyou are a commune, quite a few adultslive on the campus - grandparents, oneor two families – so both birth anddeath happens right in the campus. So,these are things you can learn and face.But in such situations, maybe becausepeople come from close-knitcommunities, there seems to be anintuitive understanding of how toproceed. Even 5-year-olds can take careof their siblings for short intervals oftime. Grandfathers and grandmothersare taken care of. But people in the in-between age group have conflicts,wars, pacts, silences, understandingsand misunderstandings. During all theseyears, some kind of a conflictmanagement has been worked out,though it is very far from perfect.People do understand each otherbecause they do not have a choice.Most days, we have a circle time forsome meditation, yoga, singing anddancing. It really helps in conflictmanagement.

The basic question is to balancechange with stability. Changes areinevitable, overpowering actually. Thepace of the change is over-powering.So, how do we deal with it? Most of

my children are tribal. So, change iscoming to them very fast, within onegeneration. So, how do we deal withit? One incident I would like to share isinitially when we had folk danceprogrammes, I would say to thechildren, wear your traditional dress.But when it came to wearing it actuallyfor the performance, there would besome excuse that “I haven’t broughtthe right blouse.” They would not saythat they would rather not wear thisdress. The non-tribal girls in the groupwould be eager to wear the traditionaldress. For them, it was a costume andthey were very happy to wear it. Lastyear, when the older ones werearranging a programme on their own,they had gone to Coimbatore and theorganizers said that the students shoulddesign their costumes. So, they had tochoose, and they opted for thetraditional dress. When it was voluntary,identity was not an embarrassment.

What is one’s own role in all this?It is rather problematic. That is anotherhesitation I share with you. All theseyears, mood swings – dark days, brightdays, but somehow the pendulum doesnot swing too far away from thecentre. It is like I have a lunar calendarand the cycle has to come around. But,the trick is to know the seasons,anticipate it coming and to be able topredict it. So, somewhere that rhythmis coming. That is where the questionof the future comes. What would be

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our future? Competition would not bean alternative for us. It would be awaste of energy, and also when youare playing a game with self-made rules,who do you compete with? Nobody isfollowing your rules. All we can optfor is co-operation. But, we have beenvery fortunate. Right from thebeginning, we have had lots of friends.People, groups who want to supportare many. One need not gather allresources in one place. One cannotanyway. All one has to do is to bestrong enough, bold and honest withoneself to seek that help, to grow withit. That is what I am doing right now.

But still, you meet one of theparents and they share with you –people in the village ask me that myson or daughter is in Kanavu for somany years. He or she dances, sings,they speak English, know kalaripayattu,they travel all around. But, as a parent,what good does it do to me? That isone question we are dealing with rightnow.

What does a Kanavu-educatedyoung man or woman do for his orher family? We had a session on thatwith older children and many of themfelt a little helpless about not being ableto support the family financially. Theydo contribute in small measures.Whenever there is something to bedone at home, the whole communityhelps – thatching, repair, illness, death.But they are not the bread winners of

the family, not yet. In recent days, olderones have taken to selling a portion oftheir products – like bamboo works,terra cotta etc and sharing it with theirfamily. I would not call the futureinsecure, but it is not insured. That isthe case of most humanity.Questions and discussion

Q: inaudibleS: We have 39 students out of

which 20 have travelled to urban placesand were exposed to the complexitiesof city life. But, most of them havecome back even when they had theoption to stay there, get a job andcontinue. But, whether this is due tothe sense of inadequacy in the city or alove for their place, it is very complex,and I cannot say right now. Most ofthem have come back and have wantedto come back. But, one boy was verycomfortable in the city. So, both casesare there.

The crafts training centre at Bidadihad a campus interview and someKanavu students were offered jobs, andwhen they said no, they did not evenconsult us. But, this cannot be taken asa generalization. If other people couldsurvive in a city, they can.

Q: Society being what it is, and itsdictates, the students who study in yourschool, do they get any certificates?What is the kind of social viability theyhave? What kind of skills do they pickup? Is there a conscious training

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towards some skill? What kind ofavenues for livelihood do they have?Are they also placed in mainstreamsocial activity?

M: Yes, they do get certificatesafter SSLC. They appear as privatecandidates for the state board. If theywant to, they study further. They go tocolleges. So, we do have one auditor,one engineer, GTTC, nursing. But mostof them have skills for becomingplumbers, electricians, supplying buildingmaterial etc. They are very self-sufficient. They do not come back andsay: “akka, what am I going to donow.” They say that ‘we have to try outour mettle everywhere and test it.’ Wedo not have certificates andexaminations, consciously we don’t. Wesay it is also alright. Like I haven’t usedmy certificates and my qualification.Our children are very excited to writeexams. It is like cultural programmes.“When are the exams akka?,” they askme. They dress up, borrow clothesfrom their neighbours. Exam is like afestival. Sweets are prepared. Payasamis made because my daughter is goingfor exams. I cannot recognize mydaughter when she is dressed in jazzyclothes to write the exams.

While preparing for exams, I usedto tell them to get up early and notdo anything else other than studying.When I was directly involved withchildren, they did excellently well inexams. In 7th and 10th exams, when

these children appeared for the examsin the mainstream, the teachers thereasked them, “where are you all from?How do you manage?” The childrenwere very excited, they used to learnwell, solve problems, managed theirtime well while writing for the exams.When they suffered, I was with them.So, we spent a lot of time with eachother. Employment has never been aproblem for these children.

Q: It is more of an observation.These are two beautiful experiments inhuman capacities and sensitivity. But, thisalso brings out the dehumanising forcesin the world today. It seems to methat these beautiful experiments and thepossibility of creating more such areunder threat today. So, perhaps this is aquestion to the larger education,development of society and the modelof development we have adopted andthe steady market and other forces.Can we keep the world safe for suchcreativity and this kind of experiments?Can the larger education do somethingso that this becomes possible, becauseexperiments like this develop ideaswhich enrich and flow into the largereducation? That seems to be thequestion in my mind.

Q: When parents are passive (in apositive sense), how do you cope withthe burden of being the only dreamerfor the children when the parents arenot dreaming?

M: It is a past for me. I have left

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the burden now. I am light. I alsoappreciate the innocence of the parents.They want their children to come toour school which does not give anycertificates to their children. I even toldthem that I won’t give back theirchildren. I want them all for myself.They are my treasures. Because I wanteverything of that child’s dreams, thework and everything to go on the wayI want it to be. After some time,when the children grow up, they havebeen able to use the skills children haveacquired for their benefit. In a family,as they could not read and write, theysigned a lot of papers and lost theirproperty. So just after three years ofschooling, when a girl in the familystarted reading those papers, they had alot of respect for us, giving full scopeto me. I can do whatever I like withthem. Taking the benefit of that, theyare using it. They are not violent. Theirway of changing is reflected in theirtradition, belief, family, changing thedress patterns, thinking pattern, girlspostponing their marriage etc. Whenthere were child marriages, I used tohide the girls under the table, coverthem and tell them that nobody wasthere.

The parents do dream. The city iscoming closer. The daughters-in-law arefrom different communities. Theirdream is sort of taken away now. Ido not know if it is because of Davidor my ability to handle all 30

differently, I know that every leaf inthe tree is not the same. So, what doesthe child want to be? What sort ofplumber is he going to be? Whatvalues, how much he has taken fromthe society? Even if the parents don’tdream, they give a lot of respect. Theywill say, ‘Akka said. So it must bealright.’ So, there is a co-operation formy dreams for their children.

Q: What has been your work withspecial children?

M: All children are special to me.There are 5-6 children with disabilities– physical and learning disabilities.Parents are not able to recognise it intheir children and they argue that theyare normal. I am also not an expert onit and if I want to find out what iswrong with this one child, the other 29will suffer. So, I have to cope withspecial children also. I do not attend tothose things. I would say that he is notdisabled. There was a girl with polio.The mother always carried her to theschool. So, I told her that the best wayshe could pay the fees would be not tocarry the child, but to let her walk onher own. She did and the girl used todrag her feet. We were not so much atit to help her. Because of the physicalexercise of walking 3 kilometers bothways everyday, she became a gooddancer and now, she is a nurse – avery empathetic, special nurse and asuperb dancer.

There was another child who used

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to stammer. The whole communitywaited for him to say a sentence. He isan auditor today. The process wasamazing. We told him that stammeringwas there, but that we were all withhim.

There was another mentallychallenged, deaf and dumb child. In 10years of my work, he came to thethird level. After that, it became toomuch for me. I gave the hint to themother and she also could not copewith the child at all. I firmly believethat inclusive education has happenedquite naturally.

S: As to children with disabilities,our experience is so similar. We too

have children with disabilities. Becausewe are also living together, at somepoint, it grows almost invisible. We hadone child whose twin died at birth.After a few years, he had closed upand would not talk. Now he is 15. Thisyear, he has started to read and write.He is with a group of children whohave started learning Hindi and hisHindi is as good as anybody else’s,though he did not learn Malayalam sowell with another group. So, right nowthere has been a leap. His father usedto play the pipe for Kanavu folkprogrammes and now, he plays thepipe. So, where learning is not step bystep or gradual, somewhere it happensif the eco system is around us.

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Although I am city born and citybred, I have lived for 13 years in theforest and I’ve had a lifetime of lovefor the natural world so I hope youwill excuse me if my examples andmetaphors are drawn from this store.My metaphor for a good life (onethat is healthy, balanced and connected)comes mostly from the forest. This iswhere I learn many lessons, manypossibilities. You see, the forest is alsoa city of sorts, also a bustling centreof action, also dazzling and colourful.But it functions on entirely differentprinciples. Let me explain…...

The forest is just there. And you arejust there, a mere strand in it,intertwined with a zillion others. Theforest neither threatens nor promises.No one wishes to hurt you, so you canrelax. Your defences are activatedbriefly and appropriately, whennecessary. Snakes are good teachers, asare elephants and leeches. Most of thetime the forest has a mild soothingeffect on your system and it doesthings usually beyond your sway: thework of leaves, the swell of a cloud,things growing old and dying. Theseare the realities of this domain andwhen you live here you face themregardless of how you feel aboutthem. And when you live here day afterday, year after year, you find that you

cannot fend off such realities withwords, machetes and contrivances. Theywill come at you in their own wordlessway and then, in a moment betweenhere and there, when you pausebetween chores to catch the swoop ofthe black eagle over your sky, then youwill understand what is meant by theeternal cycle of birth, growth anddeath. Understanding this you will befilled with calm. Resting in this calmyou may come upon joy.

There is a sort of etiquette amongstall these creatures, one that you learnwhen you’ve been around them awhile.The first is the principle of awareness,which is really quite simple. Everythingis aware, and everything functions as ifevery other thing is aware. Nobody isstupid in these parts, not even thetiniest slug. There is an acceptance thatall things are equal, even if all things arenot the same. There is never anindulgence in hate; in fact there is neverever any hate. You may kill, but youdo not hate and you will not wantonlydestroy. Your life is lived withoutasking another for anything, and yetyou give, give, give. There are noexpectations in the woods, no personaldemands. You may die any momentanyway. You learn to be direct.Falsehood brings death after all.Beating around the bush might cost

The Forest and the City: The Urgency of ChangeSuprabha Seshan, Gurukula Botanical Sacntuary

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you your life. Truth is not a virtue, itsimply is: swift, simple, straight. Youlearn alertness, whence before you hadarmour of words, fears and attitudes.You become grateful: arrogancebecomes you no more. You start tonod at grass stalks on the hill, at snailsgliding upon a rock. You start to feelfor things, for others, for yourself,without being sentimental.

So you start to align yourself withawareness, not with this project or that,this possession or that, this person orthat, this belief or that. Life is notabout projects, missions or plans. It isabout relationships, awarenesses andmultitudinous beings inhabiting countlessworlds. The sure way to folly is tocement your creativity by becomingparticular too quickly, by forgingspecific and narrow alliances too rigidly.The funny thing about awareness is thatit brings the necessary partnershipsanyway. You might find yourself inpartnership with trees for instance, orwith frogs and beetles. You may countupon plants as your best allies. Youmay tread upon dirt in full knowledgeof its capacity. You may take counselwith air, or water or stone, and youmay grow a garden, nay a forest, orbetter still a wilderness all together.

Nevertheless I am still very familiarwith the city. My city experience stillruns in my veins: once a street ratalways a street rat! But I’ve been herein the woods so long that I am able

to isolate it as pure memory and viewit with some detachment, like you do amovie, with a kind of fascination.Frankly, the city still intrigues me in aperverse sort of way. I find myselfpuzzling over it often. Some of mymemories are so clear, so full of acertain buzz: the buzz of downtown,the buzz of crowds of people, andspecially, the buzz of having so manyfriends. I remember feeling as if I wasat the centre of the universe, at thepoint where the most wonderful andimportant things were going on. Iremember the gay celebrations, thecarnivals, the colour and dazzle ofhuman beings. I remember the music!Oh! The music! I remember themovies, the theatres, and the endlessbright lights. I remember the excitementof ideas, the heated discussions instreet side cafes, the nightlife at 2:00a.m. I loved the fact that the city neverslept. I remember I was always busy,always part of a glittering web ofhumanity.

But I also wonder now aboutother aspects of the city. Like: howdoes the city come into being and howdoes it sustain? How can so manycreatures live together without any onereally caring? Without any one reallyrelating to another? How do fivemillion people function as a singlebiological community without any kindof natural coherence, any deeplysupportive social structure? How do

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people manage to live in a perpetualstate of havoc, at the edge ofimminent collapse? In the city,ruination is not always obvious: it isvery well hidden. I now view the kindof overcrowding that happens in a cityas bizarre. I also find it highlyinstructive. The fact that it is as lethalas it is and still so desirable. So manybodies all together in one space mustlead to severe stresses. They must goinsane. Then they create elaboratestructures to manage this madness, tocontrol and contain all these eruptive,disruptive forces. Have you not feltthe malevolence of a city when youvisit? It is so artificial, it can onlysurvive with some kind of violentordering. There’s a strange kind ofstruggle for existence there broughtabout by this extreme estrangement, thisremoval from anything simple, natural,life-loving. In fact the city to me nowrepresents a terrible and desperatestruggle for existence. You die as youlive. You cannot even breathe, youreyes smart as you enter, and yoursenses shut down and oh! theunspeakable filth! My stomach turnswhen I think of those sewers and theobscene amounts of waste! The shops,the malls, the advertisements mesmerizeyou and before you know it you areenslaved: to soulless things, tomachines, to despots, to addictions andfears. So much choice, so muchsuffering, so much injustice. Hurts that

never heal, wounds that grow deeperand wider. Then you have laws. Howmany laws have healed these pains?How many have made life happier,kinder, and easier? And what about thehands that wield the law? Do they notcreate another order of malevolence?And all that vulgar display ofmoney…hmm…I won’t go into that, Ihave a lot to say! So this is what I alsothink about the city nowadays.

Thank you for listening to that.The Sanctuary’s main concern

I have, over the years attempted,along with many friends, to generate anexploration into sense-based learningand nature-based enquiry. I do notknow what it means to run a schoolor to be accountable to parents’concerns about exams or to address thenumerous skills a child must have forthe exigencies of livelihood. But, frommy own life, and that of others, Ihave known the great joy and relevanceof physical health, the fun of directobservation, the confidence fromwidening and exploring multiple waysof functioning, the warm feeling ofresponsibility for other life forms andthe incredible sense (physical, tangibleand active) of being alive, which forme has originated from close contactwith wildness and then spread to otherplaces and situations. The beauty ofnature cannot be replicated by humancontrivance or ingenuity and it would

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be a great pity if a whole lifetime wereto pass by missing this.

When I look at the crux of ourconcern and of our work at theSanctuary (and here I include the widerfield of adults and children who havebeen part of the School in the Forest)the thing is really about: unfolding thebeauty in creation and allowing that toact in the life of a person. Are theretechniques or methodologies to this?

I now have a series of confusingand contradictory things to say, becauseI do not yet have any well formulatedconcepts. I find it difficult to speakcoherently about the role of nature assurely the intrinsic meaning and beautyof the natural world has a fresh livingquality to it, it is very immediate anddirect. A discourse on whether it hasmeaning or not, or its “role” appearsto be self defeating. In fact the titleof the conference is a problematic onefor me because we have two subjects:we have nature on the one side, andeducation on the other and we arebeing asked to find a link between thetwo and all this in the context ofbringing about a sane society.

To me this is as absurd as asking,what is the role of air in my health, orthe working of my heart in my body,or water in my cells: I really have onlyone thing to say about this: without thisI die.

Or another way to say the samething: I am nothing without the rest ofcreation.

If we are calling for discussion onthis subject: is it because it is notobvious? Is it that our place in thenatural world, in creation, is hiddenfrom our awareness somehow?

Or are we calling for reflectionbecause we are slowly becoming awareof something else: we are becomingaware that our species has broken itspact with the rest of creation.

One of the things you learn whenyou work with living things is thedegree to which awareness is not heldby one of another only; it is as ifthere is a collective field of awarenessand that all organisms function inawareness of other forms. While youand I can sit here and be unaware ofeach other or a passing bird, it is highlyunlikely that that bird is unaware ofyou. Human beings who have grownup in natural areas also have this highdegree of alertness but they are alsobecoming a rare species.

I would say this awareness, thismutual recognition of each other asliving entities is part of the pact of life:an exquisite attunement of oneorganism to the life of another. Andwhen this is dulled or broken, theprice is brutal: in the animal world theprice is death. Now of course wehave it in some degree in crowded citystreets, that through these movingmultitudes of human beings we canfind our way and we can only do thisif some part of us is aware.

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But how many of us have eye toeye contact with another species? Ouramazing eyes that have evolved inconnection with the life and movementof other creatures are now regulatedby the vibrations on a computerscreen. Once used to scanning the farhorizon we now look at the glaringlights on advertisement hoardings. Onceswift and precise now blurred bywords and videos. Once reflected inthe eyes of monkeys, tigers, snakes andmantises we now are reflected only ineach other’s eyes.

And then again, what about a truemiracle of creation: the human body,the human mind, human sensibilities,any discussion that is not inclusive ofthis, tacitly or otherwise, becomescounterproductive, and especially in adiscussion on education, and in thecontext of a sane society.

Because all these are in peril, as arethe rainforests, the coral reefs and thefresh mountain water. Not only are ourwildernesses in danger but also oureyes, our ears, our noses, our sensitiveskins, our expansive lungs, our elegantand upright bodies, our wiry andsupple strengths - the profoundlyembodied intelligence which gives riseto an awakeness and a beauty that isuniquely ours, our capacity for joy andlove and our own vital livingenergy….this humanness that is closestto us, that is us: this is in great danger.

Our lack of awareness is reflected

in our language. The things we speakabout and talk to each other about andshare are almost completely about eachother, rarely about the koel on thegulmohar tree or the gulmohar treeitself. The only other living things wehave real contact with are cockroachesand rats and pests of all kinds! Talkingabout natural history is the domain ofspecialist science. It is not everybody’sbusiness, like it was once. Theknowledge base for all members ofour species was significantly composedof the lives and habits and places ofall other living things.

Our species in my opinion hasbroken the pact with creation, not somuch by conscious choice but ratherby falling too much in love with itself,its own richness and beauty, itsastonishing powers. Its orchestrationwith the cosmos. With artefacts of itsown making. With words, images andtechnology. With symbols.

And this has become an obsessionwith itself to the degree that it shutsout the rest of creation, and then stillfurther it divides and splinters withinitself. And then by turning so sharplyinwards, harm and havoc are inflictedupon the earth, upon all.

This turning inwards has enormousand very far reaching consequences. Weeven seem to be able to operateoutside of nature’s laws with ourtechnological developments. We seemunique as a species to be capable of

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stewing in our own filth. We seem tolike poisoning ourselves and ourenvironment. We seem to like killingeach other. We seem to wantimprisonment. We seem to have a veryhigh tolerance of disease andunhappiness and disturbance.

I have just come from a meeting inChennai where a gathering of fiftysenior forest officers and fifty scientistsand environmentalists spent a daytogether, confronting the colossal crisison our hands. There is only 3% of theWestern Ghats forests left for instance.92% of all wood harvested in southAsia is for fuel.

So my questions in the face of allthis are:

What is our actual and livingrelationship with nature? How dowe conceive of our place in thenatural world? Do we exist inrelationship?What worldviews are we holding? Isuspect that the ones that informour thinking minds (such as – all isone, or everything is interconnected)may not be the same as the onesthat we act from (e.g. I am moreimportant than anyone else…) Or,“ Nature must be protected” on theone hand and, “My desires must befulfilled at all cost…” on the other.What is our understanding of theway our lives have changed with thesuccessive waves of technologicalimprovements? How do they alter

our experience of daily life? Andhow does it change our concepts ofself, community, nature, time anddistance? How does technologyaffect the way we learn, what weknow and what we are capable ofknowing?One of the most interesting puzzles

of our times is that we “willinglysleepwalk through the process forreconstituting the conditions of humanexistence…In the technical realm werepeatedly enter into a series of socialcontracts, the terms of which arerevealed only after the signing…” I amprofoundly struck by the truth of this.We never really question the hugechanges that are occurring in the world,not enough anyway. Willy-nilly, thingscatch up with us. Why do we allowthis to happen?

With respect to education (manyof my closest friends are the best ofeducators), I am uneasy with just aboutall forms of schooling, and I feel thatthe educational system is directlyresponsible for the destruction of ourworld. And I wanted to ask thisyesterday, can I make an appeal to thenational schools’ authority, to close allschools down unless they were natureschools or music schools, nothing elsein between. Our world is burning, andwhy is it that we don’t see this? Weneed every single one of your studentsto go and do something.

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So is this sense of urgency shared?Can we afford to lose our world inour own lifetimes, or is this somethingthat we just accept as a fact and geton with it, get on with our math andour computers. I’d like to end with that.Questions and discussion

Q: inaudibleS: Venu is asking me to describe a

typical educational programme. A lotof people come to the sanctuary, sothe educational mission is quite large interms of the numbers of people wedeal with. On a daily basis we havepeople from Wynad, North Malabar,coming in, schools, fourth std, seventhstd., nature clubs, all first year botanystudents in North Kerala will come tous once a year. All NGOs would havecome to us at some point or another,people who work with Adivasis,organic farming…the garden is opento the public which means that anyonebetween 8 and 5 on any day will begiven a guided tour of the nativebiodiversity. Depending on the level ofinterest of the group one or the otherof us will engage with them.Sometimes it is the local marriage partywho decide that they want to visit, thenwe will just give them a quick tour.But sometimes it will be a school thatwants to show children some ofWynad’s native plants, so then we willexplain that to them, show them thisused to be here, we used to see it inyour land, what’s happened in the last

5-10 years to nature in Wynad. And allthis is done in Malayalam.

The educational programmes thatwe’ve been interested in developing butare constrained by facilities and also thenature of the experience itself cannotbe done on a large basis, I feel, is withschools like Kanavu, Vikasana, CFL, allthe Krishnamurti schools and someother schools that come. Children comeand stay with us and the idea is thatthey have a sense of what it is like tolive in such a place. So the things thatwe all do have become part of oureducational programmes. Between uswe have various interests and we livein this place with our interests, so weshare that with the children. It seemsthat this is actually quite a nice mix ofthings because we’re people who liketo do things with the body, we allhave some form of interest ofconcern with either plants or animals,we’re working on trying to understandnatural history, there’s the communitylife, the kitchen, the farm, all thesemoments in the forest and how doyou take children into the forest in away that they have a significantexperience that touches them. So theday is then all these things put together.

CFL kids stay with us for up tofive weeks, we’ve done long termnature study projects with them, so thepicture of the children with the poster– 11 year olds spent five weeks withus – at that time they knew nothing

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about birds – and in this one monththey found 138 species of birds, andknew every single habitat and diversityof species.

Q: I don’t think I understand. Itseems that obviously a very importantwork is going on and our disconnectwith nature and the natural world andunconcern, our dependence on theecological balance are very importantissues and well underlined. But I donot know whether it is possible toeulogize nature as utopia and pristineheaven. I do not know whether wewere happier when our eyes weregazing at the horizon which we did notknow. Horizon is very much a conceptwhich humans evolved, and we feelproud looking at; it is specifically ahuman concept. Similarly I do notknow whether nature is less cruel.Nature may not know the differencebetween cruelty and not cruelty. Buthumans, once they become consciousof cruelty, perhaps nature, outside inthe jungle, is much more cruel than thecities. Let’s not close our eyes to thatside. Bringing concern and sensitivity tonature into education is extremelyimportant. But when we go overboardin eulogizing some natural justice, thenperhaps there is a problem. I do notknow whether I understood youcorrectly.

S: This is an FAQ. I know I’mgravely in danger of romanticizingsomething. But I don’t think the cruelty

in nature is the same as the cruelty inthe human species. When you’ve seensomething killed in the wild, it’s veryswift, it’s finished and everything goesback to normal. It’s not a sustainedhatred. So it seems that there’s asustained hatred in humanity, which iswhat I’m concerned about. It just goeson and on. There’s a kind ofrelentlessness to it. As a species, we’redoing it to ourselves, let alone to othercreatures. So in very few of the socialanimals do you find that, like thebonobo chimpanzees.

Q: You want education to go backto nature. So I want you to stress onthat a little more: how only nature isgoing to help in the completeupbringing of a child rather thandepending on these educationalinstitutions for their lives or theirsecurity.

S: Let me try and use the exampleof a plant. For a plant to grow well, ithas to have good roots in the groundbut it also needs light. And for menature is the ground. If we’re notgrounded in a place, in relationship withother living things then what kind of alife is that. At the same time to me thequestion of light for a human being isreally education. So that’s how I seethe two working together. You cannothave a plant just growing on light,there are plants that have adapted tothose conditions but even they arerooted in a matrix. So I’m not at all

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saying that a life in nature is aboutsanity. I’m a perfect example of how ithasn’t achieved that! My mother willsay that I’m not an example ofsomeone who has lived for 13 years inthe forest, which means the nature ofawareness is that it’s actually immediatefor that moment, and how can youtranslate that awareness into anothermoment in time when you are dealingwith something else? So there seem tobe other things that kick into place.Nature itself does not create a sanehuman being, I do not believe in thatequation. But there are things thathappen in nature that are just good initself. You do yoga because it’s goodfor your body. You listen to music –why? In that same way nature issomething in itself that is importantand if there is an educational supportwhere adults consciously engage withthis then there is a possibility that someof these things like alertness, sensitivitycan also be transferred or broadened toa human context.

The other thing is that I don’t thinkwe can have true material securitywithout ecological security. That’s thecrisis we’re in right now; we’re allgoing to be in the soup. And that’sbecause we’ve lost our connection withnature. So, true material wellbeing hasto have some kind of ecological healtharound it. Previously, when acivilization or community has destroyedor eaten its resource base, they’ve had

the chance to move somewhere else.We don’t have that chance anymore.We cannot think of some other placewhere we can get our resources from.

