1 Education in India
2 The schools
3 Findings from the country study
1.1 Elementary education
1.2 Karnataka state
1.3 Education in Mysore district
India, a union of 25 states and 7 union territories spread over 3,287,269 km2, is a parliamentary democracy with a federal structure. The Indian constitution which came into force on 26th January 1950 provides the basic legal framework for governance. India is the second most populous country in the world with 846.3 million people (1991 census) accounting for 16% of the world population. More than 74% of the population lives in rural areas and the majority are poor.
India was under colonial rule until 1947. During this time it had inherited an educational system that had become totally irrelevant to the lives of the people. Almost 50 years after independence, it is still struggling to realise the goal of an indigenous educational system. Basic education was one of the important goals of the freedom movement and Mahatama Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, even while leading the epic struggle against colonial power, advocated the adoption of an educational system that centred around agriculture, spinning and other forms of socially relevant productive work.
Article 45 of the Indian Constitution enjoins that "the state shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of this constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years". Over the last few decades the country has seen an increase of spatial spread, infrastructure, and increased coverage of various social groups. However, the goal of redeeming this constitutional pledge continues to be elusive.
The elementary education 1 system in India is the largest in the world (Figure 1)
1 The period of compulsory education from standard I to standard VIII is known as elementary education as illustrated in Figure 1.
In 1994/95, 149 million children, aged 6 to 14 years, were enrolled in primary and upper primary schools, accounting for 82% of the country's population of school age children. Primary schools within a walking distance of 1 kilometre are available to 95% of the rural population, 84% have upper primary schooling facilities within a walking distance of 3 kilometres. Of the total number of children enrolled in school at the primary stage, only 42.8% are girls. Current retention rates are 62% at the primary and 47% at upper primary stage.
With reference to most indicators of educational development - literacy levels, enrolment of school going age children, access, quality of facilities, participation and learning achievement - there are differences between states and within states across regions, gender, rural/urban populations and social classes. Nearly half of the country's illiterates live in the four low literacy and high population states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In these states it is estimated that only one third of 6 -14 year old children attend school. The current rate of adult literacy is 52% but only 40% of women as against 64% men are literate. Rural female literacy is half the rate of urban female illiteracy and 70% of non-enrolled children are girls.
1.1.1 National Policy on Education (NPE)
A major development in education in the past decade was the adoption of a new national educational policy in 1986. The NPE rightly identified universalisation of primary education; education of women and the disadvantaged; emphasis on the acquisition of minimum learning levels; and, vocationalisation of education, as its major thrust areas. Specifically, the following targets are fixed for the eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97):
1. Universal enrolment of all children including girls and those from schedule castes (SC) and schedule tribes (ST);2. A primary school for all children within a distance of 1km; non-formal education facilities and priority for the education of the girl-child;
3. Increasing the ratio of the primary school to upper primary school from the existing 1:4 to 1:2;
4. Reducing the drop-out rates from the existing 46% (I-V) and 60% (I-VII) to 20% and 40%;
5. Achievement of minimum learning levels by almost all children at the primary level and introduction of this concept at the upper primary stage.
Figure 1: Structure of Education in India
1.1.2 Education for All (EFA)
Education for All continues to be the focal point of current endeavours in education. To achieve EFA a two-pronged strategy of universalising adult literacy and universalisation of elementary education (DEE) in a mutually supportive manner are being followed. EFA in the Indian context implies expansion of early childhood care and education (ECCE) activities; DEE; reduction in illiteracy; provision of continuing education and skills training for neo-literates; empowerment of women; improving the content and process of education to better relate it to the environment; and enhancement of people's ability to learn and cope with problems of livelihood and environment. Current strategies to achieve the goal of EFA are based on a broader functional view of education. That is, providing a wide diversity of learning opportunities and a dynamic, cumulative, lifelong process which applies to all people but lays special stress on girls and those from disadvantaged sectors of society. The strategies include:
· a large, systematic programme of non-formal education with quality comparable to formal education;· linkages between ECCE, primary education, adult literacy, post literacy and continuing education;
· forging an alliance of teachers, NGOs, voluntary agencies and community to further the cause of elementary education;
· professional upgrading of teachers.
1.1.3 Strategies for the Universalisation of Elementary Education
Specifically, the strategies for UEE include:
· a disaggregated approach with focus on the preparation of district specific, population specific plans through micro-planning involving people's participation;· introduction of Minimum Learning Levels (MLL) in schools to improve learner achievement;
· strengthening alternatives to schooling;
· convergence of different schemes of elementary education and related services;
· improving teacher competence.
The country has launched several major initiatives during the past few years to achieve UEE. Operation Blackboard is one such project whose aim is to provide all rural primary schools with essential facilities like classrooms, blackboards and other basic equipment. More than 300 Navodaya Vidyalayas (special schools) have been set up in rural areas throughout the country. They seek to provide good quality education to talented children from the rural areas and the disadvantaged population groups, virtually free of cost. Implementation of pre-vocational and vocational programmes and generous financial allocation for the purpose is also a major action that has been taken to impart to education a relevance to contemporary social life. Non-formal education programmes for school dropouts, working children and girls who cannot attend formal schools have been established. Teacher training has been strengthened through programmes such as the Special Orientation Programme for Primary Teachers (SOPT). District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) have been established to provide training and resource support for primary teachers in all districts.
1.1.4 District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)
Another major development is the District Primary Education Programme with its emphasis on decentralised and participative planning and management, capacity-building and integrated, locally relevant curriculum. The goals of the DPEP are: to reduce differences in enrolment dropout and learning achievement among gender and social groups to less than five per cent; to reduce overall primary dropout rates for all pupils to less than 25% over measured baseline levels; to ensure achievement of basic literacy and numeracy competencies; and to achieve a minimum level of 40% in other competencies by all children. DPEP is currently being implemented in 42 low female literacy districts in 7 states and the objective is to cover 110 districts by the end of the eighth plan. DPEP is supported with loans from the World Bank, European Commission and the Department for International Development (UK).
1.1.5 Towards decentralised management of education
National parliament as well as state legislatures have concurrent legislative powers on education but the executive powers remain with the states who are primarily responsible for the development of education, especially universalisation of elementary education. Within a state there is generally a four tier structure of administration - region/zone/range, district, taluka/block/mandal, and village. Traditionally the district has been the most important unit of administration and planning.
Under Panchayati Raj, a three tier structure of local self government in rural areas at the village, block and district levels exists in many states. Two landmark constitutional amendments were recently enacted which bestowed on the local bodies in rural and urban areas constitutional status and specific functions including provision of primary education. Accordingly village education committees (which are sub-committees of gram panchayats) have been constituted to promote decentralised management of education. The recommended roles and functions of the Village Education Committees (VECs) include:
· supervision over adult education, early childhood care and education, non-formal and primary education;· generation and sustenance of awareness among the community, ensuring participation of all segments of population;
· promotion of enrolment drives;
· reduction of dropouts in primary schools by initiating measures and services (e.g. mid-day meal programme);
· assisting in smooth functioning of primary schools;
· seeking support of teachers and others for educational and other linked health and welfare programmes;
· mobilising resources and helping schools through the provision of water supply, sanitation, playgrounds;
· preparing plans for development of education in the village to attain total adult literacy and UPE;
· co-ordination with other social service departments.
1.1.6 Curriculum Reform
Designing a curriculum that is responsive to the diverse needs and aspirations of the people has remained a major challenge for Indian education. The experiments to develop such a curriculum began with the Basic Education scheme of Mahatma Gandhi in the early thirties. The scheme accorded a central place to productive work (usually agriculture, spinning) around which other subjects constituting general education were to be taught to the learner by correlating them with the craft. After the country became independent, the efforts to develop a curriculum that is socially relevant continued and several large curriculum research projects, most of them supported by UN specialised agencies, were launched. All those projects, in their own way, aimed at the development and implementation of decentralised, target group specific curricula, built around real life needs.
A major outcome of the NPE (1986) is the framework for a national curriculum for elementary education (NCF). The NCF recommended a common scheme of studies with core contents and a common ten year structure of school education. It highlights common core components for the promotion of: national identity; flexibility in the selection of content and learning experiences; emphasis on defining minimum learning outcomes for each area of learning at all stages; adoption of child-centred, activity-based approaches in curriculum transaction; and, continuous comprehensive evaluation. One outstanding achievement is that the NCF triggered curriculum research and development activity in the states on an unprecedented scale. The NCF highlights basic issues in curricular reform which are necessary to improvement the quality of schools, for example, MLLs, activity-based teaching, continuous evaluation, and flexibility to meet learner's needs. These issues will continue to inform and influence curriculum thinking and practice in the country for years to come.
Another recent significant contribution to curriculum thinking and practice is a report by the National Advisory Committee on Curriculum Load (1993) titled 'Learning without burden'. The committee was to advise on the ways and means to reduce the load of the curriculum, particularly on young school pupils, while improving the quality of learning including capability for life-long, self-learning and skill formulation. In its analysis of the problem the committee has drawn attention to the deeper issues underlying the problem and in particular: neglect of understanding (as against ability to reproduce information in examination) as an aim of education; the centralised character of curriculum planning and textbook production; a poor grasp amongst teachers of their role as translators of the curriculum into classroom activity; non-interactive teaching; convention of teaching from the textbook; competition based social ethos; and the craze for English medium education.
The Committee's recommendations included decentralisation of curriculum planning and textbook preparation and increased involvement of teachers in these tasks. A major positive outcome of the report has been the need to adopt an attitude of 'joyful learning' and to reduce the academic burden as national guidelines for curriculum and textbook revision.
Karnataka is the eighth largest state in India in terms of area (191,791 km2) and population (44,977 million). It is situated on the Western edge of the Deccan plateau and opens out on the west to the Arabian sea. The state is predominantly rural and agrarian. About 70% of its population lives in rural areas and 65% of its total labour force is engaged in agriculture and allied activities which generate about 49% of the state income. Karnataka accounts for 59% of the country's coffee production and 47% of ragi production. Rice, jowar, millet, groundnut, sesame and sugarcane are some of the major crops grown. Kannada is the official language of the state is spoken by more than 65% of the people. Selected indicators of quality of life in Karnataka are given in Table 1.
Table 1: Selected Indicators of Quality of Life in Karnataka
|
Indicator |
Unit |
1981 |
1991* | |
|
Birth rate |
per thousand persons |
28.3 |
26.8 | |
|
Death rate |
per thousand persons |
9.1 |
9.0 | |
|
Life Expectancy |
|
|
| |
|
|
males |
years (1981-88) |
59.8 |
55.9 |
|
|
females |
years (1981-88) |
62.4 |
55.9 |
|
Infant mortality |
per thousand |
69.0 |
77.0 | |
|
Literacy rate |
per hundred |
46.21 |
56.04 | |
|
|
males |
58.73 |
64.13 | |
|
|
females |
33.17 |
39.29 | |
Source: Mahajan et al, 1994
* provisional (all India rates)
1.2.1 Education in Karnataka State
The educational structure in Karnataka (Figure 2) consists of four years of lower primary, three years of higher primary and three years of high school or secondary education. The state has registered significant progress in the development of elementary education with respect to facilities, enrolment levels and teachers. The total enrolment at primary level was 7.478 million (5.117 million boys and 2.361 million girls) in 1994. In 1991, 28% of teachers in lower primary and 39% of teachers in higher primary schools were women. The required pre-service training for elementary teachers is the Teachers Certificate Higher (TCH), a certificate course of two years duration taken after 12 years of schooling; 95% of the teachers are trained. In 1990/91, the number of pupils per teacher was 46 (all India 42) and 54 (all India 37) at the primary and upper primary stages. Karnataka has a literacy rate of 56% (67% male, 44% female) and this is above the national average of 52%. Drop out rates in classes I to IV are 36% for boys and 37% for girls (all India 35% and 38% respectively) (1994/95).
