lingua franca for the Workshop. At the time of conceptualizing the project we had taken it for granted that we could have the plenary sessions in the Workshop in Gujarati but the program material could still be in English. That was the language that we were comfortable with and also most of the program material was in fact available only in English. The ground realities were different. If we followed this plan the whole exercise would have been futile because comprehension capacities in English, of a majority of the teachers, were negligible. Had to change plans.
We immediately arranged for some major translation works to be done and even our communications henceforth with them was only in Gujarati. This did entail a lot of extra, unforeseen efforts but we managed.
Pitching level of the Workshop.
Let us admit that the very idea of conducting a Workshop in the scenic and salubrious environs of Mt.Abu was very appealing to the teachers as well as our team, but we were concerned.
In a situation where only about 15% of your participants have ever been exposed to any training or Workshop environment, this could be a bit intimidating. Hence it needed to have certain comfort level. A level that is functionally distant so that they do not take things for granted at the same time that promotes their participation. To further facilitate the participation of teachers we took the following steps
Ensured that the Workshop is held during a block of three days of holidays.
Selected Resource Persons who were fluent in Hindi and/or Gujarati.
Invited Papers and Articles from the teachers on issues of Minority education and slotted time in the Workshop for them to make presentations. Some expressed that they could not make formal presentations hence held a daylong training cum orientation to the methods and technology involved in such an exercise.
Too much diversity in the Management Committees of all schools.
Initially we had planned to call selected and/or active MCs along with the teachers to this Workshop but soon we realized that the diversity among them might be too much for us to be able to handle in the limited time that would be at our disposal. This diversity was educational, cultural (people and their responses differ depending on the sect of Islam that they belong to) and economical.
We decided to mix them in our school-specific interventions in future, where the issues also will be school-specific.
Even though all the schools are co-educational there is a very limited presence of women teachers. Only the City High School of Palanpur has all the 8 teachers out of a total of 84 teachers among all the ten schools. Hence we had to make concerted efforts to ensure participation of these teachers.
In spite of that only two turned up and one of them has been a very good find for us and is now taking some major initiatives in her school and locality. (More of it later in the report.)
Lectures to be minimal.
Stress had to be on group work rather than people delivering lectures. The exercises had to be devised in a manner that they brought on-the-job school situation live to the participants for them to give meaningful and relevant responses.
Selection of Resource Persons (apart from our team).
We did not want talkers but doers. Persons who could establish by their very presence among the participants that "It is possible. If one set of human beings could achieve something that we planned to, somewhere else there should be no reasons to doubt that we could not". Perhaps some relevant modifications could be done.
We approached one of the PESLE partners of AKF, Center for Educational Management and Development (CEMD). They are quite experienced in this field and have been working with some Muslim-managed schools in Delhi. They obliged by sending their Deputy Director, Ms. Googsie Khosla, as a Resource Person for the Workshop.
Two other persons were called from Ahmedabad. One was the Secretary of St.Xavier's Non-formal Education Society and also the Course Director of their Post-Graduate Program in Development Management. His skills were in Group Dynamics and Group Facilitation. When we are talking of a common shared Vision of a collective such a skill is indispensable.
Another was Mr. Hemant Shah. A lecturer of Economics and a writer of analytical articles in the vernacular press on issues of development.
No high hopes!
At the conceptualizing and planning stage we were pretty much obsessed with achieving a consensual understanding, a commonly shared vision, a strategy, short-term and long-term objectives right down to monitoring mechanisms and assumptions in the implementation of the plan so formulated. All these actually assumed quite a few things like
A shared vocabulary
A level of comprehension
Abilities to reflect and think ahead of times
Ability to break up one's vision to small achievable goals, etc.
Very few teachers possessed these as of now. Some of them who were already exposed to a training situation and have done it seriously in the past would perhaps be able to get into thinking gear but for others it would be difficult. We decided to get down from our high horses and make changes in our design. The changes made were to actually utilize the very services of teachers with an experience of some training program in the past. This also would generate a trust among the experienced people and the rest also would perhaps accept certain ideas more readily when they came from their own brethren, so to say.
Invitees.
Care had to be taken only to invite relevant people. We had to avoid people who erred on the side of verbosity and/or delusions of grandeur. They could be impossible to handle if and when given airtime. We could not afford it.
The fact that only 60% people in India are literate even after 50 years of independence is extremely shameful. The directive principles of the state enshrined in the Indian constitution gave guarantee of free and compulsory education to all children of 6 to 10 years. But this noble objective is yet to be achieved. When the situation in the area of primary education is so pathetic, the least can be expected in the area of secondary and higher secondary education. Gujarat does not have a different trend than that of the general one in India. According to 1991 census only 60% people are literate in the industrially developed state of Gujarat. In the last few years, the dropout ratio in standard 1 to standard 7 has gone up. This state of affair is highly regrettable.
For minorities, the problem is more acute because their general literacy level is quite low as compared to the majority community. The literacy level in women is even lower. The rural areas face this problem with more acuteness. Not only the urban but also the rural areas have witnessed a sharp increase in the establishment of primary and secondary school to spread the education in the community by private charitable trusts in the last few years. Not only the children of minority Muslim community come to these schools but the children from other communities also take the advantage of the facility. But the primary objective of the establishment of these schools is to spread education in the minority Muslim community.
