As we headed for our break in July, the Parents-TL Meet (PTM) was a major event. We try to meet parents atleast twice a year, at end of a full semester, to talk about the childrens’ learning level. One part of the PTM involves a collective discussion reinforcing for both the parents and children that what we learn at the Jeevanshala, does not remain at the Jeevanshala, infact it is meant to be taken with us, to our villages, and to our lives. The second part of the discussion involves the need for parents to be sensitive to the child and not fall into old habits of scolding, hitting and blaming children for all things that go wrong in our lives. From encouraging healthy eating patterns to practicing non-violent behavior toward children, are shared and reemphasized for the parents and the children are part of this discussion. After this collective conversation the TLs sit separately with each parent, with the children alongside, discussing the children’s individual level in each subject and how they are dealing with collective living.

The two weeks that we had for learning with the children before the break, we had the usual fair of classroom learning, sports, board games and visitors. This month we had one special guest, Sri Shailesh Diwakar, who was the Sub Divisional Officer, at Araria and dropped in to meet the children, before he was transferred from the district headquarters. He inspired the children to think of ways to make the world a better place for everyone. The children had many questions for him including why their village was without roads and why their was corruption in the police stations, but most importantly they could ask him questions without hesitation and its this confidence that we pride ourselves in.

January is terribly cold, but the day has broad sunshine, which makes it all very pleasant and all TLs tend to have classes in the outdoors, as you can see below …

The winter sun, coming through the tall trees, was a special pleasure we had in the past, as we did many learning sessions in the jungle vibhag (Forest Department land), but then in 2023, a rail line was built in this land, and very little of the forest is now left. We dealt with the illeffects of ‘development’ first hand, as we lost the grassland, the large trees and the birds and small animals that were in the jungle. We now have a ‘man-made’ hillock with a train line.

As always science in the jeevanshala, works on the moto “doing is learning”, children of different groupings made their own measuring jars and did magnet experiments as part of their science learning class.

3^rd January was marked as Savitri Bai Phule’s birth anniversary, usually the Jeevanshala is closed on this day due to severe cold, but somehow this year we were still open and so the children did a little celebration. We talked about Savitri Bai, the first woman teacher who opened the road for girls education.

This month also saw an unusual visitor, political analyst Yogendra Yadav and advocate Avik Saha. They talked about their childhood and education and how it opened new doors for them. The children enjoyed their interaction with them, and like with meeting all other visitors engaged with them very inquisitively, asking questions and being patient with the answers.

2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti is always special at the Jeevanshala. Classes are as usual but in the classes we create time to talk about why today is special. Each TL with their group asked children what the word ‘Gandhi’ brought to their mind and they said ‘non-violence’ ‘freedom’ ‘unity of the hindus and muslims’ ‘honesty’ and we thought ‘. The discussion was started after watching Gandhi ji’s favourite bhajan “Vaishnava Jana To, Tene Kahiye Je, Peed Paraayi Jaane Re.”

14^th October, was the last working day of this semester, as we went home for the major festivities of Durga Puja, diwali and dussehra. The whole day the Teacher Learner (TL) team met each child individually with their parents. We talked about the child’s learning learning level, issues of health and hygiene, and preparations needed to come back for the winter session. Each parent was given a letter talking about these issues and the children read these enthusiastically to parents, who have no or very little formal education. Some parents who have been through a number of years of formal education, read for themselves, one of them remarked about how he had lost his ability to read and write because after clearing his twelfth standard, he had to choose to be a ‘bhainswar’ ‘cattle herder’ as there was no paid work he could come by. This opened a new window for his child who was sitting next to him about what education meant.

September can be terribly hot and humid in our place, and yet we thrive in the mental comfort of the Jeevanshala. Here, we constantly work with our children to cultivate ideas of compassion, care, trust and support them to build their capacities to be self-actualized individuals. At the same time, we bring academic rigor by creatively focusing on the three Rs: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. To meet these two connected goals, our classrooms are uniquely designed to involve peer learning, teacher-learner guided learning, and self-study and learning. September, 23 was no different 🙂

One interesting theatre workshop that happened on a saturday was with a group called ‘unknown revolution’ . This group uses techniques from the Theatre of the Oppressed (TOTO) to work with people. They spent the day playing with the children, and the plays that came about of the theatre that happened, helped children grapple with their day to day realities in meaningful ways.

At the jeevanshala, we have been trying to lead a sustainable life. Our rooms are mostly made of locally sourced eco friendly materials, like mud and bamboo. We have a cold compost to convert our bio degradable waste from the kitchen and dining area into manure. And the recent addition to this effort is the mini-solar plant, set up by Desi Power Foundation. You can read more about this plant, set up at the Mosamat Budhiya jeevanshala, in the article on the Renewable Watch website at https://renewablewatch.in/…/decentralised-growth-case…/

This month saw a visit by Prof Shishir Kumar Jha, of IIT Bombay. He interacted with the older children about the various options that open up for them if they have had a chance to pay attention to their learning. The interaction with the older children was interesting because they got a chance to meet somone who was part of an educational institution, but a very different kind from where they were. In his interaction with the TLs (Teacher Learners) Shishir bhai talked about the need to listen to ‘silence’. He talked about the need for pauses and giving the learners a chance to fill these silences with meaningful inputs, which sometimes we tend to miss in our rush to ‘teach’.

The theatre workshop this month helped children once again look at where they felt most comfortable, and it even challenged their ideas of what dress was identified with which gender. This was for the boys a especially interesting experience, because girls have often got into t-shirts and trousers, boys have rarely put on clothes marked “girls clothing” but they did so and many threads and discussions flowed from this experience in the discussion time.

One of the other workshops this month was on the theme of observing nature, making notes and coming back to report to the collective our own observations and descriptions of what we observed. This varied from observing the papaya fruit growing on a tiny papaya tree to observing the birds on the bamboo thicket. It is such efforts that have helped children have a less anthropocentric view of the world and love all creatures, giving a small space for love and kindness, the kind that prompted Taufeeq and a few others to rescue and care for this little bird, which had hurt its foot and was unable to fly away and another group of children, releasing a baby rabbit they had found scared and trapped at the jeevanshala.

At the Jeevanshala, every occasion is a learning occasion, so the mango and litchi season became a chance for the children to practice their counting skills, as they collected centre grown mangoes and counted them. Litchis also came to the jeevanshala from a well-wisher and were similarly, counted and then distributed