To promote enrolment and attendance of children and prevent drop-outs, especially amongst children from SC/ST and backward classes, the Karnataka government implements several incentive schemes. Free uniforms are given to SC/ST children studying in government schools from classes I to V. Under the Akshaya and Vidya Vikasa schemes free textbooks are supplied to all children in primary schools. Under the Akshaya Food scheme, primary school children are provided with 3 kilos of rice or nutritious processed food for every twenty days of attendance (classes I to V). This encourages parents to send pupils to school, especially in classes I and II in which drop-out is highest.
Figure 2: Karnataka Education Structure
1.2.2 Primary School curriculum
Policies relating to curricular objectives, structure, content and evaluation for the whole state including design and development of curricular materials like textbooks, workbooks and teacher guides are formulated centrally at the secretariat level (highest policy making body of the government under the leadership of the Minister of Education) and executed by committees of teachers, psychologists, writers and educational experts. The curriculum and textbooks developed centrally are commonly adopted throughout the state.
The current primary school curriculum was developed in 1989. At the lower primary level it provides for the study of one language (mother tongue), environmental studies, mathematics, socially useful productive work (SUPW), physical and health education, art and creative expression, value education and remedial work (Environmental Studies is differentiated into social science and science at classes III and IV). At the higher primary level it provides for three languages, mathematics, science, social science, SUPW, physical and health education, art and creative expression, value education and remedial work.
The salient features of the syllabus are stated as: "It is child centred and comprehensive, teachers are given scope for innovations in educational research and experimentation in the syllabus, it is competency and activity based for effective learning through an integrated approach, equal weightage is given to the content for both urban and rural children, science syllabus emphasises the relevance of scientific knowledge and method in daily life following an integrated approach, art and creative expression emphasises exposing the child to a variety of media of expression stimulating creative thinking and self expression". The curriculum time allotted per week is 45 periods of 40 minutes each. The school year runs from June to April, with mid-term vacations during October. School teaching hours are 10.20 to 16.30 Monday to Friday. Exams up to class VII are taken at the school level. This year (1996) a district level public exam was introduced for class VII to enforce teacher accountability. The evaluation scheme consists of six tests, one mid-term and one annual examination in a year. The relative weight given to oral and written assessment is illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2: Oral:written assessment
|
Class |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
|
Language |
75:25 |
50:50 |
25:75 |
25:75 |
|
Core subjects |
100:00 |
100:00 |
25:75 |
25:75 |
A minimum average mark of 40% between core subjects and language is required to pass the annual examination. Evaluation in non-academic subjects (SUPW, Physical and Health Education, Value Education and Art and Creative Expression) is done internally and achievement indicated in letter grades. Repetition generally occurs when pupils fail to meet compulsory attendance levels laid down by the Department of Education. These are 50% for classes I to III and 75% for classes IV to VII.
1.2.3 Panchayati Raj (Local Self Government)
Karnataka has taken a leading part in establishing local self-government institutions. Currently a three tier system of fully elected decentralised governments at the village (Gram Panchayat), taluk (Taluk Panchayat) and district (Zilla Panchayat) levels is functioning. Under this arrangement responsibility for taking decisions regarding activities at the grassroots level, which affect people's lives directly, would rest upon the elected members of the people themselves.
The Panchayat Raj bodies are expected to play a very important role in the reconstruction of the education system. At the village level VECs have been set-up in which the headteacher has the role of member secretary. They are to actively involve the local community in improving enrolment, attendance, learning achievement and school environment. The VECs are sub-committees of the Gram Panchayats and enjoy statutory powers. For example, the utilisation of financial assistance to teachers and schools at the rate of Rs. 500 per teacher and Rs. 2000 per school per annum provided under DPEP requires the approval of the VEC. The money is to be deposited under a joint account in the names of the VEC president and secretary. The specific roles and functions of the VECs however are yet to be defined.
The selected schools for the case studies are in Mysore district. It is one of the larger districts in the state with a population of 3.17 million accounting for 7% of the state's total population and 6% of its area. The district has a high percentage population from SC/ST. More than 70% of the population lives in villages. The main crops grown in the district are paddy, ragi, jewar, pulses, cotton and sugar cane. It is also one of the largest cocoa production centres in the state.
Although the city of Mysore, the erstwhile capital of the Mysore State ruled by the Maharajas, is a well known centre of learning, art and culture, the district as a whole is educationally backward. Its literacy rate of 47% is much lower than the state average of 56%. There are 2411 government primary schools (out of a total of 2767 primary schools), 8039 teachers and 394,887 children enrolled in classes I - VII. Mysore is one of the new districts to come under the DPEP. The taluk to which the case study schools belong has 221 government primary schools, 1 aided school and 16 unaided schools making a total of 238 schools. There are 19 single teacher schools. The number of primary teachers in the taluk is 791 of which 710 teach in government schools. A total of 36,562 children are studying in primary classes of which 33,588 study in government schools.
2.1 Selecting the schools
2.2 An 'innovative' school - School A
2.3 An 'average' school - School B
A pre-survey of ten schools was carried out by the co-researcher for the project, with the aid of Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI), the Principal and a lecturer from DIET, Mysore. In total ten schools were visited and assessed in terms of their location, the number of pupils and their backgrounds, teaching-learning practices, co-operation of teachers, the community environment, and the overall suitability of the school in terms of specifications laid down in the project guidelines. The 'innovative' school was selected from this survey of ten schools. The 'average' school was identified by DIET and chosen because of its location near the 'innovative' school. The one-day school visits were identified by DDPI and lecturers at DIET. Table 3 gives a summarised background to the schools to illustrate the similarity in structure and surroundings.
Table 3: Summary of case study schools
|
Factor |
School A |
School B |
|
· type of school |
government higher primary school |
government higher primary school |
|
· class |
class 1 -7 |
class 1 - 7 |
|
· number of pupils M:F (total) |
241:192 (433) |
202:214 (416) |
|
· average monthly family income |
Rs.1000 |
Rs. 3000 |
|
· main source family income |
agriculture |
agriculture |
|
· poverty alleviation programmes |
state aid programmes | |
|
· attendance rate |
80% |
80% |
|
· drop-out |
10% |
no data |
|
· repetition |
10% |
10% |
|
· teacher:pupil ratio |
1:48 |
1:52* |
|
· major social problems |
poverty (see 1.3) |
poverty |
|
· adult literacy rate |
33% |
20% |
|
· number of families in village (m:f) |
415 (1543:1432) |
520 (1828:1508) |
|
· number of teachers m:f |
3:6 |
4:4 (inc. principal) |
|
· experience of teachers | ||
|
· principals length of service at this school |
6 years |
2 years |
|
· donor support |
none |
none |
|
· caste structure |
80% SC, 20% other |
80% Vokkaliga, 16% SC, 4% other |
2.2.1 The Community Environment
School A is in a village located over 30 km to the East of Mysore in a poor rural area where agriculture is the main livelihood. There are 415 families in the village and the total population is 2975, of which 1543 are male and 1432 are female (Census, 1991). The average family size is three to four children and six to eight members in total. Although the Karnataka State average literacy rate is 44% for females and 67% for males (Department of Education, 1993(1)), the literacy rate in School As village is only 33%, and 54% of the illiterates (Census, 1991). The caste structure is 80% Scheduled Caste (SC) and 20% Lingayats, Kurubas, Nayakas and other castes.
Only 20% of the villagers own land with the average farm size being 2-3 acres. Those who do not own land work as agricultural labourers, fishermen, brick makers, lorry drivers (transporting sugar cane) and sand loaders. Each male labourer receives Rs. 30-35 per day and female labourers earn Rs. 20-25 per day when working in agriculture. Male labourers earn Rs. 200 per lorry load of sand, estimated to be around Rs. 80 per day (this work is only available for three to four months a year). Average monthly incomes are estimated to be in the region of Rs. 1000 per month per family.
There are only 306 houses in the village so some have more than one family living in them. Some houses have water (200 houses have tap water) and electricity but sanitation facilities are poor. Only 20-25 houses have toilets, though under a government Village Sanitation Improvement Scheme, families were given cement and materials to build their own toilets. Most of them, however, sold the cement and materials without building the toilet. The nearest health centre is in Gargeshwari 1 km away. There are no centres for food grain distribution or financial (credit) assistance because the taluk headquarters at T. Naraispur are only 6 km from the village and Gram Panchayat headquarters are only 1 km from the village.
In the village there is the 'Ambedkar' Sand Labourers Association and a People's Awareness Association which organises cultural and social activities. The village has no community centre, so most activities take place at Siddappaji Temple. Approximately nine households have a television set and less than 150 households have a radio. About forty five households receive a district level newspaper and four to five receive a state level newspaper (in Kannada). Transportation is good with frequent buses to T. Narasipur (the taluk headquarters) and Mysore.
Social and Economic Background
Along with the many programmes undertaken by the state to encourage SC/ST children to attend school, there are also a number of community aid programmes. The village receives aid under Ashraya, a poverty alleviation programme to build houses for the homeless. Under the Integrated Rural Development Scheme, the government gave farmers money to buy cows, bullocks, buffalo and sheep. Although community members and parents say there are no social problems in the village, interviews with the headteacher and another villager revealed otherwise. They inferred the following as reasons for the village remaining socially and economically backward:
· There is a high level of female illiteracy;· There is heavy abuse of locally produced alcohol amongst women and men (the state government is planning a prohibition of locally produced alcohol);
· The immediate area surrounding villagers' houses are unclean and unhealthy;
· There is a lack of nutritious food;
· There are many health problems;
· 95% of the village population belong to SC;
· There is a heavy belief in tradition and superstition;
· Villagers do not put government assistance to good use.
Agriculture
Two rice crops can be grown each year because of channel irrigation facilities. 1094 acres of land is under cultivation of which 206 acres are under dry land cultivation and 687 acres are irrigated. The farmers are very traditional with a basic farming system growing paddy (yield estimate is 2 - 2.5 tonnes per acre), ragi and groundnuts. Coconuts (59 acres) and mango trees are also grown. The dry season is February to May and sugar cane and paddy are grown in irrigated areas; otherwise, ragi, groundnuts and vegetables are grown. July to December is the rainy season. On irrigated lands sugar cane and paddy are grown, in dry land pulses (lentils) and vegetables are grown. The peak times in the agricultural calendar are December to January (harvesting and land preparation) and June to July (harvesting and land preparation). There is no farmers' group or agricultural extension service in the village.
Agricultural land owners receive many benefits from the government. Seeds, fertiliser, electricity for irrigation pumps and no tax on agricultural produce are a few of these benefits. They also receive preferential interest rates for loans, special insurance and the use of agricultural marketing societies to ensure a fair price for their produce. In this village the landowners (20%) are the wealthy families.
School and Community Relations
The community is interested and aware of what goes on at the school, which was revealed in the number of people who turned up for group interviews with community members. The headteacher, teachers, community members and parents who attended the group interview say that there are good relationships between the school and community. Any problems or improvements that need to take place in the school are put to the VEC. For example, the school requested a flag pole which was duly provided by the community. They have also provided furniture, drinking water and electricity (used for evening classes, PA system for fairs and events, radio for class VII science lessons). During national festivals the community gives sweets to the pupils. Very poor pupils are 'adopted' by members of the community, who will look after their basic necessities, such as books and stationary. Some homeless children or those from one parent families, are put in a hostel (five pupils in the school). Some of the community members provide materials for the school, one donated musical instruments and another has promised to buy school uniforms for those that do not receive them under the government incentive scheme (uniforms are provided free to SC and ST pupils in classes I to VII).
2.2.2 The School Environment
School A was established in 1950. The school is considered a model Kannada school under the government scheme (started in 1992) of supporting selected schools catering to disadvantaged children in each assembly constituency. Under the scheme the 'model' schools receive additional financial and material support. The school has received furniture and other equipment for its development under the scheme.
Surroundings and Resources
First impressions of the school are very pleasing. The school is very well maintained and the buildings and grounds are clean and tidy. A border of trees (mainly eucalyptus) marks the school boundary, with a wall and main gates at the front of the school. A few flower beds and fruit trees line the walkways to the classrooms. There are a few trees planted in the school grounds including, coconut, sandalwood, teak, jackfruit, mango, guava, pomegranate, tamarind, and papaya. There are some shaded areas which enable teaching to take place outside comfortably (Photo 1).