The minority Muslim community run schools shares the problems prevalent in the area of primary education. But other than this, there are special issues, which affect this community.
SEED made an in-depth study of some of the schools run by the Muslim trusts in Banaskantha
District of north Gujarat and tried its best to understand the problems they face. The findings of the study were really startling. This study has indicated that the participation of all the stakeholders is essential to improve the quality of both, the schools and the education that they offer. Only one or two concerned groups will not be sufficient to improve the quality of education. It therefore, supported SEED's view that all the stakeholders i.e. government, management, principals, teachers, students and parents, must cooperate with each other to improve the quality of primary education.
Keeping this in mind we first decided to hold discussions with the principals and teachers of these schools and organized a three-day workshop for the same. The primary objectives of the workshop were:
To evaluate the education system in light of the present socio-economic situation and the changes occurred in them
To make the schools more attractive and interesting on the basis of this evaluation so as to make the future of the students bright
To search for the niceties and drawbacks of all the stakeholders and to find ways to involve them in the whole process of educational improvement.
To prepare an action plan for the principals and teachers to improve the quality of both school and education in the present scenario.
DETAILS OF THE WORKSHOP
The principals and teachers of the following Muslim community run schools of Banaskantha district participated in the three-day workshop. There were three women teachers and sixty-seven male teachers and eleven principals. The names of the schools are given below:
City High school (Primary), Palanpur.
City High school (Secondary), Palanpur.
Anjuman-E-Islam (Primary), Radhanpur.
Anjuman-E-Islam High school, Radhanpur.
Gujarat High school (Primary), Palanpur.
Gujarat High school (Secondary), Palanpur.
Mahi High school, Mahi.
Adarsh Vidyalaya, Basu.
Anjuman High school, Kaleda.
Roshan High school, Gathaman.
Kisan High school, Mumanwas.
The workshop was organized at Hotel Shikhar, Mount Abu between September 11th 1999 and September 13th 1999.
A total of eight High Schools and three Primary Schools were represented. 68 teachers including 11 Principals participated. The initial plan was for seven High Schools but one school that from a village Mumanvas showed a keenness to participate. We invited the principal and one teacher.
First day
Saturday, September 11th 1999
Time: 3:30pm to 5:30pm.
On the first day of the workshop Mr. Javed Ameer, the Director of SEED welcomed all the participants and gave a background of the organization that was hosting the workshop. He said that SEED works to empower the socially, educationally and economically disadvantaged communities through formal and informal education and training. Besides the efforts to improve the quality of formal education, SEED works to develop the qualitative leadership and entrepreneurial skills in the children, youth and women of the community so as to enhance the relevant skills required by the informal markets and to make their lives more meaningful.
He then presented SEED's study of the ten schools run by Muslim minority community in Banaskantha district. These Gujarati medium schools with co-education system were established between 1963 and 1991. According to him the objectives of the study were:
To evolve a general picture of minority run schools in Gujarat through the study of selective schools, their staff and the students.
To formulate a scheme for participatory changes suitable to the minority run schools on the basis of the findings of the study.
To understand the needs of the students for possible future actions.
This study has been conducted by interviewing eighty four teachers including three primary and secondary principals and personal talks with the members of the managing committees of the schools and by going through the relevant documents of the schools.
Findings of the study:
Only 3 schools have their own buildings. 5 schools do not have even the primary facility of toilets and 6 schools do not have any demonstration or audio-visual room. Although, 68 teachers including 10 principals have differing views on the infrastructure facilities of schools.
Only 14 teachers have received any training after they started their career as a teacher. 11 of them received training under the orientation program of minimum level of learning (MLL).
Most of the teachers said that they have problems of inferior quality educational material, scarce resources and their own low motivation, reactionary decision making processes and lack of understanding of the difference between administration, governance and management in the governing bodies of the schools.
There is an unhealthy competition among the schools for attracting the students. They, therefore, give marks very liberally. During 1994 and 1997 the results of standard 1 to standard 9 tend to be 95 to 100 percent and it remains to be 95 percent in standard 8 to 9. But in SSC board exams, only 45 percent students are able to get through. It was only 12% in one of the schools. This is so because it is related to the job security of teachers.
The study includes 3 primary schools, wherein one principal is just standard 7 pass and only 13 teachers are graduates or post-graduates. Some of them do believe that they don't posses necessary expertise in their own subjects.
There is some sort or dissatisfaction among some of the teachers regarding the management of schools, and they believe that only certain group of people are involved in the decision making process.
The confidential reports (CRs) are being prepared not for evaluation but only for fulfillment of legal requirements.
The drop out ratio at the end of standard 7 is 12% for boys and 14% for girls. Upto standard 10 32% boys and 41% girls are being pushed out from the schools. In higher secondary schools 59% boys and 58% girls are being pushed out from the schooling. Somewhere the percentage of girls is as high as 81.
36 percent children aged between 5 and 10 have never gone to schools. In one village it was as high as 73 percent.
