Appropriate Curriculum for Tribal Youth
A Theme Paper for a National Workshop on
Developing a Model for Appropriate Non Formal Education for Tribal Youth
Organized by Mitranikelan, Vellanad, Trivandrum, Kerala
January 30-31, 2002
Presented by: (Mrs) Janak Palta McGilligan*
We agree with Mitranikelan that the formal education system currently available to tribal communities in India is inadequate and ineffective, resulting in a high drop-out rate from formal education. This fact has neither empowered nor emancipated this disadvantaged group. In fact, it has decapacitated and uprooted them from their socio-economic and cultural environment causing a "miniature brain drain".
The concept, content, nature and character of the present formal education system is alien to their life-ecology and results in marginalisation from the national mainstream. Therefore there is an urgent need to reform prevailing educational ideals and develop institutions and practices that teach from an indigenous or tribal perspective. It is in this area, by formulating and implementing an active non-formal educational curriculum for life, that NGOs can intervene. I should offer my bit in the light of the experience of the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women where I have been serving since its establishment**.
Our main focus has been human resource development. The theme of this paper has been built on the basis of whatever we have learnt during nearly seventeen years of working with tribal youths in Madhya Pradesh in particular and Hindi speaking states in general.
A Critique of Formal Education Curricula
Ever since Independence, the formal curricula have led to "top-down" approaches to development, focussed on benefiting the elitist class and so called "higher caste" of society who rule this country with their direct access to knowledge, information, political power, intellectual power and economic resources. This has happened at the cost of tribal youths who are socially and economically disadvantaged which alienates them from access to any of the above-mentioned areas of power. Because of this discriminated status, tribal youths have always been exploited by the vested interests in society. They have been exploited physically, mentally, socially, economically and environmentally. Financial aids, doles and subsidies have increased the corruption in these communities as the vested interests among the rulers, administrators and traders have diverted funds to their own accounts. This has only widened the gap between the rich and the poor in tribal communities in particular but in many other parts of the country as well. This has brought the tribal youths to a point where they have migrated to urban areas due to shortages of rural work,
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* The author is the Director of Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, 180 Bhamori, New Dewas Road, Indore 452010, M.P., India (e-mail: ) since its establishment in June 1985.
**Barli is commonly a tribal female name in the area from where a vast majority of trainees of the Institute come from. The literal meaning is the central pillar of a tribal house that it supports. Conceptually we believe that women are the central pillar of society.
unemployment and opportunities for employment. They cannot adjust to the urban life and get frustrated as they have no skills, no choice of work and have to live without knowing the dignity that work provides. This kind of social injustice and inequality has resulted from the curricula of formal education, which have neglected the human basis.
The formal education curricula have lacked teaching these tribal groups the appropriate education for their lifestyles and livelihoods. Formal education has totally neglected rural ways of life which are entrenched in agriculture and related rural activities. Consequently, those tribal youths who are educated find themselves equipped to find jobs in urban areas to make use of their knowledge and skills, yet cannot sustain livelihoods in their own villages. This encourages them to migrate to urban areas. The agricultural way of life is suffering, leaving those uneducated behind to carry on with little or no skills or training in best agricultural practices, resulting in environmental degradation and a worsening of their economic positions. A vicious circle of bad soil management, poor water management and environmental damage means that tribal people are left to fester in their own ineptitude. These are the major issues formal education has failed to address in an attempt to streamline students into one educational system. Formal education curricula have failed to recognise the importance of teaching effective and relevant skills to youths according to their lifestyles, so that they may be educated but still able to maintain their traditional livelihoods.
Appropriate Curricula for Tribal Youths
An appropriate curriculum according to His Excellency, President, Mr K. R. Narayanan, is the one that will interweave "the developmental path with the ideals of our heritage and civilisation and blend them with science."[1] We subscribe to a curriculum appropriate when it has the following components:
1)Curriculum grows organically based on the understanding that we develop from hands-on application;
2)Theoretical and practical knowledge and experience should go hand in hand;
3)Learning processes should lead to action, research and training;
4)Should be relevant and meaningful to the students' lives;
5)Should be empowering to students to enable them to make their own decisions in developing a common vision based on their own needs.
