primary school teachers the twists and turns of ... - ERU Consultants

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Version 20 Oct 08, edited finalAt the policy level, when we looked at literature on teacher development we foundthat almost every conceivable issue had been covered. Every successive committeeand commission starts off by paying homage to the holistic approach of the 1968Kothari Commission. The history of recommendations since then is reiterated andanalysed. Other important milestones are invoked—Challenge of EducationDocument of 1985, the National Policy of 1986, the insightful analysis of theChhattopadhayay Commission of 1983, Yashpal Committee of 1993 on ‘learningwithout burden’ and, most recently, the focus group papers and the NationalCurriculum Framework (NCF) of 2005. Almost all this material is easily availableand accessible on the Internet; clearly a lot of effort has gone into compiling anduploading it.Yet, when we go beyond policy documents and commission reports, the twists andturns of everyday practice leave one wondering why there is so much talk and solittle action.In preparation for writing this booklet we travelled to five states (Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal and Rajasthan) that differ widely on a range ofindicators, whether economic, social, political, or educational. We read thesubstantial body of literature now available on different aspects of teachers’ lives andwork, and we also drew extensively upon our past professional experience. Wetalked to teacher educators and administrators at the state and district levels, metwith teachers and teacher union leaders, tried to engage in a dialogue with electedrepresentatives at the village level and spoke to researchers and educationists. Ourinitial set of questions was simple:• Who are teacher candidates, and how are they trained to become teachers?• Once appointed, what is expected of teachers? How do they view theirprofessional objectives and set about achieving them?• How is everyday practice in schools influenced by the relationship between theteacher and the education system as it manifests itself on the ground?This booklet is the result of our exploration. It is neither an academic text nor achronological account of teacher education policies; nor a comprehensive review ofeverything you always wanted to know about teachers in India. It is an attempt todescribe the context in which teachers teach and to identify and analyse some of thekey factors that shape their practice, while also looking at innovative strategies andinitiatives in both the government and the non-government sector that have tried toaddress the issues identified. A final chapter summarises the conclusions we arrivedat and pulls together the suggestions of people we met on how we might moveforward. Finally, we include a reference annexure to enable readers to readily referto the policies and programmes that are mentioned. This does not purport to be anexhaustive chronology of policies and programmes on teacher development in India,but is an attempt to collate available information for ready reference. An extensivebibliography is included for additional reference.8
Version 20 Oct 08, edited finalIIShe becomes a teacher!Meet Malati, just appointed as a regular school teacher in a rural two-teacherschool:Malati is 20 years old. She comes from a middle class family and lives in a smalltown. She completed Class 12 two years ago with 58 per cent marks and thenenrolled for a primary teacher-training course, which lasted one year. She decided tobecome a teacher because the salary is good and she likes being with children. Also,she wants to get married soon and feels that the hours are convenient—she will beable to look after her household duties also.Malati is among the lucky few to get a job as a regular teacher. She had hoped for aschool within her town, but is appointed to a rural district school about an houraway by bus. On her first day of school, Malati leaves home early to take a bus tothe village where her school is located, then walks from the bus stand to the school.As she nears the school her heart sinks. In front of her is a dilapidated two-roomstructure with broken windows. A few children playing in the playground strewnwith bricks, stones and garbage greet her and when she asks them where the teacheris, they tell her that he comes by the 10 am bus. She goes into the building, wherethere are no benches for children, the rooms are dusty and unkempt, and two chairslie in the far corner of the verandah. There is no water in the pot, no toilet anywherein sight and no sign of charts or books.Eventually, her co-teacher arrives. A middle-aged man who has worked in thisschool for three years, he has nothing much to say to her about how she should goabout her work, how she should manage a group of children from different classes inthe same room and, most importantly, what it is that is expected of her as a teacher.She is just asked to handle Classes 1-3: more than 60 children crammed into a dark,airless, colourless room. Nothing she had learnt in her teacher-training programmehelps her understand how to deal with this reality.She decides that she should get to know her students and tries to ask them somequestions. But only those sitting in the first few rows are paying attention. Thechildren at the back are talking among themselves and she worries that they aremaking too much noise. Confused, she decides that she ought to try to teach themsomething. So she leads them through a recitation of the alphabet, interrupted manytimes by her telling first one child then another to keep quiet, pay attention and sitdown. Somehow she gets through the day.Within a week of joining, Malati is informed that the textbooks have to be collectedfrom the local cluster office. She makes the journey hoping to meet other teacherslike her. When she reaches the cluster school she is handed a number of forms to fillbefore she can collect the books. Since she did not bring the data with her, shetrudges back to her school and returns four hours later with the registers. As shefills out the forms she notices that the official enrolment is far higher that what shehas seen so far. Brushing it aside, she picks up the books and notices that the one onEnvironmental Studies (EVS) is missing. The cluster resource centre (CRC)resource person tells her that he will inform her when the EVS books arrive.9
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