Only 30 percent parents preferred to give answers on education. 90% of them accused the teachers for all the mess. The parents themselves have very low level of education. 65% of them were totally illiterate, 21% were fortunate enough to have schooling upto standard 7 and 12.5 percent upto standard 10, whereas only 1.4% passed the HSC exams. Moreover, 48 percent mothers were illiterate. Only 15.5% families have monthly income of above RS. 4000/-. Thus, the parents are highly vulnerable, economically.
These schools have 15% non-Muslim students.
Out of 84, only 8 are lady teachers, and they all are in one school of Palanpur. Rural schools do not have lady teachers at all. Though, all the schools have coeducational system, the recruitment of lady teachers is visibly absent. It smacks of discretionary behavioral pattern of the management of the schools.
In our country out of the total population 11.7% comprises Muslims, (according to census of 1991) 16.7% and 10.53% live in the urban and rural areas respectively. The percentage of Muslims in the state of Gujarat is 8.73. Of this total populace 15% and 5.54% are in the urban and rural areas respectively. This is a pointer to the fact that most of them are settled in the urban areas where the level of 'recorded' illiteracy (in the government's census) among them is 61%.
If we actually add the data of the total percentage of people with Primary Education which in actual practical terms does not really mean much, given the policies of the Government of Gujarat of promoting everyone in the Primary section their level of learning not withstanding, the total percentage of practical illiterates adds up to 83% among Muslims and 60% among the Hindus in the urban areas. Only about 2.5% of the Muslim children are above High School in the urban areas of Gujarat. The corresponding figure for the Hindu children is 10%. This combined with the absolute physical segregation of the community into ghettos of poverty because of the communal atmosphere in Gujarat further cuts off the community from the mainstream. Very low or no education combined with the non-availability of viable jobs and/or career options makes these settlements powder kegs. No reliable data is available for the national or the state level, for the boys and girls separately but given the socio-political environment it could definitely be more skewed against the girls in the communities.
Saturday, September 11th, 1999.
Time: 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Ms. Googsie Khosla of the 'Center for Educational Management and Development' (CEMD), New Delhi, raised basic issues pertaining to education in this session and she narrated her own experiences and experiments that she had made. Presenting her own Delhi experience, she told about the classroom management and mobilization of management, teachers and principals for the development of schools.
Giving details, she said that CEMD made a group of principals, management people and teachers who were willing to work. This group has been working for last 5 years. These groups are now strong enough to play a pivotal role in making the schools more attractive and interesting for the students.
She divided the participants in groups of 8. Each group was assigned to reflect on the changes that have occurred in the last 10 years in the following areas:
Technology
Communication
Education and society
Employment
Family
World community
A group-leader was selected by the participants of each group from among themselves to make a presentation of the deliberations.
Below is the gist of their presentations.
Technological changes
In the present age TV has become a major media with the audio and visual capacity. News becomes immediately well spread. Preciously the communication was limited with telephones and telegraphs, whereas fax and satellite communications system has made the communication speedy and accessible even in the interior villages where STD booths are easily found. We are now in a position to receive more micro level information with the help of audio-visual instruments. We also get required information through comprised systems and Internet. The change is visible in the field of education also. Previously, the teachers were the only source to get it. At present various alternatives are available.
Changes in communication
The last 10 years has witnessed major changes in the area of communication. Previously radio, newspapers, magazines, leaflets, signboards, mikes, exhibitions were major sources of communication. Now the entire world is changed. TV, Vedio, telephone, fax, telex, Internet, pager, e-mail, channels have almost replaced the old gadgets. They have facilitated effective communication with very high speed.
The participants of the workshop came to the conclusion that the changes in the technology and communication systems have played vital role in cultivating the scientific attitude and mind-set among the general public.
Social and Educational changes
The level of education was quite low 10 years ago. The objective of education has remained the same that is to get a job. At present education has become competitive. Girl's education has also gone up. For education, students are not dependent only on books. They now posses enormous information. The parents are more vigilant and therefore their pressure groups are being formed. Efforts are being made to increase the physical and material facilities. In the society, because of increased level of literacy among the parents, the level of average illiteracy has gone down. Availability of education has become simple and easy. The participants also raised the issue of privatization in field of education, which they feel will lead to an uncertain future of education.
Changes in Employment
Though the literacy level was quite low 10 years ago, it was easier to get a government or semi government job. Privatization and corruption at that time were not that much all pervasive as they are today. The number of educated unemployed youth was quite low. Today, even with the advent of computers and Internet the number of educated unemployed has gone up. Unemployment among the graduates and post-graduates is quite rampant. Those who are capable are not getting their worth because of corrupt practices and those who are economically well off get the jobs even without possessing the required qualifications. The government is putting a cap on the recruitment even though there are many vacant posts. Because of the complicated procedures the vacant posts are not being filled up. In the past limited salaries and wages in the government and semi government jobs prompted people to go for private businesses, whereas today they rush for these jobs because of high level of salaries therein.
Numbers of foreign companies are settling in India, but even there the educated youth do no get employed. The tremendous growth in the field of technology has not generated enough employment because of the lack occupational guidance.
Changes in families
The joint family system is being wiped out and nuclear family system has become the order of the day. It adversely affects the education of children in the family. Each and every family is working hard for taking care of the development of children. It becomes disadvantageous for the children when they do not get enough love and sympathizing from parents. Moreover, the decision-making process was centralized with the head of the family at the helm of the affairs. Today that process has changed. Anybody who is economically empowered can take decisions with full independence.