6)It should allow students to identify their own goals, their own roles and responsibilities in the production and distribution of their own resources. This will lead to sustainable development. They can become entrepreneurs and have their own environmental specific community resource development and make appropriate technological choices accordingly.
7)Curriculum to foster creativity in learning;
8)Learning should be participatory, interesting, joyful and not burdensome.
9)The focus of the curriculum should be to develop the artistic, scientific, social, moral and spiritual potentials of the students that enable them to seriously pursue their commitment to become agents of positive change in their communities.
Definitions of Development
Development is almost invariably defined as a process in which dependency is supplanted with self-reliance; people are given "voice" and learn how to "help themselves". Equality of opportunity is part of a "common cause to create a better life." At its core, development must involve an awakening of individuals and communities so that they become "agents of their own change." To become the protagonists of their own well-being requires that all the members of society assume "responsibility and power." This can be a formidable task especially given deeply ingrained social and economic behaviour that fosters passivity rather than active efforts to promote positive change.
Development must be an organic process where the people most affected are directly engaged in writing their own future. It is a process of action, reflection, and adjustment that aims to bring about consistent patterns of change; one in which local communities gradually improve their ability to define, analyse, and meet their own needs. This does not preclude outside entities from playing a catalytic role in assisting communities to carry out initiatives and realise their aspirations. A balance must be struck between using proven, well-conceived training approaches or technical solutions developed elsewhere and allowing local initiatives to unfold in an evolutionary manner. And of course, local activity must be informed by certain universal principles.
While material development such as increasing wealth, improving health, growing more food, creating access to clean water, improving communications and infrastructure, and building schools and hospitals is necessary, it must coexist with spiritual development. Spiritual development has an intangible definition and so it is more difficult to assess than material development.
There should be no dichotomy between "doing and thinking," for it is through actual on-the-ground experience that communities and outside agencies alike learn how to think about development and its manifold variables. Enormous commitment is therefore necessary if we are to move beyond approaches that emphasise narrow material or technical questions to initiatives that embrace an integrated pattern of human development.[2]
Happiness as an indicator of development
In Bhutan, along with the more traditional indicators of development, the happiness of its people is monitored as a key marker for the success of development projects. No matter how far the material world advances, it cannot establish the happiness of mankind. Only when material and spiritual civilisations are linked and co-ordinated will happiness be assured. Therefore, the material and the divine civilisations must progress together until the highest aspirations and desires of humanity become realised.
The Bahá'í model would suggest that there are two ways in which we can measure spiritual development. It can be measured on an individual level or in context of the society.
Development of the Individual:
The maximisation of human happiness can only come about through the development of the full physical, mental and spiritual potential of each individual. This requires attention to:
the physical needs of the individual, that is food, housing and health;
the mental development of the individual, that is education and development of human resources;
the spiritual development of the individual, that is acquiring and developing moral and spiritual attributes such as justice, trustworthiness, truthfulness and love.
Development of Society:
The development of society is intangible, yet the following indicators can help us to chart the progress of society.
Justice and equity
Justice and equity do not necessarily mean giving the same to all. Some groups or communities have greater needs or are more disadvantaged than others. This may be for a number of reasons such as a lack of education, prejudice against their ethnic or racial group or because of mental or physical handicaps. Thus they may need greater attention than others. To give unequally but fairly is a just practice.
Promoting the equality of women and men
Promoting the equality of women and men is not just an aim that will benefit women. The denial of equality to women promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the home to the workplace, to political life and ultimately to international relations. By encouraging women to have a greater social role, a project will help to promote a more co-operative (rather than competitive) society, ultimately making politics less confrontational and helping to bring peace to the world.
Promoting trustworthiness and a high moral standard especially in the leaders of society
The promotion of trustworthiness and a high moral standard, especially in the leaders of society, is required as most people are disillusioned with politicians and therefore distrustful of the political process. Only through a return to high standards in public and a general movement towards democracy, openness and accountability can confidence be restored.
Unity in diversity
The Indian Constitution recognises unity in diversity. Any model of development will only be successful if this principle is recognised and practiced. This means people have to be free of prejudice of all kinds (caste, colour, creed, gender).
