Empowering Youth – Where Are Our Schools Faltering?

A close friend recently remarked how she has finally made up her mind about dropping out her 13 year old child from a respectable international school and homeschool him. She consulted a large, prominent homeschooling parents group and has now decided to take the plunge.  Schools, she said “were killing my child’s creativity and just providing literacy skills”. She had switched three schools successively and was very unhappy with the quality of education being imparted in schools and its core values. Incidentally, she was already the third parent I knew who would be doing so, joining the ranks of a growing tribe of parents home-schooling their children.  Needless to say, being an educator placing utmost importance on developing of every individual holistically and as true to self, I was perturbed.  Is formal education failing our children?

These were some of the most respectable schools in Mumbai forming the league of new-age international schools, reputed private schools and not public schools or government schools which continues to witness a large exodus of students leaving studies in spite of the RTE Act. (According to reports, in primary school education, the drop-out rate has increased to 0.97% from 0.58% in 2011-12 due to well-established factors like ignorance among parents, responsibilities at home, inaccessibility of schools, disengaging curriculum, migration etc.) Failure of public education system is well documented due to government schools plagued with teacher absenteeism, low teacher morale, crumbling infrastructure and an archaic curriculum which fails to engage students from communities already battling many issues.

However, what about private schools? With the dawn of the new age international schools, low student teacher ratio, holistic development and assessment, great infrastructure, learner-centric modules were introduced. Issues plaguing the traditional education system of rote learning and evaluating students unidimensionally on archaic irrelevant knowledge seemed to have gotten a shot in the arm. However, with thousands of such schools springing up everywhere, lack of effective regulation, dearth of quality teachers, even the better known schools are struggling with learning outcomes. The need for a dynamic system is imperative since education is always in a state of continuity. It is indeed ironical therefore that an institution which has the unparalleled challenge of predicting future needs of a society and moulding the aspirations and skills that will drive it must mould children within set, rigid frameworks.

It isn’t any wonder then that an increasing number of parents and students are getting disenchanted and questioning the method of getting educated. While homeschooling was born due to this gap and has met with much success (though its connotations vary), not many can afford to dedicate the resources in terms of time and money. Do we then have a solution? Renowned academicians and successful personalities have openly questioned the efficacy of mass schooling – an invention of the Industrial Era to train people to work in industries, mould their mindsets and skills from the manual labour they were used to in the Agricultural era. With changing times and the current Information Age, is the current education system run its course? What is education and how must its outcomes be measured?  In this knowledge economy it is undoubtedly the skills of the people that will propel growth of societies and nations.

That we are still grappling with achieving 100% basic literacy in the country is of course a matter of shame. However, what is equally perturbing is that even our graduates and postgraduates from well-reputed colleges are finding it difficult to get employed.  A recent study highlighted that while India has among the highest number of engineers graduating, a meagre 10% was found to be employable. Which means the education of 90% engineers isn’t worth a dime! And this is the scenario of typically every professional and graduate degree course. Clearly, we need to evolve fast! Merely paying lip service to education –as defined eons ago -- isn’t going to take us further.

We need to rehaul the entire education system which would truly empower every child irrespective of socio-economic background to reach his/her potential. Schools must be lively, dynamic, interactive bodies perpetuating creativity and not stifling it. We need to encourage children to learn at their own pace, do away with age criteria to write board exams, focus on imparting skills-based education and change assessment patterns which only tests linguistic and literacy prowess of children. We need to interweave the systematic study of the arts especially fine arts and performing arts.

A child is constantly learning – from his environment, school, parents, friends, nature… Why then seek education within the four walls of a classroom alone? Learning should be fun. According to the US Census Bureau by 2025 India is set to surpass China as the largest country with largest proportion in the working age category. This demographic dividend is expected to add 2 percentage points per annum to India’s per capita GDP growth. Can we imagine the contribution of an empowered youth comprising thinkers, innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, activists, writers, skilled force in the coming years? This requires a drastic change in the mind-sets of all stakeholders. We need to work as partners – the parents, the school and the state.  It was a wise person who said ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’

Shield Yourself – So that the Devils Fear to Tread!

