BLACKBOARD TO
WINDOWS
A case study of Internet use in a non-formal educational institution in a socially and economically
deprived section of India
BY SREY OSH I DEY
PH .D. STUDENT, SY RACUSE UNIVERSITY
12/14/2015
Overview
• A case-study of a grass-root level non-formal
educational institution’s use of Internet for educational
purposes – teaching and learning.
• Against the backdrop of an economically and socially
deprived section of the society – an urban slum.
• Comes in the wake of increasing debates surrounding
the possible advantages and disadvantages of Internet
use in the country.
• Question is: How can Internet be harnessed as an
effective tool for Education in a country like India,
where means and tools for the purpose are far too less.
Background in numbers
• The population of India is over 1.21 billion (2011 Census of India)
• Average literacy rate is 73%, constituting of literates of age 7 years and above.
• West Bengal, scores higher than the national average with a literacy rate of 76.3%.
• The gender gap in terms of literacy within the state is of 81.7% for males and
70.5% for females.
• Ranked 19th in a country of 29 states and 7 union territories, West
Bengal still lags far behind the top state, Kerala, with an average
literacy rate of 94%.
Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Lit review
• The Indian government in its census operations defines literacy quite broadly as
– “the ability to read and write with understanding in any language” (National
Commission, 2001)
– it further mentions that a formal education or minimum educational standard is not a
necessity.
• However, the lack of a concrete measure for literacy has often compounded the problem of
assessing the functional literacy rate of the country.
• The literacy rate also tends to ignore the high rate of school dropouts leading to much
debate on how mapping of functional literacy in the country can portray the actual
conditions of literacy in the country which may be far from favorable (Educating India, 2011;
Srinivasan, 2014; Subhash, 2014).
Methodology
• Qualitative research method of case study
• An Instrumental case study, where the researcher
focuses on a particular issue or research question, and
then concentrates on one particular case to understand
and analyze that question (Creswell, 2007; Harvard
University, 2008).
• This form of research is applied to the study of real-life
events or contexts, where variables may not be in
control of the researcher, or it is those very variables
which may be of particular interest to the study
(Creswell, 2007; Schwandt, 2007).
• Sample: Talimi Haq School at Priya Manna Basti,
Howrah, West Bengal, India
• Semi-structured interviews, field observations.
Priya
Manna
Basti
• Google search throws up 12,900 results, maybe a little
more depending on geo-location.
• The Basti came up as a residential zone for the jute mill
laborers during the period when Bengal was the jute
hub.
• Today, it has an unofficial population of over 70,000
people, primarily Urdu speaking Muslim minority labor
class (Ramasway & Chakravarti, 1997; Khatoon, 2008).
– The Muslims formed about one-fourth of the state’s
(West Bengal) population (2011 Census of India).
Education
in the Basti
• Only two primary schools in the basti - Anjuman
Tameer-e-Millat and Howrah Upper Primary School the latter turning into a government-aided higher
secondary school later in the day, the Howrah High
School.
• There are around 121 primary school-age children in
India and more than 1 million children are out-ofschool in the country (UNESCO, 2015).
Talimi
Haq
School
• A non-formal educational institution located within the
Priya Manna Basti, Howrah.
• Set-up under the Howrah Pilot Project by V.
Ramaswamy, an economist and a civic activist, it is
mostly a community driven project where most if not
all of the school teachers are from the settlement itself.
“It was felt that there were a significant number of children
within the basti, from the poorest households, who were not
going to the government-aided school in the basti. So this was a
non-formal learning centre, for those children who were not
going to school, and also for the older working children.”
- V. Ramaswamy, founder
Why this
school?
“Over here, everything is done from the heart. The
teachers love us all uniformly and everyone is given an
equal amount of attention. Also, we don’t have to wear
uniforms or give any fees, and unlike Howrah High School
we at least get a glass of sattu mixed with water.”
- Farheen Naaz, 11 years.