Appetite for education has gone up in the present and the people have become socially aware. Even in the rural areas the level of education has gone up and the people have started the rethinking process on the issues of social evils. Regarding family size also, the general awareness level has gone up.
Changes in the world community
Due to its distinct cultural characteristics, India attracts people from all the corners of the world. The number of students coming to India to pursue studies has gone up and the number of research students coming to India from abroad has also gone up. India is being connected with the world through Internet and is progressing fast in the fields of trade and industry. The countries of the world have come closer and cooperation among them has become essential exist, opined teachers and principals.
After the presentation of the above mentioned changes, the same groups were asked to answer the following questions with respect to those changes:
What kind of knowledge the children should have?
What are the skills that the children should possess?
What are the manners and attitudes you feel the children should learn?
What kind of self-confidence the children should possess? What are the habits they should inculcate?
The common feeling was that the educational system should ensure the self-sustenance of children in society and they should be able to compete in the modern society.
They later deliberated upon the skills expected of children in these changing times and the desired attitudes of teachers towards children and their education.
Skills expected from children The views that the participants presented on the skills that the children should have during the next decade were as follows:
There should be an overall development of children.
They should possess the quality of discipline and a sense of serving society.
They should be helpful to family, society and the nation.
They should be imbibed with the knowledge useful for their economic well being.
They should be self-reliant.
They should have received vocational guidance and the level of computer literacy should be high.
They should be able to survive in the competition.
Education should be given with modern technology and instruments.
The children should possess the knowledge to utilize Internet, mobile phone, fax etc.
The education must promote self-employment.
Their worldview must expand.
Moral standards should have been developed in them.
Their physical and mental health should be sound.
They should be able to keep themselves away from drugs and other bad habits.
They should have developed the attitude and taste of learning.
Reading habit and curiosity should have been cultivated.
After the groups' presentations the participants were again divided into six different groups. They discussed about the ideal school that teaches necessary skills, the ones that the children should possess. They deliberated upon for quite a long time on the subject and each one of them presented the report.
Ideal school During the group discussions the teachers and principals also deliberated on the physical facilities needed in an ideal school. The main points of their presentation are as follows:
The school should be situated in open and calm atmosphere, some distance away from the village.
The experimental knowledge should also be imparted along with the bookish knowledge.
All the modern instruments and facilities should be possessed by the school.
The number of students must be limited.
The school must be attractive to children.
The school should have a library, modern laboratory and a hall for cultural activities.
Educated people should manage the school.
School should have a playground, a prayer hall, a hall for painting and enough facilities for drinking water and sanitation.
Facility should be provided to children for transportation.
The classrooms should be spacious and should have enough windows.
The school should provide computer education.
Participation of parents The teachers and principals have always been complaining about inactivates of parents, so far as the school activities are concerned. For enhancement of the role of parents in the management of the schools they suggested as follows:
Make the process of educational activities in the school more participatory for parents.
The teachers should explain the importance of education to uneducated parents.
Make parents to come to attend the cultural programs by giving them responsibilities to manage them.
Teachers and parents should jointly evaluate the progress of students.
In each school, parents' body should be formed.
Mothers should be given due prominence in the parents' body.
After each terminal exam the parents should be invited and informed about the progress, faults and prospects about the children.
Discuss about the facilities being given to children for their studies at home and children's bad habits.
Parents should be invited to attend the annual function of the school.
At the outset, the participants of the workshop discussed about the attitudes that the teachers should have towards the children. The conclusion drawn from the discussions were as follows:
The focus of educational work should be the students.
The teachers should be soft and generous enough so that the qualities of discipline, self-confidence, prudence and fearlessness develop among the students.
The approach of imparting education should be such that the education may not become a burden for students. They should not feel stress while studying the relevant subjects.
Not only the theoretical knowledge should be imparted, but making experiments and practicals should give knowledge of various subjects also. With modern technology, systems and instruments, education should be made more interesting.
Compulsory completion of curriculum has become more cumbersome and burden. Instead of giving emphasis on the competition of curriculum, the subjects should be made more interesting by given practical examples.
The teachers should behave with the students in such a way that the students feel free t get guidance for the successful ride in the life.
Students should be understood with their capacities, because each of them possesses different levels of it.
The second group discussed about the methods of education and come to the following conclusions:
The concepts of each subject should be cleared and emphasis should be laid on the education through activities. The result will be quiets different if the small children receive education through puppets.
In addition to routine methods, TV, radio and projectors should be utilized to keep the interest of children in the subject intact. The students are getting bored with the lecturing method. The teachers should speak less and education should be delivered through modern gadgets.
For overall development of children tours, picnics, slide-shows should be arranged and TV, VCR and tape-recorders should be used fully. Their thinking process should be motivated and ignited through problem solving methods, questionnaire, demonstrations and interviews.
Group discussions should be arranged and various subjects should be given to them for through discussion.
Project method should be used to select some good projects. The students should be given necessary materials to complete the projects. They should also be encouraged by the teachers to go outside the schools, if needed. This is what the learning by doing method is and it should be the schools extensively.
