Govt schools for community, not CSR- Article by Gurumurthy Kasinathan IT for Change

[ITFC-Venkatesh]

ಆತ್ಮೀಯರೇ,
ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಶಾಲೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಗುಣಮಟ್ಟದ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಮತ್ತು ಗುಣಮಟ್ಟದ ಮೂಲ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯ ಲಭ್ಯತೆಗಾಗಿ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಮತ್ತು ಸರ್ಕಾರೇತರ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳಿಂದ ಹಲವಾರು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಗಳು ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಲೇ ಬಂದಿವೆ.
ಕಂಪನಿಗಳು ಅಥವಾ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳ ಸಾಮಾಜಿಕ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ ನಿಧಿ (CSR) ಯ ಮೂಲಕ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಶಾಲೆಗಳಿಗೆ ನೆರವು ನೀಡುವ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಗಳಿವೆ. ಈ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಶಾಲೆಗಳಿಗೆ ನೆರವು ನೀಡುವಾಗ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಶಾಲೆಗಳ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆಗಳೇನು ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ಗಮನಿಸಿ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಶಾಲೆಗಳ ನಿಜವಾದ ಮಾಲೀಕರಾದ ಸಮುದಾಯ, ಸ್ಥಳೀಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಮತ್ತು ಇಲಾಖೆಯನ್ನು ಒಟ್ಟುಗೂಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ವಿಭಿನ್ನವಾದ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಖಾಸಗಿ ಸಂಸ್ತೆಗಳು ಹಾಗು ಎನ್.ಜಿ.ಓ ಗಳು ಶಾಲೆಗಳ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ದಿಗೆ ಶ್ರಮಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂಬುದರ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಲೇಖನ.
ಐಟಿ ಫಾರ್ ಚೇಂಜ್ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಗುರುಮೂರ್ತಿಕಾಶಿನಾಥನ್ ರವರ ಲೇಖನ ದಿನಾಂಕ 17.05.2016 ರಂದು ಆಂಗ್ಲ ದೈನಿಕ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಂಡಿದೆ. ಈ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಲಿಂಕ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಲೇಖನ ಓದಬಹುದು.

Source - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/546890/govt-schools-community-not-csr.html

Govt schools for community, not CSR

By Gurumurthy Kasinathan, May 17, 2016,

Recently, there was a news item about a corporate social responsibility (CSR) organisation adopting 16 government schools in Haryana. Adoption signifies the taking over of caregiving of a child who has no parent or guardian. It suggests inability of or abandonment by the primary caregiver.

And the popular impression of government schools is one of being abandoned; as places with non-working toilets and crumbling walls, where teachers are insensitive to students’ needs and where children may be going primarily for the free mid-day meals, uniforms and textbooks; but where no meaningful learning activity happens. 

School adoption by a wealthy corporate may be seen by education bureaucrats as a means of getting funds to repair and renew infrastructure and of disciplining errant teachers with business sector methods. However, school adoption ignores a vital fact; that schools are not forsaken, they ‘belong’ to the local community in which they are located. The community is the primary custodian and the recipient of the school’s services. 

Education policy in India, including the Right to Education (RTE) Act, treats School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMCs) of parents and other community members as the primary decision-making body for the school. Hence, giving away the school for adoption, when its ‘guardians/owners’ are around, is absurd.

The term government school gives an impression of the government being the ‘owner’ of the school. Instead, it needs to be seen as the ‘trustee’ of the school, supporting school development on behalf of the local community, making decisions in consultation with them, and in their broader interests. 

This requires a perspective change in government officials. As a commissioner of Public Instruction in Karnataka said, “The Samudayadatta Shaale (periodic meeting of the parents and teachers in government schools) is seen by officials as a government programme which seeks community participation, rather it needs to be seen as a community programme with government participation.† 

If the community is the guardian and the government the trustee of the school, corporates, CSRs, NGOs can only be participants supporting the school’s development. In 2012, the Karnataka Knowledge Commission and the education department, launched a programme of school nurturing – Shalegagi Naavu Neevu – with this sentiment. 

Any individual or institution interested in supporting a school could enter into a tripartite deal with the school (represented by the SDMC) and the education department (represented by the block education officer). The supporting entity could not arrogate any authority from ownership, or from money power. 

Giving authority to a private entity to manage a government school affects the critical parameter of local accountability. Wh-ile the community can seek accountability from a government- managed school, private managements can keep them at bay. 