Q: Thank you for thatpresentation. It was really quitewonderful and very moving I felt. Iwonder if we realize when we bring incriteria like cruelty what pitch we’re atand what the state of the world is. Idon’t think we have a great deal ofchoice. The point you’re making I thinkwhich I would agree with entirely isthat there’s a balance in nature. Thingskill each other but then it’s over. Theydon’t store hatred, they don’t storeresentments, or wounds, or deepideological divisions. There is in a wayno ecological problem. Nature takescare of itself. There is however anenormous problem with humanconsciousness. And it’s humanconsciousness and its impingement onthe environment and its sundryworkings which I’m afraid are muchtoo complex to go into in just theremaining time that we have. Althoughwe’ve touched on it in some of ourgroups I believe. This consciousness, itsdivisiveness, its entrenchment, and itsdeep conflict is really the issue as I seeit. I think it could be a paradise actually,and human beings have often dreamedof the paradise, or thought that Manwas born in paradise. But he fell fromit in some sense. He became shut offfrom it and that sense of being shut

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off, being alienated seems to have goneon exponentially. So the longer thetime, the greater the alienation, which isalso a point that you’ve made. So Iwould like to see in schools inparticular, because I don’t think schoolsare going to go away, nor should they– I would like to see a much morethoroughgoing examination, as soon asyoung people are ready and as soon aswe’re ready, of those mechanisms inconsciousness which have broughtabout these divisions. It’s a long topic,a deep topic, a lifelong topic, and takesa lot of investigation and enquiry. But Ithink that’s where the difficulty lies;nature itself is in almost all instancesbeautiful and self regulating. It does notcreate a problem and it would notdestroy the planet, but humanconsciousness in its interaction with thatnature, and its interaction with otherhuman consciousnesses, has indeedbrought us to this pass. And as you saythe house is burning. Thank you.

Q: I’m speaking as someone whois running a school and trying todevelop an education and I want tolook at two phrases: nature ineducation - which we quitethoughtlessly gave you as the title foryour talk, and education in nature. AndI just want to share with you all, that Ithink both for the sanctuary and for us,this is not an end point or a formulathat we’ve hit upon. The balancebetween nature in education and

education in nature. And Supi’s beenchallenging us and we’ve been workingwith how do we put those twotogether for the right formula?Formula is not a good word. Becausewhen they go to the sanctuary there iseducation in nature, they do math andEnglish and stuff like that in the forestand when we’re here we try and putthe appreciation and awareness ofnature into their education. But it hasto be a seamless whole and we’re justworking together towards that.

Q: I think there are two truths.The truth of nature and the truth ofour lives in and outside nature andsomehow we have to live compatibly.Because nature has its relentlessness too,the annual floods, the tsunamis, theother natural disasters that totallydevastate life without any reason if youwish. And our own consciousness tobe with that nature and accept it aspart of nature. I think we have tothink about both truths.

Q: Thank you very much for themoving presentation. This habit oflooking at everything from a humancentric perspective - What do you thinkis the ecological niche of humanbeings?

S: It’s that of a pest. Vermin. Ithink all ecologists are looking at thatquestion now. How do we as a speciesfit in with the rest of the living matrix.We’re not separate from that, allbiological drives are going full force in

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the human species as well. And all thisis an outcome of the living force, it’snot actually separate from that. Buthere we are with our varioussensibilities, our concerns, and we haveto ask whether we need to go thisway that we’re heading. My question is:I would prefer a tsunami to thisendless disaster that I’m seeing which isgoing on and on and on for the nextgod knows how many millennia. Theforces that we have unleashed are goingto be like a cancer. So we have actuallyno time and that’s my concern also. Wedo not have time to sit and figurethese things out. We can’t be Neroplaying the fiddle while the worldburns. So the question of whether theworld is cruel or whether we arecompassionate, all these two truths, Ithink they are ongoing enquiries andI’m trying to narrate something ofwhat I experience in the forest, which Ithink is important, but I also feel thatwe have to engage with this questionof this time that we’re in.

Q: It seems that our very existenceitself is of great significance. Thepurpose oriented life, the accumulativeprocess, seems to be coming in theway of that. What’s your take on this?

S: You mean, are we just doingtoo much? Striving too hard to achievesomething that is actually simple andjust here? I would agree with that. Somuch of happiness is just here. We doso much to achieve it at some otherstage.

Q: Sorry for speaking again. Iwould not like to open a debate but Iwould like to point out twophilosophies coming into play here. Ina lighter vein, if human beings arepests, then we should not worry. Thesooner they are extinct the better andnature will be in its pristine purityagain. The second thing is, I thinkwhen we are asking whether nature isthat cruel or nature can have thissustained hatred, perpetuating atrocitiesetc, I don’t think we are asking a fairquestion. Because human consciousnesscomes with a price. When we startspeaking language we start expressingourselves but we also get a means tohide our motives – we can tell lies.Similarly when you get compassion,and animal compassion is qualitativelydifferent from human compassion,then simultaneously you get hatred andif you want to absolutely do away withhatred, you will get a ‘sthith pragya’who will be devoid of compassion aswell. What I am trying to say is weare imposing human consciousnesscategories on nature and then trying tocompare which one is better – this ismethodologically and conceptuallywrong.

Let’s also recognize that thisconcern for nature is basically forcontinuance of human species. This isvery self-centred. If we remove humanbeings from the world then youwouldn’t know the difference between

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the desert and the rainforest. Becausehow a place which is teeming with lifeis better than a place with no life,simply when you look with humaneyes the difference comes. So let’srecognize the centrality of the humanbeing. I’m being very arrogant.

Let’s try to see what you said, veryvalidly I believe, that ecological balanceand certain harmony is not only forsustenance but also for ourselves beinghappy and remaining sane. And I thinkif we move towards that withoutcreating a philosophy where we saythat nature is the original pristine‘swarg’ etc, then perhaps it would bebetter.

Another thing I would like to pointout is the first idea of heaven in man’smind was the first seed of alienationfrom nature.

S: Very briefly, no earthworm, orelephant or fern, no living thing, lives inan earthworm lives in an earthwormcentric world. So I am not proposingat all that we don’t live in ananthropocentric world. I’m sayingactually to be truly human we needeveryone else. And so since the topicof this conference was the sane society,I feel that for us to have a goodsociety one of the key factors that wehave to bring into our world is nature.I feel that we cannot have a healthyhuman world without the rest of theworld. So it is entirely anthropocentric,but it may not be selfish. It may be

that we recognize our inter-linkage withother species and we recognize ourmutual benefit, and we recognize thecruelties and violences as well, but wetry to move forward together.

Q: I want to face some realityhere myself because I’m thoroughlymoved by what you said. There aresome spaces – living spaces beyondnature – really ugly buildings anddeserts and so many things that youare part of. So I can’t kill myself todayand say that nature is going to bethere, nor can I go ahead and destroyschools because I believe they need toexist. I’m just putting myself as aresponsible person for this. If I amsensitive to that, just as much as peoplewho are not sensitive to nature need totake an account and need to put someeffort, I also feel that people within thenature context who are highly sensitiveand sensitized to that need to put inthat much of responsibility as well intoaction. Why I’m saying it is, it’s beyonda feeling. Right now it’s two ways. Iwish there were more programmes.

S: But there are 600 million peoplein this country today who are living inthe world of nature, bearing theburden for the rest of us. So I don’tsee myself as an environmentaleducator – the only person in theworld bearing the brunt of things. Butthere are so many people and there isthe land. And there are the forests thatare actually bearing the weight of

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human excess. There are fantastic thingsabout human society and I think thosewe need to nurture. But then againthat’s part of the problem, we start tosay they are the people who need todo that work etc.

Q: Just to clarify, I am not talkingfrom the background ofcompartmentalization, I’m talking fromthe background that some of us arejust less sensitive than the others, andtherefore we just expect that somethings are laid out to us clearly.

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In our experience, when discussionstake place in a non-hierarchical groupof about 15 to 20 individuals, adifferent quality of engagement andseriousness becomes possible. Smallnumbers ensure that each person has achance to participate, even those whoare intimidated by ‘public speaking’.There is a greater chance of the groupfocusing and going deeply intoquestions, and the flow of meaning isenhanced.

At the conference, there were tensmall groups of about 15 memberseach, who met over three sessionsfollowing the morning talks. Eachgroup had a moderator, anexperienced educator whose role wasto facilitate coherent and opendialogue. The idea of a dialogue is thatideas and opinions are put forward ina tentative manner. The point is not toarrive at a consensus, nor to persuade

The Small Group Dialogues

others, but simply to listen and explore.This process is by no means easy; theparticipants came together from verydifferent backgrounds and withdifferent assumptions. It was inspiringto see how the flow ofcommunication sustained itself despitethese differences.

The dialogues often followed thethemes of the morning’s talks. Ourmoderators took notes andsummarized the main threads ofdiscussion. We are immensely gratefulto them for the energy andcommitment they invested in theprocess as a whole.

Groups three and four consistedof teachers from government schoolsin rural Karnataka. Their dialogues tookplace in Kannada, were extremelyenergetic and impassioned, and oftenwent on late into the night.

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Several important questions wereraised by the participants.

How do we understand education?What is the role of the teacher?What is the place of “autonomy”in learning (in different areas: forthe school, for the teacher and forthe student?)Looking at the social problemsaround us, how can schools beorganized and function differently?Are teachers fundamentallydifferently located from students?Can education help to uncover whata child’s “intrinsic” purpose is?Can schools enable children to really“live” their lives?Is dialogue completely open endedor does it need to reach an end?

Strand 1:

“Education happens in and outsideof school.” How are the two to havecoherence?

Teachers need to get to know achild, his/her background and socialcontext before engaging him/her in acurriculum. Relationship with the childis crucial for meaningful learning tohappen.

The teacher also needs to be awareof his/her biases and assumptionsabout children, and to be aware of thetendency to judge and categorize.

Can a teacher have “unconditionallove” for a child—that is, accept him/her just as he/she is? The realities anddifficulties of this were explored indetail. Parents have set expectationsfrom education and schooling. Theirlove too is not unconditional.

Can teachers and parents worktogether in the education of the child?Strand 2:

Teachers also need to be criticallyaware of the problems and issues inthe child’s social context [genderdisparities, media and peer drivenconsumer attitudes etc] and to draw thechildren’s attention to these in anappropriate manner. Teachers need tohelp children to think and take a moreconsidered decision.Strand 3:

The teacher’s actual work withchildren is always in a specific contextor situation. Though this may beaffected by prior ideas and thinking, itis how the “brain and heart” respondin the moment of doing that mattersmost. Are we then in touch with whatis happening in relationship with eachchild and in taking decisions in the livecontext of, say, a classroom?Strand 4:

There is a need for teacher training

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and a listing of the qualities of a goodteacher (wide capacities and deephuman qualities). Can these be trained,learnt by teachers? Is it necessary tohave a BEd to be a good teacher?

How can what is being attemptedin smaller, “free” schools find itsrelevance in mainstream andgovernment aided schools, which workunder so many constraints? Can we seethis in terms of “degrees ofautonomy” and “degrees ofconstraint?” Can teachers not makesome difference, whatever situation theyare in? There also needs to be pressurebuilt up for reform, for greaterautonomy in the system as a whole.Education needs a revolution; but sinceit is something so deeply embedded inour psycho-social landscape, it may bea slow process on a larger scale. Canwe begin wherever we are, createspaces and a synergy of deeperunderstanding and purpose?

Turning to the NCF, the discussionmoved to the following issues:

There is a need for teacherautonomy in making choices aboutteaching/learning material: Whichbooks should I use? Or should Iuse books at all?Teachers in mainstream schoolsfunction under many constraints:prescribed books, syllabus coverage,

inspectors’ reports, managementattitudes, government fundingcriteria, parental expectations etc.There is a need for reasoneddialogue or fighting for appropriateautonomy, perhaps using NCF as asupport.As teachers, we also have our owninner constraints: our anxieties, ourconfusions. These may be operatingeven if there are few outerconstraints (in so called free schools).We need to be aware of ourinward responses too.Can we be aware of our ownbiases as we convey messages orvalues to our students? Whenstudents begin questioning culturalgivens, or take decisions contrary toexpected norms, can we respondwith a sensitive engagement, neithersuppression nor a laissez-faireattitude? Only then would we beworking towards one of the aimsof education: helping studentsbecome independent in thought andaction and responsible forthemselves.Lastly, fundamentally, are we reallydifferent from our students at ahuman level? We too have ourconfusions, uncertainties etc.Awareness of this would make forgreater sensitivity and humility in ourdealings.

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The discussion began with thepurpose and role of a life-skillscurriculum for schools. Twoparticipants described their experiences:one of a life-skills course taught by‘experts’ without involving the schoolteachers, and the other of life-skillstaught as a subject with a text book.From both situations it emerged that afragmented response, disengaged fromreality, was undesirable. If the very aimof education involved finding a way tolive, negotiating social space, learningnot to trample on others’ lives, thenwould a course in life-skills be at allnecessary?

On the second day, the discussionrevolved around the role of technologyin children’s lives. Technology forinformation dissemination and as anequalizer in society is separate fromtechnology-driven entertainment. In thelatter case, the power of technology islinked to its user-friendly nature, theglobalised market economy, its capacityto function as a hideout such thatchildren may not have to relate withreal people in situations.

An interesting insight was thattechnological gadgets are learnt at thechild’s pace and therefore sheexperiences an ‘I can do it’ positivereinforcement.

On the final day, the discussion wason issues raised by NCF 2005. Thegroup examined

its efficacy, given that it’s not a legaldocumentthe basis on which it’s constructedresponses at the grassroots levelits approach to sensitive areas suchas comparison, punishment andprejudiceA significant question that emerged

was the involvement of localknowledge, resources and people in theschool’s curriculum. The difficulties ofinvolving a local into the vision of theschool and that an artisan may not bea good teacher were examined.

The third area of discussion wasaround teacher training and teachergrowth. The following points werebrought up:

The role of an outside agency inbringing changeWays of sustaining processes onceinitiatedTeachers as multifaceted individualswith a certain pride in theprofessionTeachers working collectively, free toact and chooseRemuneration

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The group considered the Statesystem of education. There were manycriticisms.

Too much importance is given toposition and authority, promotions andsalary incrementsThere is corruptionTransfers are arbitraryThe system treats teachers very badlyOthers felt the system shows good

intentions in the laws that it has made.When questioned about functioning withinthe system, many people said they coulddo what was necessary even from within,working with responsibility andenthusiasm. Overall there was surprise thatone could evaluate the system.

On the second day, the group startedwith three statements.

Teachers should understand what theirresponsibility is and act accordingly. Itis up to the teacher to fulfill theseresponsibilities on his/her own. Thegroup discussed the relationshipbetween community and teacher/school, and talked about what makesthe community support or not supporta teacher. A teacher who works hardwill obviously be supported byparents.They shouldn’t be cruel to children.One participant commented that ayoung child hears “no” more oftenthan “yes.” This led to a discussion:“Can we leave a child free?” There

should be a relationship beyond theformal one in the classroom, andmany examples were shared from theteachers’ experiences.They must recognise that parents arelike teachers and involve them in theeducation of their children. Maybe weshould conduct parenting workshops.Discussion on the third day focused

on the National Curriculum. Teachers feltthat education should be decentralized tothe district level, and that they should havefreedom to create the curriculum at thislevel. This means that teachers cannot limitthemselves, and have to be learning all thetime. Two questions that came up were:How do you evaluate if you don’t teachfrom textbooks? How can we help ateacher who has the baggage of his orher ideology?

The topic shifted to “Educating fora Sane Society.” How can we be sanewhen there is corruption and violence?How can we say that society has spoilt uswhen we are pessimistic, anxious andunsure about how to bring up ourchildren? To deal with all this, I need tobe sane. There is no question of being a“good citizen”; that is ideological.

Education should be more thanreading, writing and arithmetic, otherwiseschool is no different from a factory.There should be a link between theindividual and society, and reflection is thelink between the two.

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The session opened with anexploration of the objectives of such adiscussion. They are: to express oneself,to clarify and discuss ideas raised byspeakers, and to have a dialogue witheach other.

The group spoke on the effect ofthe media on rural children. It was feltthat among the rural poor, onlytelevision has made inroads. In fact,some teachers from the most remotevillages felt that it was important thatchildren view some television programs,since it is the only source ofinformation. Instead of censoringtelevision watching, we should havecourses on media literacy anddiscriminating viewership.

It was also recognized that thisvirtual experience is a very poorrepresentation of ‘real’ experience.

The group then took up the topicof dialogue with children. Is itconversation and the skill of talking? Intime, the concept of dialoguedeveloped further, and it wasinteresting to note that when peoplespoke about dialogue, they werereferring to their experience as parentsand not as teachers.

The group concluded by sayingthat children’s habits depend mainly onthe lifestyle and attitudes of the parents.Hence, the starting point in thisproblem of media has to be theparent and the home. Also, aconnection between the question ofmedia and dialogue was articulated veryclearly: dialogue is one effective way ofhandling the media problem, or forthat matter any problem.

The discussion ended with thefeeling that as teachers and parents, wehave to be aware of issues andrespond immediately and continuously.

On the third day, the teacherswanted to understand more about theNCF and the concept of autonomy.There was a feeling that the NCF willdefinitely help the school and theteacher to experiment with originalideas. The group also felt that we donot participate actively enough in thedemocratic process. We should read theNCF and share its contents with others.Thus the group saw the connectionbetween the basic principles of NCFand democracy in practice.

GROUP 4(Karnataka rural school teachers)

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The group touched upon thefollowing questions and points:

How do we educate for an openmind? How much time can weafford and are we willing to give tothis?How do we deal with our ownconditioning and problems, andthen the child’s conditioning andproblems?The ‘teacher’ and the ‘school’position has some arrogance to it.Rather than posit a goal and imposeit, we should learn how to respondto situations in context.On the second day, the topic ofhow to handle the ‘threat’ oftechnological gadgets came upspontaneously. Some points touchedupon were:There is more work needed tomake the young sensitive to the wayTV and other technologies impactus.Not buying a TV is a proactivedecision, but rather than controllingthe exposure of the child, can wemake her able to make sense ofwhat she receives?We create a society and lifestylewhere the only thing for children todo is watch TV, and then we try tosolve that problem in itself, ratherthan looking at its root.

A quality of balance anddiscrimination is often poor, even inadults. Can discrimination benurtured?There must be a balance betweenprotection and exposure, and ifprotection comes as an externalimposition, it will be resisted.We treat the young at times as ifthey cannot and do not want tounderstand. Is this ‘wanting toprotect’ an arbitrary adult agenda?We may also need patience to letthe young go through a certainphase, but we may need to keepengaging them in this time. There isthe danger of ‘damage done,’ and itis too late after several years to goback.The aim of education may be tolearn together how to find anintelligent balance.On the third day, a local teacher

from a rural school asked that weconsider his plight: to have to pushsome 100 students through an Englishexam with no resources. He asked forpractical suggestions. There was thecase of two children who droppedout of local schools and the questionwas raised of how the NCF 2005 canbe made to reach the grassroots level.

Fear is probably the greatestobstacle in learning; it is important,

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both in rural and urban settings, toremove fear from the atmosphere.Some practical suggestions weregiven to the local teacher: teachingafter hours, teaching other subjectsin English, asking for the co-operation of the management,discussing the issue with the childrenthemselves.

The teacher pointed out manypractical difficulties and the pressureand lack of support he feels. Hedescribed the rigidity of thestructure and timetable imposed bythe government. Thus it wasrecognized that it can be ‘easy’ togive solutions from a securebackground.

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Day One

Understandably enough, DrShekhar Seshadri’s talk earlier in themorning gave the ‘ammunition’ for ourdiscussion. In the main, we talkedabout conflict and violence. In theaddressing of conflict either at thepersonal, social or political level, wemay reasonably surmise that conflictmay survive into the distant future, butwe as educators can not build ourefforts on such an assumption. Severalparticipants pointed out that conflictmay well have been there since thebeginning, but there is no inevitabilityabout it. The question is: how do weexplore violence and conflict inourselves and thereby educate ourselvesand our children as to resolving it asand when it arises. The question ofhow to understand the nature ofconflict as such was raised but was notpursued.

Other areas that seemed to botherteacher participants were success, ego,identity and sensitivity. While we cannot ‘teach’ sensitivity but only live itperhaps, the other two are even morecontentious. What do we mean by‘success’ and is ‘identity’ (and ego!) agood thing or a bad thing?

After agonizing about what exactlyshould we do with the children, there

was a happy summing up towards theend. Among the things that we need todo are to show them what life is, howto grapple with problems as they ariseand make choices and leave it to themto face life. We cannot live their livesfor them, neither should we attempt toarrange it for them nor to direct theirlives. Also, children make their ownemotional landscape and perhaps we asadults need to keep it authentic andnot disturb it but be builders, as itwere.Day Two

Two questions that turned out tobe the focus of this day’s discussionswere:

How do parents come into thewhole process of education? andWhat do parents want for theirchildren?Various questions were raised that

reflected the anxiety and the agony thatparents and teachers go through duringthe educational process, which is all thetime!

Manipulation of young minds bythe media and the crudecommercialization of not onlyentertainment but even education, camein for examination. The obsession withuse of electronic gadgetry, andtelevision as sources of constant

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entertainment in a kind of mindlessmonoculture, as it were, came in forsome analysis. Two faces of parentalresponses were mentioned in thisregard. Thoughtful parents find it hardput to restrain their children fromgetting into this ‘pleasure dome’. Mostparents indulge. While the formerwould need and do get support fromthe school to work with the children,the latter themselves need educating.(All this was suggested not with anyself-righteousness, as though teacherswere know-alls, but in a spirit of openexploration.)

The question of parental skills wasraised. It was noted that traditionallythe parents had a fairly good sense ofwhat children need. Do adults need tobe taught parental skills?

An interesting interlude related tothe responses of a couple of teacherswho briefly responded to the questionof what their school did for them.(They had been educated in schoolsconnected with the KrishnamurtiFoundation.) Did they feel deprived ofthe good times that their friends werehaving? While some resentment mayhave been there at that time, they cameto understand what the school wasattempting. Their experience certainlymade them not only ponder over suchissues but even talk to the others aboutit when they went out.

While we do not know exactlywhat happens to our children after they

leave school as to their life choices, ourrole is to point out that problems existand how they may be examined. Thisis a lesson that needs to go on whilethey are in school, as well as when theyleave.Day Three

The question that emerged at thebeginning was: Do we see ourselves aslearning beings (not only social, sexualbeings, for instance)? At one level wehave certainly “learnt” – we havesucceeded in overcoming the lowsurvival rates for animals overthousands of years. We have changedthe natural environment to ouradvantage. This was questioned anddebated at some length.

It was pointed out that while therehas been a measure of success asstated, there also seems to be adisconnect between our achievementsand our tendency to alienate ourselvesfrom the environment and from eachother– as witness the appalling warsand conflicts going on for millennia. Itwas suggested that our capacity forself-awareness, a quality that clearlydistinguishes us from other animals – isnot yet well developed.

Another strand that carried thediscussion along was the question ofthe “wisdom” of our emotions andhow they seem to determine our action,even when we seem to arrive at a‘rational’ decision. Can we trust our

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emotions? The danger here would bethat emotions become their ownjustification, the rational side of ourbrain merely trailing the emotional side.

All that we can do is to watch theseprocesses and allow action to takeplace in the light of our understandingof such processes.

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Part 2Workshops

The contents or parts thereof may be reproduced for classroom use but may not be reproduced forany other purpose without the permission of Centre For Learning or the author.

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From Philosophy to PracticeWorkshops conducted at the CFL conference, 2006

Educating for a Sane Society

This section of the document contains details of the more practical workshopsoffered in parallel sessions on three afternoons of the conference. These workshopswere an attempt to demonstrate how a philosophy of education might beactualized in practice. In addition to handouts, each workshop had a strong hands-on interactive component, which we are unable to reproduce here. In spite of this,we feel that the handouts themselves are very illuminating for teachers. Except fordrama, creative writing, toy-making, senior school mathematics and physicaleducation, all the workshop material presented here was created by teachers fromCFL.

This part is divided into three sections. The first contains material appropriatefor all age groups of children. The second contains descriptions of activities suitablefor junior age groups, and the third section is for the middle and senior agegroups.

We would like to thank Jane Sahi, Vidula Mhaiskar, Stefi Barna, Vijay Padakiand Shailesh Shirali for holding workshops and helping to create material for thisdocument.

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Section One: General Workshops

Dialogue in Education

At CFL one of the most important aspects of our education is the dialogueclass. Holding a dialogue class with children is a difficult skill to be conveyed in aworkshop mode. There are no fixed techniques, yet there are guidelines andprinciples that we have come upon with years of experimentation and experience.There are absolutely no guaranteed outcomes, as it is a totally open-ended andinvestigative process. However, we were not deterred by these challenges, and weprepared three workshops on dialogue in education. The value of these workshopslay also in the discussions that were shared, which cannot, unfortunately, bereproduced here.Preamble

Each one of us has a certain perception regarding a situation. Clearly, oneperson’s perception and expression may or may not make sense to another. Theattempt to communicate and understand others, setting aside our own images, ideasand preconceptions and listening without a barrier, may be termed a dialogue.

The process of dialogue is not merely an external, verbal one. A vital part ofdialogue is to observe and understand our own conditioning and the workings ofour own minds. Since society and the individual are reflections of each other, it isessential to begin to understand the workings of our own psyche and the patternsof our own emotions if we are to begin to explore social issues and problems.This open ended self enquiry is essential for a dialogue to have real meaning;otherwise, communication becomes simply a matter of trading opinions and ideaswithout moving together. In the realm of education, dialogue becomes a powerfultool at several levels.

A meaningful dialogue between individuals rests primarily on the conditionsunder which it takes place. The ability to listen to another person and a recognitionof the rights of others to participate are important factors that can affect adialogue. Even more important are an atmosphere of trust and a lack of fearbetween individuals. To be meaningful, the atmosphere must be one of criticalenquiry that is at the same time non-judgemental. This necessarily also demandstransparency between individuals. Structurally, it requires a non-hierarchical democraticsetting that is sceptical of traditional systems of power and authority.

Such a process of enquiry and dialogue can play an immense role in a child’s

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life. Today’s world, with its diverse and enormously powerful forces, can easilyoverwhelm a growing child. Only an open atmosphere based on trust can providea setting where a young person can not only question rooted beliefs handed downthrough generations, but can also develop the ability to look inwards and questionherself. An openness and freedom to question and express one’s perceptions withoutfear creates room for a healthy relationship to grow between individuals regardlessof age or status.

