Shall we bell the cat?

www.learnatroots.org/ inclusion in institutions

The Supreme Court Verdict has approached to address the Lakshman Rekha of private schooling in India. The call for private schools to admit children from different strata in the neighbourhood has set the Tumbleweed rolling on mandated inclusion in all neighbourhood schools nationwide.  

What stops us now from   crossing this threshold   in one clean step instead of excluding minority held schools or schools of alien origin from this egalitarian move?

Will this exemption usher us closer to addressing the several mechanics of  delivering quality with equity which is the cat we must bell..

The learning path of children

It is time to wake up and smell the coffee on the differentiated developmental needs of childhood and youth across its several stages. To respond is to not preempt, to describe is to stop prescribing and this is the frame of mind with we must feed the hungry infant and nurture the young mind and body.

To hatch the egg before its time, to starve the caterpillar or feed the pupa is not a sound nourishment plan to breed butterflies.

So it is with the learning path of children and youth which must follow its natural trajectory and rise to meet the physical and psychic needs of each stage of development.

It is important that we listen keenly and favour homegrown solutions over cut and paste imports and work to incubate, verify and deploy appropriate models to live love and learn. Or we choose to fail the mandate and spirit of the RTE.

The wind carries whispers of ‘our children’ and ‘their children’ and how the two will never meet. The voices of bigots use the same syntax everywhere.

www.learnatroots,org/ the learning path of children

Act now!

Need to act now

To the child we know we cannot say wait till tomorrow for her needs must be met today for every child to claim her endowment and develop optimally.  To strengthen the child, we must follow the child and his needs and rights today and not pussyfoot around the protectionist posturing of lobbies of vested interest.

Several Aided schools in Kerala and TamilNadu have thrived and served in their contexts to deliver value and build young people and children. Diverse models dot the nation and these proven ways of work can help usher a new dawn for the many by going where these pathfinders have gone in communities across the nation.

Central control of a monster RTE bandwagon could trundle these initiatives and actually flatten several provisions enshrined in the RTE Act. The fence cannot feed on the grass, Mr. Sibal!

The Right to Live and Learn

Right to live and learn

What will happen if  The Right to Education is read with the Fundamental Right to life for children for whom access to education is the lifeline between having and losing? For now and all time?

 Media which cries itself hoarse over the Freedom of Speech for itself and its minions must raise its voice to a crescendo to speak for all children in the subcontinent. This linkage of fundamental right to life and education for all children could then be used to overrule the cacophony of provisions for minorities and other interests (including unregulated imported models of schooling mushrooming around our metros.)

It is time to ungate our communities before we are all reduced to living in our ghettoes. Our schools and our streets must be opened to all children to learn and play together. For that we have to open our hearts and free our minds of old prejudices.