Deficit model
Besides the philosophical challenge, such adoptions often derail the school’s functioning, taking away valuable time of teachers and students for unclear activities. In the paradigm of abandonment and adoption, the adopting institutions bring in a ‘deficit model,’ they believe that government schools are dysfun-ctional and need to be ‘set right’. 

The solution could be curricular content that the initiator has, teacher training, a toilet or a laboratory that needs to be built, with the plaque of the initiating institution prominently displayed – whether the school wants any of this, or not. There is inadequate or no effort to understand the challenges and difficulties of the schools, and resp-ond with appropriate solutions.  

As the headmaster of a government high school in Adugodi, Bengaluru, said, “Every one wants to build toilets in my scho-ol, I already have enough. What the school wants is maintenance support for the toilets, towards the cost of consumables and labour to keep the toilets usable†. But institutions which are willing to spend lakhs on creating unwanted infrastructure are not willing to spend thousands on consumables, there being no possibilities to embed plaques. 

Yes, government schools could do with more funding. School infrastructure need renewal. Teacher training and performance management need to be considered, but these are complex processes. Community participation needs to be enhanced, but this is diametrically opposed to the adoption model.  

The government high school in Domlur, Bengaluru, has been preparing its own school development plan for years now, cle-arly recording its support requ-irements. The requirements are identified by the teachers along with the SDMC, and shared in an annual meeting with parents, community members, local philanthropies and CSRs. 

Any support that anyone wants to provide must respond to specific items in this plan. The school is planning its destiny, and inviting collaboration and support, not passively waiting to be adopted. As Lilla Watson, an aboriginal activist stated: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together†.

(The writer is the Director, IT for Change, an NGO working with government high schools across Karnataka)/

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Gurumurthy Kasinathan | Director
IT for Change
(In special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC)
91-80-26654134 | 91-9845437730
Email:gu...@itforchange.net

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[ITFC-Venkatesh]

ಆತ್ಮೀಯರೇ,
ಎಸ್.ಎಸ್.ಎಲ್.ಸಿ ಫಲಿತಾಂಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಗಳ ಸ್ಥಾನಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ  ಏರಿಕೆಯಾಗಲು ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಮೇಲಿರುವ ಒತ್ತಡ ಹಾಗು ಫಲಿತಾಂಶ ಏರಿಕೆಗಾಗಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವಿಭಿನ್ನ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳು, ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಫಠ್ಯೇತರ ಕಾರ್ಯಗಳ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಐಟಿ ಫಾರ್ ಚೇಂಜ್ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಗುರುಮೂರ್ತಿಕಾಶಿನಾಥನ್ ರವರ ಲೇಖನ ದಿನಾಂಕ 17.05.2016 ರಂದು ಆಂಗ್ಲ ದೈನಿಕ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಂಡಿದೆ. ಈ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಲಿಂಕ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಲೇಖನ ಓದಬಹುದು.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/553435/pressure-teachers-improve-rankings.html

Pressure on teachers to improve rankings

By Gurumurthy Kasinathan, 21 June 2o16, DHNS

The head masters (HMs) of government high schools in Bengaluru South were largely a disheartened lot when SSLC results were declared last month. The district had been ranked 30 out of 34 in the state, in terms of students’ pass percentages.

The enormous pressure year after year to “improve” rankings have made HMs and teachers war-weary. As the academic year begins, it is time to explore what could be different for teachers and students. What  they need to do, seems elusive to fix. Instead we could begin with something easier: what they should stop doing.

In our work with the government high schools across Karnataka, we found that teachers put in huge efforts towards high SSLC pass percentages. Class 10 students are required to be in school beyond school hours every day, and on Sundays and holidays, for “extra studies.”

There is no teaching, no interaction or peer learning here, students simply sit together with a book in their hands. Most staff rooms even display a chart assigning teachers for supervising such “extra studies”.

Every free period in class 10 is handed over to the mathematics or science teacher. As the academic year progresses, the HMs also hand over periods allocated to non-examination subjects like physical education, music, art, craft to enable ‘covering’ the syllabus in time. The drill gets to the next level in January, when teachers bring out ‘pass packages’ with questions likely to be asked in the examinations; focusing on students’ memorising ready-made answers. Names like ‘target 40’, ‘target 60’ of these packages suggest the percentage students can get, if they can mug their content.

The drill progresses with preparatory examinations. While I remember writing one preparatory examination, before my SSLC exam decades ago, today three such preparatory examinations are commonplace. Even if teachers are skeptical, they are forced by HMs and the department to drill. The lower your district is on the rankings, the greater the pressure to drill.

