A curriculum for children of rural communities in India A curriculum for children of rural communities in India OurOur LandLand OurOur LifeLife A curriculum for children of rural communities in India Researched and prepared by Nyla Coelho October 2012 Our Land Our Life (A curriculum for children of rural communities in India) Researched and prepared by Nyla Coelho Published by Organic Farming Association of India G-8, St Britto’s Apartments Fiera Alta, Mapusa 403 507, Goa Website: www.ofai.org Email: [email protected]/[email protected] Ph: 0832-2255913 Funded by NEG-FIRE A-1, 3rd Floor, Sarvodaya Enclave Behind Mother’s International School New Delhi 110 016 Website: www.negfire.org Ph: 011-26531887 A Project of Cerana Foundation D- 101, Highrise Apartments Lower Tankbund Road Hyderabad 500 080, Andhra Pradesh Email: [email protected], [email protected] Ph: 040- 27536128 Distributed by Peoples Books 49/5, Sushil Niwas Mahadwar Road, IVth Cross Belgaum 590 002 Cell : +91 9341463231, 9343413193 Ph. : +91 831 2489474 Copy left declaration : OFAI and Peoples Books welcome the full use of the information made available in this book provided it is explicitly for non-commercial purposes and the source is duly acknowledged. Limited First Edition : February 2012 First Printed Edition : October 2012 Research Assistance : Gerard J. D’Silva Cover : Illustration by Chaitanya Kubal Page Setting : Vijay Amashi Printed at : Impressions, Belgaum Foreword to the First Printed Edition Between the time of its first release in February 2012 and now, this curriculum has generated a reasonable degree of interest among various sections of society. Educators and institutions, especially those, working with rural communities in India, religious groups exploring sustainable ways of life and livelihoods, pioneering visionaries attempting to establish stable self sustaining communities, home schooling parents, schools with green curricular orientations and others have expressed their enthusiasm to adapt its contents. It has inspired workshops for children and experimental field tests. Several individuals have expressed their interest to translate this work. Given its limited exposure, the feedback has been more than encouraging. Many friends and well wishers who have seen some worth in the document have gone out of their way to recommend it to wider circles. The Ecoscience Research Foundation and Samanvaya, Chennai; Deccan Development Society and Cerana Foundation, Hyderabad; Nai Talim Samithi,Wardha; Safayi Vidyalaya and Manav Sadhana, Ahmedabad; the ISKCON monks at Hebri; the various on-line discussion groups; Isabel Carlisle, S A Jahns, Sunita Rao, Blaise Joseph and the many many unknown more have taken it to the larger community. Their support and trust is gratefully acknowledged. The feedback received from educators has been incorporated into this edition. This edition in print would not have seen the light of day yet if it was not for the generous financial support of NEG – FIRE, New Delhi. The book is being distributed free of cost to several institutions, schools and educators working with children in rural areas across the country. Others who wish for a copy can contact Peoples Books, Belgaum or write to [email protected]. We will be happy to send the book to you against a small contribution which will go towards keeping the book in circulation for the benefit of others. This book is also available as a free download at http://multiworldindia.org/natural-farming-institute Nyla Coelho October 2, 2012 Dedicated to Our Children, Our Future A Note from the Principal Researcher An idea is like a date seed. It can lounge in dormancy till the time it finds suitable conditions to come alive. The germ of an idea for a rural curriculum lay dormant for many years, making every effort to surface now and then; asserting its life potential. In early 2011, the New Education Group - Foundation for Innovation and Research in Education (NEG-FIRE), New Delhi, saw the possibilities that such a school curriculum would open up for children of rural communities in India. They readily agreed to support the work financially. It takes a community to nurture a child and a family to bring it up. Likewise the rural curriculum design has been nurtured by a country wide community of educators, organic farmers, thinkers, academics, children, rural community groups and practitioners in innumerable ways. Cerana Foundation, The Organic Farming Association of India, Natural Farming Institute and Taleemnet have shouldered parental responsibilities. And like all parents have done so, at most times, happily. Each gesture is hereby acknowledged with deep gratitude. What came across very clearly in the process of this work was that, it was a ‘dream child’ of numerous eager and expectant “parents”. So naturally, it carries within it several strands of complex ‘DNA’. Many however, will question its birth, worth, relevance and place. Many others will see its potential, may want to pick