Educating poor children in India: Why not?

The Governments, national and state, are caught between opposing political views, some wanting affirmative action for Dalits and others claiming equal access to all. Establishing Dalit Education Centres (DECs) is one non-government intervention. In providing schools, many children who would never have the opportunity to go to school are getting it. An education in English and a job can change the economic circumstances of a whole family.

It is into this social context that Elizabeth and I went to India to work voluntarily in one of the first DECs to have secondary students. Aware of the political and social contexts we had just one focus, learning - educating the children presented irrespective of their socio-economic background, religion or caste.

Getting started

We arrived for a one-week training period and during the training visited a slum on the outskirts of the city. It is in some of these areas and rural villages that DEC schools are started. Our group entertained the children and spoke with parents. The children were very keen to have their photograph taken and slowly the mothers with children and adult men wanted to see their image in a digital camera. This proved a very unifying activity for the community and provided some excellent photographs.

One man brought his father who was very old and I took his picture and showed it to him. His thanks were overwhelming and he kept grabbing and shaking my hand: I realised that no one had taken his picture before and this was the first time he had seen his image.

We shook hands with everyone who wanted to join in over and over again. It is an important sign of acceptance to Dalit people that we would touch them and embrace them in friendship. It was such a little thing, but so meaningful and symbolic.

We visited this community again later and I took my laptop to show them the photographs. They loved them to death - nearly my death, as I was swamped by about 20 children of various ages. Living in these communities children get used to fighting for what they want to survive the rigors of slum life, nonetheless the children were friendly and warm towards us.

This is the background to many of the children we were to teach. They were wonderful, non-pretentious children who accepted discipline and respected their teachers. They were not always well behaved, but they were always lovable.

The school

The school had classes from Lower Kindergarten to Class 9. Unlike many Indian schools, it had almost as many girls as boys. There was one class per year and class sizes ranged from 46 in Class 1 to 18 in Class 9. One class, Class 6, had a small storage room with one only small window and was without desks, otherwise students had classrooms and desks, although in the younger classes there were often three students to a double desk. Two new classrooms were under construction. The school had playing equipment, but the playground flooded during rain and took some days to dry. These facilities and conditions are common in India.

The students were drawn from the surrounding area and 80 per cent were Dalit, many from the poorest socioeconomic circumstances, including those from a village made of pipes (large 2m diameter faulty concrete pipes abandoned behind a factory) which was near the school. Of the remaining 20 per cent, some were Muslims and some were from lower caste families in similarly poor economic circumstances. All children paid a token school fee each term with the bulk of the school’s income coming from overseas sponsorship of individual children.

The teachers were dedicated: on top of teaching 5½ days a week, they often gave considerable out of school time to ensure students had all the benefits that the school could offer. A small room did multiple service; it was used by the Manager, the Principal, the office staff and as the teaching staff room and as a store room.

The school followed the state curriculum and testing program using published text books for students and other materials written to the examinations. It provided term reports, three a year, with percentage marks in each subject and position in class based on overall performance in all subjects.

Classes were organised so that Lower Kindergarten, Upper Kindergarten and Class 1 had a class teacher for most of the school week. Classes 2 to 9 had a basic daily timetable with the same subjects each period. The curriculum for Years 2-9 comprised daily lessons in Telugu, English, Hindi, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and some physical education alternated with other subjects in the additional period. Period 8 each day was set aside for students to do homework, for across class group activities and for general knowledge learning and practicing English.