The result of this intense and prolonged effort is visible in the tired, dull and blank faces of students. Even earlier, learning may not have been a joy for many, Class 10 is positively a torture. With no time to unwind, or play, or reflect on their learning, students switch off. The fear of failure takes over, alienating students further; attested to, by the suicide stories we hear around examination failure.

Educational wisdom, discussed in policy documents as the National Curricular Framework, 2005, emphasises that learning requires a stress free environment, where students can engage actively with the cla-ssroom processes and connect these to real life, going beyond merely acquiring bookish facts.

Karnataka has formally adopted this Curricular Framework as state policy, yet practices on the ground described earlier, have not changed. For this policy to become effective, teachers must have autonomy to decide on the content and method of transaction, to make it useful and accessible to learners. As a teacher educator suggested pithily, “let teachers discover the syllabus, not cover it”.

Building foundational skills
It is also useful to understand what SSLC passing means. In Bengaluru, half the passing students, barely get through with a C or C+ grade. The HMs report that many who pass are unable to even write a letter requesting for their transfer certificate, required for college admission. SSLC has failed in its objective of building foundational skills of learning and communication in students.

The HMs are treated by the department as extension staff, and enrolled for activities and meetings, most of which take them out of school. Every month, HMs attend many meetings called by district and block education offices. Sometimes it is to share information, which could simply have been emailed. In many cases, a short interaction of an hour or two can waste their entire day.

During 2014-15, the Bengaluru South HMs reported that they were involuntarily out of school for 30% of working days, performing activities such as unaided schools inspections, assessments, visits etc.

The impact of this on school academic performance is beyond imagination. The HMs need support and resources to develop as school leaders, and stop being ‘department personnel.’ Perhaps the RTE Act, which limits non-teaching activities of teachers, needs to be amended to stipulate that school leaders must not be co-opted for activities that have no connection with their primary responsibility - school development.

The education system requi-res schools to maintain a large number of registers and records without adequate administrative or technology support. A peek into a staff room is likely to reveal at least one teacher manually filling in registers or preparing reports.
It is time to seriously review these practices for their negative impact on student experiences and academic outcomes. Surely, we cannot repeat practices that cause failure and expect results to improve. Less is more, is a les-son for most government high schools in Karnataka, not only for those in Bengaluru South.

(The writer is Director, IT for Change, an NGO that works with government high schools in Karnataka, and a visiting faculty at Tata Institute of Social Sciences)

[ITFC-Venkatesh]

ಆತ್ಮೀಯರೇ,
ಎಸ್.ಎಸ್.ಎಲ್.ಸಿ ಫಲಿತಾಂಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಗಳ ಸ್ಥಾನಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ  ಏರಿಕೆಯಾಗಲು ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಮೇಲಿರುವ ಒತ್ತಡ ಹಾಗು ಫಲಿತಾಂಶ ಏರಿಕೆಗಾಗಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವಿಭಿನ್ನ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳು, ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಫಠ್ಯೇತರ ಕಾರ್ಯಗಳ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಐಟಿ ಫಾರ್ ಚೇಂಜ್ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಗುರುಮೂರ್ತಿಕಾಶಿನಾಥನ್ ರವರ ಲೇಖನ ದಿನಾಂಕ 21.06.2016 ರಂದು ಆಂಗ್ಲ ದೈನಿಕ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಂಡಿದೆ. ಈ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಲಿಂಕ್‌ನಲ್ಲಿ ಲೇಖನ ಓದಬಹುದು.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/553435/pressure-teachers-improve-rankings.html

ವೆಂಕಟೇಶ್ ಟಿ ಗೌಡ Venkatesh T Gowda |
Programme Associate | IT for Change

(In special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC)

91-80-26654134 |  9945147359 | Fax 91-80-41461055
Email: venk...@itforchange.net
Blog: http://geluvejeevana.blogspot.in/
ಕಲಿಸೋಣ, ಕಲಿಸುತಾ ಕಲಿಯೋಣ, ಕಲಿಯಲು ಕಲಿಸಲು ತಂತ್ರಜ್ಞಾನವ ಬಳಸೋಣ, ಹೊಸ ಹೊಸ ಜ್ಞಾನವ ಪಡೆಯೋಣ...
“Let children be children,” “The work of a child is to play,” and “Children learn best through play.”/

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Posted by: ITFC-Venkatesh <venk...@itforchange.net>

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