OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS Barefoot College, Tilonia: Interview with Teja
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Other Education - The Journal of Educational Alternatives ISSN 2049-2162 Volume 3 (2014), Issue 1 · pp.89-95 OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS Barefoot College, Tilonia: Interview with Teja Ram By Gregor Lang-Wojtasik, September 2013 The Barefoot College, Tilonia, or One of the most prominent Social Work Research Centre, was aspects of The Barefoot College is its founded in 1972 by young academics holistic, democratic and participatory around Bunker Roy and continues approach concerning education and today. These academics in the 70s society. Night-schools and Bal Sansad were interested to learn from people (children’s parliament) are models for in dry and down-trodden villages of alternative approaches in learning rural Rajasthan (North-Western part processes and offer chances of of India) and exchange knowledge on education to children out of school sustainable challenges of society. due to various reasons. The work at the college starts at Gregor Lang-Wojtasik used the the grassroots of society. It focuses on example of SWRC night-schools and the belief of existing talents and the Bal Sansad in in his paper presented potential of people in the villages to last year at the European Union solve various problems for Democratic Education Conference themselves. (EUDEC). He has been acquainted The main activities encompass with this NGO since 1997, when he solar energy to support appropriate included it in his research sample for ways of self-reliance, community his PhD on non-formal education in health to reduce child and maternal India and Bangladesh (Lang-Wojtasik mortality, water harvesting to 2001). redevelop the main basis of life, He has maintained contact with women’s upliftment to support the college for the last 16 years and gender-equality, rural handicraft to took the chance during his last visit to promote traditional structures of rural India in September 2013 to have an survival and value beauty as well as interview with Teja Ram, age 47, a communication especially through member of the Education section at puppetry, which is useful to raise SWRC and the founder of Mantan consciousness about social change. (‘purity’), an NGO working in a very Gregor Lang-Wojtasik Weingarten University [email protected] 89 OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS Interview with Teja Ram salty area of the state of Rajasthan, TR: Yes, since 1997 I worked with being part of the big SWRC-network. the children. In the beginning there was only 6 to 10 percent literacy in those villages of Silora Block. So Bunker Roy said that we should focus on this area for education and we should start offering resources here for education for the governmental school, for the night schools at Barefoot College, for the children’s’ parliament, everything. But you know, when we reached there and I used to go to villages, had a meeting and talked about the education, people said “Education is ok, but what do you think about the water and there is no water, but we stay in the villages. What will we do? So think about the water.” One of the first actions of Barefoot College was to deal with the challenge of salty water. The area is near to one of the biggest salt lakes of Asia and ground Teja Ram water is totally salty. People had to bring the drinking-water from 8 to 10 Gregor Lang-Wojtasik (GLW): You kilometers away. are running an organization called GLW: So dealing with this was their Mantan. That means to find purity. main issue? Purity of life? TR: Yes, then we started to work on Teja Ram (TR): Yes… everything. the traditional things to do with water Purity in the whole development, harvesting that are to be built in the purity in lifestyle, and how we live or school. So the children can survive think. We believe that it’s important and they can stay in the school. to sit together, discuss and then find a Otherwise the teacher would have said direction of work which doesn’t “Ok, there’s no water, please go hamper with beliefs. home.” GLW: Tilonia is already a very So we stated building water drought-ridden area, but now you are stations at the schools together with working even in a salted area. That the community and we are also means the ground water is salted and working with the individual families. you need to find ways to solve the So that the old people and the young water problems in a different way. girls can use the water for health and survival. We also collect the surface 90 Gregor Lang-Wojtasik water for animals and ground water now known as a technical centre by recharge. We were making big tanks the Indian government. So people to collect the rain water and we also come from all over the world. Women used to set up reverse osmosis plant in can come here, stay for six months. some villages. So we reverted the They can get the training and go back salty water to the sweet water. That to their villages and develop electrical means we work for the education as capacity [through solar power]. well as water. GLW: I remember that before 1997 GLW: For me it sounds very much in Tilonia, government schools were like a Freirean approach then handed over to SWRC. Is this still the concerning generative themes. That case? means water is the problem as you TR: No, at that time they were said and you start with the water and Shiksha Karmi schools but now the then combine the education. government has taken over Shiksha TR: Yes. Karmi schools. At present we are GLW: That means you try to running night schools at different implement the idea of Barefoot places and a day school in Tilonia College, Tilonia into the new region, campus. In Mandan campus we are but with very different issues. I running day-school only for the girls. remember my first visit to Tilonia GLW: And would you say, I mean when even it was difficult to handle. night schools have been running But the area in which you were already for a long time. Is it still a working was more difficult? successful model in the villages? TR: Yes, because that area is 200 TR: Sure, yes. Because there are kilometers from Jaipur and 100 many villages that have no children at kilometers from Ajmer. In the school, no staff for the school. So beginning there were no roads and no children go to another village. In some one liked to go to these villages. So hamlets people are not familiar with now the trend is slightly shifting as the schools and then we start there. there are roads and the area is After two, three years they might developing. become familiar with the idea of a GLW: We met personally the last school and we push the government to time in 1997. Now it is 2013, many start a school there. Then they open years have passed. What would you the governmental school and we start say are really the main developments the night school somewhere else. So concerning Barefoot College? Is there night schools are not just a learning or any change or is it just constant work? teaching centre for the children, but TR: The biggest change to Barefoot they are also making a good College is that its work on the solar environment for education to evolve and water is extended to all over as a social idea. India, and even beyond to Bhutan and Children, government teachers African countries. Because Tilonia is and the parents are involved in the 91 OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS Interview with Teja Ram education system. Night schools are to How you look at them. If you say put the education in the centre of the “Oh, just children, what will they society. Within society through night do?” But if you listen carefully and school people can monitor the take their issues seriously then it will education in an ordinary school. Thus, be a good process towards learning. they can evaluate the school and feel GLW: The world is changing rapidly the importance of education. and I remember that Barefoot College, GLW: At a conference in the Tilonia was also present at the Expo Netherlands on democratic schools, in Hannover, where the world showed where I used the example by showing up to discuss about solutions for a short movie of the Barefoot College upcoming world-challenges. That’s to show the global impact of already 13 years ago. Remembering alternative ways in education, people this, what would you say today: were very impressed to see the Bal Tilonia has a very constant model Sansad in action and they even saw always being able to reform itself. one of the prime ministers [a young What can the world learn from Tilonia woman] speaking. They said “how is concerning education? it possible that pupils, women, girls in TR: Ok, there are two important that age are able to talk like adults, things we can learn from Tilonia. In especially in the Indian community?” the field of education the main thing is Do you have an answer to that? that we are learning things not just TR: Yes, if you give a chance and a from the books and teachers. There space to children and listen carefully, are many, many things that happened politely, then they can speak. But if in the past and in the community you block yourself and you never which constitute very good create a space for children, they can’t. knowledge. So we should not reject In the Barefoot College of Tilonia our traditional knowledge.