Photo 1: The School Grounds - School A
There are three main teaching blocks with a total of six classrooms. The buildings are brick and painted green and brown. Although the rooms are quite dark, they provide a cool learning place. There is insufficient classroom space so some classes, usually IV and V, must work outside (Photo 2). The problem has been enlarged by the recent addition of a high school class VIII which has taken over one classroom. Consequently classes I and II have been combined (more than 80 pupils in a room approximately 10 meters x 7 meters). There is a general lack of furniture in the school; none of the classes have desks. Pupils sit on the floor or on benches too low for them (Photo 3). The community has donated some equipment including a few tables and benches, a wall clock and bell, as well as providing electricity. All classrooms have a black board and many of the rooms have charts, posters, diagrams and pupils work on the walls. The school has a number of teaching aids for science (microscope, skeleton, balance, pipette, chemicals), a model of the planetary system, a band kit and sports equipment. Pupils have made a number of teaching aids such as a models to illustrate how a lung works and how the kidneys function. Pupils can borrow books from the school library run by one of the teachers. The books, provided by the government, are kept in locked steel cabinets. There is no playground at the school due to lack of space and finance.
Enrolment, Pupil Numbers, Attendance, Drop-out and Repetition
There are 433 pupils enrolled in the school; 241 boys and 192 girls. The immediate catchment area for the school is the village with about 90% of children enrolled in the school. Children for classes V, VI and VII also come from the nearby villages all within a 2 km radius of the school. There are seven year classes with approximately sixty pupils per class (Table 4). Class VI is divided into two sections because of the large number of pupils. This year a high school has been sanctioned to the village and has started functioning in one of the primary school rooms with a class VIII class. A separate building is at present being constructed for the high school on a separate block of land (though this may take more than one year to complete).
Photo 2: Holding a class outside - School A
Table 4: Pupil Numbers 1996 - School A
|
Class |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
VI |
VII |
|
Number of Pupils |
60 |
67 |
56 |
52 |
68 |
79 |
51 |
Within the classes there are no divisions according to ability. Some children may be older than the class level, usually due to previous drop-out for reasons such as looking after younger brothers and sisters, helping in the home and working in agriculture. Repetition of pupils in classes I and II occurs when they fail to fulfil the 50% attendance requirement stipulated by the department. In classes III to VII repetition may occur when the pupil fails to attain minimum achievement levels. Overall repetition is about 10% and mainly in classes V and VI, said to be due to irregular attendance. Attendance rates are on average 80%, but are lower during peak labour periods in the agricultural year, such as the rice harvest in December and January and transplanting during July and August. Drop-out is highest at the end of classes I and II (around 10%), when the children may be kept at home to work, or to look after younger children when parents go to work in the fields. In an effort to stop this happening, early childhood centres have been opened in many villages. They are free, enabling parents to leave their youngest children (ages 3 to 6 years) in safe hands and allowing their older children, who otherwise would be at home, to go to school.
Assessment and Examinations
The school follows the exam system laid down by government policy. There are no informal assessment procedures. The headteacher believes there should be public exams as class exams are not taken seriously by pupils or teachers. The headteacher says that the school is 'above average achievement' in the immediate area. More than 90% of pupils obtain pass rates in the year exams set by the teachers. Almost all of the pupils who pass out of class VII join the high school.
Village Education Committee (VEC)
The VEC has eleven members with the deputy chairman of the Gram Panchayat functioning as its president and the headteacher of the school as the committee secretary. This committee is made up of village members, department officials and teacher representatives. Generally there are no parents on the committee (if for example the village head has children at the school this is incidental). The committee meets at regular intervals to discuss what is happening in the school such as enrolment levels, availability of facilities and vacant teacher positions.
Photo 3: The classroom - School A
School complex
School A functions as the lead school for the school complex of seven schools. The headteacher is the president of the school complex. The teachers between the schools share resources (i.e. teaching aids), and also meet once a month to discuss teaching and learning processes. The complex has arranged demonstration lessons, an evaluation workshop, a quiz programme and a general knowledge competition for teachers.
School Supervision
School inspectors should come to the school three times a year - prior to an inspection, for an inspection and after the inspection. Two visits are discretionary and may last up to half a day. The inspection is compulsory, lasts two to three days and examines attendance, programme of work, cash book, coverage of curriculum and talks to teachers and pupils.
2.2.3 The Teacher
There are six female and three male teachers at the school. This equates to an average teacher pupil ratio of 1:48. Some classes however have higher numbers (class V, 110 pupils). There appears to be good teacher collegiality both with the headteacher and between teachers. Teachers all eat their lunch together. The school has daily staff meetings but the teachers who travel from Mysore also discuss school during the journey, which takes about 45 minutes.
All of the teachers have completed the compulsory teacher training course called the Teacher Certificate Higher (TCH). Most of the teachers said that their pre-service training was helpful. One female teacher is newly qualified (six months) and she said that pre-service training was helpful because previously, she did not know that children had to be motivated for learning, or what subjects should be taught at which age and which level. The other teachers have undergone a number of different training courses that have been introduced and changed over a few decades. In the early sixties, teacher training was a residential course. This course was different from many others as it taught the teachers about agriculture, health and nutrition both in practice and theory. The teacher who had been on this course said she still finds the training she had then, helpful today. The physical education teacher at the school (completed training in 1994) said training was inadequate in terms of practical skills. Teachers have had in-service training of varying duration but it is irregular and infrequent. A few teachers had been on the intensive ten day training under the Programme of Mass Orientation of School Teachers (PMOST). Another teacher has been on the Special Orientation for Primary Teachers (SOPT) programme, lasting seven days, which was built around the use of maths and science kits. She admitted that she does not use the kit and does not know where it is in this school. The PE teacher has had a refresher course and is, at present, being trained to use the school band set which they have only recently acquired. Two of the teachers have recently undergone training in Minimum Learning Levels (MLL). Teachers have also undergone in-service training in different subject areas to prepare children taking the class VII exam.
The headteacher is a person well accepted into, and respected by, the community and the pupils. He has been headteacher of the school for six years and according to verbal discussions with various community members has done much to change the school. The headteacher is a SC and was a victim of caste prejudice whilst teaching in another village school. In this school he is from the same caste as the majority of his pupils and is therefore very aware of their backgrounds and culture. Nearly all of the pupils in the school are from SC, fifteen are from ST.
The first group of teachers, despite the researchers' emphasising to them that this was not an inspection or assessment, appeared quite nervous. The second group of teachers were interviewed the following day and they were far more relaxed and open about the questioning. It is assumed that the first group of teachers had spoken to the second group and told them there was nothing to worry about. Judging from responses to questions and activities, many of the teachers have obviously never thought deeply about their problems as teachers in relation to their training and resource needs. Initial responses to questions always came back to problems with lack of co-operation from parents. Eventually the teachers mentioned some important areas where they feel they need to improve their teaching practices.
Teachers at primary level must be generalists in all subject areas. These teachers said that their training was only in one or two subjects, they feel that they need further and recurrent training in all subject areas. As curricula change, the teachers want training so that they are capable of teaching the changes as, at present, they receive no specific training to teach revisions. The maths teacher emphasised this point stating that the training she received in 1963 was good then, but now she cannot keep up with the frequent changes in topics and teaching methods; she would like regular in-service training. Teachers would like training built around what they do in the classroom. For example, bringing practical activities into teaching methods and building the lesson activity round the content of the textbook. One teacher said she would like to know how to use the environment (or 'things around us') in teaching practices, as she quoted (translation from Kannada) 'we see many shapes around us, fields, plants etc., that we could use in teaching Mathematics -1 would like to know what else I could use in the environment in teaching'. English, Maths and Kannada (where the teachers mother tongue is not Kannada) were areas they identified in which essential further and regular training is needed. Previously one of the teachers had been in an Urdu speaking school where she had taught Kannada. She was then posted to this school where she must teach all subjects but is not trained to do this.
In terms of their problems as teachers, a number of issues arose. Many children come from poor families, therefore the parents cannot afford to buy them materials for school and they come to school ill-equipped. Often pupils may miss school to help at home. When pupils get behind in work, teachers allocate a 'good' pupil to them to bring them up to the standard in the class by working outside school time. The teacher then asks the pupil questions to ensure that they have caught up and to make sure that the good pupil has been passing on the correct information; this method is used in all classes. There is a lack of equipment at the school and one particular example was given by the sports teacher: 'the school was supplied with twelve sports kits, but there are sixty pupils in the class'.
Lesson observations revealed that teachers are enthusiastic and make the most of the difficult conditions in which they must teach. One teacher is responsible for a large class of around eighty pupils (class I and II combined). The classes were being held outside and class I was writing the alphabet whilst class II were reading from their Kannada text books (Photo 4). Because the group is so large, it is very difficult for the teacher to give all of the pupils the individual attention they need. The teacher adopts multiple class teaching methods, where the two classes are taught different subjects, not the same subject at different levels. The teacher and pupils are completely at ease with each other. The teacher moves around the pupils quite freely and the pupils enjoy her presence, being very attentive. The teacher has a pile of empty matchboxes and pieces of coloured plastic which she is going to use for counting.
In a previous lesson the teacher was playing a game with her pupils which involved one pupil chasing 'the leader' round a circle of the other pupils, the aim being to catch the leader. It appeared that one pupil was slow at running, so the teacher joined her running round the circle to try and encourage her. Despite the many restrictions and poor conditions teachers endure, all of the teachers wanted to stay in teaching and only one had a desire to get further qualifications to teach at a higher level (high school teachers are paid more). Teachers that travel from Mysore said they would like to stay working in rural areas if houses were provided for them near the school.
Photo 4 Reading from Kannada text book (School A)
Pupils and teachers were asked what they consider to be the characteristics of a good teacher (Table 5). Teachers view their task, apart from teaching in school, as being a counsellor and role model to the pupils. This may be particularly important in an area of severe poverty where parents have little time to spend with their children and may not be interested in their children's schooling, for example on pupil in class 4 said: 'if I stay at home, the headteacher comes to my house to find out why I have not gone to school'. There is a deaf child at the school and his parents came to the school to ask the teachers whether he should be sent to a school for the deaf. The teachers had paid special attention to the boy (none of the teachers are trained to sign read) and they were pleased with his progress. The child was sent to the deaf school but ran away, back to this school, as he likes it better. Another pupil said a good teacher was one who told stories and taught them songs, he then said 'look Sir, he is even doing it now!' (he was pointing at the sports teacher who was telling a story to his class)
Table 5: What are the characteristics of a good teacher? (School A)
|
Pupils' response |
Teachers' response |
|
A teacher should: |
A teacher should: |
|
· teach well |
· be knowledgeable about the subject |
|
· visit them at home |
· observe school rules |
|
· tell stories and teach songs |
· be punctual |
|
· gives them activities to do |
· participate in all school activities |
|
· provide materials if pupils do not have their own |
· treat all pupils equally |
|
|
· be able to promote national unity |
|
|
· earn the trust of the children |
|
|
· have good relationships with parents of the pupils |
|
|
· know the names of all the pupils |
|
|
· know the backgrounds of the pupils |
|
|
· not be distanced from the pupils |
|
|
· be a 'model' in all respects |
|
|
· be a counsellor |
|
|
· give more to the school than take |
|
|
· get along with other teachers |
|
|
· respond to the children - treat them as their own |
|
|
· not be selfish |
2.2.4 The Learners
Overall the children appear to be in good health. None of the pupils wear shoes and the majority wear the school uniform, a maroon skirt or shorts and a maroon and white checked short sleeved shirt. Material for uniforms is provided free to SC and ST children. Most of the girls carry their books in brown canvas satchels which have been provided free (to SC/ST) by the government. At lunch time, children go home or bring food to eat in the school grounds. The pupils appeared happy in their lessons and the outside activities, especially physical education. Pupils are regimented to march to and from lessons in a line and when asked to speak, they automatically stand up with folded arms. Girls and boys sit on separate sides of the classroom and in separate groups when doing any type of group activity.