There are many challenges facing an educator who wishes to facilitate dialogue.She needs enormous patience to listen to the emerging viewpoints. She also needs adeep commitment to engage with both questions and personalities. All traditionalroles, teacher/student, old/young, mature/immature, need to be abandoned if thedialogue is to proceed in an atmosphere of affection and trust. The educator mustlearn the art of holding her perceptions and images of young people lightly and notjumping to conclusions.

Dialogue is a difficult process and can break down for several reasons. Oftenour emotional responses to situations are so overwhelming that we find itimpossible to communicate in a free and open manner. To be able to hold anemotional response lightly and yet engage with a question intelligently is demanding.Remaining wholly engaged with the issue at hand requires tenacity and commitment.

It is important to recognise that dialogue is not a technique to achieve aparticular end. We cannot have a dialogue with a motive or with an end result insight, whether it is correcting student behaviour or promoting a kind of moraleducation. Dialogue is not about transferring simple messages and codes ofconduct. Rather, it holds out the possibility of a profound scepticism thatencompasses all aspects of our social and personal lives and that, ultimately,questions our selfhood and private emotions in the strongest manner possible.Dialogue with Younger Age Groups:The child between the ages of six and ten

Dialogue with this age group can relate to various aspects of the life of thechildren. These can be social, interpersonal, emotional issues or even those to dowith their day to day activities. When looking at dialogue with children of this agegroup we first need to get a sense of who and where they are and what theyconsider important.

Their understanding is very literal and they can relate with concrete examplesand issues. Therefore one cannot speak to them in abstract terms. For example,one cannot talk about psychological hurt in general but we need to give exact andspecific instances. “You have hit him. How did it make you feel? How did he

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feel? How would you feel if someone hit you?”The children are absorbed in their own world and can relate easily with their

immediate world. It is important that we talk to them from where they are. Forexample, one cannot talk to them about responsibility unless it is at their level andby giving them examples. “Can you wash your plate well? Please make sure youcome to class with your books.”

They do not see the consequence of what they are doing. They act instantly,sometimes even without thinking. For example, to use hitting as an example, childrendon’t realize that the other child who has been hit will be upset.

In CFL, this group of children meets for dialogues as and when issues/questions come up and are initiated by either the adult or a student. Of course,there are numerous instances of unplanned and spontaneous dialogues or one-on-one interaction to explore the nature of their behaviour and habits. For childrenwho are a bit older, i.e. 8 -10 years of age, there is a formal weekly class set asidefor the purpose of having such dialogue. Besides this scheduled time, dialoguestake place over lunch, during academic class (if the need arises), or while going ona walk, etc.

Most of the time issues are communicated with them through questioning ratherthan telling them what to do. We feel that through the questions raised by theadult, the child will see the situation for himself. One element we must realize isthat in CFL, the most number of new students are in the junior school. Thisposes a challenge, as trust, which is the basis of dialogue, needs to be re-establishedeach year with the new children. It is with this relationship that the children canwork as a cohesive group.

Some of the issues we have addressed are:cooperation among peers and others as wellbeing responsible for themselves and the place they are ingetting angry with one another and their responsescaring

The ground for dialogue

We feel it is important for a certain atmosphere to exist for this kind of opendialogue to happen. The environment should be such that:

there is trust between the adults and children and the children feel that they arenot being judgedthere is no formal hierarchy in the adult group. The children feel encouraged tofeel like equals in the realm of dialogue, so that they are open and do not feel

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there is authority.there is interaction in formal and informal settings: in the classroom, playinggames, eating a meal together, etc

Challenges we face

Finding the balance between being a guide and a friend. We adults are constantlytrying to strike this balance in our everyday structured and unstructuredinteractions with the childrenWe adults often have an expectation for change in a short period of time, evenin behavioural patterns or habitual situation. Both the children and adults needto move towards acceptance of “what is” and not push towards solutions forevery situationWe continue to try various ways to engage children who are not participative orresponsive to these dialogues at either the individual on group situationOur close contact with parents is vital and we need to ensure that there is anongoing communication of the school’s concerns

Points to remember:Be patient and listen.Use different tools: reading, writing their thoughts and feeling, sitting silently,etcAllow long silences during discussionsLet dialogue meander, not rambleBe a facilitator and let children talk freely

Extract read to the children from ‘Krishnamurti for the Young’“There were hardly any ripples on the water, there was hardly any breeze; the

river was very, very still. It was really quite extraordinarily beautiful; the distant darkshore; the moon almost silver bright, polished; Venus, the morning star, still bright;and completely quiet water. And there was a fisherman, in a boat, rowing.”

Child’s comment: “I knew the fisherman was going to come and spoileverything!”

Children’s response to dialogue sessions (dialogue class)“We can at least tell the teacher about our feelings. I like talking about good

things in the morning.”“I like talking about nice things but unfortunately sometimes we have to talk

about bad things.”“I think we have dialogue class because all the teachers can’t take it anymore.”

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Talking with our Children:Middle school groups

If you’re like most of us, it has been a very long time since you were 11 to 14years old. The Middle School child’s thoughts and feelings may be difficult for us toremember or imagine, but we must make every attempt to do so if we want tocommunicate effectively with the children.

What do you think the characteristics of the Middle School child are? Some ofthe more important and obvious things we have noticed over the years are listedbelow. You may have your own observations, specific to your time and place.

Emerging sexualityIntense peer interactionsHero/heroine worshipQuite judgemental about othersInterested in the world at large

What would it mean to dialogue with these children? A great deal depends onthe relationship between the teachers and students. When there is an atmosphere oftrust and affection, open dialogue is the general mode of interaction in school; itpervades all activities. But there is a value, we find, in keeping time aside especiallyfor the teacher and students to come together to talk about questions of life andliving.

We meet in this semi-formal way once or twice a week. Questions or topicsfor discussion can be brought up by anyone, teacher and student alike. When we sitdown to talk to students at this age, we follow some simple guidelines. Thesemust, of course, be modified to suit the particular conditions in your school, butthe spirit of each guideline must be held in our minds for meaningful dialogue totake place.Creating the conditions for meaningful dialogue

Being a moderator for a dialogue class is a balancing act! You have to walk therazor’s edge between several contradictory demands. It may seem impossible, but infact when you hit that balance it can be smooth and effortless. There are alwaysdifficult moments and confusing situations, but these should never put us off ourintent, which is to communicate with our children about some of the mostimportant and serious matters in life. Here are some of our guidelines.

Ideally dialogue classes should happen with the class teacher, or someone theyhave a lot of contact with. This helps them open up more, and augments theteacher-student relationship outside class as well.

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We sit in a circle together. We sit comfortably, but not casually. This is quiteimportant as it brings in a necessary attitude of participation and seriousness.

For a dialogue with this age group, the adult is clearly the facilitator and oftenthe initiator as well. You will give direction to the discussion, but not to the extentthat you are constraining it. You might well ask: why give direction at all? Why notallow it to be a free flowing ‘chat session’? Time can certainly be given for chattingtoo, but everyone feels a sense of coherence and satisfaction when the dialogue hasremained focussed.

There needs to be a flow between the particular and the general. You can givespace for stories and examples, which children of this age still love to relate, but byall means gently guide them back to the question at hand when they stray off on atangent.

You must ensure participation from everyone. This does not mean you forceeach child to speak: silent listening has its value; but you must watch out for‘switching off ’. Two simple techniques we use are to ‘go around’ for comments,and to keep track of those who are quiet to direct a question to them occasionally.

Long silences are not only alright, but necessary. Some children need to gathertheir thoughts and formulate full sentences before they are willing to utter them.Some on the other hand don’t mind ‘thinking aloud’.

Give enough time for each child to complete their thought. Interruptions are thebane of any dialogue, and beyond a point one cannot completely remove them!Each of us can be sensitised to the fact that the other’s thought is not completed.

The language and vocabulary can be simple, at their level, and yet at times it isgood to encourage them to articulate clearly, in complete sentences.

It is useful to have a topic or a question in mind so that you can initiate thedialogue, but make sure there is always an opening for a child to bring upsomething unexpectedly.

Avoid using the dialogue session as a ‘scolding’ session, or to put across amoral lesson, however subtly. When students sense this, or imagine it, they clam upimmediately. One nice quality we notice about this age group is that they are quiteopen and non- defensive when sitting in dialogue. They invite criticism from eachother in this space, perhaps because they feel it is a ‘safe’ place. So we must notabuse this space.

Never compare students in terms of their contributions to a dialogue,praising one or putting down another.

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What do we talk about?Suitable topics for this age group

Some questions have answers that are known – if you don’t know it yourself,you can always find out by asking someone or reading the right book. For otherquestions, there are no authorities, no books with the correct answers. Children canbe asked for examples of such questions, and they usually understand the distinctionvery well. We have tried using a Question Box, where children can put their writtenquestions, and we pick one at random to discuss each time. At other times,students may come up with their questions at the beginning of class. Some examplesof questions the children have asked are: Why are some people lazy? Do we have to knowa lot about animals to care about them? Why do people commit suicide? Why do people who aresmaller get bullied more? And this gem: why is it when we are doing something we like doingand someone asks us to do something else which we normally like doing, but now we didn’t wantto stop doing the first thing, we don’t do this other thing as well as we would have done it if wehad just done it by itself ?!

Some topics that work well for this age group are: competition, excellence,sexuality, media, poverty, war, responsibility, helpfulness, school issues, relationshipsand friendship, emotions, why do we always want things to go our way, anythingwith connections to our daily life. The quotes included in this handout are fromthings the students of CFL wrote about their dialogue sessions.

Three important points to note are:We are ready to talk about anything under the sun, at their levelWe as teachers are also thinking about these topics in our own livesWe often revisit topics

Challenges we face

Over the years we have come across challenging situations in dialogue classes.The way through these challenges will have to be worked out by the individualteacher in his or her situation, so we will just mention the challenges as questions forcontemplation…

When a child is very quiet and shy, how do we help him or her share andpartake of the dialogue?How do we talk about ‘serious’ matters without making them heavy and sombrefor the young child?There is often a big gap between what we say and how we behave! This mayseem like an obvious and trivial fact, but it is actually at the heart of many thingsthat we discuss. Children (and we adults) can become wonderfully articulate

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about our feelings and tendencies, but remain nevertheless highly resistant tochange.We often appear to our students to be contradicting our own statements. Wecan all come up with examples of this kind! The only thing to do is to bevulnerable – and humble. Create an environment where students and teacherscan point things out to each other, so that it is not a one-sided business.In conclusion, please do make space and time for dialogue with your students.

It is vital that we keep the channels of communication open with our children atthis age.

“We talk about all kinds of things, like responsibility, why we get restless, why we like towatch movies or TV so much. Friendship problems, and if we want to confess or tell outsomething, and we also talked about sex education a lot. We also talked about things likefear, anger and caring for the people around you.”“For some time we spoke about competition. Whether we think it’s good to have it inschool or not…We spoke about peer pressure. How it makes some people do what they arenot ready to or what they don’t want to do…Excellence is also one of the topics we spokeabout. We discussed why we need it and why we like to be good in what we do.”“Why terrorists do what they do, what we feel about child labour and poverty, what wecan do about people who are affected, what we would like to be when we grow up…whatare some things we can do to help the environment.”“It is nice to have a class where we can speak our mind and not be bound by the rule ofthe subject…the teacher becomes almost like another student.”“We talk about feelings and there is no homework and no textbook and all of us talkabout one question.”“I wouldn’t really call it a class; it’s more like a discussion between people, in other wordsa very serious chat.”“Sex and the feelings behind it was also something I enjoyed because it was exciting andother people in the class were hyped about it too. It loosens up the nervousness abouttalking about sex.”“In other classes you learn how to solve ‘physical’ problems. Here we learn about ‘mental’problems. Mental problems are often far more serious than physical problems.”

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An example from one of our classes

Dialogue or discussion classes with the Palashas (twelve to thirteen year-olds)took an interesting turn recently. Our librarian told us that the 6 year-old Saralascame to her with the latest Frontline magazine, pointed to its cover and asked her,“What’s happened to this boy?” The picture shows a Lebanese boy in his mother’sarms, badly hurt and scarred. And it started off a train of questioning in ourlibrarian’s mind: Should I leave such disturbing pictures around for little children tonotice? What effect do these increasingly explicit scenes in the press have on thechildren?

We decided to bring our concerns to the Palashas. Their responses were truly aneye-opener for us, and deeply moving. What follows is a summary of their ownthoughts and feelings on the question, which broadened considerably in discussion asyou will see.

It is important for children to know what is going on in the world – even if itis bad news. That is the only way for us to be ‘in the world’. But very smallchildren also need to believe that the world is a good place; they need to feel safe.When they are six years old, we should start letting them know about the sad orbad parts of life. We can’t start with far away events in places like Israel, but withproblems in their own neighbourhood, like poor people or sick people or accidents.

Adults and older children must talk to younger ones about these things a lot, sothat they don’t get the ‘wrong idea’, so that they don’t get a black-and-white idea oflife. We remember (it was only a few years ago!) the day we realized that the worldhas problems; we remember how it felt, and how fear came into our thoughts. Isthat how the Buddha felt when he first saw suffering, though at a much older age?

Pictures of suffering are important because then you realize how bad it really is– pictures prove that the suffering is real. But sometimes journalists take pictures thatmake you feel sick. Why do they do that – to become famous, or to sell morecopies and become rich? Sometimes, but not always, we can make out when apicture was taken with a good intention or a bad one.

We asked the Palashas: Of what benefit is this knowledge of the world? Doesknowing about things make us more sensitive, more compassionate? Or does it dothe opposite; do we become more insensitive because of constant exposure tostories and pictures of others’ suffering?

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“Yes, the way TV shows these stories is horrible. First they show scenes of war and peoplehurt or dead, then suddenly there is an advertisement to buy a car, then again the storiescontinue. It feels sick to watch in this way. How can the TV people feel anything if theycan do this?Also, small children nowadays are playing video and computer games (and watchingcartoons) that are as bad as the news. And in those games people are being killed all overthe place – many times children don’t know the difference between a game or a movie andthe real news! So it does make us insensitive that way. Why are parents letting their kidsplay these games?”

Dialogue with Young Adults

I will begin with a brief description of how we experience young adults.Young adults from the age 16 -19 seem ideally poised for many aspects of

learning. They are capable of and seem ready for abstraction. That is, they arecapable of moving from a particular example to a more general principle. They arealso better able to articulate many of their questions and concerns. These questionsconcern both what is happening in the world around them and also their ownpsychological and emotional landscapes.

Emotionally there is a certain maturation that seems to take place. However,they are also subject to mood swings and a fair amount of emotional churning.Often adults are not privy to this process.

Physically they are capable of many challenges and have tremendous energy.Sexuality and issues surrounding sexuality also play an important role in their lives.Again we notice that it is no longer openly visible as in the case pre-adolescent oradolescent children.

A student at this age is struggling with the whole issue of her identity and herrole in the world. Issues such as: What are my interests? How will I fit into theworld? What will I do in the future? What do people think of me? are of greatimportance. They are also beginning to deal with issues such as the individual andsociety and are ready to respond to the various crises facing the world:environmental, social and personal.

Peer group interaction and peer dynamics continue to dominate their lives. Theopinion that matters the most in matters of self-identity, choice of clothes, worldview, taste in music etc is the opinion of one’s peers. This is because they have astrong feeling that peers understand their world and what they are going throughand the adults do not. Very often, since they all come from more or less the same

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socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, this process only helps strengthen andsustain their world views. One of the more serious aspects of peer interaction isthat it allows many young people to live in a bubble and escape from their dailylife and the reality of its demands.

The media also has a tremendous hold on young adults. Often subliminally andsometimes crudely the media shapes and conditions their minds. The media oftenseems to convey that there is a lifestyle out there which is glamorous and excitingthat we should all aspire towards achieving. The ordinary daily life that we all leadin contrast is made to appear drab and boring. The media and the peer groupconspire together to sustain this world.What we hope to achieve in a dialogue with young adults

I would like to begin by stating that this is not a group therapy or individualtherapy session, nor is it a place for moralising or a ‘moral science’ class. Further, weare not looking to solve any particular problem and reach a conclusion.

Dialogue sessions are times when we together think and share our thoughtsabout various aspects of life. We very often question these things, such as images ofpeople, situations and even our own identity, all of which seem very real to us. Wemost often let our emotions, thoughts, opinions and ideas overwhelm us. We takeall these feelings for granted and let them pass away saying, “It is only natural.”Questioning them is very often painful, so these views we hold so close remainunquestioned. Dialogue sessions are times when we question these feelings; notspecific incidents but from a more general perspective. The discussions give rise tonew questions, which we think about through the week.

Our primary intention is to create a space where there is open and freecommunication between children and adults, a space that is safe for children andadults to share their thoughts, feelings and opinions free of fear and judgement.

In the dialogue sessions we hope to help young adults to gain a certainperspective on many of the issues and difficulties they are going through. We wouldlike to help them have a certain detachment from the issue at hand and a capacityto look at it from various points of view.

The dialogue session is space for self-learning and enquiry. We hope that in theprocess of dialogue there is sharing of meaning and understanding and perhapseven an insight into the nature of our psychological being. We hope this processhelps dissolve emotional knots and conflicts that we humans seem constantly gettinginto. We would like young adults to realise that each one of has an inner worldwhich consists of emotions, thoughts and feelings, and that society and the worldout there mirrors this inner world.

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The right environment for dialogue to take place

What is the right environment for dialogue to take place?First and foremost we need to establish a relationship of trust between the

adults and the young adults participating in the dialogue. We would like toemphasise that for us, having meaningful dialogues with young people is an integralpart of our education and is extremely important for us. Children begin thesedialogue sessions at CFL when they are in Middle School. These dialogues occurnot only during the formal dialogue session, but also in many informal settings.

A stable peer group helps the dialogue sessions flow smoothly. When eachparticipant is not worried about what the other person is thinking about them andwhether what they say will be held and used against them, there can be a genuinesense of enquiry.

It is very important that the adults who play the role of the facilitators do notcome in with their own agenda. This is not a space to foist one’s ideology ordogma. This requires that adults are open to being questioned, in fact constantlyinvite questions. The adults need to start from where the participants are, and notfrom a preconceived notion of where they are or where they should be. The adultshould be capable of listening and allow for long pauses before young people feelfree to come in and speak. They should be careful not to dominate the session,talking to each other rather than with the participants.

“I have enjoyed talking about things like—what is the self, when do we get hurt and soon. These are mostly the ups and downs in my life, and so I feel very connected to them.Why do we get hurt? Something like this is so basic; everyone gets hurt. However, whenwe started looking at why it happens, and when it happens, I realised how baffling thewhole thing actually was!”

Difficulties and challenges in creating a dialogue session

As we have mentioned before, creating an environment with free and opencommunication between adults and children is extremely important for us. However,this is by no means an easy task. In particular dialogue sessions often face manychallenges. We discuss a few.

On a given day the topic being discussed may just not take off. Participantsmay feel that the topic is not relevant to their life and switch offOne or two participants may be simply not in the mood and this can affect thewhole session

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Some of the discussions may be too close to the hearts of participants and theymay be unable to be vulnerable and openDialogue sessions can often be punctuated with long silence and the facilitatorsmust not feel anxious to try and fill this spaceYoung adults may feel that they have to come up with a profound or completeanswer and may feel shy or reluctant to share their not yet fully thought outideasIf an adult is too quick to intervene or correct a particular opinion that astudent has, then they may hesitate to open up the next timeSome young adults may feel suspicious of the process of discussing these issuesand may feel that it is pointless talking about themDialogue sessions can often unleash strong emotions such as fear, anger andfrustration

“I don’t feel it is easy to participate in dialogue sessions. A lot of effort has to be put intoactually thinking about the problem at hand… Some people are shy and prefer not tospeak out, and some people would rather switch off and think about something that doesnot require effort.”

Conclusion

We have shared with you some of our observations and learning over the yearsabout dialogue sessions. It is perhaps obvious by now that there is no blueprint toengage in this process. By its very definition, each session is unique andunpredictable. This fact offers the participants tremendous possibilities to experimentwith dialogue in their own environments.

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Art in CFLRadhika Neelakantan

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one shouldlisten to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than thefeeling for pictures. –Vincent Van Gogh

Importance of art in a child’s education

It is fun. It lends a natural sensitivity towards aesthetic sensibility. It allows thechild to play with line, form and colour. Unlike abstract activities, it providesimmediate gratification and is immediately meaningful to a child. It nurtures theexploratory and creative experience through handling material. It allows the child torelate to the world around. It is an opportunity that nurtures the child’s ability toengage creatively in the present.

Art is a way of depicting what one sees of the universe in different ways. It isamazing that you can make completely realistic or totally symbolic art and it tellssomething in a new light. Sometimes art helps you to look at things in a way youhave never looked at before.

The place of art is to look at or see the world around us.Art is an important mode of expression. The artist may not consciously be

trying to express herself, but it is an act of expression all the same. It seems to be,like music, ‘non linear’. Hence, it is an important area for exploration. Of coursethere is the possibility of encountering (and expressing) at many levels - at the‘simple’ level of colour, form and technique, as well as multiple levels of meaning.Place of art in the CFL curriculum

Opportunities are provided for students to explore art. There is the space forthose for whom it may become a passion.

Is it possible to work with attention? Is it possible to look carefully andseriously at what one is doing? Is it possible to begin, go through a process andend it with energy? This is the approach and there is interest in seeing what happenswith children of all ages. In order to observe and understand what is happeningwith the child, it is important to relate to and be alert to the child and the situation.In the case of art especially, it is important that the adult is more of an observerand intervenes only when absolutely necessary.

The group of teachers working at CFL have a healthy attitude towards art. Thisis important. If as a group it is possible to discuss issues openly, then a morewholesome curriculum may result.

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Approach to designing the art curriculum in CFL and some questions

When I began to do art with children in CFL, I began with activities, activitiesthat were fun and those that interested the children during the art class. Slowly overthe years, it has become important to see if the child can learn to observe lines,forms, shapes and colour in the environment. Looking and drawing has become avery important part of the curriculum. The final artwork is unique and beautiful inits own way when there is observation.

Is it possible for the child to be alert to what is going on within and outsideand the relationship between the two? Can the child experience the joy of workingseriously and explore the nuances that this area provides at his or her own level? Isit possible to be non-judgmental and non-restrictive? Or can there be tentativenessto judgment?

Group feedback occurs more or less once a week. At the end of a session, allthe artwork is put out on the floor and the whole group walks around commentingon their own as well as others’ work. It is a serious activity and a whole lot oflistening happens at this time. Most children are careful about what they say but aretruthful. Also, this is a time for a lot of learning from each other.Relationship to art

Interest in art has provided enough material to go on. Ideas appear as eachactivity is done and these are improved upon over time. There is therefore a flexiblecurriculum or method. It is the active involvement with children that allows forideas to spring forth.

The activities are simple in themselves. It is important to introduce the activity tothe group at the right time. Art is not restricted to any particular medium or form.It is really a very broad structure that we work with.Art curriculum

Discussions with children play an important part in forming the art curriculumin CFL. Exploration of different activities allows for exposure to the variouspossibilities for the child and the adult.

The same exercises can be done with different age groups. The instructions maybe the same but how different children in different age groups perceive and workis vastly different. From this, ideas are born for the next class.Junior school (6-10yrs)

At this age, children, left to themselves, are usually happy to draw for longperiods of time without being aware of time and what is going on around them.

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Free drawing is something that is encouraged. This is not part of an “art” class butwould be across the timetable. Flat, bold and direct representations are common,slowly moving on to more sophisticated details. Looking and drawing begins whenthey go out of the classroom and draw things they have observed in their naturejournals.Middle school (11-14yrs)

Art classes are done formally in the art room. This is an exciting transition forthe child and they are open to suggestions. It is at this time that art room“etiquette” is taught and emphasized upon each time the art class begins. It is animportant activity and time spent on this is well spent. The maintenance of the artroom and art materials needs constant discussions.

Soon, it is quite clear that some of the children have learnt the do’s and don’tsand some haven’t. Some never will! The understanding of the concept ofresponsibility is important. Sometimes everything is laid out for a class andsometimes they are expected to take what they require, use and then put back neatlywhat they use. Time needs to be managed for them at this stage and given sufficienttime, cleaning up is done well.

Through this age, they begin to expect more of themselves as artists. Quickwork is done and if they are dissatisfied, there is a loss of interest in their work.Artwork seen elsewhere is copied and there seems to a loss of “faith” inthemselves. Sometimes there is a tendency to draw things as they know them ratherthan how they see them. There is however a willingness to share and interact withtheir peers. This can be used to advantage. Group activities can be done, andthrough this, organizational and creative atmospheres are created. For example, inthe making of a collage, discussions often take the group through situations ofunderstanding and conflict.

Some exposure to other artists’ works in the form of readings from the openlibrary and looking at works of artists who happen to visit the school or are atschool is done. Art is also done when other subjects or projects are done.

Children ssare ready to improve their technical skills and have more control overthe media. There is a readiness to rework problem areas and a greater awareness ofdetail, as they grow older.Senior school (14-18yrs)

Coming to the senior school allows students to choose the activity they willwork on for the term. This allows them to work on something they would reallylike to explore. So, at this stage, there is a seriousness to work at something in a

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sustained manner. Here, students are able to work for longer times on their ownand are ready to look at their work more critically.

More serious reading is suggested regarding art and emphasis is given topreparatory work.Role of parents

Parents can play an important role in the child’s development. At an early age,children should be provided with sufficient material to explore the possibilities. It isimportant that children are not taught to draw something in a particular way. Alsoart need not be offered as an activity if there is nothing else to do or if the childis ‘bored’. That is another whole long discussion!Some of the challenges

As adults, each of us has our own ideas about how things are taught. Is itpossible to hold these ideas lightly and look at things afresh? Is it possible also to seehow traditional art evolved and not reject those ideas all together? Apart from that,art teachers, like all other teachers, feel that sufficient time is not give to their subject.Is it possible to work out allocation of time and give at least three hours a weekto art? This would be satisfactory for the child to get a feel of the subject and tobegin to bloom!Some art activities and projects done over the years

1. 10 min sketch: On entering the art room, a 10 min sketch is done. Anynatural or man-made object is chosen by the child or if asked, by the adult. Use a5B or 6B pencil, a 4"x 6" sheet of paper. It is important to stress that drawings bemade to fit the whole sheet of paper and if necessary to exceed the paper! Olderstudents who are seriously pursuing art may be asked to do a ten-minute sketcheveryday.

2. Portraits: This is an activity that may extend over some weeks.Day 1: Each child is asked to choose a partner (much debate can ensue and

therefore, it may be better for half of them to pick the names of the other half !)and is asked to draw the head and neck of the person they know so well withoutlooking at them. They work slowly and carefully, trying to remember whateverdetails they can.

Day 2: This time they sit in front of their partners and draw, looking at theirpartner. (Students are encouraged to take their time and not rush to finish. If thereis time, they exchange roles and the artist becomes the model. Otherwise it can bedone the next day.) This activity can be done first without looking at the paper andthen looking at the paper. A4 size paper is used. The drawing covers the sheet.

