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There was a group of young people trying to work on eco-development issues in villages around Ranthambhor National Park, Sawai Madhopur. The work involved close interaction with village communities, young adults, children and also rural schools. The gaps and limitations of the education provided in these schools soon became obvious. This led to the redefining of their initial ideas on education. It was no longer just beginning a school for relevant and good quality education but an effort to develop a model that would not just demonstrate their idea of quality education to the community but work with them to demand similar quality in government schools. The new vision also involved working with the government to improve the quality of education available in government schools.
Gramin Shiksha Kendra was set up as a Society under the Rajasthan Societies Act, 1958 with the following vision, mission, and objectives.
Vision:
“All round development is possible when communities are in a position to take informed decisions for themselves in a democratic, free and progressive environment which encourages and promotes freedom of speech and action. Quality education which is relevant and progressive and available to all individuals is the most important tool necessary for ensuring that this can be achieved.”
Mission:
Within this context Gramin Shiksha Kendra will over a ten year period set up three high quality learning-centres and schools in the Sawaimadhopur and Khandar blocks of Sawaimadhopur district. This will help communities see and learn what quality in education actually means. In addition, through a community outreach programme, encourages them to demand better quality of education from the existing governmental school system and the private sector. Gramin Shiksha Kendra will also design, develop and implement a curriculum and evolve a pedagogy which makes education more relevant to people’s lives in the rural areas and gives them the information necessary to take informed decisions and make informed choices about their livelihoods and their future.
Objectives:
Setting Standards of quality in school education
Establishing model of community owned school
Evolving pedagogy and curriculum for relevant education
GSK became active in August 2003, with the initiative of the current secretary of the organisation. This young man had studied rural development and had worked in various parts of Rajasthan on dalit issues and education. He got the team together and GSK was activated with a clear idea of what they wanted to do as a group in terms of education, but no idea at all of where they would find financial support.
After almost a year and GSK still did not have funding support. It was still being run on private donations from friends. The pressure from the community to begin the school was growing so they decided to go ahead and begin the school. In June 2004, GSK, later named Uday Pathshala, had a 4 member team, land identified by the community, a thatch constructed by the community to run the school, 70 children and numbers growing every day but no financial support in sight.
The community’s idea of a good school was based on the little they knew of private urban schools and another very large private school set up in a neighbouring village. This vision comprised a smart uniform for children, a large building and English as the medium. Uday Pathshala did not meet the community’s expectation on any of these counts! There was no uniform, the building was a thatched structure that they had constructed and it was definitely not English medium. The community was also disturbed by the teachers singing songs and playing with the children. The children however, loved their school from the very first day. Many of them refused to go back home at the end of the school day as they wanted to stay with the teachers who were still there.
It is now almost three years since GSK was activated and two years since Uday Pathshala began. They now have:
• A 14 member team.
• 230 children.
• The land identified by the community now registered in the name of Gramin Shiksha Kendra.
• A small office that also functions as a staff quarter.
• The thatched school room structure
• Construction of a more permanent structure for the school building has begun.
• Financial support pipeline for the next 2 years.
• A plan and support to begin work with the government schools around Uday Pathshala.
• A community that has a greater understanding of our approach to education.
• A district administration that has a greater understanding of our approach to education.
• Invitation from a second community to begin work in their village (Bodal).
• Motivation to continue our work
Uday Pathshala is currently running in sub optimal conditions. Apart from the need for infrastructure development, their teachers could benefit from exposure, formal training as well as continuous academic support. While a fresh group of teachers learning on the job with academic support is adequate to initiate a school, it is not enough to sustain it. The curriculum in Uday is both multi-grade and multi-level and this is a challenge for their teachers and an area where they are constantly learning and innovating.
In the two years that they have begun, a few of their children have completed primary education. They have decided not to send these children to mainstream government schools but work with them at the upper primary level as well. This is a big challenge as there are few non-government/alternative interventions beyond the primary level. This also has implications on the kind of people that are needed to develop not just the approach for working with children at this level but development of the curriculum and its organisation. In real terms, this means that they need a team of people of a higher calibre and orientation to work towards developing this approach at the upper primary level. A lot of thought has gone into developing alternative models for primary education and working in the upper primary is the next logical step.
To sum up, the areas that need strengthening are teacher development, academic support and working on the curriculum for the upper primary level of education. They are now seeking support for their idea and also financial support to further develop and implement these ideas and initiatives.
