School Visit: Gangaganj

Summary: Gangaganj, a village private school, is where I first observed corporal punishment and exercises in silence since my arrival to Lucknow. I was unable to observe teaching quality, as we were testing the students and the scheduled DSH class was cancelled due to a scratched DVD. We are working to remedy this issue.

Referred by Madantoosi, Gangaganj is a village private school about 2 hours from Lucknow. In this particular visit, we distributed tests to several of the classes. A few points arose from this visit.

Reporting of Equipment Issues: One of the DSH classes we hoped to observe was cancelled because the DVD was scratched. (Who knows how long they’ve known about this?) This brings up two points.

(1) DVDs may not be the best long-term solution for DSH, as they’re not particularly durable. We’re currently looking at other viable cost-effective technologies that will allow us to realistically scale our model, but we’re still experimenting.

(2) Schools need a lot of attention and, given that DSH simply a “supplement” to regular teaching (teaching will continue with or without the DVDs), people often don’t take the effort to report equipment failures or scratched DVDs. To make sure we stay on top of the status at schools, we’re implementing processes that will allow us to contact schools every week, either by phone or in person.

Corporal Punishment: Knowing that corporal punishment is still prevalent in schools does not stop you from cringing when you witness it firsthand. Spreading the students out for the test (to prevent cheating), one teacher roughly held and rotated the head of one student to turn him around, topping it off with a smack on the head. I later saw the same teacher sitting downstairs reviewing the work of some students as they stood there; he whacked the students’ hands with a stick several times, presumably for wrong answers. I presumed my American lens was responsible for the unsettling feeling in my stomach, but I realized afterward through conversation that many folks in today’s society disapprove of such teaching methods. Beating children in schools are less common nowadays, but still very prevalent in many schools, especially in villages. Hopefully we can change this by providing teachers with tools for controlling their class in our trainings.

Exercises in Silence: One of the more hilarious experiences of observations. Standing outside the 1st grade classroom, I noticed the teacher sitting in a chair in front of the classroom, and the energetic and restless students twisting and turning in their seats. I asked Tanuja, “What is the teacher doing? Why is he not teaching?” Tanuja’s response was, “He’s probably having them engage in an exercise in silence.” I was on the floor. Why? The closest thing we have to that is naptime in the U.S., and that is because we think the children will be grumpy if they miss their nap. This was different. The teacher wasn’t doing anything to keep them quiet – he was simply sitting. My own cynical assumptions told me that the teacher was lazy and was taking a break from teaching. But perhaps this happens across India, and is why students are so obedient and disciplined.