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Day 3: The teacher demonstrates how it could be done. Looking at a subject,with all the children watching, the teacher sketches with commentaries on what tolook at and how to keep the line tentative. They are asked to look at the lines andthe difference in the brightness. Emphasis should be made to keep in mind that theymust draw as they see and not as they know something to be.

Day 4: The students work on their own. They go back to their partner andrepeat the exercise.

Day 5 onwards: People from the school or outside are asked to sit for thegroup.

No time period is set in which students have to complete a portrait. It islimited by how long the partner has the patience to sit!

3. Collage: It can take off from where the portrait ended or a new drawingcan be made. Sketches from nature make excellent material for this activity. A smallpart of this can be enlarged and two or three children can work on a collage.

A ‘paint box’ with pieces of paper in various colours is made. Fevicol mixedwith water (1:1) is then spread on the section of the drawing that needs to be ofthat colour and the pieces of paper are stuck onto the drawing. As this activityextends over some days, children put away the pieces of paper they have torn intopaper envelopes, to be used again. Some of them would have gone to greattrouble to get the exact colours they need!

4. Individual ideas: After a few weeks of ordered activities, it is a pleasantexercise for the students to do anything that they would like to do. The teacher canmake suggestions if the student asks for some. We used chart paper of goodquality and a size slightly larger than A2 for painting. Sometimes this work has alsoextended over a few weeks.

5. Mural of the flora around the campus: This is a project that extended overa few months.

a. Students were asked to go out and sketch from nature. (If such environmentsare not accessible, they can draw potted plants.) A4 size sheets were used at thisstage.

b. Little windows of size 4cmx 6cm were cut into cardboard. These windowswere then moved over the sketches that had been done to identify the part theywould like to enlarge. The window was drawn on the sketch and a 4cm x 6cmgrid was drawn very lightly (each line 1cm from the other) on the sketch aftercolouring the window.

c. Whatever was in the window was enlarged using a grid. This grid wasdrawn very lightly on an A2 size paper. 4x 6 lines. These lines were rubbed off

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later after the picture had been enlarged. These pictures were then painted usingposter colours.

d. A template of the wall taking into consideration the windows and doorswas made. One inch on the wall was represented by 1cm on the chart paper. Eachchild in consultation with the teacher then drew the chosen drawing on the template.To do this in consultation with the teacher is important, as the teacher would findit easier to have an overall idea about things to take shape; the bigger picture!

e. From the template, the drawing was enlarged onto the wall using a pencil.Each student did this. The proportions are important and need to be kept in mindhere.

f. The painting then began. Acrylic paint was used. Students made a list of thecolours they were likely to need and then a comprehensive list of colours wasmade. (It is important to talk to the students about the effect of gravity on paint-loaded brushes when vertical walls are touched.) Water was mixed with the acrylicpaint when necessary. For palettes and water containers we asked students to bringplastic containers and lids that they wanted to discard. Ladders would be arequirement.

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Craft: The Art of Working with MaterialsLalitha Manjunath

Introduction

This document is an attempt to share my experience and expertise with all thosepeople who are interested, curious and enjoy working with their hands. Thisengagement has largely happened in the sharing with many groups of children.

An effort in documenting these activities has been done in the following pages.It is also to assure all those people who are enthused, to take on their passionwithout feeling the lack a professional background.

Apart from a four month intense course in clay work, all my learning andgrowth has happened on my own and in innumerable sessions with children. Muchof the work documented here has to do with clay.Intention

Children have a strong urge to work with their hands. At Centre for Learning,it is our intention to nurture this innate quality of the child.

The teacher here has an important role in motivating the student with respect totheir being open and flexible. The teacher begins by looking at the child’s capabilityand perception.

Through the years the students are exposed and encouraged to work withdifferent materials. One of the conditions of achieving the fall potential of everychild is through a sustained programme of engagement with materials andequipment. Children create and design tangible objects using materials like

fabric, thread, clay, paper, bamboo, coconut shell, beads etc. This has helpedthem to learn the nature and beauty as well as the limitations of each of these.

The most difficult task of education is to keep this perception open and to helpchildren develop both sensitivity and selectivity.

Children tend to replicate what they consider as a “perfect craft piece”, withoutexperiencing the process involved in making something. The craft curriculum in CFLemphasizes the importance of the process involved rather than arriving at the endresult.Process

As the children to make craft items, which have an ornamental or utility value,they also learn to bring aesthetics and quality to their work.

The process of understanding any material is an interesting aspect in itself. One

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learns this by being willing to try (making mistakes along the way!) and by beingpatient.

The teacher offers suggestions and stimulates and motivates the child to seeknew solutions. As the child works over the years, a certain growth and expertise intheir quality of work becomes evident.

It has been recognized that teamwork in creating an art piece is an importantaspect in learning, apart from individual engagement. Qualities such as co-operating,brainstorming together, helping one another and assessing work are woven togetherwhen activities are planned with a group of 10 to 15 students.

Pure joy is the children’s joy. They have the power of using any andevery trivial thing to create their world of interest and the ugliest dollis made beautiful with their imagination and lives. RabindranathTagore

Structure

The curriculum begins when the child joins the primary section at the age of sixThis exploration goes on up to the age of fourteen years. This is spread overtwo block periods of an hour and a half each in a week.In the senior school, students above the age of fifteen choose any one activityin which they work, to a large degree, independentlyEvery class begins with a meeting to discuss and organize the time and tasksinvolvedThe approach to an idea or a design and the visualization of details is givenimportance, rather than immediately getting into skills and techniquesExtension projects are given when the students are around twelve years oldStudents are made aware of the care and maintenance of tools and of theimportance of cleaning the work area after their work is completedThe craft lab is open throughout the day to encourage easy access for adults andstudents

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Clay workLevel 6 to 8 years

First four to six weeks: Activities/Assignments

1. Familarity with the lab and the equipment for every new group which begins to work2. A few sessions of free, open ended work with minimal adult intervention3. Sharing of ideas among the students to motivate each other4. Preparation of clay to know the whole process5. Introduction of techniques using their ideas6. Teaching the techniques of joining surfaces7. Use of tools for functional and decorative purposes

Discussion points

1. What is clay, its origin?2. Where does it come from?3. Properties of clay4. Demonstration of the firing process5. Why does one fire clay objects?6. Difference between a raw and a firedclay object with respect to colour,

texture, strength and usability7. Why does fired clay sometimes become damaged and cracked?

After 8 weeks: Activities/Assignments

1. Introduce forms with themes such as animals, plants, vehicles; imaginary,human and inanimate forms

2. Introduce the three basic techniques in clay work – pinching, coiling and slabwork

3. Encourage children to make objects using any of these techniques4. Enlarge an idea using a technique. Using slabs one can make tiles, boxes,

mirror frames, trays, sculptures, pen holders, name and number plate etc.5. Explore activities such as mixing different clays, clay with sand, clay with ash,

clay with sawdust, clay with paper etc.6. Use occasions like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussera, Diwali to create forms like Ganesha

dolls, diyas etc.

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Discussion points

1. Testing if a piece remains intact after drying.2. How to repair damage?3. Re-do something which has failed4. Share any discoveries found by anybody5. What do textures mean and how does one get those effects on clay?

Level 8 to 11 years: Activities/Assignments

1.Use of techniques of coiling, pinching, and slab making for creating objectsIdeas / ThemesUseful items around the house1. Pens, spoon holders2. Mirror frames3. Key holders4.Letter holders5. Boxes, with or without lidsOrnamental / decorative purpose1. Suspending / hanging mobiles2. Beads and jewellery3. Wall hangers4.Tiles for sticking on the walls5. MasksSculpture1. Humans – only head with the details2. Plants, animals and vehicles, using the same idea as above

Discussion points

1. Polishing on surfaces; differences2. Using different techniques to polish3. Elaboration on a theme to visualize possibilities4. Why does one wedge clay? Reasons and uses5. To be critical about one’s work and learn from mistakes; to repeat or redo

an idea.

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Level 12 to 15 years: Activities/Assignments

1. Introduce techniques of wheel work(i) To center and make a cylinder with the clay(ii) Start with forms like :

-Paper weight-Candle Holders

(iii) Next move to forms like-Holders-Mugs, cups-Pots-Attachments like handle, spout, lid etc.2. Sculpture—an enlarged version using coil or slab techniques3. Huge multi-pieced masks4. Big hand-built pots5. Combine two or three materials to design a piece. For example: a clay pot

with coconut shell lid.6. Wall murals, tiling and mosaic work7. Basic glazing around the age of 15 years

Discussion points

1. Precision in the work2. Quality and aesthetics to be discussed and woven into the design3. Big design project should proceed only after discussing, drawing and then

detailing the clay work.4. Arriving at different shades while firing5. Details of firing process6. Discuss what glazing means and learn the basic chemistry behind it7. Rectify mistakes and learn to redo work.

Basic requirements

1. Raw dry clay from the local lakes or from local potters2. Big tubs or cement tanks for soaking and storing the clay3. Framed mesh/sieve with different grades4. Rolling pins, flat sticks, wooden planks or boards5. Small cups/bowls, sponge, gunny sack

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6. Shelf or a rack for storing the finished work7. Plaster bats for hardening the slurry8. Odd bits of tools made from broken things: empty pen refill, tooth brush,

pen cap, tongue cleaner etc.9. Sharpened hack-saw blades10. Low cost tyre wheel and decorating wheel11. Plastic covers for storing clay

Firing red / terra cotta clay

Finished clay objects, once dry after a week or 10 days, are ready for firingThe kiln could be built with country bricks and plastered with mudThe square, rectangular or circular kiln has a wall a foot above the groundThis has an opening for feeding the fireAbove this wall, steel rods need to be placed to make a graterAfter keeping the rods, one continues to extend the wall keeping a certainheight required for the load of clay objectsBefore firing, the grater has to be roughly covered with broken clay pots orshards. This helps in keeping the clay objects on the greater. Also it allows theheat to pass through the shards before it reaches the raw clay objectsBigger sized objects have to be placed firstWheel forms also could be placed close to the fireAfter loading the kiln, the mouth is covered with clay tiles and with a thicklayer of grass to cover the gaps. Space in the center is to be provided forthe smoke to pass throughThe gaps have to be plastered with mud

Firing time

The first two hours of firing is very slow and outside the mouth of the kilnThis is very crucial as otherwise the pots might be damagedAfter two hours the logs are gradually inched forward. Allow 15 minutesbefore pushing the fire each time into the kilnBetween the third and the fourth hour, the fire could be close to the centreof the kilnAfter the fourth hour, firing can be rapid and continuousBy the end of the fifth hour, the fire would have reached the top, giving a

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delightful red glow, a feast for the potters, during each firingThe mouth of kiln has to be covered with bricks at the end of the firingTwenty hours gap has to be given before the kiln is opened

Black / smoke firing

A potter can get a rich, permanent, natural, black glaze on the pots by followingthis method:

The pieces have to be put into a large potFill the pot with sawdust, cow dung or dry leavesCover the mouth of the pot with grass. Seal the grass with mud or clayPlace this pot in the kiln with the other clay objectsOne could even get a whole batch of clay objects black, by covering the

chimney. At the end of the usual firing, one needs to stuff the fire mouth and firechamber completely with grass. After doing this for about 15 minutes, the mouthof the fire chamber has to be sealed. This makes all the objects in the kiln acquirea permanent black glaze.

Contacts for workshops and consultations

1. Raw clay – Local potter, ceramic manufactures and Pottery Town forprepared clay (only in Bangalore).

2. Regional Technical, Training and Development Centre Victoria Road, (Nextto Life Style) Bangalore. Ph: 25554969 (Off.) Contact: Mr. Ullaskar De(Pottery Department) and Mr. Jayaram This center offers training and workshops in building kilns.

3. Mr. Sanjay Manchekar – Expert Studio Potter in Kilns and glazesPh : 09322332228 (Mobile )

4. This contact is for holding workshops in art and craft and for expertconsultation. Ms Vishakha Chanchani, Good Earth, Uttarahalli Road, Kengeri,Bangalore – 560 060.

5. Lalita Manjunath, 16 Good Earth, Uttarahalli Road, Kengeri, Bangalore –560 060, E-mail : lalita.manjunath@gmail.com

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Contact for students to do pottery as a career

1. Gramadoya SanghP.O. BhadrawatiDist. Chandrpur – 442 902State – Maharahtra(A social work organization to promote rural pottery and potters)

2. The Andretta Pottery and Craft SocietyV.P.O. AndrettaDist. Kangra – 176 103Himachal PradeshE-mail : minimarv_99@yahoo.co.ukwww.andrettapottery.com

The Mosaic Activity(A group/team work)

This is an interesting activity appropriate for a group. This activity is suitable forchildren above the age of twelve years. The activity facilitates group decision-making,co-operation and a critical appreciation of each others’ quality of work. It was donewith a group of fifteen students for three hours a week. Some students finished ineight weeks and some went on for ten weeks.

This in how the whole activity was envisaged:1. The group assembled in front of the wall on which the mosaic work had to

be done.2. The actual size with some dimensions was finalized by the group3. The place/area for each person was marked with a wet chalk and scale. They

decided that the height and length would be 42cm and the width would be37 cm

4. Some deliberation happened to decide on the theme to bring in someconnectedness. The idea for the design was ‘patterns from nature’

5. Two sessions went into drawing and arriving at the final draft on paperusing the actual dimensions on the wall

6. The children tried painting, using water colours, which were to be used finallywith the tiles

7. The drawing was transferred on to the wall with a wet chalk8. After breaking the tiles maintaining a certain size, the sticking with tile cement/

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adhesive started9. Each time, the wall had to be wetted before sticking the pieces10.After sticking all the pieces, grouting between the tiles had to be done to

cover the gapsThe whole activity had very little guidance from the teacher. The group gave

feedback to each other. They also organized the materials needed for the work.It was a pleasure to see the designs unfold on the wall.The teacher obtained the glazed tiles, cement and grouting material from the

ceramic and hardware dealers.

Bamboo

Children around the age of nine or ten begin to become more confident aboutusing different materials, equipments and tools. Quite often, boys tend to enjoy usingtools like a hammer, knife and hacksaw. This is the stage when activities likecarpentry and bamboo work should be introduced.

Bamboo has enormous possibilities. As a material it has great aesthetic qualityand it is fairly easy to understand its nature. Right from traditional basket weavingwhich is quite complex (though it looks simple) to making a pendent or a keychain, one can bring in a great deal of craftsmanship.

Basic exercises

Learn to use the knife and hammerSplit the bamboo into flat and round stripsSandpaper finely to see the grain of the bamboo clearlyMake designs with the hot rod/poker.

After doing these things with the bamboo, one can make:1. hanging decorative mobiles.2. Mikado sticks3. chopsticks4. pendants5. key chains, book marks6. earrings7. bangles8. toys

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After a few weeks of working, students become fairly confident with thematerial. At this stage one could encourage them to come up with their own ideasand designs.

Extension exercises

1. holders for stationery items keys and knives2. mirror frames3. delicate toys4. weaving BasketsOne could even invite a traditional basket weaver for a workshop.

Equipment

Good bamboo from the wholesale marketKnives with strong handlesIron PokerStoveHammer, nails, hooksHacksaw, spare bladesSandpaper of two-three gradesHand drill and drill bits

Reference

Bamboo and Cane Craft of North-East India, by Rajan M.D., Nilam Iyer andGnanashyam Pandya

Published by National Institute of Design

Contact for workshops:

C.D. SunishURAOUThrikkaipetta P.O., Wayanad DistrictKerala StateE-mail : uravu2001@yahoo.comPhone : 914936231400 / 326896

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Creation is one of the most difficult things to understand. The manwho writes a poem, however beautiful, thinks he is a creative being.The man and the women who breed children think that they arecreative. The man or the cook who makes bread thinks, perhaps, he isalso creative. But creation is something far more. That man is notcreative, who merely writes a book or fulfils himself in some pettylittle ambition. Creation is not a man-made structure, or man-madetechnological knowledge and the result of technological knowledgewhich is merely invention. Creation is something that is timeless, that hasno tomorrow and yesterday; it is: living timelessly. And you come to itvery naturally if you understand this whole problem of existence.I do not know if you have every noticed how a drum is alwaysempty. When you strike on it, it gives the right tone; but it is empty.Our minds are never empty; they are always full. Therefore, our actionis always from this dreadful noise of thought, of memory, of despair;and therefore action is always contradictory, leading to great misery.

But a mind that is completely empty, empty in the sense ofobservation, silence and therefore, love and the whole understanding ofdeath—such a mind is creative. And a creative mind is empty all thetime; it acts from that emptiness, it speaks from that emptiness. And,therefore, it will always be true, it will never bring about a deceptionwithin itself. And it is only such a religious mind that can solve theproblems of misery in this world.

Extracted from J KrishnamurtiMadras 7th Public Talk 6th January 1965

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Role of the Body in LearningStefi Barna

The goal of this workshop is to experiment with what kinds of things can belearned using some capacities of our bodies and senses. The workshop consists ofa series of experiences to cultivate our ‘physical intelligences’. Some of them may beof use with students, or simply meaningful for you and of no use in theclassroom whatsoever!

What do we mean by the ‘body’? Body and mind are not really separate. Butsince schooling prioritises ideas/thinking over all other kinds of learning, andschooling ignores (is uncomfortable with) the physical body and the senses, we willfocus today on physical side of the mind/body unit. How is the body ‘of use’ ineducation? It is the vehicle for learning, awakens dormant faculties, keeps the brainelastic. Newness is important, not mastery. After using the body you are in adifferent state of mind, have a more perceptive inner environment

Society creates the bodies it needs. Schools are intellectual enterprises, dominatedby technology and thinking to the exclusion of everything else. Children becomealienated from the body/senses and lose the ability to perceive their relatedness tothe world around us. The body is the instrument through which we experience theworld.

Urban school children in general are characterised by:Low levels of fitness (flexibility, stamina, strength)Relatively low energy through the dayEmphasis on appearance versus abilityIncreasing obesityUrban orientation to lifeGenerally ‘dis-embodied’ experiences

What is wrong with PT as it is practised currently?

1. In our sedentary lives, a special time is set aside to move, rather than dailymovement being a part of life. This is called Physical Education. PE/PT, likeacademics, focuses on a narrow range of abilities, i.e., the skills for competitive teamsports. These are standardised internationally and discourage less-skilled students.

2. PE/PT does not prepare young people for a physically active and aliveadulthood.

3. In schools, physical learning competes with academic learning for time.

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4. Teachers rely on communication about exercise as a value (“it’s good to befit”) rather than as role modelling it as a way of life. We tend to take a moralisticapproach rather than sharing our own authentic joy and pleasure about it (mostlybecause we have lost it ourselves!). Adults avoid taking activity when they are tiredor feel self-conscious, which sends the message that movement requires optimalconditions of energy/interest. Yet movement can take place in any kind of mood,not only in opposition to couch-potato-hood.What is Physical Activity good for?

Affords general fitness for an otherwise sedentary lifeTo prepare the body so that the mind can studyTo develop different ways of physical ‘intelligence’

Body Awareness Exercise

sit straight, comfortable, relaxed, centre your weight, close your eyes whenyou cannotice how you are feeling: tired, full, heavy, agitated, anxious, preoccupieddon’t try to change anything, just make note of itnotice tensions or discomforts in different parts of your bodycheck all parts of your human frame: feet/hands, face, neck, back of headnotice where you feel ease or comfortwatch the depth of your breath, take a deep breath to compare: ribs, chest,bellywatch the pace of your breathfind the beating of your heart – watch it, is it fast or slow, solid orbutterfly?where do feel your pulse, only heart or also elsewhere?can you observe both your heart and the full process of breathing? Keeptrack of bothnotice any sounds in the roomnotice the sounds outside the roomcan you listen to the sounds in and outside the room and also feel yourheart and breath?now notice your state of mind and how your body feels. Is it the same aswhen started?when you are ready slightly open your eyes, keep them downward lookingnotice the effect of visual stimuluswhatever you are feeling, whether you are relaxed or uncomfortable or alert

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or half-asleep, let the mood or mental state linger on as you go into thenext activity. Don’t push yourself back into a verbal/visual mode, justcome along and bring your current state of mind with you.

Listen to these instructions before you move. Stand up very slowly, with asmuch economy of movement as you can, be as efficient as you can, and payattention to each part of the movement of standing up. Don’t use your weight tothrow you from one position to the next, just watch the use of muscles and jointsand where weight is placed.

DramaVijay Padaki

The drama workshop at the conference drew the group into the theme throughan unusual and insightful approach: the place of co-operation in theatre activities.Participants were required to adopt interesting strategies in completing their exercisesand activities. There was also a component on movement in theatre as well as ageneral discussion on the place of theatre in education. We regret that we are unableto document this insightful workshop for the purpose of this book.

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The Open LibraryUsha Mukunda and Sunila Rau

(The following is an extract from a larger document detailing the experience of the OpenLibrary at CFL. The document is being prepared for publication in the near future. Interestedindividuals can write to info@cfl.in with ‘open library’ in the subject box).Introduction

At Centre for Learning, we have an open library both in concept and reality.This means that there is free and open access to all material and resources, at alltimes of day and night, and throughout the year. Mutual trust and sharedresponsibility provide the ground from which this library functions. The rules andconventions of library interaction evolve out of a sense of co-operation,consideration and care for the community as a whole.

The challenge for the librarian is not one of policing and monitoring, but ofperceiving and holding the library and its users as a vibrant functioning whole. Thiscan only be done when the community of users feels a sense of ownership andaccountability. For example, on an afternoon when there is a sudden deluge of rain,a couple of students dash to the library to shut windows and move books out ofreach of the rain. At night, the place is locked by individual senior students on a rotabasis. If one of them is unwell or away, another student takes on that job. Much ofthis happens without the intervention or knowledge of the librarian.

The collection in this library reflects the commitment to quality and excellence.Classics, both traditional and contemporary, can be found on the shelves. Staff andstudents are actively involved in the selection process. In fact, students are takenregularly to book stores and book exhibitions to select and buy books for thelibrary. An innovative in-house computer program ensures that all users can borrow,return, search for, reserve and conduct other library operations with ease. Thefacility of borrowing has been extended to former students, parents and guests.

The main library is located in a beautiful building which was designed withideas from staff, students and, of course, the architects. Its ambience and aestheticswelcomes and invites all users and visitors. Every student group has a weekly libraryperiod which is used for browsing, borrowing, returning and also for variousactivities to enhance reading and awareness of the library. Helping the library invarious ways is an inherent culture of the place. Books in need of repair arerestored imaginatively and lovingly by students.

Students also do projects to facilitate use of the library such as creating

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bibliographies, making indexes and labels for shelves, posters and book marks,putting together a short video on the library and a brief computer guide fornewcomers.

The open library at CFL is a happy and lively place.The spirit of the open library

How does it come alive in every facet of the school library??Let’s find out! Remember that the openness of the library cannot happen if you

are a speed fiend! Space and leisure are essential to the spirit and fulfillment of anopen library.

1. Location: Even if you are already in a fixed location, read on for futurereference.

The library needs to be in a central place, open and easily accessible to all users.Should it be close to the classrooms? Ask teachers and students what they feel. Notnear the kitchen, the street or even the playgrounds for fear of noise, pollution, heatand smoke. Upstairs, downstairs or in the principal’s chamber? Again, users’feedback will be valuable.

2. Physical Appearance: Inviting, welcoming, bright, colourful. Remember, thisis a library being used mainly by young people. In fact, they can help bring in eachof these aspects.

A wide entrance so your users don’t feel cramped as they enter. Even if yourarea is small, try to provide different spaces for different activities. Have furnitureor not(!) in tune with the area. For example, relaxing seats and cushions for theinformal reading area, table and chairs for reference area, mats for story time andother group activities, little nooks and corners for individual readers, low chairs nearshelves for browsing, stone benches for outside reading, a pick-a-book box foranyone to read in the library and so on.

Children will happily make posters listing various aspects of the library. Theyshare their writings, sketches, projects, craft work, flower arrangements and calendarsthrough displays. Notice boards are also not the librarian’s prerogative but a jointresponsibility. So teachers and students bring in interesting clippings, announcementsof exhibitions, pictures and photographs, jokes and cartoons for the librarian toarrange on the notice board. Younger children appreciate it if their material is attheir eye level.

There are also ‘talking points’ A peace flag from Italy, some stones from Lothal,a scrap book of a Mela, assorted things made by Arvind Gupta when hevisited…. Each of these has some significance for the children and they can talk

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about it to visitors or new entrants.3. Selection and Collection: It is best that the librarian is on the selection

committee, if she is not there already! This is obviously because she is the one whoknows the collection, the users and their profiles.

Decide on a budget looking at previous years’ patterns, present needs and futuregrowth. Keep abreast of new material by reading reviews in newspapers andjournals and put them up so users also learn to make intelligent suggestions.

Visit bookstores on a regular basis. Visit other libraries when possible, for otherideas. Make sure you have material in more than one language. Also try to havesome books in Braille. How about some archival material? Try to acquire some.Keep audio and video tapes, CDs and DVDs as well as CDROMs. This way youwill be making your users aware of different methods of accessing information.

Now here is where your users actively enter the scene. Invite suggestions fromthem by having a box, or by having a wish-list notebook prominently in view.Look at it frequently and give your users some feedback. Take groups of studentsto bookstores and book fairs for selection and purchase. (See further sections formore details.)

4. Organisation and Access: This is where the proof of the pudding comes in!Is the library locked when the librarian is not there? Even if this soundsrevolutionary, just let it vibrate in your ears….how about keeping the place openwith senior students in charge of locking and unlocking each day?!! You CAN dothis when the basic philosophy of the school is one of freedom with responsibility.The library is then in harmony with the school’s intentions. Clear conventions basedon co-operation, convenience and common-sense appeal to children and they doadhere to them. For example, NOTHING leaves the library without a record of itsleaving! If books are missing or lost, there is a notebook for users to fill in thedetails. This makes the loss a very factual occurrence with no overtones of theft andsuspicion attached. Others also enter the picture to remind and search for the books.For me, a book is never lost. It surfaces after three months, sometimes even sixmonths. There are no fines for late return, so frequent reminders are made, generallyand individually. By and large, forgetfulness is not a major issue. As the librarian,you must also remember to be talking and relating to your users in various wayswhich is the basis of all that we do at CFL.

Are your bookshelves unlocked and easily accessible? I hope you do not havevery high shelves! They have an unfortunate resemblance to walls. In any case, makesure you put books for younger children within their reach. Do students freelymove around, browse, do reference and read in the library?

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Organisation of your material goes a long way in making your usersindependent. The Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme, though not verysatisfactory, still gives a broad framework within which local variations can be used.It is also the most commonly used at other libraries so your young users will be atease in whichever library they visit.

Colored strips to code different categories are very helpful. Students whoreplace books find this invaluable.

