Shiksha Page 3
However, IIM Ahmedabad was just the beginning. I wanted to give our principals the best international leadership training. To this end, we organized a special programme in tandem with the University of Cambridge and a few other universities in the US. I stressed that visiting schools in Britain and America, and interacting with principals and teachers in schools there, would be the main part of the training. The training at Cambridge yielded very positive results. I noticed that their interest was piqued after this training.
In the same way, I wanted to send our principals to Finland. Schools in Finland are considered the best in the world. For this, I visited schools there with senior officials from the education department, the education secretary and director. We contacted the government education department and teacher training universities there, and then a special training programme was prepared for our government school principals and education department officials. The Finland training programme also helped our principals understand education at an international level and they were enthused to work harder.
The training at Cambridge, US, and Finland was important to understand a professional approach and international education systems. It definitely helped build leadership qualities in our principals. However, in my opinion, it was the Jeevan Vidya Shivir that played the most important role in understanding education. Based on the philosophy of peaceful coexistence, it was an important step in changing people’s idea of education. After attending the workshop, our principals felt that education played a bigger role than just eradicating poverty or providing jobs and that their work as principals was more than giving children an education and helping them clear exams. Through the Jeevan Vidya Shivir, we helped our principals build self-confidence and understand their critical role as leaders in society, country and environment.
My aim was to establish principals as leaders who had a good hold over their schools, had dreams for it and the ability and understanding to fulfil them. As a minister, it was my duty to ensure that laws and rules didn’t become roadblocks for these principals, and to give them national and international exposure. I believe that these steps have given Delhi schools good leaders who have started grooming children to become good citizens.
Teachers: Re-establishing Trust
Teachers are the pilots of the education system. We need teachers who can steer the society in the right direction for the world to become a better place.
I say this from my experience in government schools, that teachers are often turned into government workers who act as mere executors of policies. This is unfortunate. The government can get them to do any kind of work, such as getting family records filled up, getting a census done, making voter cards, getting surveys done, etc. They come to the school to teach if they can make time after completing all these chores. They are not free to teach and become like clerks in government service. Just like a junior government employee is expected to execute only government orders, teachers too don’t have the freedom to select the syllabus or choose the activities they wish the children to engage in. When we hand over the responsibility of teaching to an individual, we do so with the assumption that they have amassed all the knowledge they could and now their role is to just pass on this knowledge to the next generation.
When I started visiting schools in Delhi as the education minister, I realized that the government viewed teachers as typical government employees. They were directed to get family registers filled and surveys taken. If midday meals, uniforms and books were being distributed properly, that was enough to assure the government that the school was running well. In the name of teacher training, some good and some run-of-the-mill educationists were called to deliver lectures during summer vacations. Rosters were made to allot duties to different teachers in different weeks of the vacation. This process of training was given the name of ‘seminar’. However, issues such as the problems faced by teachers in teaching their subject, which topics they struggled with, and how that subject was being taught in the rest of the world were never discussed. These teachers had also assumed that the progress of a government employee was limited to the annual appraisal. This was the reason why many teachers thought that their job was just to make students mug up the text in NCERT books. A few teachers, who were not happy with this system, would take tuitions before or after the school to earn something extra. There were teachers who considered a government job a ‘blessing’ and had started businesses on the side: grocery shops, property dealing, bookstores, etc. The silver lining was that during my surprise visits, I always met a few teachers who were not happy with the state of government schools and wanted to contribute in a bigger way to improve the future of their students. I also met many experienced and young teachers who were helping their students financially. They would, at times, go to the extent of buying equipment with their own money to explain aspects of their subjects in a better way.
I was amazed during one of my surprise visits. This was during my initial days of becoming the education minister. I was walking down the veranda of a school with the principal when I came across a class, either nursery or class 1, where there were tiny colourful chairs arranged around four or five colourful round tables. This sight was new. Till then, I had only seen classes where desks were arranged one after the other with three or four children lumped together at a desk meant for two. I asked the principal how he had managed to get this done. The principal informed me that one of his teachers had bought this colourful furniture with her own money. This was a pleasant surprise for me. The teacher had considered buying tables and chairs for her students: a more pious deed than offering Rs 20,000–25,000 at a temple on the occasion of her wedding anniversary. The interesting thing is that this teacher was transferred from the school after teaching there for a year. I thought to myself that a flower planted anywhere would spread its fragrance. She was given special honours during Teachers’ Day.
