It all started on a bright sunny day in January 2005, when we accidentally met a group of rag picker children standing at a regular bus stop for school buses in a posh residential colony in Bhopal. In tattered clothes and bare feet, the bunch of five stood watching gleeful children getting down from their school bus, and running to their waiting mothers. The only similarity between those children and them were the bags on their backs. The difference however was in the content of the bags. While one had books and tiffin in it, the other one had dirty garbage collected from the backyards of houses.
What we saw was a sparkle in their eyes as they saw their fortunate counterparts come back from school. But the innocent minds did not question the difference. They only wished... a similar life. Gathering ourselves from the situation, we followed the children to their colony to witness the contrast lives of these children. Instead of waiting mothers, there were abusing fathers to greet them and snatch away the rag bags. With the rags sold, the alcoholic fathers went to buy stuff for their happy hours, leaving the children to fend for themselves. The sparkle that we had seen in their eyes egged us to probe into the hidden wishes of the children and they screamed in unison that they wished to be policemen. When we asked them if they would like to study for that, the response was a much louder NO. What followed thereafter was a series of questioning trying to find the real reasons behind it and what we found was the fallacies of our education system that kept these children away from education. Today’s education system has become a rote-learning manufactory designed for grinding out uniform results without any understanding and popping out degrees and certificates like popcorn. A mouthful does not get you anything, a handful is not sufficient. To top it all, it is the exorbitant costs that make higher education unaffordable for the vulnerable poor. It is not freebies but the assurance of a job or work that can attract children to education. Theoretical education is considered a waste of time that leads you to nowhere, by many in rural areas and urban slums. The faith on the education system to be able to provide jobs is dwindling. Education is considered the foundation of the country and every individual has a fundamental right to quality education. Yet there is a huge disparity in the quality of education of a rich child and a poor child in the same city. If there is a disparity in the foundation itself, how can we dare to dream of equality in our country? We travelled the length and breadth of the country in search of a wholistic education model. Picking up the principles of Guru Rabindranath Tagore's 'Shantiniketan', Aurobindo Ashram's 'International Centre of Education', the Rishi Valleys, the Japanese education system and many others. The next challenge was to bring this curriculum into practice in the best environs of learning, but without any extra infrastructure or investment, and at the same time making it the most economical for replication later. Our search finally took us to the Museums, where the treasures of knowledge lay practically unused, mostly serving as tourist attractions. Looking from the perspective of imparting knowledge we found the exhibits & working models as powerful tools of learning, yet never used as teaching aids, and it dawned upon us 'Why can't this be the school?'. Thus The Museum School concept was conceived. The process of bringing the concept into reality was almost similar to nurturing an embryo into a baby. Collaborating with 3 Museums in Bhopal, Like every journey that begins with a goal, a determination to get to the destination no matter what it takes, so did the journey of THE MUSEUM SCHOOL-{ PARVARISH} begin on 5th September 2005 with 40 ragpicker and working children from 2 slums - who are like us, except in one small measure, they never expect their dreams to come true. I started this journey with my husband Mr. Pradeep Ghosh {ASHOKA FELLOW} who initiated to work for the society after leaving his corporate job as an IT professional. I completed my B.Ed and thought of doing something for the under privileged children on education rather than joining some prestigious school and earning attractive salary. I knew there would be many such teachers who can take care of the children who are from well to do families but there would be very few who will think for this deprived and the left out children of our society. Why not use all the skills and methods through Museums for these children which I have learnt in my one year B.Ed course. All this made me think and jump to social work from then. MUSEUM SCHOOL is very different and only one in the country. It mainly focuses on quality and practical teaching. The exhibits of the museums are being used as a model for the children to teach them different subjects. Looking at the world and the challenges facing humanity today, it seems that education should respond imaginatively, creatively, radically. I feel that a truly different education lies not in building structures and designing syllabus but in questioning ones ability in the world. In a country where so many children are deprived of good education, is it justified in creating model institutions? Does the concept of model school gives the value to the well off child to have the ice-cream cone and say to the hungry little rag picker beside him “go away and buy your own ice-cream” Is the quality of education imparted in a school dependent on the school building only? If so how did the sages of ancient India scale such intellectual heights sitting under a banyan tree? The road has begun, but the goal is far. Just like any innovation, The Museum School concept at the initial level was struck down by pessimists, who were convinced that it would do no good to the children. So were the illiterate parents, who related education only to school bags, books and homework. But I was determined to prove both of them wrong. Today after 6 years, as I see the confident children walk the aisle onto the stage, I feel I have reached halfway to my goal. 4 children out have appeared for the Std Xth National Open School examination , taking us further closer to our goal. As I tread the road I carved, I find other roads meeting too. Today as I see the future, I can see the positive impact it is making on the lives of these unfortunate children, who would be the changemakers of their community. A list of 250 children waiting to be admitted to The Museum School is a true testimony of this impact. All these years have been a lot of experience for me, it was certainly not that easy. I saw many difficult days, many a moment of helplessness but I was determined to make this promise come true & Today I have the reason to believe that I have reached to the gaol in my own small way. `Life is full of choices ,some simple ,some hard, but they all have one thing in common- a certain amount of giving and sacrifice. Choices which some time seems very low, suddenly look very high when we ourselves are faced with the decisions. The HEART says “ FEEL THE RIGHT WAY”. The HEAD says “ THINK THE RIGHT WAY”, And CONSCIENCE says “DO THE RIGHT WAY”. The choices looks different and frightening suppose it does not meet the expectations suppose it fails. Then suddenly an idea clicks and we can see light at the end of the tunnel. LONG LIVE...... THE MUSEUM SCHOOL.
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