and choose using an astute eye; while some others may wish to embrace it completely. Each of these sentiments is perfectly valid and in fact encouraged. Such is in the nature of all things new. Throughout the entire research period there was always a sense of excitement. Fears and apprehensions were aplenty as the team was navigating in unchartered waters. But we woke up each morning with renewed enthusiasm to sail on. Captain and crew switched roles with ease. Early in the day, there was a casualty. Sameer Badodekar, our young secretarial assistant, left us to journey on to his final rest. We have egged on. Reconciling with the loss, however, is taking time. Finally, in all sincerity and modesty, I would like to place on record that it has been an honest attempt to put together a framework as best as we could within our understanding of the issue. No doubt, there is much scope for improvement, and this can happen only with your feedback. Anyone who may wish to improve on it, independently, is most welcome to do so. We would be happy to hear from them. The credit for the merits within this document goes to many. The demerits are entirely my responsibility. We look forward to hearing from you about both. Inconsistencies if any, if brought to our notice, will be corrected in subsequent publications. Nyla Coelho February, 2012 iii Acknowledgements The numerous individuals and institutions who have contributed towards seeing this work to its fruition, the various ways in which they have come forward generously with their time, resources and wisdom only reiterates the good still left in this world. Thanks are due firstly to Dr Claude Alvares, the director of this project, for the briefings, critical comments and demands of exacting standards. This work required that we visit many rural schools, institutions and farms across the country. Each one took special care to make our stay comfortable, made special efforts to give us their valuable time, show us the resource materials and share information generously. The hospitality, the sharing of expertise and experience of Anuradha and Dr Lalit Pande, Brian Jenkins, Anuradha and Krishna, Neema Vaishnav, David (at Laxmi Ashram), Kunti didi, Sushama Sharma, Meenakshi Umesh, David (at Mitrola Ashram) and Shanu, Manik Das Gupta, Sachin and Minal Desai, T. S. Ananthu, Niranjana Maru, Malati didi, Juli and Vivek Cariappa and Richard Rebello are hereby acknowledged with special thanks. Some of the modules included within the curriculum required a perspective and technical knowledge that only experts, practitioners and professionals in the field could provide. The contributions of Dileep Kamat, Shree Padre, Dr Mathew Joseph, Prof Nana and Medha Marate, Shivaji Kaganikar, C.O.Patil, Deepak Pillai, Ramesh Raichur, Krishna Prasad and Kamakshi Shenoy are gratefully acknowledged. Valuable insights which helped to plan the design of the curriculum came from many quarters. Dr Sultan Ismail, Pawan Gupta, Joss, Bernard Declerq and Deepika Kundaji, Jacob Nellithanam, G Gautama, Ranjeet Shanbag, Preeti Joshi, Karuna and Vasant Phutane, Kapilbhai Shah, Anjali Kaul took special care to understand our efforts and shared their insights generously. Obtaining useful resources for such a framework may well be a project in itself. Apart from hunting the internet, physical copies of books and materials were sourced, sometimes even photocopied and sent to us. Dr Yogesh Kulkarni, Arvind Gupta, Meenakshi Varma, M.C.Malathi, Anshuman Das, Rohit Shetty, Carmalita Machado, Ravi Gulati and his student volunteers, Jenessey Dias and Suresh Kosaraju receive a standing salute for their help. Dr L.S.Saraswathi, Vasant Palshikar, Jane Sahi, B. Ramdas and the late Dr Venkat are thanked for their generous sharing of perspective and their words of encouragement. Several women’s groups from rural Karnataka, children of schools run on Gandhian thought and children home schooled on farms have also shared their aspirations and expectations out of such a curriculum. These have helped greatly in giving direction to our work. Each has been a voice of wisdom. Our namaskar to all. A special thanks to Marita Ishwaran, Biswajeet Mukarjee and Asha of NEG-FIRE. Blaise Joseph, Ravi Gulati, Rama and Ramasubramanian, Priya Nagesh and Krishna went out of their way to liaison and arrange some crucial meetings and affordable accommodation for us. A big thank you to each one of you. Cerana Foundation took on the entire responsibility for all the paper work involved, thus leaving the researchers mentally free to get on with the task at hand. T.Vijayendra and Sagar Dhara’s efforts in this regard deserve appreciation. If it was not for the patience, support, encouragement and the gentle but firm hand of Dr M.G. Jackson directing us during the last phase of the work and Dr G.P. Pande sharing his expertise, this document would not have seen the light of day as yet. Their assistance with drafting some parts of the document is gratefully acknowledged.