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2.7: "India-Holland" - Page 8-8   |
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A REPORT from Chirala by N B V. SUBRAHMANYAM CHOICE INDIA -2004 A Report Introduction: I and our Institution I am N B V. SUBRAHMANYAM. I am a post graduate in Telugu (regional language) Hindi (national language) English. I have been running a school by name RAHUL PUBLIC SCHOOL in our area for 8 years. The methodology of teaching in our institution is non-conventional. We believe in the freedom of child and so our teaching process is child-centered. Our philosophy is 'Education for Reformation'. Our approach is humanistic. We impart the human values among children. So, we take up parents' motivation classes, field trips, Social service camps etc. apart from classroom teaching. As the tendencies in the society are different we are struggling to attract great number of children. Still, we are satisfied with the performance of our children in different activities. Presently the school has about 400 pupils and 25 teachers. Most of the children come from middle class and below middle class families. Dhyan visited our school. She interacted with the children quite a while. She noticed the children very assertive. She decided to do some thing for the school. In order to make us experience the teaching atmosphere or conditions in Humanist perspective in Holland, she invited us to the Netherlands through her organization APS and also with help of HIVOS. We were six in the group. Here, I present a short report of my experiences in this KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: We landed in Netherlands on 13th June 2004. We were given warm welcome by Dhyan at Schipol, Amsterdam. We were then taken to a hotel at Driebergen Zeist. Ellen van Euenen, secretary APS was leading us to the hotel. The hotel Hyde Park was located in an excellent place with lots of vegetation. It provided us tranquility. The first day was rest day for us. It did not had much time for us to get used to the climate and food habits of the new land. But the most strange thing for us to find the sun light till 10 pm! Our first encounter with the humanists was at the University of Humanistics. Four people were waiting there to welcome us to the meeting. The meeting commenced shortly and we introduced ourselves. The director of APS initiated the talk. The professor spoke about the need for setting up a University exclusively for Humanistics which is the first of its kind in the whole world. But we were surprised to know that no attempt was made to open Humanist schools. He told us that they were trying to create alternative counsellors in Hospitals, prisons where people generally seek the councelling of priests. This is what exactly should be done in Indian context. So, in India the Humanists and other progressive groups should act like a force group to convince the Government to set up such an alternative university. The professor told us that he had conducted much research into the values in education. He gave us a brief note of his research. I infer that education should play a major role in the case of values and social conventions. Citizenship should be one of the objectives of education. A teacher may attempt to influence value forming processes by actively participating in the interaction with students by creating specific learning environments and making certain choices in the subject matter on offer... It was a good session. As the speaker had a little time we could not share our field of action with him. Later a teacher from APS demonstrated a game for children on Human rights. It is a very effective way of making the children explore themselves. In the afternoon Wilma Henderikse from Van Doorne Huiskes gave a presentation on position of women in economic life based on United Nations Human Development Report. She told us that lower GDI is an indication of gender inequality everywhere. Women's share in the labour force is increasing worldwide. The Glass Ceiling is a world wide phenomenon. Attitudes towards women's employment, the legislation and the government policy, workplace characteristics etc. are some of the explanations for the gender divide in economic life. The life of women in India is worse. She has to handle with many issues. Still she is treated secondary. She is restricted and dominated by male. She is considered personal property. Humanists are very keen in this issue. We propagate the equality of women in economic and social life. The next day we visited a 'secondary school': the Varendonck. I noticed that the Technical education system in the Netherlands has students having a choice for selection either a skill development school or a high school after six years of primary school. After these preparatory schools they can end their study either at the industrial training institutes or polytechnics or at engineering colleges respectively. This will provide the nation a skilled labour force and technicians. I think structural changes are urgently needed in present technical educational system in India emphasizing on skill development for the less intelligent and engineering or university education for the more intelligent ones. On the next day of our tour we attended a workshop at APS on Heart Brain learning by Kees Blase. Kees explained how he evolved out a new method of reducing the stress of child's learning process. To tune the child's mind in the beginning of school sessions he introduced some what physical and mental exercises. It synchronizes students brain and heart (thought and brain ) and enhance coherence which results in improvement of learning skills or abilities of the child at all stages. The core of this process is joyful learning . I feel this is activating the child and a preparation for studies. It's need of the hour even in India where the child is made to sit before his desk stationary. In this situation he takes pleasure neither in learning nor in books. His mind is sunk. Such children remain passive, lazy and unproductive. Now, parents and school managements are realizing the importance of joyfull learning . Still the teaching is semi traditional. Like any evolutionary system, Indian education system is slowly evolving from its colonial origin. Kees explained us how he