Came across this article on the Infothela*. Three days a week, Bithoor, a small town in UP (roughly 30 km NW of Kanpur, the state capital) gets connected to the world through a computer with a high-speed, wireless internet connection, that is brought in a cycle-rickshaw.
Wheels of hope bring internet to villagers
(Link thru a new blog I discovered thru Dina on social and cultural anthropology)
A strong believer in the power of technology to being about quick and equal reform, I have often heard people say – when we lack schools, trained teachers, and in many places access to even clean drinking water, then why all this noise about technology? Why are we even talking about computers in rural areas? (This question almost sems reasonable, given that currently in India, close to 60 million children are out of school and 38% of all children who enroll in school drop out by the time they reach the fifth grade)
Research done by Azim Premji Foundation suggests that the presence of a highly motivated and dynamic teacher is what excites a community most about school. A close second is taken by a multi-media based interactive learning environment.
Children feel excited about working with computers and parents take pride in the fact that their children are learning computers (in the course of research on education in rural areas, I have found that ‘English’ and ‘computers’ are two subjects parents are willing to send their children to school for at any cost).
Children are now eager to study… can you believe it?
Students learn on their own and ask us questions…. So we have to be well prepared before we come to class everyday…
Wahan angrezi nahi sikhatey, to bacche ko school bhejne se kya faida?
Aaj kal to sab jagah computer hi chalta hai… mere bacche ko to mein kaise bhi school bhejungi woh sab seekhne ke liye
(Some quotes from teachers and parents I met in the course of fieldwork)
Plus, children are naturally curious and computers kindle and channel this curiousity in a way teachers can never hope to, unless exceptionally commmitted and creative (especially in a situation like in rural India – just to provide primary education for all children of school-going age, India requires seven million teachers, if the teacher to student ratio stands at 1:50).
The success of NIIT’s Hole in The Wall Experiment is proof that children are capable of learning without actually being ‘taught’ (The Constructivist Theory of Learning propounds the belief that the learner constructs knowledge according to his or her own understanding of the concept. Construction moves the focus of learning from the teacher to the taught.)
Based on the idea of Minimally Invasive Education, these computers were envisioned as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no intervention by a teacher.
My answer to the nay-sayers would be that if computers atleast serve the purpose of creating interest in learning and education, the task of getting children to school is half done. The first step in the huge task.
—————————————————————-
thela – hand push-cart typically used for vending on the streets.
1 comment
Comments are closed.