During my school visits, I met many teachers who persevered to help their students despite dirty classrooms and broken blackboards, even though they never got any help from their colleagues or the system. Such teachers encouraged me and, slowly, I started drawing up a list of these teachers and meeting them. In a month or two I came across 400–500 such teachers. I had discussions with them at the secretariat in my free time. Sometimes, I went to their homes and met them and their colleagues over a cup of tea or had long late-night discussions over dinner at my home. I gleaned their grievances from these discussions and also figured out practical ways of resolving them. I realized that there was a segment of very capable and enthusiastic teachers but because of a few politically inclined or lazy ones the whole system had got a bad name. I kept talking to these teachers and decided to make their ideas an integral part of my vision for our education system. Let me discuss a few of them here:
The first thing the government did was free teachers from the responsibility of filling family registers or conducting surveys. Now the only duty teachers are sent on is election duty.
When I took this decision, many government officials who saw teachers as easily available government workers were inconvenienced and protested against the move. They said that the work of filling family records would stop as there was no other system for it. My position as the deputy CM came to the rescue here. It strengthened my position as the education minister. I asked these officials: On what basis did the government appoint these teachers? Was it because of their ability to teach or to fill family records? Did we employ them on the basis of their B.Ed degrees or because they could conduct surveys? This is how things work in the government. Even if the senior gives a bogus line of argument, juniors have to listen and follow. My intention was also good here, which is why their protests fell on deaf ears.
I also found out that the education department made a weekly schedule for teachers detailing which chapters from the NCERT had to be taught within what kind of stipulated time. They had to write weekly progress reports. This seemed like a kind of slavery. Officials might have had t
heir reasons but saddling 50,000 teachers with such a detailed schedule because of a few incompetent employees was not the right way to go. It didn’t allow them the possibility either to explain something in greater detail or try something different in case the students were not able to understand. In my opinion, teachers should have the freedom to teach chapter 10 instead of chapter 1 in the first week if they deem it fit. We did away with this stifling schedule and directed teachers to draw up their own monthly schedule in their diaries and follow it. They now chart their progress in the report diary. I believe this inspired capable and diligent teachers to take initiative.
We also realized that a lot of teachers were unhappy with the NCERT textbooks. They had problems with the examples, exercises, vocabulary and words in them but there was nothing they could do about it. The education department had prohibited the use of guidebooks and even announced that if any teacher was found teaching from them in class, he/she would face disciplinary action. According to me, this too had been forced upon them. Officials had their reasons, some of which were valid. Publishers could join hands with principals and teachers and influence students to buy their books. I have seen this malpractice even during my own schooldays which is why I thought we needed to find a solution to this problem. We decided that teachers would create their own guidebook and support material. Work started on this, and during the summer break of 2016, teachers of different subjects and schools got together to conduct subject-specific workshops for four days. Teachers spoke about their needs and specific requirements. They also contributed to the discussion from the perspective of their own knowledge of a subject. A team of teachers gave finishing touches to these support materials on the basis of their learnings from these discussions. These support materials, titled Pragati, were published by the Directorate of Education and made available to all students. This was the first such attempt and it was hugely successful. The content of these support materials was based on the NCERT textbooks but the teachers had kept in mind the students’ needs. Since then, during every summer break, teachers of different subjects convene to update these support materials.
Another big issue in Delhi schools was that of guest teachers, though their appointment is a practice across the country. It is becoming increasingly common to hire talented teachers on a guest basis in the name of some scheme or project instead of giving them permanent positions. One reason for this could be that the number of private schools across the country is increasing while the level of government schools is degrading. Not just in Delhi, but in even in villages and small towns, if any family prospers a little, it tries to get its children admitted into a private school. So, students in government schools come from very poor families and hence seldom protest against the prevailing system. When teachers are hired on a permanent basis, they have to be paid full government salaries. A permanent teacher’s salary is around Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month while a guest teacher can be hired for just Rs 5000–15,000 a month. The helplessness of less-privileged students and parents and this price dynamics is making the whole system ad-hoc-centred. If only permanent teachers are hired, then there will be no money left to pay for big projects from which hefty commissions can be earned. Such factors have contributed to the practice of hiring guest teachers in which everyone, from ministers to the education department, is complicit. There have been a limited number of appointments of teachers in Delhi since 2007. Of the 50,000 teachers, almost 18,000 were on a guest or contract basis. Their salaries were between Rs 10,000 and Rs 18,000. We tried to make teachers who had been working for a long time permanent on the basis of their experience and by giving them a selection test. However, some court rulings came in the way. After that, we tried passing a bill in the Vidhan Sabha to make these teachers permanent but here the central government didn’t let it happen because of the matter being under Services, which comes under the purview of the central government. The salary of a guest teacher is not enough to sustain a family, so we tried to bring their salaries on par with that of permanent employees. Now, guest teachers are paid comparable salaries based on their positions, except for a few benefits that are only for the permanent employees. This step may not have ended the injustice being done to these guest teachers, but at least they are now being paid enough to sustain their families. Till 2015, all guest teachers would be removed from their position every year and then hired again the next year. No guest teacher could focus entirely on teaching because of this practice. For this reason, we put an end to it, in turn putting an end to this uncertainty and financial instability in the lives of guest teachers. This has been a big part of the Delhi education model. Delhi is the only state in India now where guest teachers are treated much the same way as permanent teachers.