Teachers believe that children in the school are highly motivated and enjoy coming to school. Even when they are beaten they still come to school. Often at the end of school pupils will wait around to see if anything else is going on. In the higher classes pupils do activities, lower classes see what they will be doing when they move up to higher classes and this motivates them to stay in school. The majority of pupils say that going to school is to become knowledgeable and to get good jobs; all of the pupils have aspirations for professional careers - teacher, policeman, army, doctor, engineer. If children don't go to school it is for a variety of reasons listed in Table 6.
Table 6: Why do some children go to school and others don't? (School A)
|
Why do children go to school? |
Why do some children not go to school? |
|
· to be knowledgeable - acquire wisdom, wealth and health (Vidya Buddhi) |
· fear of punishment - prefer to stay a home than be beaten at school |
|
· to get a (good) job |
· not interested in school |
|
· to study |
· don't want to go to school |
|
· to become intelligent |
· prefer to work on farms and earn a livelihood |
|
· to join the company of learned people |
· sold into child labour (jeeta) |
|
· to get a job |
· drunken parents keep children at home to work in fields |
|
· to become an educated person |
· afraid of school because they cannot master the lessons |
|
· to become wise and knowledgeable |
· look after cattle at home |
|
|
· don't like to come to school |
|
|
· get beaten at school |
(· indicates response from class 5; · indicates response from class 4)
Table 7: What children like and dislike about school (School A)
|
What do you like about school? |
What do you dislike about school? |
|
· The teachers are good |
· fellow pupils stealing others' pencils, books, etc. |
|
· the way they teach - the teachers take two to three days to cover a lesson, so that all the pupils understand the lesson |
· other pupils swearing and using vulgar language |
|
· work in groups, all pupils participate |
· the well, because the steps are slippery and dangerous |
|
· The trees and the plants round the school |
· classrooms are too small |
|
· lessons are interesting as the teachers tell stories |
· not enough visits and activities |
|
· the teacher only beats us if we do something wrong |
· no opportunity to learn by ourselves in school |
|
· the cultural programme (Friday) - sing and dance |
· it is dirty outside the school entrance |
(· indicates response from class 5; · indicates response from class 4)
Pupils activities at home and school
Information on activities at home and school was obtained through asking pupils to do a mapping diagram (Figure 3), and these were followed up with questions based around what pupils had drawn.
Household cleaning tasks are the activities pupils do 'most frequently' at home and at school. At school pupils are assigned duties such as watering plants and sweeping the classroom. Boys tend to be involved in agriculture more than girls. If there are no girls in the family boys may do household tasks such as washing the dishes. None of the pupils were able to directly relate learning at home to learning in the classroom and vice versa. On further probing one girl (who should be in class VIII, but left school to look after younger brother, and has come back into class 4), said that she learnt how to cook at home, but learnt about nutrition in school. She said she knows the value of including more green vegetables in cooking and she does this at home. Pupils are able to describe in detail the agricultural activities they are involved in. A class 5 pupil who weeds paddy fields gave a vivid and demonstrative show on how he weeds the rice field and how he harvests rice. A girl also in class 5 told us that her mother had taught her to put sand, red soil, salt and manure on the coconut plant. Another class 5 girl mentioned a specific plant, tulasi, that she waters. A written summary of the occurrence of activities on the mapping diagrams is given in Table 8, the first table refers to class 4, the second to class 5.
Figure 3: A pupil's mapping diagram (School A)
Table 8: Activities at home and at school (School A)
(summary of mapping diagrams by 12 pupils from class 4 and 5, by frequency of occurrence of each avitivity in the mapping diagrams)
|
Class 4 summary | |||||
|
Activities I do at home |
boy |
girl |
Activities I do at school |
boy |
girl |
|
fetch water |
3 |
3 |
water plants |
2 |
1 |
|
clean/sweep house |
3 |
1 |
read |
3 |
2 |
|
wash pots |
1 |
3 |
write |
2 |
2 |
|
throw away rubbish |
1 |
|
clean classroom |
3 |
2 |
|
go to shop to buy vegetables |
2 |
2 |
play |
1 |
1 |
|
play |
1 |
recites multiplication tables |
|
1 | |
|
water plants |
2 |
1 |
clean dishes |
|
1 |
|
take rice and ragi to the mill |
1 |
fetch water and milk for teachers |
|
1 | |
|
wash clothes |
|
3 |
|
|
|
|
prepares cooking stove for lighting |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Class 5 summary | |||||
|
Activities I do at home |
boy |
girl |
Activities I do at school |
boy |
girl |
|
fetch water |
3 |
2 |
water coconut plant |
3 |
3 |
|
read |
1 |
|
read |
1 |
3 |
|
wash pots |
|
3 |
write |
1 |
2 |
|
go to shop to buy vegetables |
|
1 |
clean classroom |
2 |
1 |
|
water plants |
1 |
3 |
play |
|
|
|
weeds paddy field (by hand) |
1 |
|
clean dishes |
|
|
|
wash clothes |
|
1 |
fetch water and milk for teachers |
|
|
|
prepares cooking stove for lighting |
|
1 |
assembly round flag pole |
1 |
|
|
controls irrigation in paddy field |
2 |
|
arrange furniture in classroom |
2 |
|
|
look after goats |
1 |
|
put manure on coconut plant |
|
1 |
|
collect forage for goats |
1 |
|
|
| |
2.2.5 Teaching Learning Processes
Generally the school has no input in curriculum development, but the headteacher has brought some weaknesses in the curriculum to the attention of the authorities. The headteacher believes that the curriculum is partially relevant to the lives of the pupils, but that it should be decentralised. There should be more flexibility in school hours to allow for practical sessions and visits to take place. Overall it was thought that the curriculum was relevant to the lives and backgrounds of the pupils, though in some textbooks examples were irrelevant, using for example, aeroplanes and reference to Mysore; most children have never seen an aeroplane or been to Mysore. In such cases the teachers will try to relate the topic to an area of relevance to the pupils. For example in this case a bullock cart may be compared to an aeroplane e.g. through comparing speed, number of people it carries etc. Pupils have no choice over the subject area they learn in class as the curriculum is too rigid to allow for this. In the lower primary classes (I to IV) there may be a limited choice within the subject in selecting which topic is covered.
Compared to other schools in the area, the headteacher states that his school is doing the following that is different:
· the school works punctually from 10.20 am to 4.30 pm;
· children's attendance is followed up with parents;
· every Friday is a cultural programme of songs, dancing, quiz's etc.;
· physical education classes are held on Saturday mornings to increase attendance levels;
· uniforms are stitched neatly;
· homework is given;
· children learn in groups, through play and activities;
· children are taken outside the classroom, to learn through observations;
· fairs and festivals take place at the school;
· radio programmes are used for teaching (children's programme and science programme);
· children's out of school experience is used in teaching when possible;
· children are encouraged to ask questions.
Teachers say that they do not integrate subject areas, as each subject must be taught individually in 40 minute periods. If the opportunity arises to bring in another subject area they try to do this. For example if there is a language lesson that talks about distance they will bring in mathematics. They use connections between subject areas as examples, e.g. weather, season and temperature can be brought into social science, maths and language. Pupils are also encouraged to give their own examples and experiences. The class III teacher gave a recent example in which they were having a lesson about the festival of Mahadeshwara; pupils were able to describe how to get there and relate their own experiences, as many of them had been to the festival.
Group work is given for classes IV to VII, for two periods a week on a regular basis. In addition teachers say they organise learning in groups if it is suitable to the learning activity. An example was given where in a lesson the teacher may ask questions to the class, and allow the pupils to discuss in groups in order to answer the questions. In classes I to III the teachers have complete control of the timetable, which means that they can spend two time periods doing one subject and allows them sufficient time to do project or group work. The class III teacher stated that her class works in groups everyday for 80 minutes. In classes IV and above, the teachers must follow the timetable within the set time periods. Project work takes place to the extent of asking pupils to collect things (e.g. seeds and birds nests) to be used in lessons. They do not do continuous project activities. In the learning process, pupils are asked what they do at home, or whether they can give an example. They are also taken on visits to rice mills and sugar cane processing plants, but these are detached from the lessons as they are fitted in only when it is convenient rather than at the appropriate time in the lesson.
To further support teachers' responses to questions, a matrix ranking activity was used to find out about teachers practices in the school (Table 9). All of the teachers are trained and this training has shown through in their rankings. They have ranked 'pupils doing practical activities' highest, their interpretation of this most likely being pupils doing project work, individual assignments etc. These activities however, are not carried out in the school according to the teachers' interview. 'Pupils writing and talking about their own experiences' are also rated highly but again does not happen frequently in the school according to teachers' interviews. 'Pupils helping each other', through group work where a high achieving pupil is the leader, is a common method of teaching in the school, so this receives a relatively high rank. The method was observed during an arithmetic lesson for class IV; The class is held outside, where pupils are sitting in groups of six, with boys and girls separated. Each pupil has been given a card with multiplication sums on it. There is a leader in each group who is nominated to guide and supervise the group and pupils are expected to help each other with the sums. The teacher moves between the groups and monitors learning.
'Teachers asking questions' receives a low rank by both teachers and pupils. Lesson observations revealed that pupils do not respond to teachers' questions. Pupils say that they only ask questions when they don't understand something. A class V lesson on prime numbers was in progress and the teacher was explaining and illustrating numbers with and without factors. She asked questions to which pupils did not respond ('can you give an example of a prime number?'), she tried coaxing them further ('why is 12 not a prime number?') but pupils did not respond. She then told a pupil to come to the board and write a prime number, it was wrong, so the explanation of a prime number was given again. Pupils were involved in the activity and the teacher encouraged their participation. It is a difficult concept to teach and the teacher was trying very hard but there was little response from pupils.
In this school pupils are generally low achievers and the teacher must spend time following up a non-response to a question through giving more examples and coaxing. Unless it is a rote question pupils do not respond to the teacher's question. Usually pupils only ask questions when they do not understand something. As a method of learning, it is ranked somewhere in the middle by both pupils and teachers so it is favoured as a good method of learning. Pupils rarely ask inquiring, exploratory questions according to teachers' interviews and observations. Teachers do try to involve the pupils in lessons, through bringing them to the blackboard to give examples (see Photo 2). An arithmetic lesson for class III was observed. Again this lesson was being held outside in the shade of coconut trees, where children are called to the blackboard to work out subtraction problems. Children are active and the teacher encourages the pupils to participate in learning.
Pupils from classes IV and V carried out a matrix ranking activity. The rankings (Table 9) indicate what pupils do in the classroom. Class 4 pupils rank singing and reciting as the 'best method of learning', possibly because this method of teaching is employed on a wider scale in the lower classes. Another reason could be that the primary stage is divided into the lower primary which ends at class IV. Above class IV methods are more formal and examination oriented. Class V on the other hand ranks 'pupils doing practical activities' as the best method of learning. This may be interpreted generally as doing manual labour in the school and at home (e.g. sweeping, cleaning), activities which were predominant in the mapping activity (Table 8). These methods are reinforcements of classroom learning, rather than exploratory, investigatory learning experiences in their own right. Both groups rank talking or writing about their own experiences highly teachers try to relate, where possible, to pupils' own experiences, according to teachers interviews. Pupils' rankings indicate that this does actually happen in the school.