Finally, if you have not yet computerized your collection, start thinking about itFAST! The benefits are enormous and much easier for the librarian to monitor useand nurture openness. We have a program that was created for us by an oldstudent. It is friendly to users from age 6 to 60! One of the many customizedfeatures is that you can reserve a book borrowed by someone, and a message isflashed to that user to please return the book soon since it is needed by such andsuch a person. This is a very unusual way of functioning because it puts the onuson being co-operative on the individual, and not on any system!!! You too can lookat any of your alumni who can contribute a software package.

Maintenance and care are an integral part of the library. Do you get nightmaresworrying about this? Do create the option of getting student helpers. In CFL,students do community work every morning and one of their jobs in the library isto replace returned books to the right locations. Also there is a group which takesup creative repair work of damaged books. Sometimes we use a library period todo this and other related book care activities. We find students take it up happilyand not as a chore. Later, we display these books. One last word. In India we areusually very remiss about providing wheelchair access. Can you please push for thatif you do not already have it? I am sure the management will be happy to haveyou alert them on this aspect

5. Use: Use comes about as a natural outcome of all the aspects we havementioned earlier. Other ideas that have worked are

A separate shelf for books of non-fiction for seniors and juniors.These consist of books from the subject shelves that are of generalinterest but do not get read often. This collection is changed every nowand then and has worked well.A half-way-home shelf for new books AFTER they have come offthe new books display and BEFORE they get hidden and forgotten intheir subject shelves. We plan to keep them in this shelf for one term.As part of projects, children have created books of different kinds.We have a special shelf for them called In-house publications!

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Adopt-a-book. Children are encouraged to adopt a book or author.This means they must now and then check on the condition of thebooks, make sure they are being read and cared for!Story telling or reading out from a book gives a great impetus toreading.Besides all these, you can have activities, games, projects, visits ofauthors, debates and many other ideas to enhance use. (We will go intothese in more detail in the next workshop.)

I am not sure where this comes in but I have found it very interesting to sharewith the children accounts of other libraries and their practices. One favourite storyis that in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, every user when asked, must recite anoath in Latin which essentially says they will not damage the books by exposingthem to fire, water, food and bad handling! Another is of how libraries try toconserve space by having shelves tightly placed against one another. When the userwishes to browse in a particular shelf, he pushes a button and the shelves slide backgiving the space. They always ask what would happen if two people pushedbuttons for different shelves! I never found out.

6. Human Resource: This is the most valuable resource the library can have. Tohave a library that is alive depends on the human being caring for it. Open access isthe call you as the librarian MUST make. To take the suggestions given above and toconvert and adapt them to your situation is again your privilege! Try to win overteachers and management by showing how involved and energetic you are.

Above all, I hope you enjoy what you are doing because believe me it’s awonderful life!

Here are some things that are OK though they may be No-No in most libraries!Use of library for other events is good provided it does not dislocatethe collection too much and is held at a time when there are no otherusers. Different people are likely to come in to the library and discoverthings!No need for deathly silence or hushed whispers in a school library. Alow buzz of interactive discussion or sharing is fine.Rules are not always sacrosanct. They can be reviewed by the librarianand the user on a discretionary basis.Should the librarian be quiet and passive? Not at all! The library is onshow, not the librarian, so every opportunity can be taken to highlightor project any happening or innovation there.

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Bringing young people and books together

Young people, like many of us adults, have become more and more dependenton the media, internet and computer-driven software for information as well as forentertainment. With the dazzling advances in technology and the fascinating diversityof the media, it is little wonder that a young person’s fancy turns more readily tothem rather than to books. As educators and librarians, what is our response? Thefirst thing is to recognise and acknowledge the benefits of each of these modes oflearning. From there we can make out a case where books are still valued for theirunique contribution and happily co-exist with all other forms which provideinformation, inspiration and entertainment.

When a child reads, there is a relationship which begins between her and thebook. It is an enduring relationship, where the reader has the leisure to explore thewritten word at her own pace, with breaks, at any location, and what is importantfor a child, in any position! Young children are drawn to stories and are full ofcuriosity and wonder. Usually this moves naturally into a love of reading. But wemay uncaringly or unwittingly dam this natural surge. Very little encouragement toread, hardly any exposure to excellent books, both in the home and schoolenvironment, too many other occupations, unmonitored TV-viewing, addiction tocomputer games, and even too much academic pressure can dry up the imaginativeflow. Descartes, the French mathematician and philosopher said, “The reading of allgood books is like conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” This is thepersonal and direct contact we can make through something as simple as reading!

Written language has an enduring quality that cannot easily be replaced. Readingraises questions, sparks off ideas and starts a chain of imaginative thought. By thesimple act of reading, young people are expanding and enhancing their sensibilities.They are responding to strong themes, to evocative language and are being exposedto issues they cannot afford to ignore. They are able to get in touch with their ownemotions, fears and joys. In reading, they are also learning to read between the lines,pick up nuances and complexities which the author has embedded in her writing.They are picking up the skill to be critical of content and form – to discern whenthere is insincerity or condescension. Reading also stretches the vocabulary ofyoungsters from age 6 upwards to age 20, and helps in making their writing moreexpressive. After a period of reading regularly, the reader is able to discern betweenfact and opinion so there is a growth of a thinking individual.

Encouraging children to read both fiction and non-fiction from a young ageenables them to grapple with concepts, ideas and processes. These inputs will help

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them to make sense of the world as they grow up, and also build stamina to readworks of nonfiction later in life.

Now, I would like to move on to the essentials that will allow all of the aboveto happen. But first, think back to your own childhood. What made you read ornot read? Both can help you learn about children’s patterns. I feel an equal surge ofsatisfaction to get a non-reader reading as well as help a good reader deepen hisreading.

Please use the following questions that I have posed as a check list foryourselves.Environment

1. Have you provided the right environment for reading in your library?Make sure that your library has an inviting, bright and colourful appearance. Thiscan be done with the help of posters, sketches and soft boards which youryoung users contribute to.

2. Is the collection interesting, up-to-date and relevant to your young users?Try to keep abreast of new books by reading book reviews, visiting bookstoresand book fairs.Keep a notebook or box for students’ suggestions and take time to read them.Take the suggestions seriously.Take students along to select books from bookshops.

3. Have you provided comfortable and attractive reading spaces in your library?Have different kinds of seating for different kinds of reading, reference books,computer access, journals and magazines and for browsing through the shelves..Try to provide little nooks and corners. Children love to read in such spaces.

4. Are you, as an integral part of the environment, friendly and approachable?There are many instances of great people who remember their school andcollege librarians with deep respect and affection. Can you qualify for that?!

Exposure

By exposing a child to what is in itself excellent, you can be sure that he willdevelop standards of his own.1. So can you set some standards of excellence for the books in your library?

Make sure that when you buy books and subscribe to journals, you take advicefrom teachers, management, other leading libraries and reviews. Display newbooks, if possible along with any information about the author. Use assembliesfor highlighting any special books or new journals by asking a teacher or parent

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who has read it, to say a few words about it. Sometimes an older student canbe asked too. Older students are great role models!

2. Do you believe in the value of browsing and do you actively give time for that?Something wonderful called serendipity happens then.

3. Do you subscribe to a good collection of journals?Many college students only have time to do ‘short reads’ so your journals willensure that the reading habit is kept alive for them.

4. Try to take your students on visits to other libraries. This a great learningexperience for the librarian and the children.

Ease of access

This covers both availability of good material at bookshops and accessibility tothe users in your library1. Do you have open access at your library?

PLEASE! Don’t lock up your shelves or keep books in metal closed cupboards.Books need to be seen, touched, smelt, browsed through and read. If you areworried about mishandling, theft and defacing,, talk to the young people directly.They will respect you for that and the few who may be misusing the library, willget monitored by the others.

2. Do you have simple methods of borrowing and returning?This is vital. Computerise and make life simpler. Bring about trust by askingusers to monitor themselves. Talk, talk, talk to them, not lecture!!

3. Are you aware that the publishing scene has never been more vibrant?Bookstores are overflowing with new books, secondhand book stores too aregrowing. So people are reading. As librarians we need to get in on this act.

Encouragement

1. Do you or does the school tend to underestimate the value of reading and putit in opposition to study?I am sure this does not happen, but we need to be alert to this possibility. As wehave said earlier, it is the foundation of all learning, and enlightenedmanagements are already aware of this. You as the librarian need to take a leadin this movement. Highlight award winning books and authors. The humanbeing behind the book is important. Make them aware of this person. Manytimes children ask me, “Aunty, have you read all the books in the library?” Ofcourse I haven’t, but I know something about them all so I give that impression!

2. Do you relate with non-readers equally well?

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If you do, unexpected events also help in bringing them into the world ofbooks and reading.

3. Do you think parents need to be helped to realise the value of reading and alsoto monitor their children’s use of computers and television?If yes, please invite them to your library, encourage them to borrow and readfor themselves and to read out to their children. Share with them your inputs onthe joys and value of reading. Ask them to give books as birthday presents oras special treats. Tell them about second hand bookshops they can take theirchildren to.

Enhancement and Enrichment

1. Do you have a weekly library period with each class?If not, please ask for it. For college librarians, can you think of ways to attractusers to your library? Have poetry reading and play reading sessions. Help themto form reading groups. Organise mini events like talks by people in yourinstitution who have interests like astronomy or photography or trekking. Askthem to pull out relevant material in your library and display these. Themomentum will pick up.

2. If you have it, do you do any activities which enhance awareness and interestin reading?At all ages, as children grow into young adults, their burgeoning minds needguidance and nurturing to deepen their reading. So we as librarians and teachersmust be able and ready to provide this enrichment to their reading.There are a number of activities that you could do, ranging from care of the

library and the books, to discussions and debates on books. (Please see furthersections for ideas.)

See if you can set up your students to go once a week and read to blindchildren or to old people or at an orphanage. Doing this will make them awarehow privileged they are to have access to books and reading.

Finally, a young person who has read widely grows into a well-rounded adult.In social and professional interaction, she can hold her own. She is quick to pick upnuances, allusions, quotations and references. We owe it to our young people toactively bring them into a lifelong contact with the best in books and reading.

Bertrand Russell said, “There are two motives for reading a book: one that youenjoy it, the other that you can boast about it.”

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The teacher and the library: a symbiotic relationship

The library is a responsive entity. With the best of collections, infrastructure andeven services, it can spring to life only at the magic touch of the users. And in aschool library the users are primarily the teachers, either directly, or indirectly, becausethrough them, the students are initiated into becoming lifetime users.

Why is it so important that a school library be alive, vibrant, and continuouslyevolving?

It is the place to which fresh, young minds bring their curiosity and thirst forknowledge.

It is the place where the spirit of enquiry in teachers is met, sustained andstrengthened.

It is the place where librarians face the exciting challenge of making the librarya “happening” centre.

Finally, it is the place that heads of institutions realize and recognize is the coreof the educational process.

The inter-relationship between all these elements also creates an inter-dependenceand no one aspect can grow without the warmth and sustenance of the others!

Here, my focus is on teachers but as you will see the implications for librariansand heads is inherent.

A natural way to bring meaning to our lives is to do something we believe in.Something we feel happy to do. In such a situation, we are learning and innovatingconstantly. There is no room for monotony or a sense of drudgery. Learning isessential to teaching. This is a statement I cannot over-emphasize. John Dewey’sobservation about the combined forces of reflection and action is significant here.As teachers you need to have, and to convey to students this reflective-learningstance. Changing circumstances, new developments, technological and psychologicaltransformations that are taking place all around us demand that as teachers you havean intelligent response. This is necessary to tackle new issues that are thrown upeach day that may even become obsolete by tomorrow! The nature of academiclearning is also influenced by the availability of and use of, new technologies.

As teachers and educators, can you see yourselves opening a conversation whenyou begin a lesson? In order to carry on an interesting and rich conversation, andeven to communicate clearly, you must have some resources to draw upon. It isimpossible to draw on one’s resources without replenishing them frequently.So….Enter the library—your school library…other libraries—to restore and refurbishand refresh your store of abilities and knowledge.

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Educators know from experience that it is necessary to understand an area oflearning in order to teach it well, but that understanding on its own is not enough.So what else is needed? First, a deepening of knowledge in the specific contentarea of your subject. Second, a broadening of perspective. Connections and links,both local and global are made. How does this help the individual, the student andthe institution? For the individual I would say there is tremendous potential forpersonal growth. Existing interests strengthen, new questions arise and the processof self-development is well on its way. There is not just the appearance, but alsothe fact of self-confidence. It does not need a psychologist to tell you what thatmeans to your general sense of well-being and harmony.

As for the institution – an innovative, confident and creative teacher is a valuableasset. She is a strong spokesperson for the place as well as being an individual inher own right. The really good teacher is one who can call her soul her own.

For the students, a teacher who is well-read, both in her own subject andoutside it, provides a model and a source of inspiration. A teacher who has astrong base of reading, reference and research has an air of quiet authority andsecurity. A young student at our school was particularly struck by the fact that AlbertEinstein’s teachers at his high school punished him when they could not answer hisquestions! The primary role of reading, researching and referencing is done by theteacher but gradually as the students begin to use the library more extensively, theytake over the primary role and look to the teacher only for affirmation andconfirmation. They are ready to be self- sufficient. However the teacher continues tobe the motivator and the facilitator.

But – and I should have asked these questions first – Do you believe and trustthat time spent in the library is time well spent? Do you have a positive attitude tothe library? If the answer is YES, I go on to list a few more areas of self-development that the library can provide.

Read to understand how what you are teaching fits into the overallcurriculum. If, as a teacher, you are part of curriculum meetings, you needto be clear what the issues are.Read to enhance your teaching and communication methods – classroommanagement, current approaches and innovative techniques.Read to recognise and understand a particular child’s difficulties – physicalor psychological. Parenting and teaching are both highly demanding andcreative responsibilities.

Even when a teacher has all this background, I am sure you see the necessityfor ongoing updating.

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How do you actualize this and begin?

1. The first step is to orient yourself to the library and the varied facets of thecollection as well as the services provided. I always ask librarians to begin the schoolyear with a ‘familiarising and getting acquainted with the library’ session. But if forany reason it does not happen, make the first move yourself. Next, you mustconstantly throw friendly challenges to the librarian. Access to material, availability,ease in searching and finding, quiet time for browsing, suggestions for the collectionand arrangement, queries for reference….go ahead. No librarian worth her saltshould object provided it is done in the right spirit. Talk with students to discoverareas of special interest. Talk with the librarian to search for, highlight and makeavailable relevant material.

2. Use a variety of media to teach. Take your students to the library to showthem related material – videos, CD-ROMs, films, maps, audiotapes, archivalmaterial……

3. Primary class teachers : Use poetry books to do projects. Choose a storyand get your class to write scripts and enact them. Use books on crafts, scienceexperiments, clay work, maths puzzles to evoke individual responses in yourstudents. For any fair or mela, get ideas in the library for motifs, decorations,artwork….the possibilities are endless.

4. For older classes, I have invited teachers to come in and do a book talk ona book they have read recently. Students are intrigued to see their subject teacher ina different garb. For the teachers too, it is an opportunity to bond with theirstudents differently. One idea that I had was for book talks to happen within a classin the specific subject areas. For example, a Maths teacher or a Biology teachercould recommend that some books which would deepen the interest of the studentin the subject be read and presented in a book talk. This is very different from ageneral book talk in the library where a larger audience attends. Here with asubject-oriented book talk, the teacher will find the possibility of a discussion takingplace based on the book.

5. Teachers’ suggested readings both in Fiction and Non-Fiction are displayedor listed on the library board. Teachers, you can also alert students and even yourcolleagues regarding any interesting articles you have read in a periodical in thelibrary.

6. Usually projects done by various classes are displayed in the library. If youas a teacher visit regularly, seeing these might trigger off ideas for you. Also, if yousee a student’s efforts in a different area, it would help you to view that student ina fresh light.

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7. If you have any artefacts from a trip you have made, you can exhibit themin the library and talk about them, if possible. If you have some memoirs or oldscrapbooks of archival interest, bring those in for a temporary display.

8. Use the newspapers and journals to do a unit on current events. Bringabout discussion and debate on terrorism, the war in Iraq, India-Pakistan relations,gender issues…the list can go on. If you alert the librarian, she can look for relevantmaterial of all kinds.

9. At our school and earlier where I worked, teachers always came along onbook-buying trips to stores, sales and book fairs. So there is an immediate co-relation between the selector and the user! Then too, teachers have come in to helpwith weeding out and discarding books in their subject areas. This is a tremendoushelp for the librarian who does not have specific subject expertise.

10. Suggest visits to the outside, suggest visitors from outside – any interestingcontacts you may have. All this enriches the library which in turn enriches you.

11. Teachers’ writings and participation in seminars or workshops must beshared on the library board. Some teachers have actually written books about theirexperiences and efforts, which naturally find a valued place in the library. Whenschool excursions take place, the teacher and students maintain a diary. This toofinds a place in the library for future travellers or even for informative reading.

12. Suggestions on aesthetics and ambience in the library will surely bewelcomed by the librarian since it comes from a genuine interest and involvementfrom the teacher.

13. Remember, teachers, to take your students to the library for referencesessions. A change of scene will be refreshing, and work wonders on both youand the students!

You may now ask, how am I to do all this? Where is the time? This is whereenlightened management comes in. In each teacher’s time-table, put in one period aweek as a personal library period – not to be confused with bringing students infor a reference period. Believe me, this is not an imposition. After just one term,you will be looking forward to this period of quiet browsing, leisure and freedomto pursue your interests. The management must recognise that this is a long-terminvestment and encourage this move.

As a librarian, may I list the following Don’ts for the teachers and the headsplease?

DON’T send students to the library as a punishment for some failing.DON’T send them there to complete their homework either. Both these give

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the wrong message.DON’T use the library as a classroom (lecturing time) or a meeting room.DON’T use the librarian as an office clerk or general dogsbody.DON’T use the library collection as a showcase to impress visitors. If a library

is doing what it is meant to do – it should be full of users and less full of books!Till now I have not given any specific ideas or suggestions to librarians but I

am confident that as you are reading, you are picking up the connections and linksto your own place in this network. There are three categories of users that make uslibrarians who we are! They are the students, the teachers and the management. Weneed to embark on a relationship of trust, efficiency, dependability and friendlinesswith all three sets of users.

The students are the easiest to win over. They are young, open and eager tolearn. Show them clearly by word and deed that you are there to help them andguide them regarding new technologies and to make resources available.

Make them feel welcome in the library.Invite them to help you. Take their suggestions for books andimprovements in the library seriously.Photocopy material which they need. Volunteer to do this rather than as abig favour! If you see a great demand for some books, ask themanagement to let you buy one or two more copies, assuring them thatthere will be good use made.

Now for the teachers…as librarians we must MAKE them believe in theefficacy of the library. You can only do this by your actions and your services notjust by word alone. You must convert them to become regular users and strongsupporters of the library. Their presence in the library is the proof of this.

First, invite them for an orientation to the library, literally a guided tour. Showthem your collection of maps; make them aware of the play scripts available. Whatabout unusual books that may be tucked away and forgotten? Pull them out andshow them. Newsletters and pamphlets from related institutions should be madeavailable to them.

If you know of the special interests of the teachers, be sure to alert them aboutany corresponding material. At the beginning of the year, get the teachers to fill ina form listing their needs and projecting their plan of topics for the term. Theform could also ask for interests other than what they are teaching. Also ask themfor suggestions. This puts the onus on them not us! Ask them for a commitmenton what they would like to be involved with, i.e. any particular aspect.

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You as the librarian are in a unique position to provide an alerting service to theteachers because you have a picture of the whole library. So without too mucheffort on their part, teachers can present a multi-dimensional approach to theirteaching.

Now for the management or heads. Probably the greatest level of difficulty isto have a smooth but open and frank relationship with the management. Don’tforget though that without their encouragement and support, you would probablynot be here today, listening and participating. To win over the trust and confidenceof the head is the most important task, because if that does not happen, many ofthe things I have said today become meaningless and just words. Be bold in wordand deed. If you have and show clarity, energy and commitment, the head mustlisten. After all teachers and librarians are the ground on which the school stands orfalls.

Now what of ourselves as librarians? What can we do to bring enrichment toour lives?

Create a climate of confidence – not authority and arrogance.Put in the effort to be familiar with your own collection and resources. Ioften hear children tell each other – “Aunty has read all the books in thelibrary!” Obviously not but I do create that impression because I havesome idea about all the books. I watch and remember who has read thebook, what they said about it, who gifted it or where it was bought…Iremember the author, the illustrator, the publisher…enough to make theconnection when I hear of something related next time.Wherever I go, I am always looking out for ideas that catch my eye. As ateacher or a librarian, I can bring them back to my library and myclassroom.

Librarians manage users and resources. Teachers manage students and subjects.So can you find a more dynamic information team than teachers and librarians?

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Section Two: Workshops for Junior Age Groups

Junior MathArthi Saktheeswaran and Suseela Kumaravel

Mathematics for five to ten year olds

It is important for us educators to continuously enquire into the following twofundamental questions:

1) What comes in the way of learning?2) What facilitates learning?When attempting to answer the first question it is very clear that fear is one of

the main factors that come in the way of learning. It could be fear of the subjectand/or the teacher or the fear of not being able to meet the expectations ofparents/teachers. Fear of being ridiculed if the answer is wrong can prevent thechild from trying. Comparison and competition too breed fear. Learning sufferswhen the teacher is only interested in finishing the curriculum. Learning cannot takeplace when parents/teachers are anxious about the results.

The answers to the second question follow from the first. It is imperative thatthe learning atmosphere is free of fear. Parents and educators need to continuouslywork together to cast their expectations aside. We need to bear in mind that eachchild’s abilities and potential are unique and hence comparison has no place if onewants to facilitate learning. While competition might achieve short term goals, itcannot bring about an internal motivation to work. As children, especially the young,are naturally interested in learning, our work as teachers becomes easy and enjoyableif we take on the role of facilitating that learning.

Now, how do we teach mathematics to the young? Our job is often made easybecause almost all the children who come here seem to ‘like’ mathematics.Occasionally we come across exceptions. Sometimes, when a child enters CFL she/he avoids math saying that he/she doesn’t like it. Often before the end of the firstterm such statements disappear.

We cannot teach a subject that we don’t love ourselves. We cannot help a childlearn it if there isn’t a rapport between us. When fear is eliminated obviously itallows for a rapport to build up. Thus when all the above factors are taken care ofthen learning continues to take place provided there is leisure for the teacher and thetaught.

I am sure all of you know that the young need to start leaning mathematics

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using concrete materials and then move on to pictorial representations and finally toabstraction. The child needs to experiment/explore with concrete materials till theconcepts are clearly understood. The emphasis obviously is on understanding ratherthan learning the algorithm through repetition. There have been times when we haveallowed a child to carry on with algorithms if understanding didn’t come aboutafter varied attempts and such children often have difficulty with word problems. Itgoes without saying that such children need remedial help.

Children need encouragement to try out different ways to solve problems. Theyneed to understand that different methods can lead to the same answer. One lastbut important factor for the teacher to remember is to begin ‘where the child is at’.Often for the six year olds moving from addition to subtraction is a leap and thento move from there to subtraction with borrowing is an even bigger leap. Thuswhen they encounter the following problem they often go about solving it the wayit is described below:

Raghu has Rs34/ and Raji has Rs25/. Who has more? How much more? Oftenthe correct answers are arrived at very quickly. When asked how they got Rs 9/invariably they say that they counted from 26 to 34. Then they are asked to writethe number sentence which they do as follows: 25+ 9=34. Of course this is correct.When asked to write a number sentence using subtraction they find it difficult. Onething that helps is giving the child the same kind of problem involving smallernumbers. The patience with which this situation is handled is bound to bear fruitlater. It is actually very rewarding to know that by the time the children come tothe next level this concept is well mastered.

I would like to mention something that all of you must be doing as well i.e.combining fractions with cooking and money obviously with shopping games.Estimation helps them learn about measurements. Through the years they areencouraged to estimate endlessly.

Out of all the materials we use some are worth mentioning here.1) Straws and rubber bands for place values2) Play money3) Response cubes4) Response wheels5) Decimal chart6) Game mats7) Thinking StoriesIn this workshop we would like to focus on thinking stories which is an

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important aspect of our curriculum. Levels one, two and three have 20 thinkingstories each and about 200 word problems, while levels four and five have adifferent format; in these levels there are longer stories and each story is divided intothree – six parts. We have prepared a sample booklet comprising of two thinkingstories from each level. We have made use of the ‘Real Math Open Court’ thinkingstory books for this purpose and adapted the stories to suit Indian contexts.

While doing thinking stories with the children many of the factors that areconducive to learning are taken care of often without a conscious effort. I willmention these factors below:

Development of lateral thinking – children get to understand that there aredifferent approaches to the same problem.Opportunity to look at what it means to ridicule/ get ridiculed. One of thecharacters in the story is characterized purposely as someone who cannotwork with numbers. The other characters patiently explain everything to him.Children listening to this hopefully begin to patiently explain what they knowto those that don’t know.Understanding is more important than just getting the answers. Childrenrealize that yes, no or can’t tell answers require explanations.When faced with questions that have more than one correct answer, childrenfeel happy that their answer is as valid as another’s. They learn this throughdebating their explanations.Slowly, the sense that ‘I am right therefore I am great’ or conversely ‘I amwrong and hence I am useless’ loses its strong hold. This learning speeds upwhen there is no trace of comparison in the teacher’s mind.Children learn to be patient with those that need more time to solve aproblem.

For every 7 – 8 lessons there is a thinking story and each story is connected tothe concepts being taught through the lessons. It is needless to mention here thatthese concepts get very much reinforced through the stories and the subsequentword problems. There are also problems that reinforce the earlier concepts learntespecially in the lower levels.

The format changes in Level 4. There is one main story which has four or fiveparts. These parts are interspersed amongst the lessons. The children gradually workthrough the parts to solve a plot completely only at the end of the last part.

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The main characters in the Thinking Stories

Each of the characters in the ‘Thinking Story’ is unique; they each have theirown style of thinking and mannerisms. The children learn to recognize the flaws inthe thinking and try and avoid it.Venkatesh Uncle is always forgetting things. The children learn to keep in mind thekinds of things that he forgets.Raju is over-confident and impulsive. The children learn to consider the facts that heignores.Rashmi, Raju’s younger sister, is more careful and does not jump to conclusions.Parvathi Aunty is very unclear in what she is talking about and people find it difficultto understand what she is talking about.Krishna Uncle usually talks a lot and confuses people by giving irrelevant details. Thechildren learn to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant.Vivek often asks questions that help people clear up their problems.Sanjana thinks that everything happens by magic.Raghu Uncle is very creative and always makes something new from material that hehas. The children learn to perceive what he has made through mental imagery.Akash only wishes for what he wants to happen. The children think of ways tomake things really happen.Level 1 Subtraction

Maya’s Magic Minus MachineMaya was dreaming about a magic machine again. This machine was just like the

ones she had dreamed about before, except that if you put in 5 things, it wouldgive back 4; if you put in 6 things, it would give back 5; if you put in 9 things, itwould give back 8.

