To Reflect or To Probe?

                        

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 8^th 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)