[Reader-list] Pedagogical Faultlines workshop

[V Ramaswamy]

Dear Friends

Many thanks to Sharan and Gora for their kind replies to my mail. I look
forward to your sharing of the presentations of the workshop.

Let me put my views in a nutshell. If we look at the "education system" in
India, we have a perfect "apartheid" system. Millions upon millions of
children are condemned at birth to a severely bounded life. And that is even
if they make it to school and also complete schooling.

Quantity and quality are both factors. And basically, there is total apathy
from the top to the bottom of the machinery of governance to the cause of
"education for all", and "equal opportunity". And the educated, privileged,
empowered citizenry too is largely apathetic.

The second issue is about schools as they currently exist, including the
so-called "good" schools. Our understanding today of the human being and of
the world -  renders these schools irrelevant, redundant and harmful to the
cause of a just and humane society. Besides, economic and cultural
globalisation (in the positive senses), information and communication
technology, changing mores - all render existing schools, curricula,
teaching, textbooks etc utterly meaningless.

The "good schools" as they now exist, notwithstanding all the "progressive" 
changes
they are making; and the attitudes and world-views of the parents who send 
their children
there - are unlikely to undergo any fundamental changes for quite some time. 
Current
socio-economic disparities are also only going to grow.

So actually, ironically, other than being consigned to darkness and
powerlessness, those deprived of the "good schools" are actually
deprived of a non-thing. So they are not really so badly off. The thing
that empowers the powerful is a non-thing. It is only a means for power
in a distorted society. It does not have instrinsic value in itself. Sadly, 
even
after forming  a child negatively, or rather for that very reason, it 
continues to exist
and be looked up to and aspired for. But this also means that the deprived 
have
now to be empowered with a new thing, which can begin to exist and  grow
from them. What currently exists - schools - can be entirely bypassed, and a 
new
thing provided / realised by the deprived. All the traditional barriers to 
learning
can be bypassed. And the most deprived and dismpowered can very soon be the 
most
empowered.

Education, schooling, schools, curricula, teaching etc have to be radically
redefined. We have to begin from first principles as it were, and think out
anew: what needs to be learnt, why, how?

We have the traditional 3 Rs, reading writing, 'rithmetic (numeracy). One of
my mentors, Patrick Geddes, had spoken of the 3 Hs - head, hand, heart. And 
I
believe Ramachandra Gandhi spoke of the 3 Es: ethics, ecology,
enlightenment. One could surely come up with many more 3s!

The primary aim of the "school" must be to bring the child to self-learning
capability in a life and profession of one's choice, with the help of
learning counsellers, and computers and the internet. This could be boiled
down to a very small amount of time. The rest of the time being devoted to
the child's physical, mental, sensory, emotional, lingusitic, social, 
cognitive,
intellectual growth and self-awareness.

Generating "teachers" i.e. learning counsellors is as important an objective
as providing education. For without teachers, there cannot be education. But
today's "teachers" are a far cry from what people really need.

Someone has to take the responsibility to imagine today's schools, education
system, teachers - don't exist. And take the responsibility to conceive,
envision, define, detail and demonstrate an alternative. Beginning with the 
limited
core of "formal education".

This is something I want very much.

"When the saints come marching in, Lord I want to be in that number ..."

I would like to offer myself for this endeavour. I believe I have much to
contribute towards that, from close to 25 years of engagement with 
education.
This requires a large team of people, from different experience
streams, backgrounds, disciplies, professions. So here is my plea to all who 
might be
interested - to come forward to take up this challenge!

Thank you for your patience.

With best wishes and regards,

Yours sincerely

V Ramaswamy
Calcutta