'Pupils helping each other' receives a relatively high rank by class IV and V. In this school teachers assign better pupils to the low achieving pupils to help them with their work both in and out of school. In all rankings, 'beating pupils' has a zero rank. Teachers asking questions' receives a low rank, possibly because the pupils are afraid when the teachers asks questions. During interviews with one group of pupils, the mapping activity was carried out in the morning and discussions and questions about the diagrams were to take place after lunch. In the afternoon one boy from the group was absent. The girls' explanation was that this boy was 'afraid we would ask him questions. 'Teacher talking or reading to pupils' is the most prevalent method of teaching in Indian schools and is disapproved of generally because it keeps the learners passive. In this school pupils and teachers give this a low rank. As the pupils rank pupil-centred activities highly as methods of learning, this indicates that there is evidence of a child-centred approach to learning in the school. Teachers talking or reading to pupils, and asking questions receive low ranks as methods of learning. Class IV pupils found it difficult to relate or connect learning in home with learning in school. They could only relate activities that were the same at school and at home, for example one pupil said 'I play at home and at school'. The pupils were responsive to questions which dealt with something they enjoyed. When inquiring about whether they talk to each other in the classroom about things they are studying, all of the pupils tried to answer the question 'yes! The teacher organises us into separate groups of boys and girls'. The idea that learning means learning from books and teachers is so deeply ingrained in the pupils that the methods of 'learning by doing' and 'leaning through practical activities' was interpreted as doing homework set by teachers (which again is a reinforcement of book learning conducted in the classroom), or reading books, or doing sums, etc., by themselves. While teachers did mention some practical activities they engaged the pupils in (e.g. watering and manuring plants, visit to rice mill, fields, zoo) these were considered extra curricular activities for 'enjoyment' purposes. These activities run parallel to the school activities and do not converge with curricular learning objectives. No evaluation of the learning outcomes of these activities, or any follow up, is done by teachers which confirms this observation.
Table 9: Methods of Learning matrix ranking activity (School A)
|
Rank |
Teachers' response (group 1) |
|
1 |
· pupils doing practical activities |
|
2 |
· teacher giving examples |
|
2 |
· pupils writing about their own experiences |
|
2 |
· pupils talking about their own experience |
|
3 |
· pupils singing or reciting |
|
4 |
· pupils asking questions |
|
4 |
· pupils helping each other |
|
4 |
· teacher talking or reading to pupils |
|
5 |
· teacher asking questions |
|
6 |
· teacher beating pupils |
|
Rank |
Teachers' response (Group 2) |
|
1 |
· pupils doing practical activities |
|
2 |
· pupils helping each other |
|
3 |
· pupils singing or reciting |
|
3 |
· pupils talking about their own experience |
|
4 |
· pupils asking questions |
|
4 |
· pupils writing about their own experience |
|
4 |
· teacher giving examples |
|
5 |
· teacher talking or reading to pupils |
|
6 |
· teacher asking questions |
|
7 |
· teacher beating pupils |
|
Rank |
Pupils' response (class 4) |
|
1 |
· pupils singing or reciting |
|
2 |
· pupils talking about their own experience |
|
3 |
· pupils writing about their own experiences |
|
3 |
· pupils helping each other |
|
4 |
· pupils doing practical activities |
|
5 |
· teacher giving examples |
|
6 |
· teacher talking or reading to pupils |
|
6 |
· teacher asking questions |
|
7 |
· pupils asking questions |
|
8 |
· teacher beating pupils |
|
Rank |
Pupils' response (Class 5) |
|
1 |
· pupils doing practical activities |
|
1 |
· pupils writing about their own experiences |
|
2 |
· pupils helping each other |
|
2 |
· teacher giving examples |
|
3 |
· pupils asking questions |
|
3 |
· pupils talking about their own experience |
|
4 |
· pupils singing or reciting |
|
4 |
· teacher asking questions |
|
5 |
· teacher talking or reading to pupils |
|
6 |
· teacher beating pupils |
2.2.6 The Home Environment
For the purpose of this research the headteacher sent messages to parents through the pupils, asking them to come to the school for informal discussions along with other interested members of the community. The interview started with six male parents and two female parents. Over the course of the interview various people dropped in to see what was going on. Consequently by the end of the interview a group of about 30 persons had formed. Despite the large group the interview was primarily directed at the parents and the researchers' tried to ensure that their responses were noted.
Parents' role in schooling
Parents feel it is important to be involved in the school, but this generally means they will attend school festivals and functions. Teachers and children are more motivated if parents show an interest in the school and parents can also monitor the progress of their children. Parents say they are satisfied with their children's schooling and say it is better than a government private school. However, they are unable to identify exactly what their children learn at school and what they feel they should be learning. Responses from parents included 'language well', 'to read', 'to write', 'to be numerate' and 'to be empowered'.
Parents come to the school when teachers ask them to, which is usually because of a problem with their child, such as low attendance, illness or wearing a dirty uniform. Parents say they visit the school at least once a week, usually to collect rice given under the mid-day meal programme. Some parents may monitor their children's learning by talking to the teachers. During one visit to the school a meeting was held with teachers and the headmaster after school had finished. Just as the meeting was about to start, a very angry father appeared and started shouting at the class I teacher. He was saying that his child wasn't doing any homework and that the teacher should be beating her to make her do the work at home. The teacher was very calm and explained to him how much work the child should be doing at home. The other teachers were smiling saying that it was a regular occurrence. Every Saturday the headteacher visits the homes of problem children, to talk to their parents and suggest ways to help them. The parents are generally pleased that he shows interest in their children and that he comes to talk to them. Teachers may visit children's homes, after or before school hours, to talk to parents when their children are continuously absent from class and when they fail to make satisfactory progress in learning.
Parents say that their children talk about what they do at school in a general way, especially if they have been praised or something special has happened. For example one parent said his child came home and said he had learnt to count from 1 - 20, the parent then said he asked his child to write the numbers. Another said his child talks about the teachers she likes. One parent said her child had taught her basic literacy skills (e.g. the alphabet and signing her name). In the pupil interviews one boy immediately answered 'I will go home and tell them that an English women came to school to speak to us'. Parents are very busy and have little time to spend with their children. After working long hours in the fields, they are tired and do not have time to answer children's questions. When asked whether children would lean new things better if they can relate to their home life and experiences, the parents said 'yes'. They were unable to give any specific examples. Generally parents who are illiterate are less interested in their children's work than those who are literate. A few pupils' parents are teachers and they are interested and help them with their school work. Where parents are illiterate, elder brothers and neighbours were the people identified as helping them with their school work. Parents may ask about school, but not usually about what is learnt. They may, for example, ask whether their child received a prize or a good mark in a test and if not, why not.
Parents concerns about improvements needed in schooling are with regard to the newly established high school. They would like to see a high school that is above class VIII along with teachers trained specifically for the high school. The teachers there at present are only temporary. For the primary school they would like to see a playground, library and more sports facilities. Parents have high hopes for their children to have professional careers as lawyers, doctors and teachers.
2.2.7 Contextualising Teaching and Learning
The headteacher believes that it is important to use knowledge the pupils already have along with their experiences in learning something new. In some lessons, e.g. history, the local level will be discussed before learning about the country's history. If, for example, the science lesson is about coconuts, the pupils will be taken outside to look at coconut trees.
Teachers all agree that learning is more effective if what is already known or experienced by the pupils is used as a base for learning something new. Some said that this idea is given in their teacher training. The teachers say that they do use pupils' experience when learning a new topic. The following were given as examples:
· a lesson on architecture in Karnataka State - the lesson was about a building many miles from Mysore. The teacher built the lesson around local temples, the ones that the pupils have been to and know about. They also visit the temples in school groups;· a lesson on heat and temperature in science. The lesson is based around heating water in the home and pupils direct experience of the activity;
· cleanliness as it relates to home life is brought into an environmental science lesson;
· in a lesson on the sea, the teachers will relate to what the pupils have seen, such as a river or small lake, then describe the sea in relation to this;
· in social sciences lessons, the pupils talk about the family at home and parents occupations.
Teachers try and use what is available around the school as teaching aids and to relate the lesson to the pupils' experience. For example, they use plants in the school grounds, a paddy field opposite the school and make visits to sugar cane mill and a lime factory. Visits, however, are arranged when it is convenient, rather than when the subject area to which the visit relates is being taught. When there is going to be an outside school visit, attendance on that day will be noticeably higher than normal (90-100% attendance compared to 60-70%). Formal evaluation of these activities does not take place, as they are outside the curriculum. Informally the teachers make observations and give 'a pat on the back' if the pupils do well. According to teachers, motivation and interest by the pupils is noticeably higher when they participate in activities. Learning is said to be more effective as the pupils ask more questions and get involved in the activity. After a visit they will ask more questions, especially amongst themselves. The pupils' responses to questions are more meaningful and they retain things longer. An example was cited in which the pupils were taken on a visit to Mysore Zoo last year; even now the pupils are able to describe vividly what they saw and did on the visit.
2.2.8 Agriculture in contextualising teaching and learning
Teachers agree that contextualising teaching and learning using, for example, agriculture, is a good idea but they do not know how they can do this. When teachers were asked whether or not they used pupils' experience in teaching and learning they gave a number of examples some of which did related specifically to agriculture. In environmental science there is a lesson on crops and cropping patterns. Pupils are already familiar with these practices, so the teachers say they draw on analogies and metaphors made between home and the school. The maths teacher gave a very good example, saying that he has taken pupils into the rice field opposite the school to illustrate to pupils how, for example, straight lines and angles are used in practice. Another teacher said that in counting sheep may be referred to as many of the pupils herd sheep. In a lesson on plant parts, children are already knowledgeable about this so their experience is brought into the class lesson. To teach about wild animals, the starting point will be domestic animals, something all pupils are familiar with.
The teachers believe it is difficult to evaluate a contextualised approach to learning as it is difficult to keep track of individual pupils and to observe all the pupils. They feel that assessment is difficult and there would not be enough time to cover the whole syllabus. In terms of suitability, class size and time may be the main barriers to using the approach. Some teachers said they would need organisational skills to do more practical teaching, although one teacher described how she handles a visit to a sugar cane factory. She makes the children stand in a circle, the factory manager then explains what happens in the factory, following which the teacher encourages the pupils to ask questions. She then asks questions to the pupils to make sure they have understood what they have seen and heard. Three of the teachers (one male and two female), say their own agricultural knowledge is good, as they come from farming backgrounds. Two female teachers said that they themselves have no agricultural knowledge and that in science they must teach agriculture. In this case they teach in the classroom and often the pupils' knowledge of agriculture is far greater than their own.
2.2.9 Issues arising from School A
The school is impressive to look at. It is clean and tidy and the school grounds are attractive and well kept. The school is very active and frequently classes of pupils were seen having lessons outside. Despite the sheer poverty these children live in, and the lack of resources at the school, they appear happy, enthusiastic and enjoy going to school. At this school there is a noticeable air of good teacher collegiality, which is further supported through observing the teachers working, particularly during the Friday afternoon cultural session (Photo 5).
This school has a very good relationship with the community, which (according to interviews) it is continually trying to improve. An Old Boys Association has recently been formed and they come to the school to talk to pupils. Past pupils also come and help in the school; at present they are giving extra tuition to class VII pupils to help them pass the district level exam. Previously the school was well known in sports and now past pupils come to the school to coach in sports to improve the school's position in local sports events. When the pupils are taken on outside trips, parents and community members come along to help look after the children. Teachers say that parents and community members should be involved in the school to deal with problems such as enrolment, and to follow pupils progress.
In terms of the curriculum, the teachers say that it is rigid and does not allow them to integrate subject areas. The main problems of the school, apart from a general lack of equipment and insufficient space, is a lack of parental support in terms of parents sending pupils to school without books or stationary. Other problems include lack of sufficient funds to improve the library and buy sports equipment. Free textbooks (for classes I to V) are supplied by the Government but often these do not arrive on time.
There are a number of problems to using practically based teaching methods, firstly time, as lessons are scheduled to take place in 40 minutes for classes IV and above. If school visits are arranged some distance from the school, not all of the pupils can pay for transport. Parents' concept of learning is generally that it only takes place in the classroom; so they do not encourage school visits or practical activities. Although education is free to all, it is still seen as a luxury. Because of the opportunity cost of education, parents will keep children at home either to work in the fields or look after younger brothers and sisters. Consequently many children are infrequent attendees and drop-outs which means that is difficult to keep continuity in teaching as different pupils miss different lessons at different times.
Photo 5: Practising for the 'cultural session' - School A
In terms of their training, teachers do not feel confident or adequately trained to enable them to use a contextualised process of teaching. At present they do not feel their training is relevant to what they are expected to teach; primary level teachers must teach all subjects, but their training is only in one or two subjects. They need further and recurrent training in all subject areas. This is even more important as curricula are revised, for which they receive no specific training in content or teaching methods to help them implement the revisions. In some subjects, namely mathematics, teachers find it difficult to keep up with the frequent changes in topics, methods etc., without regular in-service training. Teachers feel that regular training would motivate them more.