And yet, the schools and teachers should not become the slaves of modern technology. The students should be able to understand the prevalent situation of the school about the use of technology.
Till now, the discussions were more or less related with the global situations.
The Secretary of St. Xavier's Non formal Education Society, Fr. Jimmy Dabhi took over the group to conduct the sessions. He brought in the focus on the issues of Muslims in Banaskantha, their social pros and cons and responsible factors for the present status.
The purpose of these deliberations was to motivate the participants to think about the positive and negative aspects of their own personal and social life and to encourage them to bring the changes that they think should be there.
Economic status of Muslim society: Negative aspects
The Muslims are economically weak: lack of agricultural and wage employment and lack of information about government jobs, and step-motherly treatment to the community by the government.
The situation worsens day by day because of exploitation caused by lack of education. In the absence of industrial development, the rate of unemployment is high in the Muslim community. They, therefore, tend to accept low wage employment in private enterprises.
Because of economic plight they are not able to get education.
'Muslim Bank' does not provide interest free loans, and hence, they are handicapped to develop their own businesses.
High rate of child labor.
Even in normal circumstances, the Muslims in Banaskantha do not venture into new areas by leaving the traditional occupations.
Economic weaknesses lead to maintain age- old traditions.
Positive aspects:
The uneducated youth earn more income in diamond industry.
Those, who are well to do in the community, coming forward to establish schools.
Responsible determinants
Mental status, narrow religious mindset, lethargy and defensive mechanism.
Lack of entrerpreneurship and big capital.
Do not receive any welfare benefits from the government.
Educational status of Muslim Society: Negative aspects
Muslims' educational status in Banaskantha is quite pathetic in comparison with all other communities.
Lack of girl's education.
Lack of physical facilities in Muslim community run schools.
Inadequate guidance regarding higher education.
High rate of dropouts.
Because of lack of job opportunities and biased attitude for the community, indifferent attitude towards education has been developed.
The main purpose of education is employment generation.
Minor sections within Muslim community run schools for their own areas and communities.
Lack of English medium schools and technical schools. Positive aspects:
Awareness about the need of education among the Muslims has gone up.
Girls also now tend to take education.
Number of minority run schools has gone up.
Muslim community has also been under the influence of western culture.
Responsible determinants:
Uneducated parents.
Pathetic economic status of Muslim families.
Traditional attitude toward girls education.
Child marriages.
Low educational standards of schools.
Rich Muslims donate more money for religious purposed than for education.
Lack of social workers among the Muslims.
Autocratic attitudes of management.
Lack of sources providing proper guidance.
Step motherly treatment of even Muslim trustees.
Lack of nutritional food among Muslim children.
Rigid attitudes and improper interpretations in religious matters.
Lack of leadership in the Muslim community.
Divisions among the general Muslim public.
Fear and prejudice against modern education among parents.
Political status of Muslim Society:
Negative aspects
No widely accepted leader in the community. The present's readers are illiterate.
Anti-social elements, opportunists, goondas and selfish people possess more influence in present day politics.
Leaders are more engaged in earning money through primary teachers transfers and are not interested in raising the level of education.
Most of the political parties offer step-motherly treatment to Muslims. The Muslim leaders, therefore, do not come into limelight.
Muslim intellectuals do not involve themselves in politics.
No institutions give any guidance in political matters.
Responsible determinants
Illiteracy among Muslims.
Lack of leadership.
Discriminatory policies of political parties.
Cultural and Religious Status of Muslim Society:
Negative aspects
Dress
Dress is different form community to community. Castes and subcastes have their own different identities. They wear saris, dhoties, shirts, safas, kurtas and payjamas.
Youth blindly follows the western culture.
Customs:
They vary in each of the communities.
Some castes do possess the system of child marriages.
Bad beliefs and dogmas.
Evil of dowry still persists.
Imitation of some of the Hindu customs at the time of marriages.
Festivals
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Sanctity of Muharram is not being preserved.
Arts
Indifference towards music, dramas and songs etc.
Positive aspects
Dress
Punjabi dress in girls is quite popular.
Customs
Some of the castes have stated mass marriages.
They also consider their daughter as equal partners in the properties of parents.
Festivals
Get-together at Idd.
Congregation in Iddgahs for Idd Namaz.
Wastage of money is almost lacking.
Arts
Contribution in arts ant literature. Ustad Bismillah Khan, Shunya Palanpuri and Musafir Palanpuri are some of the examples.
Religious status of Muslim Society:
Negative aspects
Caste- wise cemeteries.
Time of madresas is inconsistent with the regular schools.
Divisions among the Muslims.
Because of fear of sexual harassment girls are not being sent to schools.
Positive aspects
Namaz is being said without any social discrimination in the mosques.
Madresas give religious and regular education.
Banaskantha normally does not experience communal divide. Unity, brotherhood and goodwill for each other prevail. This is beneficial to education.
Responsible determinants
The level of education is quite low in the villages. Mostly, only from 1 to 4 standard education is available in the villages. Up ward educational facility is available in the cities only. That is the major reason for low level of girl's education.
Reasons
Economic status of the family.
Religious narrow-mindedness.
Social and economical disparities.
Illiterate parents.
Solutions suggested
Regular education must be given along with the religious education.