One of the many fun evenings at the school filled with song, quiz, games for
the children – Picture by Sreyoshi Dey
School
structure
• Located at 12 P.M. Basti, second by lane, first floor, the
school functioned in just two rooms and yet
accommodated up to four classes.
• The non-formal structure, rendered quite an amount of
flexibility to the curriculum but the teachers also
conformed to the mainstream school curriculum in
order to ensure that the children were never left
behind in the main race.
• Along with lessons on English, Mathematics, Science,
came education on good habits, health tips, hygiene
control and more.
• Computers? Yes, the school has four desktops aligned
along a wall for the use of educational purposes.
From
Blackboard
to Windows
Who is the first Indian ambassador to USSR, who is
incidentally one of the first women cabinet ministers of
India?
What is the actual (birth) name of the Mughal Empress
Noor Jahan?
Who fought the Haldighati battle?
• Not something necessarily taught in school books.
From
Blackboard
to Windows
• Apple, ball, cat, xylophone, danced around the
computer screens. Small children attracted to the
moving images learned faster to associate images with
words. They joined the dots while they learned to
maneuver the mouse.
• Older children had the use of the computers to gather
more information about their studies and delve deep
into the possibilities that they had in mind for
themselves.
“Our school (Howrah High School) has no discipline in terms of
timing, but here time is very important. (What have you learnt on
the computer?) WordPad, notepad, sab sikh liya hoon (I have
learnt it all). I want to become an army man when I grow up.”
- Muhammad Ghulam Hussain, 10 years, class 6
From
Blackboard
to Windows
• Online worksheets available on websites like Starfall, a
part of the US based Starfall Education Foundation, a
publicly supported charity.
• YouTube’s elementary tutorial lessons were used make
learning fun and more appealing for the children.
From
Blackboard
to Windows
“We get pictures of things like pollution and show it to the
students. Apart from that we also put up pictures as
screensavers to familiarize the students with the objects or
processes. Printouts are not exactly a feasible option. One major
use of the internet is the video or YouTube as students pick up
faster through these mediums. Especially the Montessori
children, since they are so young it is easier to make an
impression on them.”
- Farida Begum, school teacher, enrolled in postgraduate
distance-learning program at IGNOU, New Delhi.
A friend of the school comes to town – Picture by Sreyoshi Dey
From
Blackboard
to Windows
“Compared to a normal governmental school, this place is
way more active in terms of education. Knowledge is not
just limited to that, which is available in the pages of
school textbooks, but various other books are used as
references, then there is the Internet. We know the MS
Office applications on the computer. On the Internet, we
generally look up our school blog and then various
questions that bother us. I also hold an account on
Facebook, but that’s mainly for the purpose of games. We
have never tried to use the Internet for any other purpose
actually, never thought of it. But I know am capable of
filling in an online college application if it’s needed.”
- Murshid Bassar, former student-turned-volunteer,
pursuing commerce program at B.K. Paul’s Institution.
Looking
Back
“I have been coming here since the age of 3 or 4. I didn’t
know what was school then, so I would play around. That
was my start. But today, with the help of my teachers I
want to learn a lot more. Even our Howrah High School
has computers, but we are barely taught anything on it or
from it. Here, we get both books and computer. So we
have regular quizzes and all the questions are framed
from the Internet by the teachers. We get to know so
much more than what books can teach us. My mother is
no more, while my father is a bus driver. I have seen my
teachers here and they inspire me. Even I want to help
other children learn and be something someday.”
- Zulekha Khatoon, 14 years, class 7
Looking
Back
“We have banged our heads against the wall for years,
demanding the rights of the people. We are now burnt
out. Now we put all our efforts behind this school. It is this
education that will be the final solution to the problems
plaguing this basti.”
- V. Ramaswamy (December 2013)
Limitations
• Lack of official and documented information to
support the claims against government institutions and
organizations made by the school.
• A month may be considered too short for a case study
of this nature.
• Based on the school’s experience about the larger
society, this study may have a potential bias.
Thank you
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