... for they have their own thoughts - Multiworld India

322005 Goa, IndiaIf we are designing themethodology, thenwhat is alternativeabout this? If it has tobe truly alternativethen it should involvethe family in childcentred education.Education that comesfrom living and lifeoutside the wrap ofclassroom,methodology andcurriculum isalternative. The childshould create its owncurriculum, life andinterests.GOPALAKRISHNAN AND VIJAYALEKSHMIClaude Alvares: Sarang had to close because it raninto financial trouble. Do you still think that it’s agood idea to revive it in a place like Attapadi,Kerala?Vijayalekshmi: Definitely! We were teachers in Governmentschools, we quit, and started Sarang. Wehave the experience and background. Sarang wasnever a conventional school and never will be.Gopalakrishnan: Our ultimate aim is no schooling.But it is a far away target. Learning is part of onesreal life but schools compartmentalise and separateit. This should not be the case. Children learn fromtheir environs. School has now begun to mean alocation, building, furniture etc.V: Schools treat children as boys and girls, segregatethem at the nursery stage and condition them withdefined ideas. Part of our curriculum was to mergeall distinctions and let children participate in allchores related to everyday living.CA: People generally would like to conform to a setsystem. Does this not come in the way of experimentingwith a new idea.G: Generally people of Kerala are well informed andpolitics and public events are discussed in mosthouseholds. But recently, the Government of Keralabanned politics in the colleges and schools. This wasa very dangerous thing to do. Our country is said tobe a democracy. But in reality, we are not a democraticcountry. Power is concentrated in the handsof a minority. This is repeated everywhere, in thefamily, in the classrooms, in the offices, in everyinstitution in the country.V: If we take a particle of water, it should show thequality and nature of water. Similarly even thesmallest units of society should be democratic innature. Families are the micro particles of society.The offices and institutions are the molecules. Sodemocracy should start from the family and classrooms.Otherwise, even after another thousandyears we will not be a truly democratic people. Thatmeans democracy should start from the family itself.The relationship between the members of the familyshould be democratic. The work should be balanced.We may talk about democracy but inpractice the father is the dictator in the family,teacher is the king of the classroom and headmaster is the emperor of the school. How can therebe democracy? This is not education. It is mereliteracy. Education is something more meaningfuland related with real life. So the curriculum shouldinclude everything related with real life. That is thekind of school and curriculum we have in mind.CA: Tell me what should a child do? You know theeconomy is very powerful. It is offering young childrenthe dream of luxury and comfort like cars, style,fashion and all sorts of things. They have managedto successfully put these ideas into the minds of theyoung children that if you want all these goodies,then you have to go through this schooling systemand you must get 95%, you must get eventually intoa renowned college and only then will you get theso called successful job and then the world will be atyour feet. This is becoming the driving force forparents to push their children more andmore…go…go…learn more.G: A train is a fantastic thing. There is efficiency,comfort, it can carry so many people, and it is big.But it has one major disadvantage. It needs a rail tomove. Without a rail it is useless. If this rail collapses,the train also collapses. This is what our schools are.We are pushing children through a rail of directions.We see it as very good. But the fact is, withoutthis rail the train won’t move. If we bring up childrenin freedom, they will develop their own balancedmode of life.When we take children out they see and learnfrom life itself and see for themselves that there areother facets to life. This is part of education. Childrenwho get this exposure may consider a lifestyle that ismoderate and in the interest of common concerns.