THE BEGINNING OF AN EXPERIMENT IN EDUCATION

When all around, builders and the Lucknow Development Authority have
taken possession of land and are in a race to erect more and more modern
housing establishments, it is difficult to believe that there could be a
village just 60 kms. from the city where all houses are still made of
mud. Lalpur village of the Lalpur-Banjra duo inhabits about 40 families
of Arakh and Raidas communities, the latter being SCs. Except for a few
Indira Awas Yojna rooms, which are used as store rooms or stand as mere
showpieces in the name of ‘housing,’ the villagers, like majority of
socially-economically weaker population in the area, still use unbaked
mud bricks to build nice houses for themselves. Most of these people
earn their livelihood by working as daily wage workers in the brick
kilns in the area, obviously meant for the more affluent.

With about two thirds of the land belonging to the village in the hands
of outsiders, most of the families have to seek additional occupation as
labourers. The small pieces of land that they possess, if they do, are
not enough to sustain their families. They have to, at times, steal the
firewood. At times of financial crisis they run to Lucknow to do some
odd job to tide over. In the name of modern development, besides the
above-mentioned few Indira Awas Yojna houses, the village proudly
displays an India Mark II handpump, which does not always function as it
is designed to. The village is bereft of any education, health and
electricity facilities, although a power sub-station is less than a km.
from the village on the Malihabad-Atrauli main road. The wires from this
sub-station going in various directions bypass this village because
there is nobody politically or economically powerful enough to get the
wires stretched to Lalpur.

As a local Assistant Development Officer quoted, the government
development schemes are being cornered by the people who are politically
influential. In fact he goes so far as to say that all the applicants
for the ‘Swarnajayanti Rojgar Yojna,’ a government self-employment
scheme, apply for loan to buy buffaloes with the intention of not
returning it. ‘Such schemes are like ‘contagious diseases’ and are no
good for development of people,’ says he from his experience. In the
local Tehsil headquarters in Sandila several people can be seen behind
bars for defaulting on loan re-payment. However, upon inquiry it turns
out that all of them are only small fishes. They owe in the range of Rs.
1000 to Rs. 10,000, to the government. Whereas, none of the ten big
defaulters, whose names have been painted in red on a big long board
outside the Tehsil building and who owe in lakhs of rupees, are to be
seen in the lock-up. Incidentally, all these ten are either Brahmins or
Thakurs, whereas the ones inside the lock-up are mostly backward and
scheduled castes. Quite clearly, being higher up on the caste and class
ladder makes it is easier to obtain favours from the government
officials.

A novel experiment in education is about to begin in the village
Lalpur, courtesy an organization called Asha. Several classes have
already been held. The process of education has begun without any
classroom or blackboard. Their first lesson was on solar energy. Most of
the villagers got to see for the first time a solar lantern and a solar
cooker. Devlal, who used the solar cooker on the first day was
enthusiastic about the fact that you could cook food without having to
burn fire or worry about the smoke. In a meeting held in the night, with
the villagers sitting around the solar lantern, they discussed the
possibility of using solar energy to light the entire village. With
plenty of cattles in the village, there was also potential for using
bio-gas for lighting or cooking purpose. They also wondered whether some
gram sabha land could become available to them collectively for growing
trees to take care of their firewood needs, as they didn’t individually
have that kind of land.

The children had gathered in the evening in one of the verandas of a
house in the village. They were extremely enthusiastic about the
visitors who were going to bring education right to their doorstep.
Presently they have to go to the next village to attend school and not
all of them are able to go. Their first class was on singing. They sang
joyful songs happily. At the end of their first class, which lasted less
than an hour, they were assigned the home work of making clay balls and
other toys.

Next time when they got together their training in three Rs too began.
But without any books and notebooks. They learnt counting using the tiny
clay balls, of marble size, which they had duly prepared. Reverse
counting was also done to ensure that they were merely not memorizing
the number sequence. Then they counted several balls at a time to make
multiplication tables. The school has taken off. The children had also
brought beautiful, some coloured, toys made out of clay excersizing
their creativity and imagination to the most. The classes went on only
till they were interested in them.

Now they also get to play football before the classes begin. And they
are also doing origamy in order to develop dexterity of their fingers.
Needless to say that they like what is going on. They come with their
little brothers and sisters. Sometimes the elders, who usually stand a
slight distance away as curious observers, also join in the fun or start
helping the teachers instinctively. Although, some of the older citizens
have doubts. And for good reasons. They have never seen such unruly
school where none of the children care about any discipline or stand in
awe of their teachers. ‘How are you going to teach this naughty bunch
without using a stick?’ asks Reoti Ram, the most respected man in the
village.

But the children love their new school and the teachers. They take all
the liberties with them. They look forward to the next time their
‘bhaiyas’ would come to the village, as the team of teachers has not
started staying in the village permanently yet. When the teachers leave
the village the children usually go to see them off to the main road,
more than a kilometre. It has also got to do with fascination of the
children with the vehicles that the teachers use to come to their
village. They are ever ready to take a ride on these vehicles.


By Sandeep
Address: A-893 Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016, U.P.
Phone: (0522) 347365; E-mail: ashain@l...