Contextualising teaching and learning is not knowingly carried out as a teaching and learning process at this school. Pupils diagrams and interviews indicated that they did not knowingly link what is learned at home with what is taught in the classroom. Teachers do attempt to relate out of school experience with classroom teaching, and they believe that a practical experience-based approach to teaching reflects in increased interest and involvement by pupils and responses to questions which are more meaningful. A number of factors are identified as constraining such an approach of contextualisation in teaching and learning practices. Primarily, teachers have never knowingly practised such a method because they do not know about the process of contextualising teaching and learning. The curriculum is rigid and does not allow for integration of subject areas. Teachers envisage that assessment would be difficult. Classroom organisational skills training would be a necessity. There are logistical reasons that would affect the method. The syllabus could not be covered using a contextualised approach due to this time factor. Large class sizes may also be a barrier. It was agreed, generally, that there is a good level of agricultural knowledge amongst teachers in this school.
2.3.1 The Community Environment
The village is situated approximately 23 km East of Mysore, in Karnataka State, Southern India. In the village there are 520 families with an average of two to three children in a family. The total population is 3336 persons; 1828 males and 1508 females. 80% belong to the Vokkaliga caste (farming community) and 16% belong to the SC, the remainder belong to other castes. The literacy rate is estimated at around 20%.
Water facilities are available to everyone in the village and 155 houses have running water, 180 houses have electricity, and only 25 houses have toilet facilities. There are five public bore wells. There are two anganwadis (Early Childhood Care Centres), a government high school, government higher primary school and a private convent school. The village has no community centre so meetings are held in the village temples. There is no health centre and the nearest facilities are over 6 km distance from the village. The village has an Agricultural Co-operative Society (1500 members); Cauvery Grameena Bank, through which credit services are available; a post office; a veterinary centre; two flour mills and one rice mill; and, a women's welfare centre. Fifteen families in the village receive support under the governments Total Village Improvement Scheme, which provides monetary loans to buy such items as cattle, irrigation pumps, carts and ploughs. Eighty people receive old aged pensions from the government and ninety six women receive widow's pensions.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the main livelihood in the village and agricultural practices are very traditional; wooden rather than iron ploughs are used and there are no tractors. More than half of the villagers own land but there are also a large number (300) of landless agricultural labourers. The village has 990 acres of cultivated land and some land is irrigated using water from the river Cauvery. Main crops grown are paddy, sugarcane, plantain, ragi, groundnut, coconut and mulberry. There are two seasons, July to December (rainy season) during which paddy and sugar cane are the main crops and February to May (dry season), during which paddy is the main crop. Irrigation allows for two rice crops a year to be grown.
School and Community Relations
The parents felt that good relations should exist between the school and the community, but that this is the job of the village leaders. The School Betterment Committee (SBC) has around fifteen members, but most members do not attend the meetings despite persuasions and efforts by the headteacher. He had called a meeting of the SBC to arrange for community members and parents to attend a group discussion for this project; only on member turned up. Requests made to shift the shops in front of the school elsewhere have not yielded any results. Space available around the school has been lent to a private convent school and a non-school establishment (village accountant's office), when the same could have been given to the school.
The headteacher thinks that it is important to link school and the community and blames many of the problems at the school on the lack of co-operation from the community. He believes that until there is mutual co-operation from the community the school will not be able to function smoothly. The SBC has been asked repeatedly to supply a notice board for pupils to display their work but has not responded to this request. Although the school owns the land it is on, a high school has been established on the same ground and the high school pupils bully the primary school pupils and take over the playground. The authorities have been informed about the constraint on the school facilities, but nothing has been done to alleviate the problem. After school hours gamblers use the classroom balconies for playing cards. School premises are dirtied and toilets built by the school for use by children and staff are unusable because they have been vandalised by community members. Shrubs were planted in the school grounds by one of the high school teachers and the pupils planted saplings to develop a school garden, but these were uprooted by members of the community. The same teacher also built a fence round the school grounds, but this was also destroyed. This high school teacher is very angry and he has vowed to 'teach the people a lesson'. The teacher belongs to the locality and lives in the village. Between the villagers there are disputes, and during one visit to the school the police had arrived in the village to intervene in an argument that had developed over water distribution for irrigation; the situation was very tense.
2.3.2 The School Environment
School B Government Higher Primary School (Photo 6) was established in 1927 with classes I to IV. In 1950 classes V to VII were added. The school is near the centre of the village on the main road. Although the school buildings look to be in relatively good condition, teachers complain they have been badly built and two of the classrooms are unusable during the rainy season, because the roof leaks. In front of the school is a bus stop and the village accountant's office is being built close by. There are no trees and little greenery in the school grounds. The school has no perimeter fence apart from a small wall at the front of the school. Donkeys, cattle and people wander freely in and out of the school grounds. The high school pupils are often seen playing volleyball in the school's playground and pupils from a nearby convent school also come into the grounds. There are three main teaching blocks and a total of 6 classrooms. All of the rooms have bare white walls. In classes VI and VII there are benches for the pupils to sit on and in the other classes pupils must sit on the floor. The headteacher shares his office with class I pupils and in this room there are a few posters, charts or pupils' work on the walls. The school has no library, and books provided by the government are kept in a locked cupboard. Recently the school was supplied with some maps (of India and Karnataka state) and alphabet charts, which appear unused.
Enrolment, Pupil Numbers, Attendance, Drop-out and Repetition
There are 416 pupils enrolled in the school; 202 boys and 214 girls. Enrolments (not attendance) by class for 1996 are illustrated in Table 10. The majority of children (80%) in the catchment area are enrolled in the school, but a large number have not enrolled, or have dropped out. It is compulsory for all children to enrol in school at the age of five years. Once they have enrolled, their names must stay on the school register until they reach class III. Consequently out of more than 100 pupils who enrolled in class I, only 40% are regular attendees. Of the regular attendees the overall attendance rate is estimated at 80%.
Table 10: Pupil Numbers 1996 (School B)
|
Class |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
VI |
VII |
|
Number of Pupils |
47 |
49 |
96 |
51 |
65 |
57 |
47 |
Approximately 80% of pupils come from an agricultural background and there are periods of low attendance during peak times in the agricultural year. The busiest times are generally December to January during harvesting of paddy and land preparation, and May to June for the second harvest of paddy. Within a class there are no divisions according to ability. Drop-out is highest in class III, when pupils may stay at home to help in the fields. Repetition is about 10% and highest in classes V and VI. Pupils have to repeat if their attendance is poor.
Assessment and Examinations
Excepting class VII, which will have a district level public examination from this year, other classes have a mid term and annual school level examination. Classes I to IV are assessed through both oral and written tests. The headteacher is fully satisfied with the examination system.
2.3.3 The Teachers
There are eight teachers, four men and four women, including the principal. There appears to be discord amongst teachers and the headteacher. Possible reasons for this situation could be that the headteacher is not local and he is from a higher caste (Brahmin). The headteacher has been at the school for two years following a promotion and transfer to the school. He lives in Mysore and commutes to the school every day. The headteacher is an unhappy man. Since being posted to this school he has not been able to take full charge as one of the teachers, who for a short time was the acting headteacher, is aggrieved that he was not promoted to the position of headteacher. Presently the headteacher holds only the charge of finance. Two elder male members of staff who live in the village, resent working under the new headteacher and do not cooperate or work with him. The situation has been reported to the authorities and so far no action has been taken to improve the situation. The headteacher says that teachers do not cooperate and gave one example where the teacher of class I refused to combine classes I and II to make more classroom space (and a separate office for the headmaster). It was observed that this teacher was very good; she enjoys teaching but says that there are not enough resources to effectively combine classes I and II. Teacher motivation is very low although the headteacher is unable to identify the cause. A male teacher admitted that he did not have the motivation to work well as he has been overlooked in promotions (he does not fulfil the requirements as he has not completed pre-service teacher training). Interviews revealed that there is little communication between the headteacher and his staff, and through observation there appears to be little teacher collegiality. The headteacher states that staff meetings are held five to six times a year. They are usually held to discuss a particular item, for example organising a function, national days and exams. The headteacher says that teachers just sit and listen at these meetings, they never discuss anything or bring in their own opinions.
Only one teacher is untrained, the others have TCH qualifications and two teachers are studying for MA's. The teachers are well experienced and two have more than fifteen years teaching experience. All of the teachers have been at the school for at least two years. The amount of in-service training these teachers have had is minimal, and some have had no in-service training in the past four years. Two teachers have had SOPT training (five days) which they say is useful for ideas on the production of teaching aids (the training is based on the use of maths and science kits but there are no kits in the school). Three teachers have had in-service English language training. Two teachers have been trained to run Scouts and Guide groups; however, there are no groups in the area so their training has never been put into practice. Outside school hours, teachers try and visit parents whose children do not attend school. The teachers have, in the past, supported pupils if there have been specific reasons for them not attending school. For example, when one pupil dropped out of school because he had no uniform, the teachers clubbed together and bought him a uniform. If the teachers identify a child that needs something, they will tell the others and together they will decide how they may help.
The poor teacher collegiality in the school is emphasised when teachers say one of their main problems is that they cannot request to transfer to another school. They feel that teachers should have the opportunity to transfer schools every three years and one teacher said 'people with the right connections work in Mysore which means that we have little chance of ever being transferred there'. The teachers do not like travelling to and from Mysore. One stated 'if I was given a job in my home town (Mysore), I would be able to teach better'. The teachers say that because they work in rural primary schools they have no exposure to new ideas. Although they visit schools in the area they believe this school is one of the best. One of the longer serving teachers said that he had visited school A and that it was only slightly better than this school because, 'it has been given 'model school' status by the government and so it gets more equipment'.
Pupils and teachers were asked what they consider to be the characteristics of a good teacher (Table 11). Teachers' responses in this school are similar to school A, though not as comprehensive. Pupils were not keen to respond to this question.
Table 11: What are the characteristics of a good teacher? (School B)
|
Pupils' response |
Teachers' response |
|
A teacher should; |
A teacher should: |
|
· teach well |
· be punctual |
|
· not beat the pupils |
· be able to relate to the pupils |
|
· teach songs |
· cooperate with parents and the community |
|
|
· plan lessons before teaching |
|
|
· have a good personality |
|
|
· monitor individual pupil's learning |
|
|
· be knowledgeable about the subject |
|
|
· be 'service minded' - an attitude to help people |
|
|
· have a sense of humour |
2.3.4 The Learners
The headteacher says that generally pupils in the school have no interest in learning. During the interviews pupils were quite shy and found it difficult to understand some of the questions. Class 5 was interviewed first as it was assumed they would understand the questions better and give a wider variety of responses than class IV pupils. Class IV pupils however, were more enthusiastic and ready to answer questions and they appeared bolder than the class 5 pupils. According to class teachers, the brightest pupils in the class volunteered for the activities, but based on observation from the mapping diagrams the overall standard of these groups of pupils was poor.
It was difficult for pupils to identify the differences or relations between learning at home and at school. One pupil said they learn songs at home and at school. Another said that ''if I learn from books I forget, if my parents show me how to do it on the farm I remember'. One boy then said that when a teacher is talking specifically about agriculture his parents have told him 'what your teacher tells you in school is false - we teach you better'. Once agriculture came into the discussion the boys livened up and were very quick to answer questions. On one pupil's mapping diagram he had written he works in the field. On inquiring further he went into detail about growing tomatoes, including the types of fertiliser and pesticides they use. Another boy said 'we now use hybrid varieties, so pests are not a problem!' and a girl said 'in science we learnt about soil erosion, at home I told my parents that they should use plants and roots when they make bunds, to decrease the risk of soil erosion'.
