Site Visit to VTCL, June 10, 2005

I visited SVYM and VTCL (Viveka Tribal Center for Learning) on June 10. I took a bus from Mysore to Saragur (in HD Kote Taluk), where SVYM has built a huge hospital. From there I went in an SVYM vehicle to VTCL.

My real purpose in visiting was to meet with friends at SVYM and attend some of their meetings related to govt. school improvement. Dr. Balu, the coordinator of SVYM quite literally dragged me to VTCL so that the ‘site visit’ could get done, so that lack of a site visit would not come in the way of funds for next year …… I was happy to go to VTCL, I kept telling him that we trusted him and I did not need to go and physically see the school (I have visited it a few times before). I realized during the course of the visit how urgent the need for funds was, and how delays on our side really affected them, prompting Dr. Balu to try and minimize the delay ye insisting that I visit VTCL.

I was happy I did. I spent a pleasant morning there. Earlier I got to travel with Malathi, the headmistress of the school from Mysore to the school, which gave us a good opportunity to talk about the school.

The morning at the school: I will be brief here because I have gone through this all in other reports and during discussion of this project when we approved it. In summary the curriculum and nature of the school is very much tune with the tribal lifestyle; at the same time, there is a clear intent to help them become part of the mainstream (not at the lowest rung of the mainstream with only options of low paying jobs but as contributing members of society in a situations where their individual talents can best be utilized. (other tribal projects sometimes function differently).

The primary school has a very open architecture, which is where the children are most comfortable given the environment they are from. (by high school the school has regular structures). The teachers have picked up a bit of the tribal language so they can converse the children (they may not know much Kannada when they join 1^st standard (grade)). I sat in the 3^rd standard (grade) class for a bit, and the children switched back and forth with the teacher between the tribal language and Kannada. Children join the school at all classes, not just 1^st standard. So their levels of education of the children can be different within the same class. Each class can effectively thus have multiple groups. The teachers handle these ‘multi-grade’ classes by having groups of students, and having a student a leader for a group. The group learns with the help of this leader and the teacher knows what is happening in the various groups. Special techniques are used to help the student leader help the rest of the group.

I went through the labs and library at the high school (I think extra book donations for the library would be gladly received. If you know anyone in India wanting dispose off good books we should put them in touch with the SVYM). At the physics lab I saw some experiments that the students had put together themselves which were pretty cool. I met one of the students who was brilliant at art, who showed me some of his work. Malathi asked him whether he would give me one, and he said yes. But I was hesitant to take one, because he might miss them ….. though I really longed to bring one of the art works back with me.

It was an admission day at the school, and everyone was busy. Malathi said that several of the parents who had brought their children that day for admission were Yeravas (there are 4 tribes in the area – Yeravas, Jenukurubas, Kadukurubas, Soligas. Yeravas are the wealthier of the 4, meaning they are not the poorest – though they are not wealthy in the real sense. I believe they might be at the level of the some of the non-tribals in the area such as dalits. The point is the school has steadily gained a reputation, resulting in communities other than the poorest wanting to join the school).

On the way back from the school Malathi pointed out the white structures (houses) that the govt. had built in a tribal hamlet. But the tribals don’t like them and move out into their original houses nearby and use the govt. structure for storage, animals, etc. It is a very hard problem to ‘mainstream’ tribal people.

Conversation with Malathi: There had been some issues which we had wondered about when we discussed the project at Boston. I got clear answers to two of them.

(1) Pass rates at class X: Not all students start from class I (grade I) at the school. Some join in at class VIII. For example the day we were going to the school, we gave a father and son a ride in our vehicle, the son was going to join class VIII. He had been studying in a local govt. school till then. Given that, there are inevitably different levels of learning within a class. Poor teaching earlier cannot all be made up by the time of the class X exams …..

(2) What the children do after they finish class X: Earlier, a few years ago, we had heard that the children who went to Mysore for college were unhappy, perhaps a bit intimidated, and came back to their homes in the tribal hamlets. The non-tribal urban environment was alien to them. (Alternative local livelihoods had not succeeded that well either I believe). Recently, they have been having more success with children doing things after class X. First, they are sent to college in nearby towns, such as HD Kote, which are more rural, and closer to home. Second, they are exposed to the mainstream world during their school years through school trips to various cities, and by competitive sports. One of the issues had been that the tribal way of life was very harmonious, with a spirit of sharing, and very removed from the competitive way of life we are familiar with. The children could not adjust to the competitive way of life after school. Participating in district sports tournaments has helped alleviate that, I believe. At some level it is very sad that we have to tear them away their lifestyle, which could be said to be ‘better’ than ours and would probably lead to much less conflict than we have today in the world. But to be part of their mainstream, there is no other choice. It would be nice if we could learn from them instead of only them learning from us! Here are some more examples of what children are doing after school:

a. One of the girls is getting training at a institution focused on the montessori way of teaching. Classes are on Saturday in Bangalore, and the rest of the days are to be spent in a real classroom situation. The girl teaches at VTCL Mon-Fri, and goes to Bangalore on Saturdays.

b. Another student good in art (I wonder whether there is a reason why so many tribal students being good in art) has been taking up various assignments for painting pictures on govt. schools and other such jobs nearby.

c. One student took an interest in pottery and is undergoing training in Bangalore. He wants to stay on in Bangalore and perhaps run (or be part of ) a business for a while to learn about marketing and so on before thinking of starting something in the HD Kote area.

d. Malathi thought 2-3 girls might be interested in pursuing D.Ed (diploma in education).

e. There are not-so-successful cases as well of course – a girl and a boy at the school decided to get married and dropped out after class IX and are now laborers in the coorg estates. No amount of counselling helped there. Malathi thought some role models would help in the future.

(3) SVYM’s dream has been to have the tribals take over the running of SVYM in the future. They have been trying for to get admission for the tribal children into more advanced courses such as law (by getting a seat because of SVYM’s good standing, etc.). Maybe one day in medicine, who can help run the hospital.