Girl's schools with hostels should be established.
Financial assistance should be give to girls coming from poor families.
Muslim trusts should have women as their board members.
Social status
Islam has given many rights to women but they have not been give to them by male member of the society. Due to demonstration effect practice of dowry is widespread in the Muslim.
Leadership among women
We experience lack of leadership among the Muslim women in Banaskantha District. Leaders tend to be more traditional in their perspectives and outlook.
Solutions
If people become aware and interested in education, then the general level of education may go up.
Concerted efforts should be made to bring all castes leaders on one platform.
Doctors, teachers, lawyers etc. from the community should take interest and devote time for social causes.
Responsible determinants
Lack of organization.
Lack of female literacy leads to indifference towards education of children.
Non-preparedness for leaving of traditional family businesses.
Do not want to migrate for business purposes.
Third Day
Monday,
13th September 1999
9:00 to 10:30am.
The day's business started with the deliberations about the good and bad qualities of all the stakeholders in the field of education i.e. management, teachers, students and parents. Groups were formed from the teachers of each of the schools. The leaders of the groups presented their respective reports on which general discussions followed.
Management:
The response of teachers and principals about the management was really interesting. Their responses were as follows:
The management is frank, educated and honest and they are free from corruption.
They select only studious, honest and sincere teachers.
Provide hostels and also notebooks and dress.
They fully cooperate with the teachers and do not intervene in the routine job work of theirs.
They encourage us by attending cultural programs.
Provide free lodging boarding to students.
Established Gujaratis' Arabic Education Foundation. Concerted efforts are being made to make the Arabic language equivalent to Sanskrit for official status.
Minority Rights day is being celebrated and legal education camps are being organized.
The negative points of the management highlighted were as follows:
Due to paucity of funds they did not start the science stream.
Again for the same reason they could not start an institution for technical education.
They do not coordinate the activities of parents, teachers and principals.
They do not possess ingenuity and innovative-ness. They don't encourage teachers and students.
They school is being run for last 15 years but it has no building of its own.
Sometimes they are unaware about the government rules and regulations.
Most of them do not take interest in extra-curriculum activities and they use their powers for their personal benefits also.
Some of them are advocates of girl's education, but they ban tuition for girls while continuing the same for boys.
School specific management issues were also raised. Therefore mixed responses poured have very high regard for their respective management.
Teachers The participant teachers themselves described their own positive and negative attitudes. It means that they are quite aware of both of them.
The positive aspects are as follows:
Are loving towards students and they understand the feeling of them.
They emphasis on cultivation of virtues in the students. They do discuss the issues with them even on holidays.
Take extra classes to improve the results of students.
Take interests in extra curricular activities and encourage the students. They stay in the hostel and provide guidance to them.
A book-bank is being run for poor students.
Talk about current affairs with the students and explain the various subjects.
Keep contacts with parents.
Many teachers received awards and appointed at district level. Enough proof for their dexterity.
The negative aspects are as follows:
Do not read reference books.
Do not use educational equipment adequately.
Lecturing method is highly used.
Do not innovate. Do not take interest in taking up new projects.
Do not stay in the village are coming from far away distances and therefore are not committed to the development of local students.
Their activities are limited and their mindset is quite narrow. Activities for their overall development are not being executed or they do not take active interest in them.
Students All the teachers accepted that the students are the real bases of education. The participants analyzed the positive and negative aspects of students in detail. But it reflected their worries about them. It shows their heart-born sympathy for their students.
The positive points of students were described as follows:
Most of the students come with the homework and they behave in a disciplined manner.
Many students are conscious about their studies. They take part in science fair and cultural activities with full of their vigor.
They prepare themselves for external exams of Hindi, painting, other talent search and athletics.
They respect teachers.
They are capable of making handicraft items.
Clever students help weak students.
Are honest and stray items found on the roads are being deposited in the schools.
The following are the negative points about the participants highlighted:
Their educational weakness is due to their economic status.
They poor are stable. They also waste money.
Some students do not do homework satisfactorily.
Some of them got habituated with gutkhas.
Not interested in tours and picnics.
Their comprehension power is quite low, and therefore their memory power is also low.
They speak in Palanpuri language and do not understand Gujarati or Hindi.
Some of them are dirty and rarely take care about their own health.
Number of minority girls is quite low.
Do not get encouragement from parents.
Their horizon of knowledge is highly limited. Are not aware of what is going on outside their village.
Parents The teachers also discussed about the positive and negative attributes of parents. Although, their experience various from school to school. Their efforts to involve the parents in school activities have borne some positive fruits. In short efforts of schools and teachers may make the parents more active and responsive.
Positive aspects
Many of them come for the meeting of parents' body.
They insist upon technical education.
Parents are active where there are parents' bodies.
Some parents are visit schools and discuss about the progress of their kids.
Mothers are more aware and are concerned about the education of their children.
Negative aspects
They do not care about their children.
If the students are punished, they quarrel with the teachers.
When they are called, mostly mothers come. But they are not the decision-makers in their homes. Hence no concrete result comes out from the conversations.
Most of them are poor and are not able to buy the necessary equipment and materials.
Do not have trust in teachers. Moreover quite enthusiastic about economic concessions, but are irresponsible for education.
