Report on Field Visit in five
blocks of Sirohi district (21st Aug. – 1st Sept., 2012)
Introduction:
This is my first field visit since I
landed Sirohi district institute, on 8th of August, 2012. The visit
was organized after an intensive interaction with the Institute Supervisor. The
Aim and Objective of the visit was discuss and deliberately decided to go to
the field with an open mind, to see and observed whatever we can as a professional
social worker. The notion of observing analytically on specific issue was done
away as most of the field visit participants are new to the cultural, social
and geographical context of the field we are visiting. So, my reflection about
the visit will be purely observatory note, related information collected and my
personal view.
Brief description of
Field Visits till date:-
Date
|
Block
|
Village
|
Nature of
work
|
21.08.12
|
Pindwada
|
Gharat
|
Govt. Primary School visit, observed village
setting, interaction with Headmaster and ex Sarpanch of the village.
|
22.08.12
|
Pindwada
|
Gharat
|
Interaction with community people and Panchayat
secretary.
|
23.08.12
|
Abu Road
|
Mahikhera
|
Govt. Primary School visit, observed village
setting, interaction with school teacher and interaction with village elders.
|
24.08.12
|
Abu Road
|
Uplagarh
|
interaction with Headmaster, observed village
setting , and interaction with PRI official of the village.
|
27.08.12
|
Reodar
|
Hathal
|
Govt. Primary School visit, observed village
setting, interaction with Headmaster, interaction with village elders, and
ward member General category.
|
28.08.12
|
Reodar
|
Hathal
|
Observed village community setting and
interaction with villagers and Ward Member from ST community.
|
29.08.12
|
Sheoganj
|
Bargaon
|
Observed village setting, interaction with
Sarpanch, interaction with village folks.
|
30.08.12
|
Sheoganj
|
Bargaon
|
Govt. secondary school visit and interaction with
Head master of the school, visit KGVB and interaction with the wardens.
|
31.08.12
|
Sirohi
|
Sildar
|
*pospond due to heavy rain
|
1.09.12
|
Sirohi
|
Deldar
|
Visit govt. school and private school, had
interaction with the staff and head teachers of both the schools.
|
My personal reflection:
The visit to five villages in five
blocks of Sirohi district was an eye opening to the reality. The biggest
challenge faced was languages barrier. There is clearly a contrasting picture
between “what should be and what it is”. The law (RTE) and guidelines (e.g. NCF
2005) which guide the education system of the land is a total failure at least
in all the schools visited. Saying this I don’t mean to say that we should do
away with the laws and the guidelines but to strengthen it. Now the question is how to strengthen it. On the
part of schools teachers RTE is adding
burden to their already tight schedule. Most of them have clearly spelled
against RTE as “not relevant” in
ground reality. Age based admission, no detention policy till class 8, no use
of any form of punishment, mid-day meal, and unavailability of sufficient
teachers are major problem almost all the teachers have. In trying to reason
out issue behind these there are some factors directing that teachers not well qualified or not well-motivated or
well equipped to accomplish the task assigned and children not able to adapt to the change. These
further leads to deeper questions of why are teachers in schools not well
qualified, not well motivated, or well-equipped and what went wrong to the natural ability of children to learn and
adapt. Thus this exploration leads me to the behavior, attitude, social,
cultural, economic and political contexts of the society.
We are dealing with first
generation learners. A society who cannot related a long term returns of education in to their daily lives, or doubtful
if concept of quality education exist teachers who had experience of many years
and not in sync with the present
scenario, teachers well qualified who cannot (or ignore to) translate their knowledge into innovation in the school. Real sense of responsibility towards the
school is lacking from both teachers and communities. Who owns the school? Who
has ever benefited from the school and what type of, if any? Possible
beneficiaries (direct or indirect beneficiaries) are the children, community,
teachers or the construction contractor? After this entire negative environment in the school, out of the number of children
enrolled 45% to 50% student make it to the school. So, what interest me are
these positive factors which drive the children to school. After understanding
the factor it can be strengthen and can be extended among the children who are
not regular and who are drop out. In trying to reason out why these percentages
of children come to school various question crop up. What attract them to
school? Is it any govt. incentive that pulled them to school? What is their
expectation from the school, if they have any? Is their presence in the school
an objective presence or just another
place of social gathering? Is there any type inter-personal
bonding established between the children and the teachers? Lack of
monitoring the duties of the teachers is on one side express as a common view
point contributing to failure of education system. When on the other side
teachers are grumbling of overloaded task and teachers recruit on contract
basis are paid too low and irregularly. Thus the question flows, if educational
structure is deliberately design to
fail (definitely Yes, for a pessimist). But as a social development
interventionist to be optimistic is a must.
As we go on from one
village to another in all the blocks, one important observation is that
generally children from SC/STs, OBC are majority in govt. schools. There is a
popular trend where family who are economically well off tend to send their
ward in private school. Does this further marginalized and demotivate (psychological
effect) the children and degrade the status of govt. school? The children
knowing that they belong to a lower and under privilege strata in the society
may affect their motivation and the determination to move ahead in this
competitive world of education. Building interrelationship between what they
learn in school and their daily lives can be one of the biggest challenges and
dilemma children and teachers faced. Indigenous knowledge is considered as one
of the most important tool in making education relevant to the context of the
people. So, more emphasis if given on inclusion of indigenous knowledge may improve learning and retention rate of
student.
Conclusion:
The visit to 5 villages in just 10
days was too brief for deeper understanding of the village but worth if looking
back to the objective of the visit. Languages barrier was one issue that hinder
in culminating the information. The distribution of the village among the teams
was excellent but most of the village visited by our team was dominated by
Garacia tribe. It would have been a more diverse exposure had we been exposed
to village of different social combination. The reflection made above may have
some personal biased and post visit discussion with the team members but have
taken outmost care to avoid this influence. The field visit was to concluded
with a reflection on all the observation, information collected, and
relationship build but the issue and the situation really pulls me for further
deeper understanding. So the dilemma if I was “to reflect or to probe” still hangs on my mind unanswered. The
visit has of course drawn as clearer picture of society in Sirohi District.
This visit nevertheless is like a window shopping for further serious business
of education.
(Note: The brief description of the
villages geography, people, culture and institution is not included)
