Classroom, Curriculum, Pluralism And Social Inclusion Indian Sceneario

Dr.Mahendra K Mishra State

Tribal and Minority Education Coordinator, Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority Bhubaneswar 751001 E mail : [email protected] www.opepa.in

all education is inherently political and all pedagogy must be aware of this condition a social and educational vision of justice and equality should ground all education issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and physical ability are all important domains of oppression and critical anti-hegemonic action. the alleviation of oppression and human suffering is a key dimension of educational purpose

Schools must not hurt students-good schools don't blame students for their failures or strip students of the knowledges they bring to the classroom Joe L Kincheloe On Critical Pedagogy

Village A composition of many languages, ethnicity, religion do coexists

What is the secret that perpetuates the co existence of these diversities in the villages

School Though physical access is not denied, children’s cultural values and experience is not captured What's the secret that denies the diversities of language, ethnicity and gender

Marginalized are secluded from the sacred centers They live in a secluded place Visible social barrier ( well, tank, temple) Traditional culture has perpetuated this in the society

Are these social inequalities influence the school ? Curriculum and content ? Teachers attitude ? School management ? Classroom behaviors ? Learning of children ?

Who are the marginalized Lower castes/class Powerless Poor Illiterate Working class Unprivileged

Who are not Upper Caste/class powerful Rich Literate Ruling class privileged

Dalits Adivasi Muslims Artisan castes Women Migrants Urban deprived Nomadic

Children from Different languages Different religion Different ethnic groups different cultural background Teachers as authority (on the chair ) and children in culture of silence (sitting on the ground) Is the school replicate our inherited colonial mind set ?

The As-Is Situation Often the only voice heard in class is that of the teacher. When children’s voices are heard, they are answering the teacher’s questions or repeating the teacher’s words. Do the children’s voice matter? (in side out) Do the children have choices of learning from their language and cultural context ?

The formal approach, of equality of treatment in terms of equal access or equal representation for girls, is inadequate. Today, there is a need to adopt a substantive approach, towards equality of outcome, where diversity, difference and disadvantage are taken into account.(p.6)

Marginalized learners, and especially girls, to claim their rights as well as play an active role in shaping collective life, education must empower them to overcome the disadvantages of unequal socialization and enable them to develop their capabilities of becoming autonomous and equal citizens.(p.6)

To make it an inclusive and meaningful experience for children To move away from a textbook culture to connect with children’s life Child centered pedagogy: Gives primacy to children’s experiences gives primacy to their voices gives primacy to their active participation

Why

NO

Traditional social biases Mind set of untouchability( high /low) Behaviour /Body language Cultural attitude Sitting arrangement in classroom gender disparity/caste based space management priority to upper caste children and importance to upper caste teachers Neglect to Adivasi and Dalit children All these are invisible in our mind set..

Different make-beliefs on other’s ,language,ethinicity, religion (we all enjoy holidays of other religion but we don’t know the background) Do we know about the Muslims and Christians literature ? Why we fail in understand them ? Is there any source in our education to know their culture?

Marginalized children have physical access to the school But they are intellectually neglected Rich human values of Adivasi is not discussed Dignity of labour of workers are not respected Contribution of Muslims are ignored Tolerance of women and girls are ignored Service of Christians are misunderstood

Uniform curriculum and textbooks have little space for cultural diversities Local social, religious or linguistic diversities are not discussed in the classrooms Curriculum designers / Textbook writers and teachers always chant “mainstream” mantra

Faithful follower of text books ( course completion syndrome ) Only what is written is knowledge and others are not (exam related texts) Ignores knowledge outside classroom No emphasis to the social composition of the village/city which is constitutive of children’s knowledge and environment No or less connectivity with village and school

Inter-district disparity in the state (one district 85% literate another is below 30 % in case of tribal ) Monolingual , mono-cultural curriculum in multilingual classroom No mention of social strength ( multiethnic and multi cultural society)

There are 11614 schools with more than 20 children with linguistic diversities Total 683745 children (6- 14 age ) 58 000 Santali children ( 44265 Telugu, 45449 Bengali, 32189 Hindi Other tribal languages : 396843 children Other 16067 language s

90611 Muslim children are Urdu speakers 78 Recognized Madras for 10000 children ..Unrecognized Madrasas for…..children Many Muslim girls still denied access 17 lakhs Adibasi children

Lets initiate the dialogue .. Why these disparities.. How to resolve them ..

Thank you