Illiterate parents do no understand the importance of education. Do no even understand the details given in the progress-books.
They do not find time even to attend the meeting of parents body.
Most of them do not attend the programs in schools.
They blame teachers for evils of their kids. They do not know how to talk with the teachers.
They do not encourage their children to do homework and do not help them out.
Monday, 13th September 1999
11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
This session was devoted to prepare a future action plan. They had to decide what would they do in the next one-year period. Teachers met school-wise and a separate group of principals discussed the relevant plan.
Teachers prepared their action plans based on the following 5 questions:
What steps can be taken to improve the level of education in the schools?
When you will take those steps?
When you will complete their work?
Who will do that? Who will take the responsibility?
Individually what the teachers will do? How and when the person will be accountable?
The group of principals had to formulate their action plan based on following 3 questions:
Can a training camp be organized for teachers?
What can be done about recruitment of teachers and students?
What can be presented before the government and how will it be coordinated?
Action Plan of Principals
Good teachers of mathematics, science and Social science will be invited for demonstrations.
New project or new educational method adopted by a teacher of one particular school will be made beneficial to all the schools.
Principals and teachers will work jointly and cooperate with each other.
Educational equipment will be installed.
Model schools will be visited.
Diagnostic remedies will be applied on the basis of marks obtained.
Continual evaluation method will be introduced through monthly tests.
If needed, extra classes or zero periods will be arranged.
Model answers will be given to SSC students.
Pure pronunciations and true spellings will be given more emphasis.
Special programs will be organized with the assistance of institutions like SEED e.g. training, demonstrations, educational tours, subject-wise training, special programs for children etc.
Action Plan for girl's education was as follows
Schools should be of good character.
Efforts will be made for entry of girls into standard 1.
Efforts will be made to retain these girls during standard 1 to 4.
Girls passed in standard 7 will be helped to enter into standard 8 by meeting with their parents.
Girls-specific handicrafts will be introduced in the schools. Parents' convention will be called on and importance of girl's education will be explained therein.
Action Plan of Teachers
Infrastructure
Will organize meeting with the management for school building.
Management will be convinced to purchase reference books.
Presentation will be made before the management for purchase of educational materials.
People's contribution will be collected for school building.
Teachers themselves will also contribute for school building.
Assistance and aid will be received from former students.
Donors will be invited to visit the schools and donations will be taken from them.
Students
Students with dirty clothes and body will be given health-related information.
Seventh standard girls and their parents will be convinced for not to be dropped out.
Weak students will be given extra coaching.
Students' organization will be formed and lessons of cleanliness, discipline and regularity will be taught.
In standard 10 every week tests. Will be taken.
Will be informed on current affairs.
Every day zero periods will be taken to improve the performance of students.
To improve English language performance spelling will be asked in the prayer meetings.
Students of standard 5 to 7 unable to read and write will be given extra treatment.
Weak students of each class will be taken care of.
Gujarati spellings will be strengthened.
Lab work and action-oriented work will be emphasized.
English education will be given with the aid of audio-Vedio cassettes.
Parents
Parents' body will be formed.
Contacts will be established with them, and will be persuaded to get their children admitted.
Will be convinced for girl's education.
Group discussions will be arranged for them.
Their conventions will be organized for general awareness.
For 100 percent presence of students efforts will be made to persuade the parents.
Extra-curricular Activities
A book fair will be organized.
Educational programs on TV will be shown to students.
For secondary students, factory visits will be organized.
On weekly basis a cultural program will be organized.
Sports activity will be developed.
Guidance will be given on health related matters by arranging talk of concerned subjects.
Teachers will be encouraged and motivated to take part in the extra-curricular activities.
A campaign will be launched to save children from bad habits of smoking and tobacco chewing.
A separate child's library will be opened.
Guidance will be given to write literature to students.
Once in a month, a doctor will be invited to give guidance on health related issues.
A rally will be organized to educate the general public about vices.
What will the teachers do at their personal levels?
Projectors and tape recorders will be used to make the lessons more effective. Efforts will be made to send students to participate in the state level sports festival.
Read reference books
Enhance the period of night classes.
Donate educational material to poor students.
Organize dramas, one-act play, debate and painting competitions.
Contact the villages and explain them the important of girl's education.
Extra classes will be arranged for mathematics and science.
Help weak students in English.
Use modern gadgets to explain subjects like Hindi, Geography and Social science.
Read at least one book a week.
Launch coaching class in the school itself and will be conducted every day for an hour after the school hours.
Contact parents individually and explain the importance of education.
Subject-wise weak students will be identified and extra care will be taken for them.
Thus, the workshop ended with the firm resolve of teachers and principals to make contributions individually and collectively for the overall improvement of the educational system. During the workshop they at least started thinking about the mess in the system and the ways to solve the problems.
It was a beginning for all and certainly will lead to better future of the minority-run schools in Banaskantha.
A more detailed study of the service areas of each school needs to be undertaken. This study should more concretely establish the socio-economic baselines on the educational status of the children from the community. It should also cover the attitudes that affect the enrollment of children in these schools. Interestingly the sect and/or sub-sect (among Muslims in the area) that the parents belong to also govern these attitudes.
