Profile of our organization
"Haritha Association for Learning from Environment (HALE)"
Vision
Only by integrating our educational policy with productive activities, the goals of "education for all" would be achieved; holistic and scientific education would become a reality. It is only through such an education policy that true and lasting solutions to societal, community and individual problems can be found. Combining education even at school level with scientific research for sustainable development at the societal, community, and individual levels can only be achieved by relying on renewable and local resources of materials and energy. The above can alone provide the right attitudes and values including the ones for inquisitiveness, creativity and innovation to make research at all levels, including the higher (university) level more productive, successful and meaningful to the society.
Mission
To develop educational curriculum at all levels, starting at primary school education level which is related to productive activities as experiments in the 'field laboratory', which is the place of work itself. To show a model school where this is implemented. To build A RESOURCE AND TRAINING CENTRE for scaling up the above practices in the main stream school education using the latest ICT (Information and Communication Technology).
Weaknesses
Management. Big vision with not enough financial or human resources; needs to be improved. More active involvement of the local society needed. So far, the emphasis on R&D activities had limited our efforts in mobilizing the local society's involvement.
Strengths
We spot, nurture and guide the latent talents in the local communities – be it the artisans, roadside mechanics, school teachers or even school children. We are pioneers of bamboo-bow and BAMCRETE A composite of bamboo and concrete or feero cement that only partially covers the bamboo surface helping realize cost effective long lasting joints in bamboo technology and Teaching Learning Material (TLM) with bamboo and that too globally on both the counts and our partners are locals: school students, teachers, rural artisans and road side mechanics.
Innovation, Planning and Execution and Mentoring (other schools and similar NGOs) through workshops. Documentation and publication.
Proactive behaviours and emergence of support structures
(community organisations, government agencies, etc. )
1. In 1999, Center for Environmental Education (CEE), A.P.Chapter recognising HALE's contribution to environmental issues, came forward to ask us to act as their nodal agency for implementing EESAP (Environmetal Education in Schools of Andhra Pradesh) in Khammam district. This was the first proactive support we received. We continue to act as CEE's Nodal Agency to the present day covering approximately seventy schools.
2. In 2002, with the probable reference of CEE, MHRD offered to sponsor a project under their scheme, Environmental Orientation to School Education (EOSE). It is in this project that HALE developed and published nine booklets as teacher manuals for teaching main stream school curriculum in subjects as diverse as languages, mathematics and social sciences with field level activities of environment education.
3. HALE, throughout its existence, inspired and encouraged creativity in students and to document it. HALE had conceptualised organising Environmental Science Fairs in a novel way. In 2004, Asha for Education, after coming to know about HALE, visited our campus on theirown initiative. They observed our best practices here and offered to sponsor our Environmental Science Fair in the year 2005.
4. Children were encouraged to make environmental observations. Students are further encouraged to pen down their own environment as also their productive activities by way of small booklets hand crafted by themselves from designing to finishing. ASHA identified this as one of our best practices and offered to sponsor to publication of the best among students' creations. Thus came the book "Prakriti Vadilo - Pillaluru". Contributions from 88 students from 5 districts, representing 34 schools were included in the book. There are 106 topics in this book. Also sponsored by Asha, we had brought out another book, called "Prakriti Vadilo - Peddaluru", which is compiled from the innovative contributions, proactively sought for by Haritha from about 30 teachers of 25 schools through out Andhra Pradesh covering 35 topics.
5. Support from AID India of UMBC on harnessing human and cattle muscle power.
6.Recognizing our efforts in promoting Gandhian education by way of using productive activities as experiments in main stream school education on the one hand and our innovative use of bamboo in building houses on the other hand, in 2008, National Council of Rural Institutes(NCRI)of MHRD has encouraged us by sponsoring a project for using bamboo-related productive activities in the existing main stream school curriculum.
7. Since 2007, we have been in contact with NIPCCD (National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development), Ministry of Women and Child Welfare.
