Is knowledge questionable in India?
Published in Seminar Magazine, June'2009--'Circuits in Cinema' issue by Meeta Mohanty.
This paper is an attempt to investigate that whether knowledge— explicit or tacit is questionable in Indian education or not? It probes the issue through the medium of various examples that are set in schools— choice of subjects, daily classroom routines, textbooks etc.
The phrase ‘knowledge in question’ seems to be ironic in wake of the rigid curriculum that is imparted in schools in India with a marked degree of impersonation and alienation. I wonder as an educator, a curriculum developer and a teacher educator that nothing has changed from the days when I was schooled till date when I visit schools to address the concerns that relate to teaching & learning process. Most teacher concerns are centered around finding solutions to cope with enormous information contained in textbooks, and they look forward for some tips for planning lessons and making it innovative. By and large the process remains of epitomizing resource persons and looking at them for knowedge. Rarely a teacher attempts to investigate the sources and resources shared in workshops by the resource persons. This conformity to knowledge perpetuates to the grass root levels and is visible in form of unquestioning obedience to texts, teachers and the social norms in classrooms. I wonder that the seeds of inquiry need to be sown in the teachers and systemic changes to be introduced in schools to break away from the pattern of conformity that is visible at all levels.
Skimming through a range of textbooks in our country shall reveal the clientele or the social class it caters to. The illustrations, text, language, setting, selection of content and the pricing, all determines the clientele. Further it is also amazing to look at the tone of certainity with which a book transmits knowledge. This certain tone does add to the sacrosanct stature of the texts and no one whether it is the teacher or the student feels the need to investigate the information shared in the book. It is assumed that what is published is carefully scanned and is correct as the book seems to be attached to the authors and publishers whose knowledge and stature is unquestionable. Thus with all due respect to the author or the publisher, one comes across rare occasions where the knowledge that is published is questioned, reviewed or even tested by the teachers and students who instead become consumers of knowledge. Clearly such passive transmission of texts has its philosophical leanings towards behaviorism* and thus texts and textbooks in schools enjoy the ultimate authority to shape the responses and thereby the personalities of children.
It is not only the published knowledge that is received with a degree of obedience but there is an equally powerful hidden curriculum that is transacted in schools and has a much deeper impact on the child’s psyche. This hidden curriculum operates in form of a stable class atmosphere— the similar physical setting, desks and blackboard, the high placed charts, bulletins and other manipulatives that remain accessible to the teacher, in general. Not only is the physical environment stable, the emotional environment is stable as well. A reflection of this is clearly visible in the difference in space shared by the teacher and the students and also in segregation of seating place of boys and girls that does become sharp in the middle school. Further, some social segregation is also seen as one moves towards higher education. For example professions like teaching seem to be monopolized by women and other professions like adventure sports and sales & marketing are dominated by men. It is not surprising to find feeble representation of women in jobs like plumbing, driving, electrical appliance handling, gardening, ploughing etc. These are jobs that require physical labour and thus mostly opted for by men in India. The same social knowledge finds its reflection in the textbooks. This divide that exists is not a natural divide or the one that exists by chance. It is the result of aggregation of subtle nuances that are communicated in the process of schooling in form of the hidden curriculum. This hidden curriculum is the unspoken curriculum conveyed through teacher’s expectations of seeking help for lifting chairs or doing physical work or outdoor surveys from boys, and on the contrary asking girls to be more involved in cultural activities like presenting a dance or a drama on the stage. Besides the teachers, parents and the society also construct a gender- stereotyped schema by attaching social taboos to girls opting for travel related jobs, or event management or even modeling. Likewise boys are not spared and they too face the pressure of earning that often takes a toll on their creative interests that might be painting, choreography, cooking, anchoring etc. Thus till date what is visible is a conformity to the apparent and the hidden curriculum that are forms of visible or tacit knowledge which forms the essential backbone of the schooling process. Coupled with this is the closed pedagogy where the basic premise is to give knowledge and thus chalk and talk predominates and crushes the individuality, creativity and the inquiring nature of the child.
When I talk of unquestioning obedience, I am also reminded of a popular animated movie developed by National Institute of Design ‘Do flowers Fly?’ that reveals how both the apparent (texts, closed pedagogy) and the hidden curriculum (walking in lines, no peer interaction, no right to speak) operate in schools and take a toll on child’s creativity and sense of inquiry and well being.
Thus knowledge in Indian society remains unquestioned and unparalleled. If any text tries to raise questions vis a vis the dominant social order, it has to be prepared for repercussions. At this point I shall like to draw attention towards the fate of new SCERT Social Science textbooks for class VII in Kerela and the much debated text of Jeevan, a young school boy who was given a choice to choose his religion by his parents. The text was accused to be propagating atheism, though what I believe it questioned was the ascribed status of religion. It did deviate from the dominant social order by giving freedom to a child to choose his religion who is considered to be cognitively immature in our society to take such an important decision. After a lot of burning of textbooks and the political chaos it generated, SCERT had to tone down the text. I wonder again is ‘knowledge in question’ in India?
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By Meeta Mohanty who has taught in both mainstream and alternative schools. She is into developing curriculum & teaching learning materials, teacher education and currently employed as Assistant Product Manager (North) at Oxford University Press India, New Delhi.
References:
http://www.indiatogether.com/2008/nov/edu-textbook.htm
http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/jul/edu-textbook.htm
“Do flowers fly”—web resource available on my blog http://www.myeduexperiences.blogspot.com/
Jackson, Philip W.: Life in Classrooms- The Daily Grind, Holt Rinehart & Winston Publishers, 1990
Kumar, Krishna “What is worth teaching?” Published by Orient Blackswan, 2004
