Curriculum Construction From the Below Case of Chhattisgarh

Dr Mahendra Kumar Mishra

State Head IFIG Chhattisgarh,India

Learning from Experience

Teaching that does not emerge from the experience of learning cannot be learned by any one.-Paulo Friere 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

India: Three kinds of Learning that India perceived and constructed

Imitative follow others no thinking Educative follow others some thinking

Intuitive - follow self critical thinking Based on two words Sradhha-ban Labhate Jnanam( Sradhha)process Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye( Mukti ) end Result

From School To Society

19- 20 th century education was mainly based on schools and classroom , knowledge determined by few.

Society to School
21 century curriculum determined by cultural democracy, by many

Cultural democracy rests on Indian constitution

promoting cultural diversity, and the right to culture for everyone in our society and around the world; encouraging active participation in community cultural life; enabling people to participate in policy decisions that affect the quality of our cultural lives; and assuring fair and equitable access to cultural resources and support.

Shift in education

No teaching without learning Ethical nature of human education Child is a subject , not object ,respect childrens knowledge From hypocritical moralism to democratic realism knowledge from transformation to constructionreconstruction by both T and C Ever increasing creative curiosity by T and C

Chil

Schools Indian context

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 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) contd

 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)

A Classroom with Equity

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

Understanding Others

Different make-beliefs on others ,language,ethinicity, religion (we all enjoy holidays of other religion but we dont know the background) Do we know the history of Hindu festivals? 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? Do we respect the childrens festivals that is not included in our calendar of holidays

 Why

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

Physical Access Only ?

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

How our curriculum contains cultural diversities

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

Conventional Teachers
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 childrens knowledge and environment No or less connectivity with village and school

In Chhatishgarh what do we see in realities

Inter-district disparity in the state (one district 80% literate in Durg another is below 50 % in case of tribal districts ) Monolingual , mono-cultural curriculum in multilingual classroom No mention of social strength ( multiethnic and multi cultural society)

Chhatishgarh

map

Chhatishgarh In Brief

About 2.55 crore people in the state 32 % scheduled tribes and 12 % scheduled castes : 80% people stay in rural areas 44 % forest land and 65 % forest in 44 % forest land. 60% people depend on forest products 82 % people depend on wage agriculture 78 % people in rural areas practice agriculture small farmers 56 %, medium 30 %, high 13 %

paddy crop 63 % farmers Labourers 56 % Agriculture 46 % Traditional farming 64 % Cottage industry 12.7 % Fisheries 16 % Cattle 24 % Rural employment 18.3% Employment 3.61 lakh in CG, 85% male, 15 % female employees

And
23 minor forest products 32 type of roots Fire wood from the forest 45 % Furniture 21 % Medicine 23 % MFP 49 %

Issues

Decreasing rain fall and water crisis Decreasing forest , loss of natural resources Migration from CG to other states Inter-district disparity ( poverty ? Illiteracy? Gap of urban and rural > all roads leads to Raipur Traditional knowledge vrs technological knowledge ( what to choose ) Economic growth ( unequal growth Social cohesion( rift between rich and poor) Counterbalance between local and global

Can We Solve ?

Out of these social groups of CG,which category we all are belong to? Do we really have examined our state status in the light of these human and natural resources and challenges? Or we have just ignored it , considering that this is some ones responsibilities. My role is to teach!! Not to think beyond it !

State Vision On School Curriculum Jan Rapat- CG HRR- 2005

Education must ensure application of knowledge to every day life. Education must provide wider opportunity to people curriculum should use local references and should be contextual. To ensure quality in education , expertise to be build in state to ensure capability of children in education Curriculum should incorporate eco-cultural knowledge

Way forward ..

Now can we prepare a curriculum which serves from the below to represent the mot marginalised people of this state to bring a equitable education Can the educators visualise the span of history and create a space for those who have been marginalised. Can the cultural democracy prevail upon the taditional hegemonic culture and liberate the people in silence of culture ?

Thank you mkmfolk@gmail.com