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Version 20 Oct 08, edited finalThus, despite years of government policy statements promoting education for all,school systems transmit exactly the opposite message. The words of teachersquoted above offer damning evidence of the failure of school systems to put intopractice what educational policy so ardently preaches. Rhetoric apart, teachers dowhat their day-to-day professional environment demands. The focus on rules ratherthan outcomes, the treatment of teachers as the bottom rung of government servantsand the absence of mechanisms for teachers to even discuss the reality of theirworking conditions, let alone develop solutions to local problems all contribute tothe attitude among many teachers that learning outcomes are not their responsibility;and that if poor or disadvantaged students do not learn, it is because of their own ortheir family’s shortcomings.Current trends suggest that many states have started holding teachers responsiblefor learning outcomes. Yet, as we have seen, they are given neither the tools northe support necessary to do so successfully. This puts enormous pressure onteachers and at the same time the way the system treats them ends up underminingtheir position in the school, their self-esteem and confidence.Some alternative modelsMany people engaged with education, especially with teachers, believe thatwherever teachers have the freedom to do things differently, when they have theconfidence to take decisions and when they are provided an environment in whichthey can actually break out of the mould that they have been cast in they do better,and more importantly, the children do better. 2 The first step to becoming anempowered teacher is to feel good about oneself and gain the confidence to reach outto knowledge and skills. They then take pride in their work, take decisions in theirown sphere and finally become their own critics.For most teachers in the country, these conditions do not exist. But there are, onceagain, islands of hope. The Activity Based Learning (ABL) programme in TamilNadu provides one such example.Box 2.4: How the ABL process transformed a teacherSN was part of a group that visited Rishi Valley (RV) in September 2003. The group wasexpected to pilot the ABL approach in Chennai Corporation schools on its return. Theystayed in the RV project (satellite schools) for five days, keenly observed the RV method andlearnt much from their interactions with teachers and children. SN recalls:- All children seemed to be engaged in learning—they were really learning, and it was nota show put on to impress us!- There were only 30 children to a teacher, and not more. We liked this (…) both childrenand teachers were doing work. They were also doing whole class activities…- No textbooks were present. On the other hand, each child had individual learningmaterials.- The classroom not only had a blackboard for the teacher, but for the children as well, allalong the wall. We found children using their own blackboards quite frequently forvarious activities.- There were six sub-groups of children. The groups were fully supported by the teacher2 Interviews with Dr. Krishna Kumar, Subir Shukla, Professor R. Govinda, Dr. Sharada Jain,Rohit Dhankar, Amuka Mahapatra, Krishnan Master and YAP Rao between February andJuly 200824
Version 20 Oct 08, edited final(two such groups); partially teacher supported; fully peer supported; partially peersupported and; self-supported. We learnt that the fully teacher supported groups existfor the first 2-3 months after schools reopen; after this, only four groups remain.Impressed by what it saw, the group returned to Chennai and went about the task of settingup similar ventures in their schools. Thirteen schools were chosen for the piloting of theprogramme. Four sub-groups were formed to prepare the ladder materials. They took threemonths to prepare materials for Grades 1 and 2, based on the competencies for these grades.Work in the classes and schools began a month following the RV visit Each school had twoteachers from the group that visited RV. The 13 schools were chosen in such a way so as toensure that the teacher-child ratio was not more than 1:30. Parents were also apprised ofthese developments. They even had a ritual of sorts to begin ABL in school—there was thelighting of candles and prayers were recited for the success of the new method!SN recalls that storage of materials was an issue to begin with. None of the 13 schools chosenhad facilities to store TLM in such a way as to enable children to access them easily. Overtime, storage facilities had to be created. More than anything else, it was the change inattitude of fellow teachers that SN recalls: ‘Gradually, other teachers in our school stoppedtalking with me and V (who was also part of the group that visited RV). They were afraid ofassociating with us, as they knew that what we were doing would eventually need to be doneby them as well. Nobody was prepared for this hard work! Some even tried to discourage us!’SN and V started their work in Grades 1 and 2. They created two mixed groups of 20 childreneach, from both the grades. As soon as they began, they faced a problem—over 70 per cent ofthe children in Class 2 were at Class 1 (or below) learning levels. So, the groups had to bereorganised, as only 6-7 children could be retained in the Class 2 group. After one week, boththe teachers found it very tiring. ‘There were too many children who were stretching us in asmany directions,’ SN remembers. ‘They were not working on their own with thecards…therefore the six groups had to be dissolved.’ For about two months, they reverted tothe original mono-grade arrangement.‘We wanted to take medical leave to escape this problem!’ he says. But as they went on, theyfound solutions. ‘Other teachers in the group, who had faced the same problems, hadmanaged to find solutions,’ says SN. ‘These solutions helped us, and peer sharing was veryuseful. We went back motivated. We came out more confident and self-assured. Our doubtsand despair were much less.’ After three months, both SN and V found that children hadstarted learning through this method. By the end of the year, many children moved back totheir Grade 2 levels.For the next academic year, the materials for Class 3 had to be prepared. Both the teachershad to also manage with children who were coming into Class 3 from classes that had notseen this approach the previous year. SN felt encouraged when one of the Class 3 teacherstold him, ‘The 20 students who came into my class from your Class 2, are far better than thosewho have come from other sections (…) at least they know the basics.’ This was like a shot inthe arm for SN and V.(Interviews with SN and V, May 2008).There are many instances where a strong social movement that involved teacherslike the MV Foundation campaign to end child labour in Andhra Pradesh or thepromotion of scientific temper in Kerala by KSSP or science education in MadhyaPradesh changed not only the self-perception of teachers but also the way they lookat their work. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, the teachers believed that theyshould end child labour and get all children into school; this conviction was evidentin areas where the MV Foundation had worked with teachers. During the tenure of aproactive State Programme Director and Secretary of Education, eradication of child25
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