This paper was presented at a workshop for organisations in India
The poor are poor because they are oppressed and exploited. The poor are also poor because they are poor. The poor struggle to survive and to liberate themselves from oppression and exploitation. In both the efforts, education plays a vital role. By and large, the poor have to depend on the State for education. However, education provided by the State is structured by the forces which exploit and oppress the poor and keep them poor. Therefore, to evolve a strategy for the poor, we have to first understand the strategy of State.
The Project of the State
The strategy of the State in education can be understood in terms of: (1) Schooling. (2) Certification and (3) Learning.
(1) In schooling, the modus operandi adopted by the State sends a message that only those who have education through school have any knowledge and skill. So those who do not go to school or fail in school are ignorant and useless people. Thus the State undermines the skill and knowledge base that people gain from life and work. They make first generation educated children ashamed of their parents and their background. By not providing resources for education of all children, the State keeps more than half of them out of school. This sends a message that they are not good enough for school.
(2) The objective of certification in schools is to underscore the divide between the rich and the poor. Here the State fails poor children. Examinations are not used as a method of assessing children - providing them an opportunity and challenge to prove themselves, but primarily to throw them out of the education process.
At a higher level, the policies of reservation are used to further undermine the poor. Reservation is not seen as an achievement of the poor in their struggle - a policy of positive discrimination to correct an historical imbalance. It is seen as a concession, an act of mercy towards the undeserving disadvantaged. The people who achieve something in their life through reservation policy are seen as second grade people who do not deserve what they have achieved. They are often insulted and humiliated.
(3) In teaching and learning, the State's objective is to create a model of a 'good' person as that belonging to urban economically sound classes. The content of education material provided by the State is full of direct and indirect messages that tell the poor that their life, knowledge, skills, language, beliefs etc, are not good enough. The education material provided thus makes schooling an alien endeavour, discouraging them from attending school. If and when they do attend, it tends to fail them. And finally, those who do pass and succeed are made to feel ashamed of their background.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
All that has been said above has been said by a large number of educationists, notably by Ivan Illich, Paulo Freire, The children of the school of Barbiana and, in India
In the present set up of society, a genuinely good education is not possible for anyone - neither for the rich nor for the poor. Only a genuinely free, democratic society that treats all its citizens equally - free from gender, class, caste and ethnic biases can provide such an education.
Meanwhile, several strategies are available to counter this situation. They range from model experimental schools to projects that try to enroll all children in school and create a lobby in the state education process for correcting the situation.
Model Schools
The work of model schools is extremely important. By concentrating on a few children these schools have given us practical examples of what good education can be and should be. There have been hundreds of such schools in the last 150 years all over the world. The most famous ones are those that were run by Tolstoy, Steiner and Montessori.
In India
However, while they can inspire, groom and create present and future educationists, they cannot be models for mass of the children. For them, all children are the same. They do not take into account caste, class, gender, ethnicity, and poverty etc. - a reality of the real world.
The Project of the Poor
The project of the poor in the field of education cannot be defined in terms of learning alone. It has to encompass all three aspects of the education process, that is - schooling, certification and learning. The three aspects have to be integrated so as to maximise their gains in the larger project of survival and liberation.
Thus schooling implies for the poor- schooling for all children. Its objectives:
(1) To liberate themselves from a situation of child labour. This in turn helps to generate more employment for adults and increase their wages.
(2) To open a path for themselves for freedom from caste bondages. The collective of the school where different caste children come together opens this path. Later, when they succeed in passing examinations, it opens to them paths for employment other than their caste trade/employment.
Thus it combines the twin objectives of survival and liberation.
Certification
Purists often say that one goes to school to learn and not just to pass examinations. But in the real project of education it is passing the examination that crucially determines whether the project of the exploiting classes is succeeding or the project of the people is succeeding.
The privileged have all sorts of advantages in passing an examination. The entire context of the examination is class oriented in terms of language, images, and contents.
The poor have to resort to all sorts of methods to cope with this situation. Often they take recourse to simply copying and cheating. It should be noted that even the privileged often take recourse to this.
However, rote learning (popularly known as “by-hearting” in Andhra Pradesh!) from guides and guess papers is the most common method. Very often, poor children have to work extra hard just to pass the examination.
There is a lot of scope for using a judicious mix of practical vision and principles of pedagogy from the great masters. We can call this the pedagogy of the poor. Below are some ideas that have been tried out in M. V. Foundation camps with great success.
Pedagogy of the Poor
(1) All examinations are written examinations. Hence to pass examinations, writing practice is the most important exercise. Writing also helps in memorising better. Copying answers from good guide books coupled with some understanding of the subject goes a long way in helping students pass examinations.
(2) In writing, the quality of handwriting can make the difference between passing and failing. Richard B. Gregg, a Gandhian economist, who wrote a very practical book on education, spelled out the principles of good handwriting. It has been used very successfully in M. V. Foundation camps.
(3) Modern language teaching methods say that the first book a child should use should be her/his own book. This has been said in the context of children's drawings and their own captions. In M. V. Foundation camps, this was transformed into producing books of children's own songs and teaching them reading with the help of these books.
(4) In mathematics teaching, the logical sequencing of topics is absolutely crucial. And within the topic, practice exercises are to be arranged as per small incremental rise in difficulty of solving. The Education Planning Group of Delhi
(5) Libraries provide a source of self learning and entertainment. In education, the library is the most democratic institution. Here knowledge is available on tap and not from top! In camps, the library is the most popular place. It is kept open at all hours so children can read at any time. A careful selection with the assistance of many knowledgeable persons has allowed them to have a good collection at a fairly low cost.
These are just some of the examples of pedagogy used. Here the word pedagogy is used in its narrow technical sense of the term.
There is a larger sense in which pedagogy has been used. In M. V. Foundation camps, it refers to the commitment to teaching and learning and creating a learning situation.
In the camps, children are brought from their villages by education activists. Some of these activists also become 'teachers' in the camp. Now the activist feels that it is his/ her responsibility that these children are successfully enrolled in schools. In the entire process of convincing the parents, taking care of children who are homesick in the beginning, s/he becomes attached to the children. Or rather, children with their natural affection transform an ordinary youth into a responsible person. Also, once the children are settled down, they become very deeply committed to learning because they know that it is their one chance of getting out of the drudgery of child labour.
The camp itself, with ready food, electricity, play, dance and music provides a learning situation in which a lot of self and mutual learning occurs.
The camp also creates a platform for teacher training. It is often asked - how do ordinary youth succeed in becoming good teachers and achieve such results? The answer is, the camp itself provides a self learning situation for children as well as for youth activists.
First, the requirement of a good teacher is that the teacher should love children and vice versa. Second, the teacher should provide the space for self and mutual learning by the children. Both occur in the camp situation. One can say children train teachers.
Both requirements are of course supplemented by providing teachers with reading materials such as Divaswapna, Letter to a Teacher, Tottochan. Many other works of Gijubhai are available in Telugu. Myron Weiner's lecture, Myth & Reality about Child Labour by CACL have been very helpful. Dr. Krishna Kumar's books have been translated into Telugu and Myron Weiner's larger work is also available in Telugu.
Conclusion
Pedagogy of the poor has to be conceived as a part of a larger project of the poor for survival and liberation. This also has to be conceived in contradistinction with the project of the oppressing classes in the field of education in terms of schooling, certification and learning. Abstract ideals of education and learning where class, caste, gender and ethnicity are not considered alone cannot meet the situation. Nor will simple enrollment and cheating in examination do the trick. A judicious mix of learning from the great masters of education and practical wisdom can help the poor. The M. V. Foundation camps provide one such example.
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