When pupils were asked whether they talk to each other about what they are studying, the response was that if they miss a class they will ask their friends to show what was studied In the lesson. Pupils then said that 'learning from the teacher is important', compared to learning from friends. The most liked subject areas were Kannada - 'because it is easy', and maths - 'I can use it when I go to the shops'. In response to the question 'why do children go to school', most pupils in unison recited in Kannada 'to acquire "vidya" (knowledge) and "buddhi" (wisdom) and become a good person' (Table 12). Reasons for not going to school included 'parents keep them at home to fish, graze sheep and watch cattle' and 'they give lame excuses for not attending school, then they steal coconuts and sugar cane. They enjoy fishing and looking after the cows'. Children were reluctant to say what they disliked about school and after much probing they said 'bullying'. Nor would they say what they liked about school, the response was plainly 'we like school lessons'. Possibly pupils still thought that the interview was some type of assessment, or maybe they did not want to say anything unpleasant about the school.
Table 12: Why do some children go to school and others don't? (School B)
|
Why do children go to school? |
Why do some children not go to school? |
|
· learn lessons |
· not interested in reading and writing |
|
· acquire knowledge |
· afraid of being punished |
|
· learn many things |
· fear of being asked questions |
|
· learn about 'good' | |
|
· learn to read |
· parents prevent them from going to school |
|
· acquire knowledge and wisdom |
· not interested in school |
|
· get a job |
· afraid of being punished if they have not done their homework |
Table 13: What children like and dislike about school (School B)
|
What do you like about school? |
What do you dislike about school? |
|
· lessons |
· nothing |
|
· no response |
· being bullied by the high school students |
|
|
· high school pupils tease the primary school teachers when we're singing |
|
|
· high school disturbs our classes |
(· indicates response from class 5; · indicates response from class 4)
Pupils activities at home and school
Children are not used to drawing. They are not familiar with free drawing or pictorial representation of familiar actives (e.g. reading, cleaning, farming, cattle grazing etc.). After drawing a school and home for the mapping activity, they wrote the activities they did in (poor) Kannada, their first language (Figure 4). Their writing was full of spelling mistakes and the sentence constructions were faulty. Similar to School A, girls are primarily responsible for domestic chores at home and school. Whilst class 4 pupils were describing their mapping diagrams, one of the girls pointed to one of the boys saying 'Sir, he washes pots too but he is not telling you!'. Apparently washing dishes is a girl's job and where boys do it at home they do not like to admit it, especially before girls. The boys tend to be responsible for agricultural activities. One boy wrote he planted trees at the school; he then said 'but they have all disappeared'. Table 14 illustrates the frequency of occurrence of daily activities by class 5 and class 4 pupils.
Figure 4: pupil's mapping diagram - School B
Table 14: Activities at home and school (School B)
(summary of mapping diagrams by 12 pupils from class 5, by frequency of occurrence of each avitivity in the mapping diagrams)
|
Activities I do at home |
boy |
girl |
Activities I do at school |
boy |
girl |
|
read and write |
3 |
2 |
read and write |
3 |
3 |
|
fetch water |
2 |
2 |
water plants |
1 |
1 |
|
clean/sweep house |
1 |
|
play |
2 |
3 |
|
herd cattle/goats/sheep |
1 |
1 |
listen to teacher |
|
1 |
|
wash pots |
|
2 |
clean classroom |
1 |
3 |
|
throw away rubbish |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
go to shop |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
play |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
water plants |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
water vegetables (chilli, tomato) |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
cook |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
transplant tomatoes |
|
1 |
|
|
|
(summary of mapping diagrams by 12 pupils from class 4, by frequency of occurrence of each avitivity in the mapping diagrams)
|
Activities I do at home |
boy |
girl |
Activities I do at school |
boy |
girl |
|
read and write |
2 |
2 |
read and write |
3 |
3 |
|
fetch water |
3 |
3 |
water plants |
|
|
|
wash pots |
1 |
2 |
play |
3 |
2 |
|
prepare stove for lighting |
|
2 |
listen to teacher |
|
|
|
watch TV |
|
1 |
clean classroom |
|
3 |
|
play |
2 |
2 |
clean playground |
2 |
1 |
|
cook |
|
1 |
plant trees |
2 |
1 |
|
sleep |
1 |
|
learn multiplication tables |
|
1 |
|
bathe (daily) |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
eat |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
plant ragi |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
works in paddy fields |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
dig (in field) |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
work in mulberry fields |
2 |
|
|
|
|
2.3.5 Teaching Learning Processes
The headteacher believes that the curriculum is only partially relevant to pupils lives, though he has never seen the curriculum or syllabus; his assumption is from examples in the prescribed text books. The headteacher believes the curriculum could be made more relevant by including more agricultural examples and learning skills of local vocations, e.g. agriculture, carpentry, etc. Under socially useful productive work (SUPW) there are activities related to school cleanliness, growing plants, but not any vocational skill training. The headteacher appeared to be thinking about agriculture as a subject rather than its use in contextualising teaching and learning. Teachers initially assumed a defensive posture when they were asked whether they found the curriculum relevant to the lives of the children and teacher training helpful in carrying out their tasks. To both these questions their replies were affirmative. It was only after further probing (why do you think so?, are there any parts which you think are not relevant?, can you give examples?, do you think expressing decimal numbers in base 5 (a topic for class V in arithmetic) is very relevant?), that they said that the curriculum on the whole was not very relevant.
The headteacher identified a number of problems at the school, but he was unable to identify any strengths. He believes that his school is no different to others in the area, though he has had no contact with any other schools. Teachers do not integrate subject areas, though they may verbally relate one subject area to another, for example if discussing population they may talk about maths and social science. Generally pupils do not work in groups as teachers say the time allocation per lesson is not sufficient to enable them do this. One teacher said that she sometimes gives an assignment on one day, the following day the pupils work in groups and ask questions amongst themselves on the given assignment. Classes V, VI and VII may work in groups when a teacher is absent. Project work is not given and school teaching and learning rarely takes place outside the classroom; classes are never taken outside to work. The response to 'do you encourage your pupils to ask questions in class?' by one teacher was 'pupils are not intelligent enough to ask questions'. Another said that they ask questions when they don't understand something. One teacher said pupils are very bold, in contrast to this another teacher said that if he tells his pupils they will be discussing work in class the following day they will not turn up to the lesson. Pupils responses (Table 12) support the latter remark and also pupils give 'pupils ask questions and give examples' a low rank in the matrix activity (Table 15). According to the teacher interviews usually pupils only ask questions when they do not understand something; they rarely ask inquiring, exploratory questions. As a method of learning it is ranked very low by pupils, possibly because their level of achievement is low and their motivation levels are low in this school. Teacher explains, asks questions and gives examples' is ranked high as a method of learning by class IV pupils. At this level the pupils are not left to work on their own. Class V ranked this quite low, they are often left to work on their own.
The matrix ranking activity was carried out with two groups of teachers (Table 15). All of the teachers are trained, and this training has shown through in their rankings. For example a high rank is given to 'pupils learn by doing'. Teachers said practical activities are rarely carried out in the school. Pupils teaching each other is given a high rank by teachers. This method of learning is through group work where a high achieving pupil is the leader, and the lower achievers look to them for guidance. In this school this generally takes place outside school hours. 'Teacher explains, asks questions and gives examples' is ranked very low by the teachers, possibly a result of their training, as in practice this method of teaching is predominant in the lower classes in this school. Teachers do not consider 'pupils ask questions and give examples' as an effective method of learning, because pupils have low achievement levels and low levels of motivation.
Teachers perceive that pupils are not able to ask questions or give examples and so they do not wish to spend their teaching time trying to get pupils to do this. An arithmetic lesson was observed in which the teaching was mechanical and bookish. There was little participation by pupils in learning other than repetition of verbal instructions without understanding. There was no evidence of understanding the process of the problem (taking the lowest common multiplier), or why it was necessary. Pupils did not have the concept of fractions, as the teacher mechanically emphasised the rules of adding and subtracting fractions without checking the pupils' understanding. The teacher stood in front of the class away from the pupils and proceeded to shout at them. They responded automatically by shouting back in unison. Pupils then copy what is written on the board, whether they have understood the concepts or not. This example also illustrates why pupils may rank 'pupils repeat or recite' highly.
Table 15: Methods of learning - matrix ranking activity (School B)
|
Rank |
Teachers' response (group 1) |
|
1 |
· pupils learn by doing |
|
2 |
· pupils repeat or recite |
|
3 |
· pupils teach each other |
|
4 |
· pupils read from text books |
|
5 |
· teacher demonstrates |
|
6 |
· teacher punishes pupils |
|
6 |
· pupils write |
|
6 |
· teacher explains, asks questions and gives examples |
|
6 |
· pupils ask questions and give examples |
|
7 |
· teacher reads from text books |
|
Rank |
Teachers' response (Group 2) |
|
1 |
· pupils 'learn by doing' |
|
2 |
· teacher demonstrates |
|
3 |
· pupils teach each other |
|
4 |
· pupils read from text books |
|
5 |
· pupils repeat or recite |
|
6 |
· pupils write |
|
7 |
· teacher explains, asks questions and gives examples |
|
7 |
· pupils ask questions and give examples |
|
7 |
· teacher reads from text books |
|
* |
· teacher punishes pupils |
|
Rank |
Pupils' response (grade 4) |
|
1 |
· teacher demonstrates |
|
2 |
· pupils 'learn by doing' |
|
2 |
· pupils repeat or recite |
|
3 |
· teacher explains, asks questions and gives examples |
|
3 |
· pupils write |
|
4 |
· pupils read from text books |
|
5 |
· teacher reads from text books |
|
6 |
· pupils ask questions and give examples |
|
7 |
· pupils teach each other |
|
* |
· teacher punishes pupils |
|
Rank |
Pupils' response (Grade 5) |
|
1 |
· teacher demonstrates |
|
1 |
· pupils 'learn by doing' |
|
2 |
· pupils teach each other |
|
3 |
· pupils repeat or recite |
|
3 |
· pupils write |
|
4 |
· pupils read from text books |
|
5 |
· teacher explains, asks questions and gives examples |
|
6 |
· pupils ask questions and give examples |
|
7 |
· teacher reads from text books |
|
* |
· teacher punishes pupils |
* rank score = 0
In both pupils' and teachers' matrix ranking, 'teacher reading from textbooks' is consistently ranked lower than 'pupils reading form text books'. The activity itself may not be an effective method of learning, but given a choice between the teacher or pupils doing it, the preference is towards the pupil doing the activity. A classroom observation of a Kannada lesson illustrates this point. The teacher started the lesson by asking the pupils a few questions to motivate them. She then read the text and the pupils listened. After a few minutes she asked a pupil to volunteer to read the text. A number of pupils, one after the other, stood at the front of the class to read the text. The teacher then attempted to develop skills of listening and reading with comprehension.
Photo 7: Kannada language lesson (School B)
'Pupils learn by doing', received a high rank by teachers and pupils. During classroom observations it was noted that this method of teaching was, to a certain extent, taking place in the classroom. A Kannada language lesson was observed in class II (Photo 7). The room was quite cramped and did not allow the teacher to walk easily between the pupils. A poem had been written on the blackboard which the pupils were to follow and sing. A pupil was then asked to come to the front of the room and lead the rest of the class in singing the poem by reading and pointing at the words on the board. The teacher moved round the children and helped them to pronounce words correctly. There was good participatory learning in a difficult learning context. In a class IV science lesson on sense organs, the teacher asked a pupil to walk towards a door and asked him whether the task was difficult. She then blindfolded the pupil and asked him to repeat the same task. 'Now do you find it difficult?'. All of the pupils were laughing and paying attention to the lesson. The teacher has succeeded in arousing the interest of the children (Photo 8). Pupils may rank 'pupils learn by doing' high as in this case it may be interpreted as doing homework; reading and writing is a frequent activity in the mapping diagrams. In the school there is no project or group work. 'Pupils write' receives a relatively high rank from both class IV and V. This is evident from the mapping activity, in which pupils, despite being asked to draw pictures to illustrate activities, wrote (poorly) the activities they did.