succeeded with some children and gave us some literature regarding his heart brain learnig. I look forward to exchange more ideas with him. A work shop on circle time was organized after noon. "Circle time" allows - in other words: encourages - a child to be democratic. It also improves his expression and makes him assertive. A trainer from EQ EE (Frits Roelofs) conducted this circle time. No doubt to say that student centered methodology empowers the child to blossom as a personality. So, school should be child friendly and a learning bower. Later, a teacher from APS spoke about moral teaching in schools of the Netherlands. He stated that moral teaching in schools is religion based and in Netherlands Humanistic Education is need not to be taken as non-religious. But in India as humanists we are definitely irreligious. We offer a thorough criticism of the fundamental principles and practices of all religions. Hinduism divides humans into as many as about 5000 caste groups, placing one above the other, thus forming the heirchical social system. Social equality is an unknown ideal to Hindu mode of thought. The post independent India has added the worst form of caste-consciousness among Hindus. Caste organizations and consequential inter-caste feuds shot up. Treating human as humans is non-traditional in India. Against this back ground Humanists have to work. So, we teach moral values aloof from religious doctrines. Dutch society is ahead of us. Religion is not in its fundamental form. It's personal affair. It is separated from politics. People are open and respect the ideas of others. Freedom of choice, dignity of labour, care for others etc. qualities are few factors for the progress of the society. We left the hotel where we had been staying and moved to a country side restaurant at Kalenberg. It's on the banks of a canal. We enjoyed rowing & biking. We went to a national park by boat through canals. We walked through the streets of Steenwijk on 17th July. Dhyan was telling us the significance of that particular part of the country where old fashioned castles stand graciously. After a variety lunch at a Chinese restaurant we were led to Ramswoerthe. Counsler Beattje told us exiting things about the local governance and history of RamsWoerth. Mr. Alderman Bert Kiers spoke about education in Steenwijkerland. The director of the 'Rijks Scholen Gemeenschap - RSG' presented his innovative project of international contacts - followed by experiences/case-studies of two students themselves. It provides exposure to new worlds to students. It is learning by experiencing. It's an excellent project. Then we visited the RSG. We came to know the senior secondary school system in Netherlands. We learned that the children of this stage learn one to fifteen subjects including vocational training. They provided us a complete picture of the RSG by power point presentation. On 18th we visited a primary school in Giethoorn. This is a marvelous place. We enjoyed the presence of kids first in our trip. We interviewed the teachers and tried to understand what is the curriculum. Interestingly, the primary school children learn every thing in their native language. So, they understand the basic concepts very well. But in India there is a lure of English Medium schools where children learn every thing in English which is the foreign language. It affects their learning process. The kids class is very lively. Kids are encouraged to do some creative craft work. By the time we entered the class, the children were carrying pretty presentations for their parents. Well, kids take pleasure in such activities. Every subject is taught with activity. Classes are well equipped with required study material and teaching aids. The picture of the school is still fresh in my mind. Treating children as independent humans is humanism. This is visible here. On Saturday 19th of June we participated in World Humanist Day Celebration held at Doorn. After the inauguration workshops on various topics were conducted. I took part in the work shop on Metropolis, a new institution to set up the contacts with the rest of the world to spread the message of Humanism. It is very timely response. We like to be associated with the activities of this organization. In the afternoon I attended the workshop on child labour. The discussion was very encouraging and a professor from the UVH presented her research about factors for child labour in India and urged HIVOS to pay special attention towards girl child labour. She emphasized that girls are neglected in many ways. They have to look after the household works, attend her youngest brother apart from attending school. This is indeed very worring: I completely agree with this opinion. The participants in the workshop came forward to help the HIVOS to eradicate child labour in India. We met several humanist activists from different parts of the world. We exchanged our ideas with them. On Sunday June 20th 2004 we visited Groningen. There we had a meeting with the humanist group in the humanist center. We exchanged educational situation in India and HVO in Groningen. The members of the center were very eager to hear from us. They expressed their willing to continue the exchange program in future in order to improve the sitution of education in India. Colourful paintings by primary school level children were exhibited. The theme was 'world citizenship'. They were very thought provoking. On Monday June 1st 2004 the last day of our trip we visited Giethoorn - a village of canals. It is really the Venice of the North. We went about the village. We saw a small industry of boat making. We met a professor in Agriculture College. He was very practical. He was practicing organic farming in the backyard of his house. He told us that they have developed a software for the farmers and gave us demo cd-rom's. With this unique trip our journey had come to an end. It proved the organizing skills of Dhyan. She materialized our dreams of exploring world humanism in education. I convey my heartful thanks to all my hosts at every stage of our trip. I am enthralled by their commitment. I was inspired by the humanist values of the people. It left indelible impression. Greetings from Chirala, India SUBRAHMANYAM European Network on Emotional Quality © 2002-2008 |