Action taken by us.
We have already initiated the preliminary gathering of information on the details of all schools in the service areas of 12 schools along with the details of all Madrasas run by all sects. The information on Madrasas also covers all details of the Resident Chief Maulavis and other teachers in these Madrasas. Barring a negligible few, all of the schools and Madrasas are cooperating with our Field Workers so far.
Once the actual survey and analysis is done we shall share this information with these people also and initiate deeper dialogue with them on issues of formal education in the Muslim community.
Something needs to be done to package education in a manner that it becomes attractive and relevant for the parents to send their children to school. All communication tools and folk media could be explored for the purpose. A section of teachers pointed out a concern that in certain villages with a more orthodox stance, such media like that of theatre or puppetry might go against their grain.
These notwithstanding,
Actions taken by us.
We are exploring with other experts in the field of music and literature to suggest some ideas for this. A preliminary field visit with some of them has been organized for the 28
th and 29th of October '99. We on our part are confident that it is definitely possible to exploit the religiously sanctioned (!) formats like that of Qawwalis and Naatia Qalaam's music to appeal to the sensibilities of the people. Our deeper interactions in the field on this subject shall enlighten us further.
Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand of Sabrang Communications in Bombay, who publish a monthly Communalism Combat and also run another initiative KHOJ, have been contacted. We were particularly interested in them after we heard of KHOJ and the issues that they tackle in interactive Workshops with children and teachers especially the ones related to the propagation of prejudices and intolerance through the curriculum – in it's design and delivery both. They have shown a keen interest and we are in touch. We shall be meeting them soon and we are sure something good shall come out of this dialogue.
particularly plan to conduct such programs for not only the 12 schools that we are working with but shall also invite participants from all other schools in the service area. We aim to instill a certain sense of rationality and meaning (or the lack of it – depends on which side of the issue are you!) in the present education. The participants would be better communicators and ones who would be more aware of their selves and thereby better human beings. It is basically a question of adding value to formal education.
A deeper sharing and learning from experiences of others involved in the Program for Enrichment of School Level Education (PESLE) program should be initiated. The schools of our project area should have a network of their own and should be connected to the wider one that of all PESLE schools across Districts and States.
Action taken by us.
We have initiated interaction with AKF and CEMD, to begin with, on the possibility of an exposure visit of a group of two people (Principal inclusive) from each school to the project areas of CEMD, Delhi.
We have also shared this request and concern with the people concerned of the Narsi Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai, when they visited us at our office in Ahmedabad recently. They have also shown a readiness to collaborate on the issue of initiating and/or strengthening such a network.
Intensive efforts should be made to involve the members of the MCs of these schools and special training programs should be held for them. These programs should inculcate in the participants a better understanding of issues of formal education and also an understanding of HR issues in the schools.
A major section of our participants at VISION – 2010 were disconcerted with the way they were treated by the members of the MCs. The teachers were of the view that the MC members many a times overstepped their briefs and could not see the differences between the issues of Governance and day to day administration. Many teachers were also critical of the in-school behavior of the MC members and the negative implications it had on the moral and administrative authority of the staff in the school. (This was the first time that they had all openly accepted this fact! We flatter ourselves to think that we are now trustworthy enough for them to talk like this!)
SEED should introduce innovative activities for children and parents. These should result not only in a development of a broader perspective of education that goes beyond that of (not) attending classes and passing/failing in exams but also give them a platform where they can express themselves without any fear of ridicule, ostracism or value judgements. Perhaps a wider network for these activities should also be explored.
Action taken by us.
Even we believe that education does not take place only in the confines of four walls of a school. The children have to get out of them and their social milieu once in a while to take roads not taken. We are in the process of organizing some such programs like health camps cum exhibitions and relevant cultural and games events. These however shall be actually taken up in the first quarter of year 2000.
have also been sanctioned a very small project by the National Environment Awareness Campaign for two small events on issues of environment around the homes of children. We would utilize this opportunity to introduce other interesting topics for the children.
sent two teachers who volunteered, one Ms. Yusuf Memon from Adarsh Vidyalaya of Basu and Ms. Nasim Pathan from City High School, to the orientation program on the upcoming National Children's Science Congress: 1999-2000 – an yearly event sponsored by the Dept. of Science and Technology Network. Under this program 24 selected teams of students and guide teachers from Gujarat State shall have an opportunity to participate in the National Children Science Congress for children at Goa during 27 –31 December 1999. The activities preceding this event include a Zonal and State competitions of student teams. Both the teachers are very enthusiastic about possibilities of their teams making it to the main event and they have initiated proceedings of forming their teams at the school and locality level.
Our interventions in these schools have to actually take a form of a 'movement' all over Gujarat. A movement not political in content and approach but one that has a bandwagon effect on other Muslim-managed institutions to join for effecting a qualitative change in the content and pedagogy of education being delivered in them.
The participants of the Workshop felt that they (the participant schools) are now together with SEED in making this a reality at their level but wider efforts shall need to be undertaken for the work and intentions to be visible. A long-term strategy along with the specific events would need to be planned out. They gave SEED the mandate to take initiative and they would chip in with whatever they could in terms of their resources – of time and persondays – to assist in scaling up the interventions, within the District and beyond.