What was the machine doing? (Taking away 1)When Maya woke up, she decided that she could build a magic machine like

that. She found a big, big box. On it she painted a sign that said “MAGICMINUS MACHINE. Whatever you put in the top, you get back 1 less at thebottom. FREE!”

Maya put the magic machine out by the gate in front of her house and hidinside it. Soon children began flocking around the machine and reading the sign.“It’s free!” Rashmi said.

Vivek was the first to try it. He put in 7 sticks. The machine went “Boom-Boom” and out came 6 sticks at the bottom.

What do you think made the machine go “Boom-Boom”?

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What do you think happened to the other stick that Vivek put into themachine?

Raju wanted to try the machine next. He put in 9 marbles.How many marbles will he get back? (8)“Hey,” said Raju, “the machine kept 1 of my marbles!” Raju was angry and

walked away.Vivek tried the machine again. He put in 4 bubble gums.How many bubble gums will he get back? (3)The machine went “Boom-Boom” and out came 3 bubble gums at the

bottom. Vivek didn’t like that very much, but he said, “I’m going to put them backin the machine, and maybe this time more will come out.” He put his 3 bubblegums into the machine.

Will he get back more than 3?This time the machine gave him back only 2 bubble gums. That made Vivek

angry, and he walked away.Rashmi felt in her pocket and found 5 bean seeds that she had been saving to

plant. She dropped them into the Magic Minus Machine and waited eagerly to seewhat would happen.

What will happen? (She’ll get back 4 seeds)The machine went “Boom – Boom” and out came 4 bean seeds. “Nasty

machine!” said Rashmi, and she walked away. Soon none of the children wouldhave anything to do with Maya’s Magic Minus Machine.

Why not?Then Akash the Wisher came along. He had just finished eating a banana. “I

wish I had someplace to put this banana peel,” said Akash. “I wish there was awastebasket right here.” Then he noticed the Magic Minus Machine. He put thebanana peel into the top.

What do you think will come out the bottom?When you put in 1 banana peel, how many banana peels do you get back?

(Zero)The machine went “Boom – Boom,” but no banana peel came out the

bottom. After that, whenever people had some trash to get rid of, they put it intoMaya’s Magic Minus Machine.Problems

1. Maya dreamed about another magic machine. She put in 3 tamarind seeds andgot back 6. She put in 2 cards and got back 4. She put in 1 card and got back 2.

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What was the machine doing? (Doubling the number)What will Maya get back if she puts in 4 sticks?(8 sticks)2. All the children were eating dosas. Akash was the second one to finish. Maya

was the fourth.Who ate faster- Maya or Akash? (Akash)How can you tell?3. Rashmi saves Rs 2/ every day.How long will it take her to save Rs 20/ (10 days)4. Rashmi was learning to walk on stilts. The first day she could take 2 steps

before falling. The next day she could take 4 steps. The next day she could take 6steps.

How many steps would you guess she could take the day after that? Why doyou think so?(Any answer will do, although 8 is the obvious one. What is ofinterest is the reason given.)

5. Akash got 4 chikkis. “I’m only going to eat 2 chikkis every day,” said Akash,“so they’ll last a long time.”

How many days will they last? (2)6. Rashmi needed to go to Venkatesh Uncle’s house, she walked past one house

with her friend Deepika. Then she had to walk past 3 times as many by herself.How many houses did Rashmi go past?(4)7. Akash walked half a kilometer to the post office. Then he walked half a

kilometer to get home.How many kilometers has he walked altogether? (1km) How many meters has

he walked altogether? (1000 meters)8. Raju decided he was going to be nice to 5 people today. He tried and tried,

but so far he has managed to be nice to only 2 people – himself and VenkateshUncle.

How many more people does Raju need to be nice to? (3)9. “This is the fourth time I’ve been to the zoo,” said Rashmi.How many times had she been to the zoo before? (3)10. Rashmi had 4 dolls. She gave a doll to Akash and a tennis ball to Maya.How many dolls does she have left? (3)

Level 1 Planning and Measurements

Vivek Builds a BirdhouseVivek has been learning carpentry in school and in the holidays he built a big,

beautiful birdhouse. He made it out of a wooden box. He put a roof on it,

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painted it green, and set it on a post in the back garden. Behind his house there wasa mango grove. Since there was a mango grove many birds came to visit Vivek’sback garden too. A pair of hoopoes came and looked at it, but they didn’t go in.“No wonder,” said Vivek’s mother. “You forgot something important.”

What do you think Vivek forgot?“I see what it is,” said Vivek. “I forgot to make a hole in the front of the

birdhouse so the birds can get in!”Vivek went down the street to Venkatesh Uncle’s shop and borrowed a drill

from him. With it Vivek drilled a hole about 3 centimeters wide in the front of hisbirdhouse.

How wide is 3 centimeters? Show with your fingers. (Demonstrate the correctwidth)

The next day the hoopoes came again and looked at Vivek’s birdhouse again,but still didn’t go in.

Why not?“I’m afraid that hole is too small for those hoopoes,” said Vivek’s brother.

“What you need is a hole that’s the same size as the hoopoes.”Vivek went back to Venkatesh Uncle and told him he needed something to cut

a bigger hole in his birdhouse. “Exactly how big?” asked Venkatesh Uncle.“I don’t know exactly,” said Vivek. “It should be a sort of hoopoe-size hole.”“You’ll have to find out how wide the hoopoes are before you’ll know how

wide a hole to make.”Vivek took a ruler and went out and tried to measure the hoopoes.Do you think that worked? Why not?The birds were friendly because Vivek had often been feeding them and he

had no trouble getting close to them; but every time he reached out to put theruler against one, it flew away.

Vivek’s friend Rashmi said, “I have an idea. Why don’t you find a picture of ahoopoe in a book and measure the picture? The picture won’t fly away.”

Does that sound like a good idea? Why not?Vivek’s father was interested in bird watching, so there were many books on

birds in the house. Vivek looked through Salim Ali’s book on Indian birds until hefound a picture of a bird that looked just like the hoopoe that had come to hisbird house. He measured the picture with his ruler and found that the bird was 3centimeters long. “That can’t be right,” Vivek said.

How did Vivek know that couldn’t be the right size? (If birds are wider than 3

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cm, they surely must be longer.)Vivek took the bird book over to Venkatesh Uncle’s house and showed the

picture to him. “Here’s the kind of bird it is,” said Vivek, “but I can’t find outwhat size it is.”

“Oh, I know that kind of bird,” said Venkatesh Uncle. “There are some birdslike that building a nest in my house, up in the bathroom.”

“How do they get in and out of your bathroom, if the door and thewindows are shut?”

“There’s a hole in the wall just big enough for them to get through,” saidVenkatesh Uncle. “I had that hole made to fix a tiny exhaust fan, it hasn’t beendone and now I will wait till the birds have raised their young.”

Does that give you an idea?How could you find out what size hole to make in the birdhouse?Vivek hurried up to Venkatesh Uncle’s bathroom and measured the hole in the

wall. It was just 7 centimeters wide.How wide is that? Show with your fingers. (Demonstrate)Venkatesh Uncle didn’t have a drill 7 centimeters wide, but he has a little saw

that would do the job. He and Vivek cut a neat hole 7 centimeters wide in thefront of Vivek’s birdhouse. Before long the hoopoes came back. This time theywent inside and came out again and soon began bringing grass and feathers to putinside their new home.Problems

1. “I want to measure the inside of this box,” said Vivek, “but it’s too small toget the ruler inside.”Can you think of some ways to measure the inside of the box? (by usingstring, a paper strip and so on)

2. Akash has a piggy bank with different slots for 50 paise and one rupeecoins. The one rupee coins will not fit into the slot for the fifty paise coins.Do you think a 50 paise coin will fit in the slot for the one rupee coins?(Yes)Why? (A 50 paise coin is smaller than a one rupee coin)

3. Parvathi Aunty likes rings, so her husband bought her a ring for every fingeron each hand, including the thumbs.How many rings did he buy her? (10)

4. Maya had 2 one rupee coins. She spent 1 for a red balloon.How many one rupee coins did she have left? (1)

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5. Rashmi has 9 marbles. Akash has 1 more than that.How many marbles does Akash have? (10)

6. Vivek walked 1 kilometer to school. After school he got a ride back home.How many kilometers did he walk altogether? (1)

7. For snacks Venkatesh Uncle ate 2 ears of sweet corn and 2 katoris ofpuffed rice. He forgot to clean his plate and just left it next to the sink in thekitchen.How many corncobs were on the plate? (2)

8. A mother duck had 4 ducklings. When she wanted to go somewhere, shequacked so the ducklings would all follow her. One day when she quacked,1 duckling came out of the basket and 2 came out from under a bush.After a while another duckling came out of a pile of straw.How many ducklings were still lost? (Zero)

9. Raju lives in an apartment on the second floor. One day he looked out hiswindow and said. “I wonder how far it is to the ground.”How could he find out? Can you think of ways to measure how far it is?(Drop a string, then measure it; measure from the first floor to the ground,then double the measure; ask somebody who knows; estimate on the basisof a known height nearby.)

Level 2 Fractions

Half a jobEven though Venkatesh Uncle was not very good with numbers he was very

good with his hands; he could do all the repairing jobs in his house himself. Forsome time now he hadn’t found time to do all the maintenance work, so year byyear, things grew worse in Venkatesh Uncle’s house. “Everything needs fixing,everything needs painting,” he groaned.

“I’ll tell you how I handle that problem,” said Parvathi Aunty who lived nearby. “When a job is so big that I don’t feel like starting it, I just do half the job eachday. That way it isn’t so hard.”

How long does it take Parvathi Aunty to do the job? ( 2 days)“Half the job each day,” said Venkatesh Uncle. “That sounds like an excellent

idea. I’m going to try it. I think I’ll start today with painting the walls in this room.”“Good luck,” said Parvathi Aunty. “I’ll be back in a week, and I expect I’ll find

this house in much better shape if you follow my advice and do half a job everyday.”

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Venkatesh Uncle got out paint and brushes and he started painting the walls inthat room.

How many walls should he paint the first day if he is going to do half thejob?(2)

After careful counting, Venkatesh Uncle discovered that there were 4 walls in theroom. And he figured out that half of 4 is 2. And so the first day he painted 2walls.

The next day Venkatesh Uncle got out his painting materials again and wasready to start work. “Now, what was it Parvathi told me to do?” he asked himself.“Ah, yes, I remember. Do half the job each day. There are 2 walls that needpainting, so if I do half the job today, that means I paint 1 wall.” Venkatesh Unclepainted one of the walls.

Do you think that is what Parvathi Aunty meant? (No)What should Venkatesh Uncle done instead? (Do the other half by painting

both walls)The next day Venkatesh Uncle said, “This idea of doing only half the job each

day really makes life easy. It didn’t take me very long at all to do my paintingyesterday, and today it should take even less time.”

How many walls are left to be painted in the room? (1)How much do you think Venkatesh Uncle will paint today? (Probably ½ of the

wall)Venkatesh Uncle noticed that only 1 wall in the room needed painting. Since the

rule was to do half a job each day, he painted only half the wall that day.How many walls has Venkatesh Uncle painted so far? (3½)How much painting is there still left to do? (Half a wall)Do you think Venkatesh Uncle will finish the room the next day? Why or why

not?The next day Venkatesh Uncle had a very easy job. There was only half a wall

left to paint. So his job was to paint half a wall. But he remembered that he wassupposed to do only half the job that day.

How much did Venkatesh Uncle paint that day? (¼of the wall)How much of the last wall is still not painted? (¼)About how wide would a fourth of the wall in an ordinary room be? (Maybe

1 meter)By the next day there was only a strip of wall left to be painted, and it took

Venkatesh Uncle just a few minutes to paint half of it. Every day the strip of wall

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that was unpainted grew narrower. Every day Venkatesh Uncle painted only half ofwhat was left.

Do you think Venkatesh Uncle will ever finish painting the wall?Why or why not?A week later Parvathi Aunty stopped by to see how Venkatesh Uncle was

coming with his work on the house. “What have you been doing?” she asked. “Justpainting the walls in this one room,” said Venkatesh Uncle.

“That’s strange,” said Parvathi Aunty. “I thought that job would take you only 2days.”

Why did Parvathi Aunty think it would take only 2 days to paint the room?“You’ve done a beautiful job of painting this room,” said Parvathi Aunty, “but

you seem to have missed a little strip on this wall.”Why is there a little strip that isn’t painted?“I haven’t missed it,” said Venkatesh Uncle. “I’m still working on it. I’m

following your good advice and doing half a job each day. For a while the workkept getting easier and easier because every day 1 had less to paint. But now it’sgetting harder. The strip is so narrow that it’s very difficult to paint only half of it.I have to go very slowly, because if I’m not careful I might make a mistake andpaint the whole strip at once.”

What would happen if Venkatesh Uncle painted the whole strip at once? (He’dfinish painting the room)

“I’m afraid I didn’t explain my idea well enough,” said Parvathi Aunty. “I meantthat you should do half the job the first day and the rest of it the next day. Thatway you do the whole job in 2 days.”

“That’s a hard rule to follow,” Venkatesh Uncle said. “You have to rememberwhat the whole job is. It’s easier for me if I just look each day and see what needsto be done and then do half of it.”

“Then I think you’d better just forget about my advice and try to do a wholejob in one day,” said Parvathi Aunty. “Otherwise it will take you forever to finishone job.”

Why would it take Venkatesh Uncle forever to finish?(He always left half of what there was yet to paint.)

Problems

1. Venkatesh Uncle wanted to build a fence 3 meters long in his kitchen garden.He built 1 meter of it the first day. The next day he built half as much as the daybefore, and the next day he built half as much as that.

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Is the fence finished? (No)Does Venkatesh Uncle have more or less than 1 meter left to build? (More)2. Venkatesh Uncle started reading a book. The first day he read for 2 hours.

The next day he read for half as long, and the next day he read for half as long asthat.

About how many pages has Venkatesh Uncle read? (Can’t tell; we know howlong he read, but we don’t know how much he read)

3. A painter left his ladder leaning against the wall of a house. The ladder was4 meters long.

About how high up on the wall do you think the ladder reached? (3 to 3½meters would be a good guess, but certainly less than 4.)

4. Krishna Uncle had 200 notices to put up around town. He gave half ofthem to Vivek, one-fourth of them to Maya and the rest to Akash.

How many notices did Vivek have to put up? (100)How many did Maya have? (50)How many did Akash have? (50)5. In her cupboard Parvathi Aunty had 3 cans. They were all sealed shut, they

looked alike, and none of them had a label. “I need some cotton,” she said. “Iknow that one of these cans is filled with cotton, another is filled with sand that Ibrought back from Jaisalmer after my vacation there, and another is filled withwater from the Ganges. I wish I didn’t have to open all of them to find the onethat is filled with cotton.”

How could Parvathi Aunty tell which can is filled with cotton without openingany cans? (by picking the one that is the lightest).

6. Parvathi Aunty asked Vivek to go to 5 shops to do shopping for her.“How long will that take?” asked Vivek.

“The shops are 10 meters apart and it takes about 5 minutes to go from oneshop to another.”

Does Vivek know how long it will take him? (No)Why not? (He doesn’t know how far it is to the first shop, then he doesn’t

know how long he will be in each shop, and he doesn’t know how long it willtake to get back from the last shop)

7. “I know all about fractions, “said Raju. “You asked me what one-third of30 is. That’s easy. It’s 27.”

What is one-third of 30? (10)What did Raju do wrong? (He subtracted 3 from 30)

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8. “My cat is 10 years old and weighs 3 kilograms,” said Vivek. “How muchdoes your cat weigh?”

“My cat is 3 years old,” said Rashmi. “So she must weigh 10 kilograms.”Is Rashmi right? (No)Why not? (Her cat’s age is the same as the weight of Vivek’s cat, but that does

not mean that her cat’s weight is the same as the age of Vivek’s cat)9. Akash promised Anita, his younger sister, that he would clean all the toys out

of her sandbox and fill it with sand. She had toy animals and cars and trucks andbuckets and spades all over the bottom of the sandbox. “Three bags of sand willfill the sandbox to the top,” their father said. But when Akash started pouring sandinto the sandbox, he found that it was full after he had emptied only 2 bags ofsand.

Can you think of any reason why the sandbox wouldn’t hold 3 bags of sand?(Akash forgot to clean out either the toys or the old sand.)

10. Krishna Uncle had a dog rearing business. One day Vivek, Maya and Rajuhelped him. “Here’s some pocket money for you,” said Krishna Uncle. “Raju, youworked 8 hours, so you get half of it. Maya and Vivek, you each worked 4 hours,so you each get one-fourth of it.”

Did Krishna Uncle divide the money fairly? (Yes)How can you tell? (Raju got twice as much for working twice as long.)

Level 2 Measurements

Measuring CometKrishna Uncle loves dogs and he very often looks after other people’s dogs

when they go on holidays. He also runs a dog training school.“I could use some help.” Krishna Uncle said. Maya and Rashmi who were

there at the moment said they’d be glad to help.“It won’t be as easy as it sounds,” Krishna Uncle told them. “I need to find out

some things about this dog, Comet. First I want to know how much he weighs;he hasn’t been eating well since coming here you know. There’s a scale in theworkroom. Tell me how many kilograms Comet weighs, if you can find out.”

Rashmi and Maya thought that would be easy. They took Comet and set himon the scale, but he jumped right off. They tried again, and again; but he jumpedoff before they could see how much he weighed. Maya tried casting a magic spellover Comet, but even that would not make him stand still. He was a very livelydog.

“This isn’t as easy as we thought,” said Maya.

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Do you have any ideas about what they could do?“I’ll hold him on the scale and you read what it says,” Rashmi suggested.Rashmi had to press down hard on Comet to keep him from jumping off.“Twelve kilograms,” Maya read.Do you think that is what Comet weighs?Why not?“I’m not sure that’s right,” Maya said. “The harder you press to hold him

down, the more he seems to weigh. I think you’re pushing the scale down. Let metry.”

Maya picked Comet up and held him so that his paws just touched the scale.“Two kilograms,” Rashmi read. “I didn’t think Comet was that light.”Do you think 2 kilograms is the right weight?Why not?“I think you’re holding him up so that his whole weight isn’t on the scale,”

Rashmi said.“That makes him seem lighter than he is. I have another idea.”Rashmi held Comet in her arms and stood on the scale with him. The scale

read 33 kilograms.“Thirty-three kilograms!” Rashmi said. “This dog is a monster! Funny, he doesn’t

feel that heavy.”Do you think that is how much Comet weighs?What is Rashmi weighing? (Herself and Comet together)The girls thought and thought. They waited, hoping Comet would fall asleep so

they could lay him on the scale. But Comet kept jumping around, lively as ever.Finally Rashmi had an idea. She stood on the scale alone.

“I weigh 23 kilograms,” she said.How can that help them find out how much Comet weighs?If Rashmi weighs 23 kilograms and Rashmi and Comet together weigh 33

kilograms, how much does Comet weigh?(10 kg)“I get it, Rashmi, Maya said. “If you weigh 23 kilograms and you and Comet

weigh 33 kilograms together, then Comet must weigh 10 kilograms, because 23 and10 make 33. That’s almost magic.”

They rushed to tell Krishna Uncle, who was proud of the girls for being soclever. “Since you were so good at finding out how much Comet weighs,” he said,“perhaps you can find out how tall he is.”

The girls thought that would be much easier. Maya took a meter stick and

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stood it up beside Comet’s head while Rashmi held him still.“I can’t tell,” Maya said. “Sometimes the top of his head is about 40

centimeters high and sometimes it’s only 30. He keeps bobbing his head around toomuch.” “Naughty Comet!” Rashmi scolded. Comet felt bad at being called naughty,and he hung his head low.

“Now I have it,” Maya said. “He’s only 20 centimeters high.”Do you think that is right?Why not?“His head is lower than his back now,” Maya said. “That will never do. Here,

let me try some magic on him.” Maya held her magic wand over the dog and said,“Sit, Comet, sit!” Comet obediently sat up on his hind legs and held very still.

“Now he’s 50 centimeters high,” Rashmi said. “I’ll bet that’s right.”Do you think it is? Why not?“I’m afraid that won’t do either,” Maya said. “When he’s sitting up that way it’s

more measuring how long he is than how tall he is.”The girls had run out of ideas. They went to Krishna Uncle sadly and told him

that they had failed. “Comet is a different height every time we measure him,”Rashmi said. “He just won’t hold his head in the same place all the time.”

“That’s the way dogs are,” said Krishna Uncle. “That’s why we usually measuretheir height at their shoulders instead of their heads. Didn’t I tell you that?”Problems

1. Krishna Uncle was teaching Vivek how to give medicine to a dog. “Holdthe dog’s lower jaw tightly with your left hand; then give it the medicine.”

Which hand should Vivek use to give the medicine? (The right)2. “We have some collars, but we don’t have enough,” said Krishna Uncle.

“Each dog needs its own personal collar, and there are 10 dogs. Will you go to theshop and buy some, Vivek?”

Does Vivek know how many to buy? (No)Why not? (He doesn’t know how many collars they already have)3. “Comet likes to be walked exactly 2 kilometers a day,” said Krishna Uncle.

“He was walked 70 meters this morning, I walked him 80 meters about an hourafter lunch, and I’ll be walking him 50 meters this afternoon. Maybe he would likeanother walk this evening.”

How many meters will Comet want to walk in the evening (zero)Why? (He will have already walked 200 meters)4. Vivek asked Raju to help him give deworming medicine to the dogs at

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Krishna Uncle’s house. “There aren’t many dogs today. There would be10, but 2are being walked, 2 are at the veterinarian’s and 3 are sleeping.”

How many dogs will the boys have to give the medicine to? (3)5. Krishna Uncle was giving Vivek his work for the day. “Feed all the dogs

and walk them before they eat,” he said. “And you’ll have to get the dog food outof the garage.”

How many things does Vivek have to do? (3)What should he do first? (Walk the dogs)What should he do second? (Get the dog food)What should he do third? (Feed the dogs)6. Raju asked Vivek if his father gave him enough pocket money for helping

him look after the dogs. “Not really,” said Vivek. “He gives me Rs 10 a day, andhe’s paid me that ever since I started helping him. I probably should ask for morepocket money.”

“How long have you worked for him?” asked Raju.“Five days,” Vivek answered.How much has Krishna Uncle given Vivek? (Rs50/)7. Parvathi Aunty was taking an airplane trip. She was going to Singapore. She

was allowed to take only 20 kilograms of luggage on the plane. Parvathi Auntypiled all the clothes and other things she needed on a scale and found that theyweighed exactly 20 kilograms. Then she got her old suitcase from the loft and putthe things into it. When she arrived at the airport she had to put the suitcase on ascale there. “I’m afraid you’re overweight,” said the airline agent. “Your luggageweighs 23 kilograms.”

What had Parvathi Aunty forgotten about? (The weight of her suitcase)How much does her suitcase weigh when it is empty? (3kg)8. Raju told Rashmi that the small five star bars were Rs 5/ each. “Here’s a ten

rupee note for one of them,” she said.How many five stars could Rashmi really buy for Rs 10/? (2)9. Eleven of the children in Vivek’s class have been sick all week. Two have

colds, 4 are well to come back to school, and the rest have chikungunya.How many children are still sick? (7)10. Krishna Uncle has 7 dogs at the training school. He was able to teach 4 of

them to walk on their hind legs. He can never teach stubborn dogs or fat dogs todo this.

Raju noticed that 2 of the dogs are fat. “You must have just 1 stubborn dog

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here,” said quick thinking Rashmi.“No,” said Krishna Uncle, “as it happens, 3 of these dogs are stubborn.”How could that be? (The 2 fat dogs are also stubborn)

Level 3 Approximation

How Close Is Close Enough?Rashmi always likes to figure everything out exactly, but Raju doesn’t mind using

numbers that are close enough.“My way is better,” said Raju, “because I get my answers quicker, and they are

close enough. Besides, you sometimes make mistakes, and I never do.”Whose way do you think is better: Rashmi’s way of always figuring things out

exactly or Raju’s way of using numbers that are close enough?Raju and Rashmi decided to keep track for a whole day and see whose way

worked better. It was Saturday, and they had some shopping to do for theirmother. They always went with their mother to do shopping; because their motherwanted them to learn about money she allowed them to figure things out forthemselves while shopping. She told them to buy some lettuce, but not to spendmore than Rs30/. Lettuce cost Rs13.70 a head. They had to figure out how manyheads of lettuce they could get without spending more than Rs30/.

“Let’s see,” said Rashmi, “1370 paise and 1370 paise is …. I need a pencil forthis one.”

“I already have the answer,” said Raju. “We can get 2 heads of lettuce and havea little less than Rs5/ left over.”

Is Raju right (Yes)How could he have figured it out so quickly?“How do you know?” Rashmi asked.“Because,” he said, “Rs13.70 is almost Rs15/, and 2 fifteens make 30, so we

can buy only 2 heads of lettuce for Rs30/. There will be a little less than Rs5/ leftover, but that’s not enough for another head of lettuce.”

“Your way worked better that time,” said Rashmi, “but you were just lucky thatRs13.70 is close to Rs15/. I didn’t notice that.”

Next their mother wanted them to buy some little glasses for orange juice. “Weneed 3 glasses,” their mother said, “don’t spend more than Rs100/.”

Raju and Rashmi found just the kind they wanted, made of blue glass. They costRs37/ each.

“Oh, dear, I hope 3 of these don’t cost more than Rs100/,” Rashmi said.“Don’t bother working it all out,” said Raju. “We can’t buy the glasses. Three of

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them cost more than Rs100/.”Can you think of a way that Raju could have figured out quickly that the glasses

cost more than Rs100/?“How can you be sure?” Rashmi asked.“Easy,” said Raju. “Rs37/ is almost Rs40/, which is 400 tens paise. Four

hundred tens and four hundred tens and four hundred tens make 1200 tens. That’sRs120/, which is quite a bit more than Rs100/.”

The children looked around some more. At last they found some other glassesthat were almost as good, and they cost Rs29/ apiece.

“Let’s buy these,” said Raju.“Not so fast,” Rashmi said, getting out her pencil. “We need to figure out

exactly how much 3 of them cost and make sure it isn’t more than Rs100/.”While Rashmi was busy adding Rs29/ and Rs29/ and Rs29/, Raju went up to

the check-out counter and paid for the glasses.Will the 3 glasses cost more or less than Rs100/? Try to figure it out Raju’s way.Raju came back with the package of glasses just as Rashmi finished adding. “I

knew I was right,” he said. “I figured that 29 is almost 30. Thirty and thirty andthirty make 90, so the 3 glasses would cost less than Rs90/. The Value Added Taxwas Rs10.10 but even with that I still got back Rs2/

“Wait a minute,” said Rashmi. “I’ve figured out that the 3 glasses should costRs87/. With Rs10.10 tax that should be Rs97.10. You didn’t get the right amountof change.”