Another big step the Delhi government has taken to empower teachers is giving each of them, whether permanent or guest, a tablet (computer). This has helped them take attendance and prepare results online so they can avoid unnecessary paperwork. Another advantage is that everything, from attendance of students and teachers to exam results, is now available to the education minister, education secretary and director. In order to avoid any delays or questions on the quality or price, we gave Rs 15,000 to each teacher to purchase tablets of their choice. It would be interesting to mention here that it took me two years to make tablets available to teachers. The plan was made in 2016. The file of the proposal kept moving between the IT, finance and education departments. It took this long in spite of the fact that the proposal was by an education minister who was also the deputy CM and the finance minister of a state. When I had first floated the proposal, a senior IAS officer had said in a meeting, ‘We have made computers available in schools, why do we need to give the teachers tablets?’ I replied that we should only get a computer for the office of the CM and stop bothering about providing computers to the secretaries, deputy secretaries and directors. The IAS officer couldn’t counter that. However, if you look at the delay in processing the request, you realize that there were many in the government who were of the same opinion as him. They felt it was a waste of resources, but I was happy that I finally got the proposal approved.
We also undertook the renovation of staffrooms keeping in mind the dignity of the post and the teachers’ ease. We wanted to change the storeroom-like rooms with their shabby desks surrounded by broken cupboards into rooms where teachers could sit with pride and talk, eat and read. We also decided to install a coffee machine and fridge in every staffroom. This proposal had also been sent in 2016 to the education department but it met the same fate. None of the officials opposed it openly, but from the time it took for the files to pass it was clear that they were not too happy about this expense. In fact, a comment was even passed at some point that coffee machines can be installed but the coffee powder in it should come from the teachers’ own money. But I ensured the proposal was not put in cold storage, and finally, after two years of to and fro of files, the renovation of the staffrooms has begun. I hope that soon all schools in Delhi will have new staffrooms with fridges and coffee machines.
It is not just about the expense of tablets or fridges or coffee, but about the attitude of the government machinery towards teachers. For them, computers worth lakhs and expensive printers, etc., in their own offices is justified, but giving teachers a cup of coffee worth Rs 5–10 is a waste of money. My aim was not to get the teachers alms of Rs 5–10 as the Delhi government pays its teachers well enough that they can treat ten to fifteen people to cups of coffee every day, but my intention was that the education department respects its teachers. When teachers come to the staffroom after teaching their students, they should feel like they have entered an oasis of comfort. I want the rooms to be clean, for there to be tea or coffee and water to rejuvenate them. It’s not about money but about respect. It’s about giving them due respect through small gestures. In our country, it is said about teachers:
Guru Gobind Dou Khade,
Kake lagun paye?
Balihari Guru aapne Govi
nd diyo bataye.
Both God and my teacher stand in front of me, whom do I bow to? I am indebted to you, Teacher, for you have shown me the way to God.
Giving certain facilities to teachers and including them in the working of the education department, giving them responsibilities outside the classrooms is an important step. It is also said:
Guru Bin Gyan Na Upaje,
Guru Bin mile na moksha.
Guru Bin lakhe na satya ko
Guru Bin mite na dosha.
Without the teacher no one can obtain knowledge or achieve salvation. Without the teacher no one can see the truth or have his doubts removed.
However, I think these were just baby steps that helped improve the state of education in Delhi. Of the two biggest steps taken to empower teachers, one was the Mentor–Teacher Programme. Mentors were selected from among the teachers of government schools and given the responsibility of five schools each. For capacity–building, they were given teacher training at national and international levels. It is a unique programme in its own right and is discussed in the next chapter.
Let’s discuss the second step, another effort made with the active participation of teachers. People usually worry a lot about the weight of school bags but nobody thinks about reducing it to make the lives of children and teachers simpler. In my understanding, no political party or education department has taken any steps towards achieving this. We started working on this in 2015. Our curriculum in Delhi is based on the CBSE board. To make any changes in the curricula of classes 9–12, we have to get permission from CBSE and NCERT, but they have no say in the curricula till class 8. So, in the first stage, we decided to cut 25 per cent of the syllabus till class 8. The decision was made, but which committee of experts would decide what was important and what wasn’t? I thought that there couldn’t be better experts than the teachers who teach these courses and interact with the students every day. So, we asked the teachers which chapters or topics were not so important and could be omitted. The syllabus was reduced based on their inputs.