'Pupils teach each other' is ranked low (7th rank) by class 4 and high (2nd rank) by class 5. There is no organised group work in class 4 and below. In classes V to VII, group work is undertaken outside lesson time and when a teacher is absent. 'Pupils repeat or recite' is a common practice in this school and is ranked highly by the pupils. The teachers however ranked this low as in their training this is not a taught method of teaching. Pupils gave 'teacher demonstrates' and 'pupils learn by doing' high rankings. Here the pupils appear to have linked these two activities. They may interpret 'teacher demonstrates' as the teacher talking to them, showing them how to read and write and illustrating methods for working out sums, because this demonstrative teacher-centred approach is used in the school. A social science lesson that was observed, illustrates this point. The children were being taught arithmetic but this was changed by the teacher to a social science lesson after we entered the classroom. One pupil was sent to the headmaster's office to fetch the map of India. The teacher then proceeded to hold the map up, rather than fixing it to the wall. We got the impression that this was the first time the map had ever been used as the teacher appeared nervous and there was nowhere to hang the map. The teacher stood at the front of the class and pointed to places on the map, he did not ask the pupils to participate and identify places on the map. The teacher stood at classroom in front of the pupils, it is unlikely that there is ever any pupil participation in the lesson.
2.3.6 The Home environment
Ten community members, five men and five women, arrived at the school to be interviewed. Eight members have children at the school. Three parents were illiterate and four parents had education between classes III and V. Two community members appeared very enlightened and it was assumed that they were probably educated to college level. One of these members is on the SBC and the other has been nominated to stand as an elected member of VEC. Both of these members are involved in agriculture, one owning a fertiliser shop, the other is a farmer/agricultural contractor. All of the parents are engaged in some kind of farming practice.
Parents' role in schooling
Most of these parents are not involved in school activities and they only visit the school when they take or collect their children or whenever they are sent for by the school. The illiterate parents say that they are fully occupied with their own work and find it difficult to make time to be involved with school activities. They agree that it is important for them to be involved in their children's schooling but are unable to say why they think this. Generally they are satisfied with their children's schooling. Pupils drawings from the mapping activity revealed that few of them could write basic Kannada words so how can parents be satisfied with such a situation?. In response to this question the parents said that their own educational levels were very low so they are 'not in a position to judge the level of learning of their children'. All they know is that at school their children should acquire 'wisdom and knowledge and become a good person'.
Photo 8 Class IV science lesson 'the senses'
Parents say that their children do talk about what they learn in school at home, such as the subjects they learn, but they could not illustrate whether or not they learnt anything from their children. After giving them an example (on the correct way to cook rice to get the maximum nutrition from it), they said there is something to learn from their children. They said children ask them questions and they felt happy about it, but they could not give examples of the kinds of questions or how they respond to them. Parents feel it is acceptable for children to talk about what they do at home and they think children learn better when their home experiences are related to what they learn in school. Again they are unable to give examples.
2.3.7 Contextualising teaching and learning
The headteacher agreed that learning is more effective when what is already experienced by the children out of school is linked to what they are taught in school. He said it is important that teachers relate children's experiences to the subject they are studying. In the case of the school children their agricultural experience should be used. Only a couple of teachers may be doing this but generally it is not done in the school. Asked whether he did it, he said he did not know how to use these experiences in the teaching and learning process and he had no training in using such methods. One group of teachers could not quite grasp the concept of drawing upon pupils' experience in aiding the effectiveness and meaning of teaching a new subject, or area within a subject. They said it is very difficult to relate a child's background to what is taught in the classroom. Some examples were given; for example, in social studies there is a lesson about family relations, so teachers ask pupils about their families. The teachers have obviously never tried an approach which draws upon pupils own experience as they could give no responses to questions except, 'yes, this approach is more satisfying than the traditional "chalk and talk" approach'. Vague reasons were given on the benefits of this type of approach such as 'children understand better as they know it is something that can be used in practice. If it is related to in practice, they can make connections with textbooks'.
2.3.8 Agriculture in contextualising teaching and learning
There is no direct evidence from teachers at the school to suggest that they are using a contextualised approach to teaching and learning. Pupils gave a number of examples where their agricultural experience had been brought into lesson, or where they had learnt something at school that they could use at home such as 'in science we learnt about soil erosion. At home I told my parents that they should use plants and roots when they make bunds, to decrease the risk of soil erosion'. But the examples are few and do not suggest that teachers brought this experience into the lesson deliberately. At this school, once agriculture was mentioned pupils were keen to describe their experiences at home, but they could not relate this to learning in school. One pupil actually said that she remembers agricultural practices better if her parents show her on the farm, rather than learning from a textbook.
2.3.9 Issues arising from school B
There appear to be many underlying problems at this school that may emanate from the poor relationships between staff. Teachers in the school are unhappy and frustrated that the community and in particular the village leaders, parents and SBC members, are non-cooperative and even hostile towards the school in particular, and the education of their children in general. When pupils' progress is not up to standard, the teachers send for the parents. They usually come to the school (women will not come by themselves); however, if any pressure is put on the parents to help their children they will withdraw them from school. Although parents may agree that education is important, in classes II and III pupils are often removed from the school by parents, to help in the home or on the farm whilst their parents go to work elsewhere. Teachers say that parents do not cooperate in ensuring that children attend school as during harvest times and festivals, there are more children outside than in the classroom. Parents send children to school without books, writing materials or school uniforms as the majority of parents are very poor. Parents do not have time to supervise their children's school work at home. Long periods of absenteeism by pupils is difficult for teachers to accommodate in the classroom.
Initially the problems identified by teachers relate to resources such as lack of accommodation for teachers, rather the problems they may face in their teaching and learning practices. Six of the teachers travel from Mysore daily and say that they would move to the village if there was suitable accommodation. Regular in-service training is an area of support consistently requested by teachers, specifically technical and content training in difficult subject areas (e.g. social science and geography). Logistics in terms of class size and time are an important issue where new methods place emphasis on child-centred activities, as quoted by a teacher: 'forty minutes is not long enough to teach like this, if we do we will not be able to cover the curriculum'. Teachers say that they do not have the teaching aids that were recommended to them in teacher training. The training they had is not relevant to the child centred approach used now and there are few training opportunities for them to update previous training. They feel they do not have sufficient training to implement the revised curriculum and there are areas in it that they find difficult to teach. They have no specific training in innovative methodologies. A class I teacher expresses her problem of teaching higher classes because of insufficient teacher numbers. She is trained to teach classes I to III, but must also teach some classes up to grade VII, which she does not feel competent to do. Teachers do not enjoy teaching a subject area that is unknown to them. Art and SUPS must be taught by all teachers but they say they do not have the correct skills to teach these areas. On further questioning it was discovered that teachers did not know the objectives of these subjects and have never seen a copy of the syllabus or ever used a teachers' guide.
Based on observations from mapping diagrams, the overall standard of pupils appeared to be very low. An SBC member said that the level of teaching and learning in the school was very low and through his own observations, he had noticed that even children in classes V and VI did not know how to write the alphabet. Parents appear to be unaware of the poor quality of schooling their children are receiving, possibly because the majority are themselves illiterate, especially the mothers. There is little evidence to suggest that teachers try to relate teaching and learning to pupils' experiences and backgrounds. There was evidence that teachers try to relate some learning to real life (for example a grade IV science lesson on the senses) but generally the approach in this school is "chalk and talk". Classrooms were very bare and few teaching aids and resources were evident in the school. Although agriculture is interwoven with the lives of most children in this school, they appear to be very shy in admitting that they do household and farm work out of school hours. These activities are believed to be lowly tasks, especially grazing livestock, which only the uneducated do. If pupils think this way about agriculture, it could be a constraint to using agricultural experience in a contextualised approach to teaching and learning. Teachers generally agreed the innovation may be useful; however, they believe that it is difficult to relate to or use pupils' agricultural experience in their teaching practices because of constraints in the curriculum, lesson times and exam system.
India is a vast country with great variations and divides in culture, language, caste, religion and gender both between and within states. The immense population, the majority of whom live in rural areas, uneven development, and striking differences between the urban and rural populations, create an infinite and ever changing task for the country's development of education. Although enrolment is high, drop-out rates are also high and achievement levels are low. Nearly half of the population is illiterate, and the large disparity between sexes results in over 60% of adult illiterates being female.
India has declared that it will provide Education for All by the year 2000. This in itself is a huge undertaking, and will involve expansion of early childhood care and development, universalisation of elementary education, reduction in literacy, and provision of opportunities to maintain, use and upgrade education. Improving the content and process of education should be a high priority, 'to better relate to the environment, people's culture and with their living and working conditions, thereby enhancing their ability to learn and cope with the problems of livelihood and environment'. A recent report by the National Advisory Committee (1993), however, looks at the 'burden of learning' in the education system and the main problems associated with it, namely the emphasis on an education to gain elite qualifications, rather than a competence for doing useful things in life. This report states that 'both the teacher and the child have lost the sense of joy in being involved in an educational process. Teaching and learning have both become a chore for a great number of teachers and children,...the majority of our school-going children are made to view learning at school as a boring, even unpleasant and bitter experience'. Competency levels in reading, writing and numeracy of primary school children are estimated to be very low; at most only 30% of children have adequate competencies in these areas. Undue importance has been given to 'memory', instead of developing 'thinking' capabilities. To be effective, rural primary schools should equip the students to face the realities of the environment in which they live, and this is not being achieved in the current education system.
Teachers, parents and pupils all agreed that learning is easier when out of school experience is used and related to what is taught in school through the formal curriculum. They say it helps them understand things better, apply knowledge in practical daily life situations and see the relationship between knowledge from school and real life situations. Teachers confess they don't practice this pedagogy for a number of reasons. Teachers are generally unhappy with the training they received and feel that more support in this area would enable them to try out innovative teaching methods such as contextualising teaching and learning. They do not have the necessary skills to relate school knowledge to the daily life experiences of pupils because this was not covered in their training. At present schools have almost no input in curriculum development as responsibility is at state level. The curriculum is not relevant to the lives of the pupils, and there are many teaching-learning areas that cannot be related to practical, concrete real-life situations. The majority of teachers feel they can do little to improve their teaching practices, considering the lack of facilities and harsh conditions they work under. The rigid structure of the timetable, pressure on them to "cover" the curriculum according to a prescribed plan and the narrow requirements of the examination system allows them no flexibility to adopt innovative teaching methods. Teachers find it easier and feel more secure if they teach through books, which does not require great effort or creative, imaginative planning of learning experiences necessary for innovative teaching.
The belief that knowledge is gained by reading books and that it has very little to do with work or experience seems fixed in the minds of many parents, and is transferred to children also. Teachers feel answerable to parents, and presenting them with good exam marks will satisfy them; teachers and schools are held accountable through reference to exam results. The acquisition of such knowledge, measured through examination results, reinforces the belief that the concern of the school is to transmit knowledge to children in such a way that they can assimilate and reproduce it in the examinations. The curriculum and textbooks are essentially knowledge centred, with occasional reference to activities of a practical nature.
There is a lack of motivation and accountability amongst many teachers, especially in rural schools where there is limited scope and opportunity for professional improvements. In rural areas there is very little opportunity of recognition or appreciation of good, innovative work by these teachers. Regular monitoring and training, they believe, would encourage their professional development and increase motivation of themselves and their pupils. In terms of initial impressions of the two schools, there was a distinct difference. School A was well maintained and attractive to look at. On the other hand, school B was hardly recognisable as a school from the outside as it had no boundary and appeared run-down and neglected. The atmosphere within in the two schools again was noticeably different. Pupils appeared happy and enthusiastic in school A, in school B they were passive and shy. Even from this small case study it is evident that co-operation between the headteacher, teachers, and community members is vital in forming a supportive learning environment for the pupil. The fieldwork illustrated that teachers', parents', community members' and pupils' perceptions of education and their views on knowledge are important factors in using a contextualised approach to teaching and learning. Their perceptions of agriculture are especially important if such an approach were to use agricultural experience. The role of a good teacher, invariably, is of one who is knowledgeable and a repository of information. Learning is also seen as something done out of a book and transferred to an exam paper. The desperately low competency rates in basic subjects illustrates a need for change in the education system. The community should play an important role in changing parental perceptions of education, and contextualising the process could be an important approach to achieving these aims of developing 'thinking' rather than 'memory' capabilities, along with strengthening linkages between the learning environments of school, home and community.