If Rashmi is right, how much change should Raju have got?“97.10 from 100 is 2.90,” Rashmi said. “You should have got Rs2.90 back, and

you got only Rs2/.”“I guess you’re right,” said Raju. He went back to the check-out counter and

the man there said , “Oh, yes, I made a mistake,” and gave him a 50 paise coin,a twenty five paise coin and a tamarind candy because he couldn’t give anotherfifteen paise.

Why couldn’t he pay them back fifteen paise?“See,” said Rashmi, “that proves it’s important to figure out exactly how much

things cost, even if it is more work and takes longer.”“You haven’t proved it to me,” said Raju. “All that work for just 90 paise! Rs2/

was close enough.”Which one do you agree with, Raju or Rashmi? Why?

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Problems

1. Raghu Uncle needed 1 more leg for the stool he was making. To find outwhat length it should be, he measured the other 3 legs. One was 34 centimeterslong, one was 35 centimeters long, and the other was 37 centimeters long.

Can you tell how long the fourth leg should be? (34 centimeters, because theother three legs can be cut shorter.)

2. When Vivek went to Venkatesh Uncle’s toy shop, Venkatesh Uncle said,“These dart boards cost Rs99/ each, “so 2 of them will cost Rs299/. But as aspecial offer I’ll take Rs10/ off, so they’ll cost you only Rs289/.”

What’s wrong with Venkatesh Uncle’s offer? (The normal price of 2 dartboards is Rs198/, so with the offer the price should be Rs188/)

3. Maya had Rs10/. She spent most of it.Could she have Rs6.50/ left? (No)Why not? (If she has spent most of it then she should have less than Rs5/ left)4. A group of children were looking at a book that cost Rs80/.“Let’s each chip in Rs10/ and buy the book together,” said Akash.“That wouldn’t work,” said Rashmi. “If each of us gave Rs10/, we’d still only

have half of the Rs80/ we need.”How many children are in the group? (4)5. Vivek made a rectangle out of 8 toothpicks. One side of the rectangle was

3 times as long as another.How many toothpicks were on the long side of the rectangle? (3)6. Rashmi wrote a story that was 4 pages long. She wrote on both sides of the

paper.How many sheets of paper did the story cover? (2)Another time she wrote a story that was 5 pages long.How many sheets of paper did she need for it, if she used both sides? (2½)7. “I wish I had 3 more marbles,” said Akash. “Then I’d have as many as

Maya.” Maya has 38 marbles.How many marbles does Akash have? (35)8. “I wish I had 2 more rupees,” said Akash. “Then I’d have enough money to

buy 2 balloons.” Balloons cost Rs3/ each.How much money does Akash have? (Rs4/)9. “I wish my little sister was 2 years older,” said Akash. “Then she’d be as old

as I am.” Akash is 8 years old.

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How old is his little sister? (6 years)10. Rashmi said, “I wonder how far I will travel if I ride on this bus for an

hour while it is going 35 kilometers an hour and then ride it for another hour whileit is going 40 kilometers an hour.”

How far will Rashmi travel? (75 kilometers)If the bus goes only half as fast on the way back how long will the trip back

take? (4hours)How can you tell? (If the bus travels only half as fast then it will take twice as

long to cover the same distance.)Level 3 Division

A Sticky Problem“Have you finished your model boat yet?” Rashmi asked.“No,” said Maya. “I’ve run into a problem. I have to cut this stick of wood

into 5 equal pieces, and I don’t know how to figure out how long they should be.We haven’t learned that kind of thing yet at school.”

“How long is the stick?” Vivek asked.“I’ve never measured it,” said Maya. “I didn’t see how that would help.”How would measuring the stick help solve the problem?Akash had a tape measure in his pocket, and with it he and Maya measured the

stick of wood. It was 65 centimeters long. “That’s no help,” said Maya, “because Idon’t know how to divide 65 into 5 equal parts either.”

While the children were walking along the pavement, thinking hard, they metVinitha Aunty. “Are you having a problem?” she asked.

“A very hard problem,” Raju said. “Maya has a stick 65 centimeters long, andwe need to figure out how to divide it into 5 equal parts.”

“My goodness, that is a hard problem,” said Vinitha Aunty. “It’s too bad thestick isn’t 50 centimeters long isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” said Maya. “Then I would know exactly how long each of the 5pieces should be.”

How long would each of the pieces be if the stick were 50 centimetres long?(10)

“I know too,” said Akash. “Each piece would be 10 centimeters long.”But my stick isn’t 50 centimeters long,” said Maya. “It’s 65 centimeters, and I

have to use all of it. If I made 5 pieces that were each 10 centimeters long, therewould still be some left over.”

“How much would be left over?” asked Vinitha Aunty.

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Can you figure out the answer? (15 cm)“There’d be 15 centimeters left over,” said Raju. “65 – 50 is 15.”“Ah, yes,” said Vinitha Aunty, “that’s quite a bit left over. I wonder what would

happen if you tried to divide the leftover part into 5 equal pieces?”How could you divide 15 centimeters into 5 equal parts?“I know,” Rashmi said. “You’d get 5 pieces that are each 3 centimeters long. Is

there any way to put those pieces together to get what we want?”How could you put the pieces together to get the length Maya needs?“You could use glue,” said Vivek. “You could take each of the 10-centimeter

pieces and glue a 3-centimeter piece to one end of it. Then you’d have 5 pieces.”“Would each piece be the same length?” Vinitha Aunty asked.Would each piece be the same length? (Yes)How do you know?How long would each piece be?“They’d all be the same length, which is what I want,” said Maya. “Each piece

would be 13 centimeters long, and the whole stick would be used up. But itwouldn’t work. With so many parts glued together, the piece might be too weak.”

“That’s too bad,” said Vinitha Aunty. “I thought we had the problem solved. Isthere any way we could do it without having to glue pieces of wood together?”

Can you think of a way?“I have an idea,” said Rashmi. “We know that if we cut up the stick and then

glue parts back together, we can get 5 sticks that are each 13 centimeters long, sowhy don’t we just cut 5 pieces that are 13 centimeters long in the first place? Thenwe won’t have to glue.”

“That sounds like a fine idea,” said Vinitha Aunty. “I wish I’d thought of it, butyou children are very good at solving problems by yourselves.”

The children thanked her anyway and hurried over to Maya’s house to try outRashmi’s idea. On the stick they marked off pieces that were exactly 13 centimeterslong. Then Maya used a sharp knife to cut where they had marked. When shefinished she had 5 pieces that were each the same length, and nothing was left over.

“I wish Vinitha Aunty was still here,” said Maya, “because I have anotherproblem.”

“She isn’t much help anyway,” said Raju. “She never knows the answers. She justasks questions.”

Is it true that Vinitha Aunty wasn’t much help?Why do you think so?“My new problem,” said Maya, “is that I have this other stick that is 60

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centimeters long. I need to cut it up into 5 equal parts too.”“That’s easy,” said Raju, “I can solve that one with my eyes closed.” He thought

and thought, and finally he said, “I think I’ll open my eyes.” None of the othersknew how to solve the problem either.

What is it they need to figure out? (How long each piece should be)“It’s too bad the stick isn’t 50 centimeters long,” said Vivek. “Then I’d know

how long each of the 5 pieces should be.”How long would each piece be if the stick were 50 centimeters long? (10 cm)“Everybody knows that,” said Raju. “The pieces would be 10 centimeters long,

because 5 times 10 is 50. But that’s no help, because the stick is 60 centimeterslong.”

How much would be left if Maya cut off 5 pieces that were each 10centimeters long? (10 cm)

“We have 10 centimeters left to worry about,” said Akash. Then he thought ofsomething. “Hey,” he said, “this problem is almost the same as the first problemwe solved! I think I can work it out now!”

Can you? Work on it today by yourself or with your friends. Find outtomorrow if you got it right. Remember, the problem is how to divide a stick 60centimeters long into 5 equal pieces. (Encourage the children to keep working onthe problem during the day or at home. Suggest that they ask questions like thekind Vinitha Aunty asked. The next day, check answers and methods and workthrough the problem in the style of Vinitha Aunty)

If the piece was 50 centimeters, how long would each of the 5 small piecesbe? (10 cm)

How much would be left of the long piece? (10 cm)If you divided that into 5 equal pieces, how long would each piece be? (2 cm)Now, how could you put the small pieces together to make just 5 the same

length? (By joining each 10 cm piece with a 2 cm piece)So, in the end, how long should each piece be? (12 cm)Note: If work on this problem seemed productive, you may wish to assign

another problem for the next day; for instance, how to divide a 72 cm stick into 6equal pieces.Problems

1. Krishna Uncle wanted to mail a letter. He had an envelope that was 24centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. The letter measured 22 centimeters onone side and 25 centimeters on the other side.

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How many folds does Krishna Uncle have to make in the letter to make it fitin the envelope? (2)

2. Krishna Uncle had an envelope that was 15 centimeters long and 9centimeters wide. He had square piece of paper that was 16 centimeters on eachside that he wanted to put in the envelope.

How many folds does Krishna Uncle have to put in the piece of paper to getit to fit in the envelope? (2)

3. Food World was selling a dozen glasses at one – fifth off the regular pricebecause 6 of the glasses were broken.

Is this a very good bargain? (No)Why not? (Because half the glasses are broken, and Food World wants more

than half the regular price)4. “Here’s a magic trick,” said Maya. “This box is 40 centimeters on each side.

My magic wand is 50 centimeters long, but I can lay it in the bottom of the boxwithout bending it.”

How could she do that? (By laying it diagonally)5. Akash had a rectangular piece of paper that was 20 centimeters long and 10

centimeters wide. Akash said, “If I folded this paper in half I’ll get 2 squares.”Is he right? (Yes)How could he do that? (By folding the paper into half along the length)6. Rashmi had a full glass of water; she drank half of it, then she added half

as much water as she had left in the glass.Now how much water does she have? (Three fourths of a glass)7. Raghu Uncle had 12 tooth picks. He made a square out of 4 of the

toothpicks. Then he wanted to change the square to a rectangle that would be 4times as long as it was wide.

Does Raghu Uncle have enough toothpicks to do this? (Yes)How many toothpicks does he have to use to make a rectangle that is 4 times

as long as it is wide? (10)8. Akash had a piece of cardboard that was 1 meter long. “All I can tell by

using this piece of cardboard,” Akash said, “is that this table is longer than 1 meterand shorter than 2 meters.”

How many centimeters long could the table be? (any length from 101 to 199cm)

9. Akash needed 4 sheets of coarse sandpaper to smooth off a tabletop. Nowhe wants to smooth off a tabletop that is just like the first one except that it is onlyhalf as wide and half as long.

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How much coarse sand paper will he need? (1 sheet)10. Both Vardenahalli and Magadi are to the east of Bangalore. Magadi is 10

kilometers east of Vardenahalli and Vardenahalli is 40 kilometers east of Bangalore.Which 2 places are farthest apart? (Bangalore and Magadi)How far apart are they? (50 kilometers)Which 2 places are closest together? (Vardenahalli and Magadi)How far apart are they? (10 kilometers)

Level 4

The Town of Kanaku: Part 1On their way to the temple town of Madurai, Raju, Rashmi, Maya and Vivek

suddenly stopped when they saw lush fields amongst huge rocks with a little townnestled in it. They were lured by the beauty of the place and wanted to explore. Asthey walked to the town, they saw a woman and a girl working in the fields.

“Hello, and welcome to Kanaku,” said the woman.“Thank you,” said Rashmi. “How far is it to the nearest rock which has caves?”“The nearest rock which has caves is about 10 kilometers from here,” said the

girl. “That’s right,” said the woman. “It’s 43 kilometers from here.”“Wait a minute,” said Vivek. “Something is wrong here.” Just then he saw an

old man walking towards them. Vivek asked him, “Who is telling the truth abouthow far the nearest rock which has caves is?”

“They both are,” said the old man. “The nearest rock with caves is exactly 76kilometers from here.” When he saw how puzzled the children were. The old mansmiled.

“I guess you don’t know how we do things here in Kanaku,” he said. “We havea secret way of saying numbers. It protects us from spies. You children don’t looklike spies. I’ll tell you the secret. Whenever we say a number we always add our ageto it.”

“You mean,” Said Maya, “that if it was 2 o’clock, I’d say it was 11 o’clock,because I’m 9 years old?”

“That’s right,” said the old man, “I would say its 77 o’clock.”1. If you wanted to find out if there were 2 schools in Kanaku, what

number would you say instead?2. If a 10 year old asked for 10 rupees, what would the child have to ask

for?3. An 8 year old in Kanaku says, “I have 12 people in my family.” How

many people are really there?

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4. How old is the old man?5. How far is the nearest rock with caves?The town of Kanaku: Part 2Before going to explore the rocks, the children decided to get something to eat.

They went into town to get something to eat. As they walked, they found a shopselling idlis.

“Give us 4 idlis,” Raju told the man.“I’m not sure I can make so few idlis,” said the man.“He’s right,” said Vivek. “One idli for the each of us won’t be enough, let’s get

three a person.”“All right,” said Raju, “Please give us 12 idlis.”“I think I know how many that is,” said the man. He gave them 4 idlis.“Where are the others?’ Raju asked.“You ordered only 26, didn’t you?” the man said.“I give up,” said Raju. “There’s no way you can get what you want over here.”“Let me try,” said Maya. “You see how many idlis you have given us? Please

give us that many again and then give us that many again.”“I wish you children would make up your minds,” said the man. “Twenty-third

you say 23 things and twenty fourth you say something else!”1. Why couldn’t the man give 4 idlis like Raju asked for?2. How old was the man?3. How would you say the last thing that the man said in our way, not the

Kanaku way?4. How old did the man think Raju was?The town of Kanaku: Part 3The four children came to a small school in the town and decided to visit it.

Inside the school a mathematics class was going on. “Remember,” said the teacher,“Every triangle has 37 sides. What’s the rule Padma?”

“A triangle has 11 sides,” said a girl in the front row.“That is correct. Now, how many sides does a square have?”“A square has 13 sides,” said Padma.“I’m afraid that is wrong,” said the teacher. “Nataraj, how many sides does a

square have?”“A square has 13 sides,” said Nataraj.“That’s right,” said the teacher. “Now let’s welcome our 38 visitors.”1. How could Padma be wrong when she said that a square has 13 sides and

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Nataraj be right when he said the same thing?2. What should Padma have said about the number of sides a square has?3. How old is Padma?4. How old is Nataraj?5. How old is the teacher?6. How old would Padma say Nataraj is and how old would Nataraj say

Padma is? Why would they say the same number?The town of Kanaku: Part 4Raju, Rashmi, Maya and Vivek were finally ready to climb the rocks. Some of

the children that they had met at the school had decided to go along with them. Asthey were walking, they saw some delicious jackfruit hanging from the tree. Raju’smouth watered at the thought of eating the sweet fruit. Just then, he saw a groupof people who were cutting the fruit which they had just plucked from the tree.

Raju ran up to one man, “Will you give me some jackfruit?” he asked. “Youneed to pay for the jackfruit,” said the man, “It will cost you Rs.46 for a piece.”

“That’s too much money” said Raju, “I can’t pay that!”“It’s not too much,” said an old man. “You should be happy to pay Rs.73 for

such a fine fruit.”“That’s right,” said one of the boys who had come along with them. “Why,

Rs.9 is not much, we all pay that.”“I can’t figure out anything here”, said Raju. “I want to leave.”“If you think things are bad here,” said the man, “you should go to the little

town, where they subtract their ages from all numbers!”1. About how much does it really cost for a piece of jackfruit?2. Could it cost Rs.1 a piece?3. Could it cost more than Rs.10 a piece?

Level 5

Land: Part 1“I wish we had a large farm so that I could ride horses,” said Rashmi.“We could have had one,” said her mother, “if only your great-grandfather

thought more about what he was doing. Many years ago he went out looking forfree land. At one place they told him that he could have all the land he could walkaround in a day. So he started just as the sun came up. He headed straight west asfast as he could go. At noon he turned around and headed straight back. He justmade it to the starting point as the sun went down.”

“Then he should have won a lot of land,” said Raju. “Where is it?”

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“You think the same way your great-grandfather did,” said his mother. “Nowthink a little harder. See if you can figure out what went wrong.”

“I think I know,” said Rashmi. “He should have walked in a crooked line bothways. Then he would have gotten a bigger piece of land.”

1. Draw a picture of the path that Rashmi and Raju’s great-grandfatherfollowed.

2. How much land did he get?3. What would their great-grandfather have won if he had used that path?4. Draw some better paths that would have won more land.Land: Part 2“My grandfather tried to get some free land too,” said Parvathi Aunty. “He

didn’t make the mistake of walking back and forth on the same line, but he madeanother mistake. He decided that he would walk south for half the day, and theneast for 3 hours. Then he would walk straight to the starting point. He followed theplan exactly, but night came before he got to the starting point, so he didn’t get anyland at all.”

“That is sad,” said Maya. “It was a good plan. If he had walked faster all day,it would have worked.”

1. Draw a picture showing the path that Parvathi aunty’s grandfather followed.2. Suppose he walked faster, draw a picture of the path he would have

followed then.3. Why couldn’t his plan work, no matter how fast he walked? (Remember

his plan and don’t change it!)4. Suppose his plan worked. What shape is the piece of land he would have

won?5. How could he have changed his plan a little, so that it would have

worked?Land: Part 3“Vivek’s great-grandfather had a chance for some free land, too,” said his

mother. “He was very careful. He knew he had to make it back to the startingpoint by the time it became dark, otherwise he wouldn’t get anything. Maybe hewas too careful.”

“How could he be too careful?” Vivek asked.“Well, he started early in the morning and walked around in a little circle. He

was back to the starting point in only ten minutes.”“At least, he got some land!”

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“Right,” said Vivek’s mother. “It was enough to park his horse-cart on. So hestarted off again in a bigger circle. This time it took him an hour to get back tothe starting point.”

“That’s 2 pieces of land,” said Vivek.“No, it was just 1,” said his mother. “But, he still had lots of time left so he

walked another circle which took him 2 hours. Then he walked in a circle whichtook him 4 hours. He started on a still bigger circle, but night came before he madeit back to the starting point.”

“So he didn’t get any land?” asked Maya.“He got 4 pieces of land,” said Vivek.“You’re both wrong,” said Vivek’s mother. “He got only 1 piece of land.”1. How could Vivek’s great-grandfather walk in all those circles and still get

only 1 piece of land?2. Draw the picture of the path he followed.3. Is there any way he could have gotten a different piece of land with each

circle he walked around? Try to draw a path that would do this. (Remember, thestarting point must always be the same place.)

Land: Part 4My grandfather seems to have done better at getting free land,” said Krishna

Uncle. “He planned everything just right. First he found out that he could walk only48 kilometers in a day. Then he drew a map and followed it. He walked straightwest for 23 kilometers. Then he walked south – I forget how far. Then he walkedeast. Then he walked straight north, back to the starting place. He got there just asthe sun went down. He won a nice piece of land in the shape of a rectangle. Idon’t know how large it was. I do remember, though, that he said he walkedexactly 48 kilometers.”

Draw a picture of the land that Krishna uncle’s grandfather won. Put a numberon each side to show how many kilometers long the side is.

1. How far is it around the land?2. How many square kilometers is it?3. How could he have gotten more land while still walking 48 kilometers?

Draw a picture to show how. Figure out how many square kilometers it would be.4. Challenge: What is the most land he could have won by walking 48

kilometers? (he could have walked in any shape)

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Circle TimeSuseela Kumaravel

A circle is the best shape that people can gather at as it allows for eye contactwith everyone around. People come together in circles to discuss matters, to eat, tosing or to dance. In the circle time that we have, children and I get together to singsongs and recite poems with movement or gestures and to do story telling.

Every teacher in any part of the world, teaching in the pre-primary or primarysections without a shadow of doubt knows that songs, poems, movement, fingerplay and stories are enjoyed tremendously by children because these are very close totheir hearts. I have no hesitation in adding that songs, stories and poems nourishtheir souls in ways that we cannot fathom. One visible effect that these have on thechildren is calming them down. In fact the only time children can becomecompletely quiet and still is when they listen to a story that engages themcompletely. While doing craft of any kind children are often calm but seldom do Ifind them just working with their hands; they are busy chattering as well.

Children need to build up a vocabulary of a language through listening andspeaking before they begin to read and write. It happens in a natural sort of waywith the mother tongue. What better way than singing, reciting and listening tostories is there to learn a new language? Even when a child knows to speak alanguage stories, songs and poems help enhance their vocabulary.

In order to sing and recite with gestures the teacher needs to shed his/herinhibitions; for instance be able to leap like a frog or scamper like a rabbit with thechildren. We cannot do this unless there is joy in doing it. One doesn’t have to bea great singer (I am not one, but I enjoy singing and listening to music). Simpletunes that are easy and repetitive can be chosen. I must add here that most of therepertoire that I have are not the usual nursery rhymes but quite unusual and manyare related to nature and the seasons.

It is indeed fun to do circle time because it is one of those rare opportunitieswhen a teacher can easily shed the didactic mode and switch over to a participatorymode. I definitely find it so. I don’t ask the children to repeat after me, they do itwith me.

Now coming to the actual circle time I do two sessions a week. I try and havea theme that coincides with what’s happening in nature (it could be wind, rain,gardening etc) which I do for a month or so. There would be some poems andsongs which are not connected to the theme, sometimes just to make it long enough

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and at other times to make sure that there is a balance between poems that can besaid loudly and those that need to be recited in a whisper (children love this variationand respond beautifully to variations of this nature as they do for speeding up andslowing down also). Talking about themes I am sure you would agree that whatwe did just now could fall under ‘All Kinds of Legs and Walking’! You wouldhave realized that some are done standing and some while sitting down. I like thosepoems that we do which help us stand or sit without the children being giveninstructions. One might say that we allow the poems to instruct us.

Once we have finished with all the jumping about we settle down to storytelling. The story is often chosen to go with the theme and is initially told by me inparts. In the subsequent sessions the children recall the story; I make sure throughgentle prodding that they incorporate the new words learnt. When they really knowthe story well they either illustrate a part of the story in their picture story book oract it out during circle time itself or use puppets to tell the story. (Puppets aresometimes made by them and sometimes by me). All the new nouns they learn areentered in their ‘pictionary’ with pictures and sentences. They also are encouraged tomaintain their own word bank.

Over the years many other possibilities have been discovered. I have noticed thatthey are extremely alert after circle time so I happily capitalize on it and do a quickmath and spelling revision. Teaching spelling and grammar through these poems andstories are being under taken.

The following three songs were composed by two students when they hadmoved out of Junior School; they shared these with us during circle time. Currentlythey are doing level 7 in CFL.

BewareYou are beautifulLittle flowersBeware ofWalking people

You have aSmell that’s wonderfulYour petalsAre delicate.Flowers! Beware of walking people

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The Rain is Pouring

The rain is pouring (3)The rain is pouring right now

The wind is blowing (3)The wind is blowing right now

The clouds are moving (3)The clouds are moving right now

The sun is glowing (3)The sun is glowing right now

I am smiling (3)I am smiling right now.

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Nature JournalSuseela Kumaravel

Being with nature is wonderful indeed for me. How can I convey this feelingto the children under my care? A child growing up in an urban environment oftenhas very little contact with nature and can get lost in ways of consumerism,television, computer games or cell phone games. People who founded Centre forLearning along with those who joined them in the early years have created this havenwhere nature manifests itself in its utmost splendour. This rocky land terrain with itstree clusters, the many birds, all kinds of insects and wild flowering plants is indeeda treat to one’s senses. We have realized that just making this space available to thechildren is not enough. Conscious efforts are needed to get the children in touchwith that sense of contact with nature. This contact we feel is absolutely necessaryfor human beings to grow up with humane qualities. Fortunately the young childrenrespond very well to these efforts of ours which shows that all is not lost.

If you have no relationship with nature you have no relationship with man. Nature is themeadows, the groves, the rivers, all the marvelous earth, the trees and the beauty of the earth. Ifwe have no relationship with that, we shall have no relationship with each other.

J KrishnamurtiThrough these words J Krishnamurti has poignantly conveyed the importance of

a relationship between mankind and nature. I find that these words ring true andare very penetrating.

We at CFL are very fortunate to have this twenty two acre piece of land wherenature can carry on its marvelous work largely uninterrupted and with minimuminterference from mankind. So, we get to experience a range of colours in nature:the different greens of new leaves in spring, the array of all hues of bright coloursin the wildflowers, the iridescent colours in butterflies birds and insects and thechanging colours of a veiled chameleon. The spectacular sunsets and sunrises, coloursof the rainbow, the water droplets shining like jewels on grass blade tips in theearly mornings, the changing patterns of clouds in the sky looked at by lying flat onthe rocks, a dry leaf floating down to the earth by a gentle breeze, a snakedevouring a frog, a slender loris moving up a tree, munias tirelessly flying back andforth with one blade of grass in their beaks at a time to build their nests and manymore such wonderful experiences await us each day.

The myriad ways in which the outer world can manifest itself are a special treat

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to our senses. The fragrance of the Indian Cork tree flowers, the wonderful smellof the first rain on earth and many other rich aromas of nature are experiencedwith our sense of smell. The wind whistling its way through, the dry leaves rustledby a mongoose, babblers or a crow pheasant, the slender loris calling to each otherin the night, the sound of children playing or a child crying, all these tell us what anintricate web nature is. Walking on the ground covered by leaves after the rains,working through the soil in the garden with our hands, feeling the texture of newleaves, soft petals of the wild flowers, or the rocks and stones are all indeed joyousexperiences made possible because of our senses. If we are to allow our senses torespond to the varied stimuli offered by the natural world then we need to taketime off from our busy schedules and in doing it we would find a great sense ofcontentment.

K T Margaret in her book “The Open Classroom” says:The function of education is to correlate the inner self of the childwith the outer world. Children should be given the time and space fortheir senses to experience and appreciate the outer world, so that theirimagination is stimulated. They should be helped to use their sensoryexperiences to nourish their minds and hearts. Only then does educationtruly take place.

I completely resonate with her words. Walks and treks, making entries into anature journal, having a nature table with all the natural treasures collected bychildren and nature related projects are all activities that provide children the spaceto get in touch with nature. When all the sensory stimuli can be accessed in natureI find that artificially contrived sensorial experiences are not necessary to keep thesenses alive. What better way is there to stimulate the sense of hearing than listeningto the bird calls and learning to identify birds without even seeing them? Nature isa patient, wonderful educator; all we need is the time to be with it.

