Schools and their neighbours
Schools
and other institutions
This
finds space in Teacher Plus December 2023.
Thanks
to colleagues there and to Richa for comments on the draft.
We
often discuss how adults and children interact with each other or how they
interact amidst themselves in school. Let us look at how these adults and
children together, in other words - the school, interacts with some of its neighbours.
We will also explore if these schools could benefit from higher intensity of
engagements than those currently in vogue.
Image by pch.vector</a> on Freepik
Public-institutions
like banks, post-offices, railway-stations and bus-stations
Many
of our schools have banks or post-offices or transport stations in their
vicinity. With more than one lakh fifty thousand post-offices and more than
seven thousand railway stations we, in India, surely have the numbers! How many
schools interact with these public-institutions such that children get to know their
functioning, given that most, if not all, students will use the services of
these institutions in the coming time? Some may, later in their lives, even end
up being part of these institutions. Can we make our students aware of these
services well in time and convey the appropriate mechanisms and mannerisms of
using them? Can we give them the confidence to help those in need and point out
if they come across wrong doings?
The
idea, in the long run, is to influence the children of today to evolve into
good citizens of tomorrow; individuals who use these institutions with grace
and dignity.
Footpaths
in the vicinity
Increasingly
we see fewer and fewer children (and adults) walk to school. Walking paths will
encourage people to put their feet to use to come to school. They could have
more impact than empty talks about benefits of environment friendly transport
or exercising could ever have.
It
takes a Robert MacFarlane (The old ways: A journey on foot) to talk about these
paths with panache; “Paths are the habits of a landscape… They are acts of
consensual making...Paths connect. This is their first duty and their chief
reason for being. They relate places in a literal sense, and by extension they
relate people.”
We
need to go beyond the one-time cleaning initiatives, or photo-ops, and engage
with concerned authorities to ensure that these paths are maintained. To
ensure, for example, that these paths are dotted with shade providing trees and
not with parked vehicles! In the long-term this can help create a friendly
environment around the school.
Shops
nearby
The
Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, states that– sale of
cigarettes or any other tobacco products to any person who is under eighteen
years of age; and in an area within a radius of one hundred yards of any
educational institution is illegal. This in itself is a good beginning. How
many schools though work in tandem with the authorities to ensure that this law
is implemented in letter and in spirit?
There
are other items too which are sold near the school, items like chips for
example, which children consume on a regular basis. Items they could do better
without. Schools need to work on this.
Moving
to the proverbial other side of the coin – are there items that the schools
need to encourage sale of in their vicinity?
Cultural
spaces
Not
many schools are neighbours to cultural spaces but of those that are how many
join hands with these spaces to ensure that children get exposure and benefit
from the activities taking place at these centres?
Children
can do good to attend programs or volunteer or even just be at these spaces and
observe.
Public
spaces like parks
Many
schools will have parks in their neighbourhood. For some schools these parks
can also be that ground or open space which they do not possess. Schools’ encouraging
regular use of public infrastructure like parks - for walking or bird-watching
or reading or just being there – can help the children (and adults) get closer
to these public spaces, learn about them. Actions like these may help
underscore the importance of these spaces and the need to join hands to
maintain them for the well-being of our society, for a better tomorrow for all
of us.
Could
these visits also provide a starting point for discussions on public and
private spaces with children? On the need to respect both these spaces?
Discussions where we could also broach upon issues we take for granted. Issues
like high decibel levels; talking loudly in public spaces or playing music that
disturbs others.
Together
these, visits and discussions, can, in the long term, help us bring down our
apathy towards these spaces and help us get rid of the tag of being amongst
those who care the least about public spaces.
Other
schools
Most,
if not all, schools teach children about the benefits of working together with
other human beings. How much do these schools, located nearby, work together?
Students of a school doing well often finds space in local newspapers – how
many times do we read of schools joining hands? Students get preference in
schools in the vicinity of their residences – do multiple schools located
within an area have some role together?
Today,
when we observe children, and adults, increasingly finding it difficult to
accept differences, being less aware of the worlds beyond their small worlds –
would it help if schools catering to children from different
socio-cultural-economic backgrounds create spaces where children could come
together to play, to talk or to do nothing in particular? Children could get to
know that they also have a lot in common with those who stay not far from them
but in homes that are very different from theirs. That they may speak different
languages and dialects but they all go to schools for roughly the same time
each day. They may wear different uniforms but they are all taught same or
similar subjects. And so on.
This
is a wonderful opportunity to look beyond our silos and learn from each other. The
alternative and the mainstream schools can learn from each other, as can the
elite and the not so well-to-do, the private and the government, or the English
and the vernacular medium schools. Here, schools higher on the proverbial
ladders will need to be cognizant of our loaded histories and that the line
between being patronizing and being condescending is very thin.
We
could also pass on this message to children (and adults) that, in most cases, there
is an opportunity to learn from others. This can also enable us to teach about
the need to look beyond our small worlds!
In
an ideal world there could also be sharing of resources between schools as well;
sports or library infrastructure for example. And, if we have large enough hearts
and minds, sharing of food as well.
All this, of course, is not easy, but then – like a friend used to remind me - if it was that easy, it would already have been happening!
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