Investigation of the truth
Development should promote one's individual freedom to know of their own knowledge and not through the knowledge of others. In this way, the human being develops insights and skills. At the same time the community should also be encouraged in the collective search for truth through consultation, drawing on the experience and skills of the group and resulting in a greater degree of unity of purpose and action.
Environmental preservation, participatory processes, appropriate technology, good governance, education, human rights, health training and income generation and rural development are examples. The inherent interconnection between these different areas of development work inevitably leads to a more holistic orientation.
In short, fragmented activities do not bring about development. The knowledge that should be brought to bear on development problems does not fit into a single discipline. The integration of efforts across various fields, such as health, education, agriculture, and use of environmental resources, is essential for real progress in a region. Such integration can be achieved when simple grassroots initiatives mature into more stable and elaborate forms of operation.
Building moral capacity within individuals and social institutions is crucial to achieving social justice and prosperity. Indeed, meaningful social transformation is unlikely to occur without touching those moral and spiritual forces that lie at the heart of human consciousness and purpose. A focus on moral development—a type of development often neglected by policy makers and activists—will require a fundamental change in the current education system.[3]
The set of capacities necessary for building up the social, economic, and moral fabric of collective life must draw upon the resources of both the mind and the spirit. "The civilising virtues of tolerance, compassion, trustworthiness, kindness, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good are not cultivated by the language of civil law or economics but rather the language of the heart, the voice of conscience and moral responsibility. It is evident that if individuals and communities are to become the principal actors in promoting their physical and social well-being, they must be able to draw on spiritual tenets and belief systems to give vision and focus to their endeavours. Sustainability is not possible without spirituality.[4]
An appropriate curriculum should be a source of knowledge and inspiration, of values, insights, and energy. The areas of focus offered as a starting point for understanding are how technical knowledge and spiritual values can substantively interact so as to foster effective patterns of community development. These areas are concentrated on at the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women.
Human Rights[5]
While developing a curriculum, it is important to preserve the accessibility to human rights, enhancing them through increased awareness through teaching materials and rejecting any materials that would encroach on any individuals' human rights. The quest for freedom, freedom from want, freedom from conflict and war, and freedom from oppression whatever its form, is a continuous struggle that uniquely expresses the aspirations of the human spirit. Once a community learns how to stand for itself and assert its basic human rights, a "widening circle" of rights relating to its well-being can be pursued. This process of empowering individuals and communities by securing basic freedoms ties in directly with development goals.
Interconnectedness[6]
There is a need to redefine human relationships, among individuals within and outside the family, between human society and the natural world, between individuals and the community, and between citizens and their governing institutions.
From a development perspective, the notion of interconnectedness has several different dimensions. These include promoting unity of purpose and coordinated action within and among communities, fostering partnership between women and men and co-operation among different social groups, and improving understanding about the delicate interrelationship between humans and the environment. The interconnectedness between the spiritual and material development aspects of education is essential and inevitable. Both aspects do need to be interwoven but they can be taught independently as well.
Technological Choice[7]
There is a need to train students in the technical skills needed for local dissociate development from an ill-conceived and destructive process of modernization, and focus attention on true cultural advancement. Developing the capacity for defining technological need as well as technological innovation and adaptation is vital. This requires that mechanisms be created that promote a dynamic process of learning about technology. Constructively blending traditional technological practices with modern scientific techniques, while simultaneously taking account of environmental, cultural and human variables, are central aspects of an appropriate curriculum.
Barli Development Institute for Rural Women: The Pedagogy of Non-formal Training for Tribal Girls in Madhya Pradesh
Operating in the region since 1985, the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women in Indore, Madhya Pradesh runs six month training programmes for rural and tribal girls between the ages of 16 and 25 from a number of districts in the state. The training courses include personal development, literacy and numeracy, pre-natal and post-natal care, health and hygiene and income generating skills (such as cutting and tailoring, fabric design and Hindi typing and word processing). In addition to this, the trainees take an active role in maintaining the gardens in which the Institute is set, learning about irrigation and growing vegetables for consumption and acquiring skills for trade. Since 1997, the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women has been accredited to the National Open School as a vocational centre, allowing trainees to take recognized exams in Cutting and Tailoring, typing as well as academic exams of 10th standard.