Now coming to maintaining a nature journal – it seems the right kind ofactivity for the very young. Despite growing up in a city with all its distractions,they seem to have a fascination for the natural world – both the flora and thefauna. Often I find a child absorbed in observing a lizard, a spider, a butterfly, abird, a wild flower or an ant. Thus in this activity they do what they naturally enjoy,i.e. observe, but of course while observing they make a record of theirobservations through a sketch and writing. While occupied in this manner theirsenses are alive and they calm down completely. Obviously questions follow theirobservations. They find the answers to their questions and in this manner make sense

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of the world around them. In short they learn about all the creatures and the plantsand the trees that they share their environment with. It’s amazing how they capturethe form of what they observe so well.

Usually, we go out to observe but occasionally opportunities come knocking atour door. Once a leaf insect came into the Junior School, and settled down verycomfortably so we merrily abandoned everything else to observe, draw and writeabout it. After all it came to be with us and its visit had to be honoured. On theoccasions when we found that a wolf snake was sharing our room we were notbold enough even after knowing its non poisonous nature, I wonder why now.

This is an activity that the teacher can do with the children, the children reallyget more involved when this happens and it is an enriching process for the teacherand the children. If as teachers, we read essays, stories and poems on nature, wewould be able to assist and guide their work better. Hopefully, the relationship withnature thus formulated will help them do something as they become adults toprotect their environment.

Some writings and pictures from the children’s JournalsRock LizardsWe saw four lizards. There were two adults and two babies. One baby was limping and one

was the size of a peanut. The lizards had four legs and five fingers each. The lizards were blackand orange in colour. The lizard’s tail was long and curled up. Their eyes were small. One of thelizards was popping its head now and then. If anyone shouted it would run away. It would thinkshe/he is going to harm it.

Student, 7 yearsWe were far from the lizards. There were three lizards. I don’t know if it is a chameleon.

The lizard was bright in colour. The tail was fat near the body and thin near the end and thehead was big.

Student, 7 years

The lizard was on a granite slab. It had four legs and five fingers. It was black and red. Itwas changing colours. There were two baby lizards and two adult lizards. One baby lizard waslimping. Nivedita shouted, “Shika! Shika!” and the lizard ran away. When it came backNivedita, Shika, Abhin, Ishaan, Manini and I drew the lizard.

Student, 7 years

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Leaf InsectThe leaf insect was like a leaf. It can get camouflaged in the neem leaf. And this is the first

time that I saw a leaf insect. The leaf insect flew to the tiles on the thatch when Vimal unclewas teaching us foot ball. Before that we were in the Junior School and that time I saw the leafinsect. The leaf insect had small legs at the front and long legs at the back. The leaf insect wastwo inches long. Shreesha came close to the leaf insect and that is why it flew away.

Student 6 yearsList of books

1. Teaching the trees Lessons from the Forest – Joan Maloof2. The Song of the Mantis – Written and photographed by Peter Garland3. Flower Fairies of the Summer – Cicely Mary Barker4. Flower Fairies of the Trees – Cicely Mary Barker5. Flower Fairies of the Winter – Cicely Mary Barker6. Because of a Tree – Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne7. An Experiment in Education – Sybil Marshall8. All the Marvelous Earth – J. Krishnamurti

The two poems included at the end here titled ‘When the Rain Kept Falling….’and ‘Dragonfly’ were composed collectively by six to seven year-old children; eachchild made up a line.

When the Rain Kept FallingWhen the rain kept falling, drip drop, drip drop,Savandurga vanished from our view.When the rain kept falling, drip drop, drip drop,All the trees were swaying to and fro.When the rain kept falling, drip drop, drip drop,

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The grass and the shrubs and the mud got very wet.When the rain kept falling, drip drop, drip drop,We didn’t get wet at all.Would you like to know how?We were sheltered in the temple.

DragonflyDragonfly looks as if it is dancingRain comes and it hidesAmazing eyesight the dragonfly hasGliding through the air like a helicopterOn a warm day it comes outNo one can see a dragonfly when it rainsFlitting after the flies and mosquitoesLate in the evening it is still outYellowish orange it looks against the sun.

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Toy MakingVidula Mhaiskar

On the second afternoon of the conference, the assembly hall at CFL was privyto a most unusual and entertaining spectacle: grown men and women blowing onstraws and flying paper planes with all the enthusiasm of a bunch of ten year-olds!It is impossible for us to convey on boring plain paper the principles of a toyworkshop. All we can do here is to share with you some photographs of thatafternoon, and direct you to Arvind Gupta’s website, which contains details ofhundreds of books, toys and activities.

The hallmark of the toy workshop was the use of trash and waste material tomake simple scientific concepts come alive, in ways children can both participate inand relate to.

http://arvindguptatoys.com will open a world of fun, and if you’re not carefulyou might end up learning something!

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Section Three: Workshops for Middle and Senior Age Groups

Math for Middle School

Shashidhar Jagadeeshan and Kamala Mukunda

Our approach to the teaching of mathematics

Many of us love mathematics and see that it is beautiful and part of an infiniteorder. However, a large number of children in almost all cultures are frightened orbored by mathematics. We as teachers seem to convey a sense of fear andhelplessness with regard to mathematics rather than conveying its beauty and power.This feeling seems to persist even into adulthood. I am sure many among you havehad the following experience. You meet a stranger and they ask you what yourprofession is; you say you teach mathematics and immediately they respond by eithersaying that they were very good at mathematics or become apologetic about havingbeen terrible at mathematics! The most humorous incident in this regard thathappened to me is when a German visitor told me “I am not scared ofmathematics teachers, I am very good at mathematics”! In short very few areneutral towards mathematics – they either love it or hate it!

What is it about mathematics that creates this fear? We explore certain aspectsof mathematics that contribute to this feeling.

Absolute authority imbued to the teacherIn a typical mathematics class, since all information flows from the teacher,

students immediately set him or her up as an authority. There is really no room fordiscussion, where the student can contribute at a level comparable to the teacher.This feeling is further strengthened by the fact that students are rarely exposed toproblems to which the teacher does not already know the solution, or where theteacher is ready to admit that he does not know and is willing to learn along withthe student.

How do we loosen this authority?An affectionate and open relationship is an absolute must, if true learning has totake place. In fact none of the suggestions we offer will work, unless theteacher allows for such a relationship.Create an environment where students feel free to discuss their mathematicalideas.Expose students to open problems and other egalitarian situations where theteacher and the student are thinking and learning together. As a teacher it is a

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great relief to admit once in a while that you do not know everything!Moreover, students can benefit from watching the teacher grapple with aproblem. Number theory affords many such problems.A sense of inadequacyAll over the world children and adults seem to classify themselves as ‘intelligent’

or ‘stupid’ depending on how they perform in mathematics. I feel it is veryimportant as teachers that we do not equate intelligence with mathematical ability.Students can be well aware of differing abilities and capacities among each other invarious fields. However, this awareness need not translate to low self-esteem.

How can this be accomplished?Encourage a spirit of cooperative learning, where students who find mathematicseasy help those who do not.Do projects where the emphasis is on other aspects of mathematics than thealgorithmic and arithmetical, such as spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, logicalreasoning and aesthetics. Examples of such projects are: tessellations, constructingplatonic solids, exploring patterns in the Pascal’s triangle, Fibonacci sequences andnature, fractals and so on.Such projects do not require a lot of prerequisite knowledge and so all childrencan partake in it on an even footing.An assumption that there is only one way to solve a problemThe student often has the oppressive feeling while attempting a problem that the

solution should come out cleanly, elegantly and in one attempt. In fact problemsolving is the perfect arena to show children that many different approaches canlegitimately give right answers. I am listing a few:

Use trial and error as a legitimate strategy to find solutions and then try andunderstand why the solution makes sense.Using multiple approaches to solve a problem. For example, suppose you aregiven a random circle – how will you locate its centre? For a large class ofproblems we can come up with more than one approach.The teacher can model problem solving for the students, thinking aloud anddemonstrating various methods and approaches.A belief that mathematics does not allow experimentationMathematicians pride themselves that they need no more equipment than paper

and pencil. However this notion can lead to false beliefs, for example, thatmathematics does not lend itself to experimentation and exploration. Even in themost abstract areas of mathematics, intuition often comes from playing around

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with concrete cases and very often pictures.To dispel this belief:

Wherever possible do simple experiments and use models and teaching aids tomotivate a result.Encourage the use of pictures and graphs to represent and understand aproblem. A pictorial representation can help us understand why a particularresult is true and also help us conjecture results. For example, using graphs onecan help students come up with all the solutions to equations such as sin x = 0.5,and even derive the general formula for all cases.

Conclusion

In the course of this workshop, we hope that many of the ideas suggestedabove will be illustrated concretely and you will get a feel for what we are talkingabout. However, we would like to emphasize that we as teachers must be willingto question our own attitudes towards the learning and teaching of mathematics,and these projects and ideas can only supplement such a process of change.Project 1: Logical thinking in mathematics

(This series of activities strengthening logical thinking in students is modifiedfrom the Nuffield Mathematics Programme.)

Age group: 10 to 12 years of age. Ideally suited for the time before they learnsets, Venn diagrams, or probability.

Duration: 5 or more sessions of 45 mins eachObjectives:- to think clearly and logically about categories and sets- to learn the precise mathematical use of the following words – and, or,

not, neither, either, all, some, none, every, only, if, but.Session 1

a. Give your class two lengths of rope (say 6m each) and tell them to ‘fence’themselves off into two fields:

those who have a sister, those who have a brother.Tell them to work together to do this. With minimum guidance from you, they

will end up creating a neat Venn diagram, with the classroom as the Universal set!b. Ask them a series of questions about their arrangement:“Tell me as briefly and clearly as possible, who are (these students)?” Where

‘these’ students would refer to the sets A∩B, (A∪B) , A∪B, A∩B , A ∩B

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They should come upon the most precise phrasing as possible, as shown below.Those who have both a sister and a brotherThose who have neither a sister nor a brotherThose who have either a sister or a brotherThose who have only a sister; or, those who have a sister but no brotherThose who have only a brother; or, those who have a brother but no sisterIn discussing their answers, make sure the words AND, OR, NOT, ONLY,

EITHER, NEITHER/NOR are used correctly, and highlight their use by writingthem on the board. Watch out for the way OR is used – it is sometimes confusedwith AND.

c. Repeat this exercise with other categorizations. Examples are given below.Those who like milk, those who like curd.Those who have a dog, those who have a cat.Those who like to swim, those who like to sing.Those who like bitter gourd, those who like raisins.d. If these have not already occurred in the above examples, give them

situations where you know you will get a set within a set (subset), or no intersection(mutually exclusive categories). This will allow you to practice the use of wordssuch as NONE, ALL, SOME. Examples of such situations are given below:

Those who have long hair, those who are girls (to be used in a class where theboys don’t have long hair)

Those who are under 12 years, those who are under 13 years (to be used in aclass where no child is yet 13 years old).

Those who walk to school, those who take the busSession 2Shift to a slightly more abstract situation – working with cut-out shapes. Use this

set of shapes with a group of 4 to 6 students, working cooperatively on the LogicWorksheet. Here, the words ALL, SOME, NONE, AND, OR are practiced.

The Logic WorksheetTo be used with two large loops of string, and a special set of 17 pieces:Triangles – 3 red, 2 blue and 2 brown; Squares – 1 blue and 1 brown;

Circles – 1 brown; Ellipses – 2 blue and 2 green; Pentagons – 3 blue.1. Put all the triangles in one loop, and all the blue shapes in the other loop.

How would you describe the shapes outside both loops, and the shapes insideboth loops?

2. Put the two loops so that they do not overlap. Try to put all the red

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shapes in one loop, and all the ellipses in the other loop. Can you do it? Why?3. Put all the triangles in one loop, and all the red shapes in the other loop.

Describe what you see.4. Are all the red shapes in your set triangles? Are all the triangles red?5. Make a pile of shapes such that all the blue ones are ellipses. Which shapes

are not in your pile? Are all the ellipses in your pile blue?6. True or False:All the pentagons are blueAll the blue shapes are pentagonsNone of the triangles are greenNone of the green shapes are trianglesAll the green shapes are ellipsesSome of the ellipses are green7. Write down some statements of your own that are true about the set of

shapes.

Session 3Introduce the phrase ‘if…….then…….’ as another way of expressing ‘all’ and

‘none’ sentences. In question 6 of the logic worksheet, students can rephrase ‘allpentagons are blue’ (if a shape is a pentagon then it is blue), and so on. They canalso rephrase ‘none of the triangles are green’ (if a shape is a triangle then it is notgreen), and so on.

Let the students investigate the reverse of these statements, such as ‘if a shape isblue then it is a pentagon’. Are these also true? What is special about the situationswhere both an if…then… statement and its reverse are true? You could evenintroduce the use of ‘if and only if ’ – a beautiful phrase and very useful formathematicians! Examples from school mathematics that use ‘if and only if ’ logicare divisibility rules and Pythagorus theorem.

Ask them to explain why statements with ‘some’ (eg., some triangles are red)cannot easily be rephrased as if…then… statements. Have them investigate this withseveral such statements, using the set of shapes given.

Session 4Shift to a more abstract situation, using numbers as elements. For convenience,

fix the ‘universe’ as natural numbers between 0 and 25, say. Students will now bedrawing circles in their notebooks and putting elements in. Examples are:

Odd numbers, perfect squaresNumbers greater than 10, numbers less than 20

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Numbers divisible by 3, numbers divisible by 4 (or 6, as a variation)Prime numbers, even numbersThey can be encouraged to write true statements about numbers using all the

key words they have learned so far (each of them should have this list handy).Session 5 and onwardsPlay several logic games with this 48 card set. There are cards of three shapes,

four colours, two sizes and marked/unmarked. The one-difference game is playedby distributing cards equally to everyone (for large groups they can play in pairs).The object of the game is to get rid of your cards quickly, and you play by puttingdown a card from your collection that has only one difference (colour or shape orsize or mark) from the card at the top of the centre pile. If you do not have anysuitable card, you pass your turn.

Variations of this game are two-difference, three-difference and four-difference.It helps students to state aloud the differences they are making when they place theircard down. For example, for a two difference game: I am changing size and shape.Players can ‘challenge’ each other with the obvious consequences, and so on!

Another game with this set is twenty questions. One student chooses a cardand hides it. The others have to guess, using only yes/no questions, which one shehas chosen.

Play a Venn diagram game – make three loops of string on the ground,allowing for overlaps as in a Venn diagram, and representing three attributes such asa colour, a shape and a size. Distribute the cards randomly to students. Each inturn has to place one of their cards in the correct place. If you want to make it agame with points scored etc., you could limit the time given to the student tocorrectly place their card. But not the first time you play it!

Since there are 4 variable factors in the 48 card set, you could extend to fourloops (place all red shapes in one loop, all triangles in one loop, all large shapes inone loop, and all marked shapes in one loop). However, it’s an interesting fact thatyou can’t do this with circular loops! Try it – you can do it with other shapesthough (ellipses, squares…).Project 2: Nets and 3 dimensional solids

Age group: 11 and 12 year olds.Duration: Roughly one period a week for about ten weeksObjectives:

to become familiar with some basic 3D solids (their proper names, 2D sketchesand nets)

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to learn to use ruler, compass, protractor to construct nets given angles andlengthsto develop spatial reasoning abilities and visual imaginationto develop a sense of the importance of precision and neatness in workSession 1Name several basic solids: cube, cuboid, prism, tetrahedron, square based

pyramid, cylinder, cone and sphere.In each case, learn to draw the shape on a 2D plane.Introduce the terms vertex, edge and face, and count the number of each for

the shapes.Make a table of vertices, edges and faces. Is there a pattern?Session 2When you go to a bakery, cakes and pastries are often packed in boxes folded

on the spot. How is the cardboard cut to the right shape to make the boxes wewant? The right shape is called a net. Let’s start with the cube, the simplest. Whatwould the net look like?

The cube has 8 vertices, so name all vertices in this net correctly from Athrough H. This process should be done with every net drawn from now on.

Are there other possibilities for a cube net?

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Are there nets that would not work?

Having sketched a few nets, now we actually construct a net. The difference isin the precision. Accurate perpendiculars cannot be drawn by eye; they must beconstructed using ruler and compass, or protractor. The nets are constructed onstiffish paper and before they are cut, the students must draw in the right numberof flaps in the right places – not too many or too few!

In constructing their nets, the students can be given a choice of dimension (sideof the cube). As they fold it, they receive immediate feedback on the precision orneatness of their own construction (edges may not meet, may overlap).

Session 3Repeat the previous session for the cuboid. Possible nets are shown below. One

impossible net is shown; students should be able to imagine why it will not work.

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Session 4For the tetrahedron, do a regular one. Sketch two nets, and construct any one or

both, students to choose their own dimension. Students will realize the trianglesmust be equilateral, and you can show them how to use straight edge and compassto construct the equilateral triangle.

Session 5For the square based pyramid, begin with the straight one (not skewed). Sketch

two possible nets, naming the vertices as usual. Construct, allowing students tochoose the length of the base, and the slant height of the pyramid by choosing thesize of the base angle in each triangle. In the construction of this net, they will seethat the triangles must be isosceles, and they will also see that the base angle must begreater than 45 to allow a pyramid to form.

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Session 6Have each student construct the net of a square based pyramid from the

following sketch.

This sketch makes the slant height of the pyramid roughly half of the squareroot of 3 times the side of the base, or half the body diagonal of a cube madefrom six such pyramids! If you have a prepared cube net of the right size, sixpyramids can be stuck onto it to make a fun folding toy. The students can try tounderstand how you came up with the slant height value, and if they knowPythagoras theorem they can derive the exact value.

Session 7As a special topic, provide them the following net for a skewed or slanted

square based pyramid.

Three of these will form a cube.

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Session 8Students can now construct their own nets for prisms (3D solids with uniform

cross section) of their own choice – see examples. This leads to an understandingof the net of a cylinder open at both ends, as a rectangle!

Session 9Investigate the shape of a net for a cone without its base. Most students make

it a triangle, so they need to cut and try it out before coming upon the idea of asector of a circle. They can try it out for different radii and angles of the sector,noting how the dimensions (height and base) of the cone vary. As a challenge,especially if they are not acquainted with pi, have them come up with the net for acone of given dimensions, if we are given that the circumference of any circle isroughly 6 times its radius. They may be able to derive that the ratio of base radiusto slant height is the same as arc length to total circumference in the net.

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Session 10What about the sphere? They can see that it is not possible to make a perfect

net for a sphere, even though it was possible to make nets for other curvedsurfaces such as cylinder and cone. You can show them various world mapprojections to indicate how that mapping problem is solved in different ways.

Project 3: Difference of squares – an exploration*

Age group: 12 – 13 year oldsDuration: One session of 45 minutes or at most twoObjective: Help children discover the identity through simple numerical

calculations.Step I

Compute the following differences of squares:

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 13 24 35 46 5

− =

− =

− =

− =

− =

Do you see any pattern? Can you predict the following differences of squares?2 2

2 2

7 68 7

− =

− =How about

2 22006 2005− = ?Now can you write down a formula using letters like x and y?(Students’ first guess may be)

2 2x y x y− = +Are there any conditions on x and y? Yes!

1x y− =

* I would like to thank Mr. Tanuj Shah of Rishi Valley for introducing me to this idea.

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So we can say

2 2x y− =

Check on an example:According to us

2 2

2

2

2006 2005 , should be 2006 + 2005=4011Let us check:2006 40240362005 40200254024036 - 4020025= 4011 = 2006 + 2005

−

=

=

So our formula works!Step II

Compute the following differences of squares:

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

3 14 25 36 47 5

− =

− =

− =

− =

− =

Do you see any pattern? Can you predict the following differences of squares?2 2

2 2

7 58 6

− =

− =How about

2 22006 2004− = ?Now can you write down a formula using letters like x and y?(With some help students may guess)

2 2 2( )x y x y− = +What about conditions on x and y? Yes, we still have some conditions on x and y.

2x y− =

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So we can say

Check on an example:

2 2

2

2

2006 2004 should be 2(2006 +2004), let us check2006 40240362004 40160164024036 - 4016016 = 8020 = 2(2006 + 2004)

−

=

=

So once again our formula works!

Step III

Now let us compute the following differences of squares:

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

2 2

4 15 26 37 48 5

− =

− =

− =

− =

− =

You might have already noticed that the difference between our chosen numbers isnow 3. Remember in Step I it was 1 and in Step II it was 2.Do you see any pattern? Can you straightaway write down a formula using letterslike x and y?(With some help students may guess)

2 2 3( ), if 3x y x y x y− = + − =Let us check the formula on some large numbers:

2 2

2

2

2006 2003 , should be 3(2006 +2003) =120272006 40240362003 40120094024036 - 4012009 = 12027

−

=

=

So once again our formula works!

2 2 2( ), if 2x y x y x y− = + − =

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Step IVNow can you write down a formula for

2 2x y− = ?Yes! The formula is:

2 2 ( )( )x y x y x y− = − +Notice we should mention here that in all our examples, x and y are natural

numbers and we have also assumed that x > y. However, the point of the projectis to help the child discover this result and after that one can always generalise totake into account all cases.

To demonstrate that the result is true for all positive real numbers a and

b

,perhaps the following pictorial proof is the best option.

2 2a b−

2 2 ( )( )a b a b a b− ≡ − +

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Project 4: The Konigsberg Bridge Problem: An Investigation

Age group: 13 -14 year oldsDuration: Four to five 45 minute sessionsObjective: Help children investigate a mathematical problem in the guise of a

puzzle and introduce them to the idea that a different representation or approachcan lead to new insights. Also reinforce the need for proofs in mathematics.Introduction:

The river Pregel flows through the town of Konigsberg . It has seven bridges

(B1, B2, … B7) laid out like this:

Figure 1

The people in the town wondered if it was possible to take a walk in the townand cross the bridges once and only once.

What do you think? Try out various possibilities. Record your guess.Now look at similar towns each of which has a river with bridges and islands.

The bridges are marked B1, B2 etc and the islands and shores are marked A, B etc.

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Figure 2

Figure 3

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Figure Is it possible to cross all bridges once and only

once?

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Table 1

Figure 4

We will look at several more such figures, and ask the same question: “Is itpossible to take a walk through the town and cross the bridges once and onlyonce?” As you investigate each, fill out the table below:

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Figure 5

Figure 6

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Figure 7

Having investigated the figures above, do you see any patterns? Record them.You might have noticed that when you say, yes it is possible to take a walk

through the town by crossing each bridge once and only once, to justify the answeryou need only demonstrate one such path and you are done. However, if you feelit is impossible to take a walk through the town by crossing each bridge once andonly once, you have to work much harder to justify your answer. The problem isthat there may be a path you have not thought of yet. So we need a ‘proof ’ or away of justifying our answer so that we can convince everyone, using only ourpowers of reasoning, that our answer is correct.Euler’s Trick:

In 1736 Euler discovered a solution that could answer the question “Is itpossible to take a walk through the town and cross the bridges once and onlyonce?” not only for the above figures but for any town with bridges and islands.

Euler is considered one of the greatest mathematicians ever. He was incrediblyprolific and published over 800 papers in his life time. In solving the KonigsbergBridge Problem, he created two new branches of mathematics – Graph Theory andTopology, which are now an integral part of modern mathematics.

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To solve the problem he started with the following trick. He converted Figure1 into a graph (see Graph 1)

Figure 1

Graph 1

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A graph consists of vertices and edges. What Euler did was to collapse eachshore or island to a vertex. So for example the shores on either side of the riverPregel are vertices A and C and the two islands are vertices B and D. If there is abridge between land masses they are represented by an edge to obtain the abovegraph. He also noted the number of edges from each vertex. Why don’t youconvert each of the figures above into graphs and make a table listing the numberof edges for each of the graphs. The table for Figure 1 is given below.

Vertex No of edges

A 3

B 5

C 3

D 3

Table for Graph 1

Do you see any pattern? After many attempts and comparing your answerswith your friends’ answers your entries for Table 1 should be as follows:

Figure Is it possible to cross all bridges once and

only once ?

Figure 1 No

Figure 2 Yes

Figure 3 Yes

Figure 4 No

Figure 5 Yes

Figure 6 Yes

Figure 7 Yes

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Now look at the tables associated with the figures where you have said it ispossible for one to travel through the town crossing a bridge once and only once.Do the same for the ones where you have said it is not possible. Any ideas?

Here are some questions that may help you with your investigations:(i) Identify the graphs which have tables where each vertex has even number of

edges. You must have said it is possible to traverse the town satisfying ourconditions. Can you explain why?

Do you think all graphs which have vertices with even number of edges can betraversed satisfying our conditions? Can you justify your answer?

(ii) Now look at the graphs for which you said ‘yes’. Do all have even edgesfor each vertex? If no, is there any pattern for graphs with odd edges at vertices?If you have found a pattern then can you justify your answer?

Let us summarise our observations and put them down as a Theorem.Observation 1: All towns whose graphs have even number of edges at each

vertex can be traversed in such a way that one crosses each bridge once and onlyonce.

Observation 2: All towns whose graphs have exactly two vertices with oddnumber of edges and all other vertices have even number of edges can be traversedin such a way that one crosses each bridge once and only once.

Definition 1: A graph is an Euler graph if there is a path on the graph usingeach edge once and only once.

Theorem 1 (Euler): A graph is an Euler graph if it satisfies any one of thefollowing two conditions:

(i) if there are even number of edges at each and every vertex(ii) If there are exactly two vertices with odd number of edges and all the

rest are even.Proof: Suppose there is a path that goes through the graph using each edge

once and only once.Then for all edges except the starting and ending vertices you arrive by an edge

and leave by an edge. This means all vertices that are not starting and endingvertices must have an even number of edges.

But for the starting and ending vertices, either both must have even number ofedges, or both must have odd number of edges.

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The same technique can be used to solve the following problems:1. Can you trace the following figure without removing your pencil from the

paper or going over one path more than once?

2. Can you draw a curve which crosses each edge of the following figureexactly once?

Bibliography

David W. Farmer and Theodore B. Stanford, Knots and Surfaces: A Guide toDiscovering Mathematics, University Press (India) Limited, Hyderabad, 1998.

H.R. Jacobs, Mathematics a Human Endeavor, W.H. Freeman and Company, SanFrancisco, 1970.

Joseph Samuel, Crossing Bridges, Resonance: Journal of Science Education, Vol. 4Number 1, January 1999.

Y2 (SMP 11 -16 Series), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985.

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Appendix: Tables and Graphs for Figures 2 - 7

Figure 2

Graph 2

Vertex No of edges

A 2

B 2

C 2

D 2

Table for Graph 2

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Figure 3

Graph 3

Vertex No of edges

A 3

B 3

C 4

D 4

E 4

Table for Graph 3

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Vertex No of edges

A 4

B 4

C 4

D 4

Figure 4

Graph 4

Table for Graph 4

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