Still, Faded Chalk On Blackboards

On March 14, a national daily reported that as the cor­o­­­navirus pandemic keeps students away from school, 3.75 lakh children registered with 33,115 anganwadis in Kerala will get material for their mid-day meals delivered at home. It bro­ught to mind an article in an Ame­­rican higher educ­ation magazine, of college shutdown due to the pandemic forcing poor and minority stude­nts to lose valuable academic experience, as well as hot meals and a shelter. The closure have literally thrown them out on the streets.

S. Giridhar바카라�s Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teachers is a tim­ely reminder of what government schools mean to the vast majority of Indian children. For a nation whose urban middle and upper-­middle class increasingly identify K-12 education with private institutions, what is forgotten is that education is not just a venue of liberal humanist idealism바카라�the widening of emotional, intellectual and ethical horizons. For the poor and marginalised, it is very often the ticket to a meal and a bed to sleep on. And in no country can this responsibility be carried out by private instituti­ons. They are, as Giridhar says, the lifeline of 60 per cent our children.

But it is customary to dismiss government schools as inefficient and dysfunctional, especially among the urban middle class and above, who would shudder to send their children to one. Girdhar바카라�s book is a robust dismissal of such dismissals. His is more a case for individual teachers rather than the system, of which he has his share of criticism. But any system is only as good as its individual practitioners바카라�ironically, in this case, the whole can be much worse than the sum of its parts.

Clearly, the bad press government schools get in India are linked to the often superficial reasons for which people바카라�ironically, from disenfranchised segments of society바카라�send their children to private schools: 바카라�they have a nice uniform with tie and shoes바카라�, 바카라�English seekhega바카라� or bizarre ones like, 바카라�my biradari (community) will think we are kanjoos바카라�. And since private schools are more expensive, the choice also becomes a vehicle of gender bias: private schools for boys and government schools for girls.

The book is a collection of brief profiles on the people Giridhar aptly calls the 바카라�unsung heroes of real India바카라�, the teachers in government schools across the country who illustrate the heroic work of educating the nation바카라�s children, the vast majority of them from rural and poverty-stricken areas. The different chapters are clustered around different kinds of heroes바카라�in Giridhar바카라�s evocative language, 바카라�the head teacher as CEO,바카라� 바카라�reflective practitioners바카라�, those especially committed to 바카라�equity and quality바카라� or 바카라�teamwork바카라�.

Giridhar makes the sad admission that the nation바카라�s best talent is not drawn to school teaching, much less teaching in government scho­ols. But at the same time he deflates many negative myths about government schools, especially its teachers. As opposed to 바카라�urban myths바카라�, these misinformed notions are 바카라�folk devils바카라�. One such folk devil is that of 바카라�teacher absenteeism바카라�. 바카라�Popular discourse바카라�in parts of higher echelons of government바카라�bac­ked by some 바카라�scholarly바카라� research talked of absenteeism of 30 to 50 per cent,바카라� he writes. He continues: 바카라�We had never seen absenteeism rates, even remotely of this order.바카라� Rather, the study conducted by Azim Premji University found that of the 18 per cent of teachers who were not in school, 2.5 per cent were absent without cause, while 6 per cent were on sanctioned leave, and 11 per cent were sent on other work, such as training or government business. He makes a potent case against the last바카라�sending teachers away on business when they should be in school. It is the kind of misleading publicity, such as calling teachers 바카라�mis­­sing바카라� or 바카라�nadard바카라� in the press when the majority of them were away on approved business, that builds up to the negative and hopeless image of teachers at government schools.  

Yet there is no denying that government sch­ools exist today across a landscape of bleakness, a gathering of travails real and imagined. Across this scene, the question Giridhar asked the teachers most persistently was: 바카라�Why do you come here?바카라� The 바카라�gist of all answers,바카라� he says, 바카라�is the same: 바카라�we want to learn to teach better바카라�.바카라� Like their stubbornly hopeful ans­wers, Giridhar바카라�s book also does much to dispel the bleakness and spread light across this vast and crucial landscape.