December 16^th 2012. It was a black letter day for India when a bright and brave girl was violently raped and assaulted in a moving bus by six men. Her body was so brutalised that it shook the entire nation’s conscience. They named her Nirbhaya – the fearless one, given the grit with which she attempted to fight back the brutes as they ripped her gut out with a rusted iron bar. Her parents, from a socially backward community, had rebelled against societal dictat of raising girls as cattle meant only to breed and had gone to great lengths to educate her. Even as the nation seethed with rage and protested, more such assaults followed and it continues to do so. Rampantly. Unabashedly.  

The issues surrounding rape, child abuse and assault that need to be dealt with are many and mired in social, political and legal system failures. However, there is one critical aspect that surprisingly remains overlooked – training of women in self-defence. It isn’t new to India and was in fact an integral aspect in ancient India. During the Maurya Dynasty under Ashoka, as testified in Arthasasthra (~350-283 BC) women were trained in martial arts including sword fighting, bow and arrow, wrestling and were chosen as the bodyguards of kings. The two main Indian martial arts practiced by women in India currently are kushti (wrestling) and kalari (kerala martial art). Kalari was important in the system of education in Kerala where women and men were trained in combat fighting and weaponry fighting. Overall though, training women in self-defence is yet to be taken seriously and even understood correctly.

The Nirbhaya incident sparked the zeal in me to bring to fore this particular aspect since I have always believed in the importance of building physical endurance among women and children. I have worked and activated extensively for causes of child empowerment and fight against child sexual abuse and continue to do so. I was fortunate to be born into a family that encouraged me to pursue sports and training from a young age. It’s also the reason why my preschool is perhaps among the handful in the city for having incorporated a structured sports program which includes martial training for kids as young as three. Generally, self-defence in women has been restricted to a handful from privileged backgrounds. However, what about inclusion of girls from backward communities who face so many challenges daily?

And so, when a group of us got together and reminisced how important it was to launch a martial training initiative for women, as if by collective, intent consciousness ‘Shield Yourself’ concept dawned upon us. First in our hearts then our minds, sparking waves of collective but focussed action and a wondrous mission gathered momentum.  Shield yourself is a martial-training initiative under which girls from 4 years to women of 60 years will be trained to combat  provocative and dangerous assaults. It also aims to sharpen their minds and senses. Our first training centre has been set up in Kandivali East. To commemorate its launch we will be conducting ‘The All Girls Maharashtra Championship’ on 24^th August in Mumbai which has 300 martial arts participants from across the state will compete. We have simultaneously begun training 25 girls aged 4-17 years from the tribes that inhabit the Aarey milk colony jungles who are being trained alongside a handful of boys to eliminate any bias for strength training. These girls aspire to take part in championships and participate in state and national events and idolise Mary Kom. Our trainers, expert champions in Kung Fu, have already spotted exceptional talent among quite a few and we are striving to help them realise their dreams.

Kung Fu was conceptualised in ancient India by Gautam Buddha and spread to China where it found an elevated status. It is a combination of Judo and Gymnastics. We focus on animal techniques, kick boxing and have also introduced weapon training. We are also teaching them how common accessories such as pens, waist belt, umbrellas can be used as a weapon. Self-defence training definitely needs a holistic approach and involves going deep into minds of both the victim and the perpetrators of crime. Concurrently, we are also teaching them hygiene and plan to engage with their schools to work upon their standard of education.

I believe self-defence education must be made mandatory in all schools and reports have globally documented the vast benefits of empowering women by imparting these skills. Nirbhaya’s murder represented the killing of millions of aspirations and potential of our girl children, sacrificed for the fear and stigma associated with rape. They are the weaker ones, society says.  Protect Them, Stifle Them, Guard Them but Why not EMPOWER them to fight their battles? It is time we empowered our women to be fearless and invoke fear in the minds of the beasts instead - Shield yourself!