8. We have been having a good relationship with Learning Network, which operates at the national level.
9. We have been maintaining decent relationships with NGOs or Voluntary Organizations "Akshara" of Chittoor district, NICE of Guntur district, "Vikasa Vidya Vanam" and “Child Aid Foundation of Krishna district”, "Jattu Bhaava Samaakhya" of Vijayanagaram district.
10.We also have good relations with local organisations such as Master E.K. Trust, Sakarathma Foundation of Palvancha,Kothagudem,Girijana Prajala Sangham and Chaithanya Sravanthi of Chatti,Chintoor of Agency of Khammam Dt.
11.Similarly we enjoy very cordial relations with all teachers and teachers' Associations in our district.
The salient features of best practices
1. We have stuck together and continued to travel in the path we have believed in for the past fifteen years, in spite of several difficult times.
2. a) Trying to relate productive activities to different concepts at different levels of the main stream school education. b) In 1966 the Kothari Commission, in a way, rejected Gandhian basic education ("Nai Talim") although the concept was sound. It did it on the grounds that the work performed by students is not related to the concepts being taught at schools. Our organisation was not aware of this when we started introduction of relating day to day productive activities as experiments and examples to teach regular curriculum. After we came to know about the Kothari commission's virtual rejection of Gandhian basic education, we took it as a challenge to prove that the attempt to relate productive activities to regular school curriculum is possible. We did find ourselves up to the challenge and we consider this as one of our best practices. For example, we could relate gardening activities to the teaching of Statistics. Another example is that of relating the different activities in paddy harvesting with the concepts of 'Diffusion, motions of linear, rotary and oscillatory including wave motion' etc., in school physics and so on.
3. Making productive activities part of the main time table of our school is yet another of our best practices. We have been keeping the time slot for productive activities rather small - 30 minutes a day out of a 40 minute period. This way we have been exercising a lot of care in its implementation so as to be able to deal with the Kothari Commission's observation that the parents and teachers are not favourable.
4. Children themselves have been, once in a week, maintaining records of productive activities, the time spent in those activities, and the value assigned to such work. Making children do it all by themselves is another of our best practices. For example, during the last academic year, 2009-10, 60 students participated in 12 divisions of productive activities and worked for 3375.5 hours. The value assessed for this many hours of work was Rs.6,629/-
5.The practice of documenting observations or new creations made by teachers and students is another of our best practices. In this way we have been encouraging our students the habit of documentation some thing lacking in Indians. As a result we have proven that the habit of making research notes from childhood can be developed. In the year 2000, we published a book, 'In the Lap of Nature' ("Prakriti Vadilo") created by students. To the best of our knowledge this is the first attempt at child literature. A similar attempt was made in the year 2006. Most of the constructions on our campus are made with bamboo bows. We take considerable pride in the fact that this was an experiment done by our school children; the research is being carried forward at CRDT, IIT Delhi.
6. Not only have we been making children and teachers document their observations and creations, but our organisation (HALE) itself has been maintaining systematic documentation and getting them published. 40 booklets have been released so that anyone who would be interested in such documentation can use them either in the present of in the future. We see this work, done by our small organisation, as a remarkable achievement.
7. Training children in collective leadership in conducting the various activities day to day including maintenance or special various events. Teachers only provide behind the stage counseling and guide planning.
8. Some of our Indian traditional methods such as "Vedic Mathematics", "Avadhanam", Monitorial method ("Ghatika Paddhathi") are implemented in their simpler form keeping out the complexities.
9. Promote Research & Development Activities with eco-friendly technology and renewable resources. For example, Bamboo-Building Technology", "Cycle Grinder", "Vethra" (container to keep warmth), 'Hold and Release Method" (prevents formation of dirty water from water usage), Teaching and Learning Material (TLM) with Bamboo.
Further Improvement and Sustainability and Leadership Succession
There is definitely scope for improving our best practices mentioned above. We believe that these practices evolve an blossom in their own way and help to get through in critical times.
We have been attempting to train our students in collective leadership qualities. On similar lines, we have been wishing that collective leadership qualities would come up at the organizational level. We hope that through such collective leadership qualities at the organisational level, our best practices shall continue to be implemented.
Jaihind
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