Chasing that school bus.
Putting some thoughts and experiences into how distant the dreams of education are for many. While some of us can fly, others have to walk all the way.
I am going to use a lot of references about my teaching in the Himalayas. You can read more about part 1 here: Helping them reach the Stars.
Have you ever witnessed someone’s eyes widen with curiosity and awe when you’re describing something that’s delightful to them?
Mostly when it comes to kids, a lot of things in this world are exciting for them. I could demonstrate an example:
One fine day, the kids invited ( in fact dragged ) me to ride with them on the school bus. It’s a fun ride, full of listening to pop music and singing along loud, all little voices chiming at once.
I noticed one girl taking no part in this noise. Her attention was somewhere else, while I was busy answering the numerous curious other kids posed. Suddenly, her attention shifted, and she asked me her first question ever to me.
“What do you do in your Job?”
Well, how can I explain to her what an AI is? While giving answers to kids I have to try and help them understand in a way that makes sense in their world.
I responded:
“Have you seen smart robots that walk, talk, and do things for you? Well I make software that helps robots do such stuff”
Another question from her:
“Have you made robots?”
“Sure I have. Back in college, I used to make many robots and make them walk and talk.”
For the first time ever, I saw her smile. Her eyes widened. She was in total awe.
Were there more questions? Yes. OF COURSE SHE WANTS TO KNOW IF ROBOTS CAN DO HER MATHS HOMEWORK. Now the other kids pitched their contributions of questions. The air around us were tingling with excitement of new knowledge.
If you haven’t realized it yet, a moment like this is when you really started embracing the word “Education”. The initial moments since your infancy when you started to listen to the world, you try to understand it, poked around with your stick of curiosity, and felt the awe in what you learn.
Every morning during breakfast time, I would share few of such stories of my daily interactions with the kids, with Lori (Our Principal). One of the most hilarious stories I got to share was when I got bribed by a little girl to sit with her.
Often through these stories, I learned a lot about life in the mountains. Lori’s husband, Kunwar, explained to me how the villagers used to make money by carrying milk for long distances uphill, a job now replaced by using vehicles for the same. It’s quite common for one to opt for a job related to farming, or transportation, or go into the nearby city to start a new cafe or such. It seems that following the fluctuation of money helps people find their jobs. It also made me wonder about the lack of enough engineers and doctors when it’s needed. Imagine having to drive hours just to find someone with the expertise to look into your medical issues. The root cause of the shortage is plain simple. The means to have affordable education, and opportunities for employment, are not present for many.
During classes, I asked the routine questions to the kids on who they wanted to be. Actor/Actress, singer, Beatboxer(well this one guy was good at it!), doctor, engineer, pilot, artist, musician, politician, and the list goes on.
My mission was, to be a catalyst in this process. Not to churn out a league of top engineers/doctors, top jobs, or top money. I wanted them to know that they can dream of what they want to be, and I wanted to take them one step closer. I wanted to answer their questions, and I wanted to ask them questions back. If someone wants to be a politician, tell me why? If someone wants to be a doctor, tell me why? If someone wants to be a teacher, tell me why?
A few answers I got:
I felt really sad when I watched videos of what happens to animals at the Zoo. I want to be a Politician, and I will set all the animals free!
I want to be an actress! An actress who is also good at Maths and Science!
I want to be a police officer because I want to arrest the guy who wanted to be a politician. 😜
Well, sometimes I had a hearty laugh and sometimes I pondered deep about what shapes their answers.
A more startling thought here is, if not for the school, many here would not even dream of being able to think of these answers. Many families are limited by their circumstances, to give their children access to the quality education they require.
Especially for the girl children, the moment a family runs out of money or the man of the house passes away, they pull out the money from the girls’ education and put it entirely on their boys, hoping that someday the payoff will help their life better.
I was almost in tears when Lori described about the experience of one such girl who fought against this and was very determined to continue her education, did jobs on the side, and made enough for her family’s survival, while attending school and doing her homework every day. And this is just one story. When I talk to the children or enquire about their stories to the teachers, I learned a lot more.
Here is an excerpt from an article Lori wrote for Women’s day about the life of women in Jaunpur, as narrated by her mother in law:
“One day a man came and picked me up from where I was playing near my village of Kandhi, and carried me to Sainji – about ten kilometres. I was eight years old then. He carried me on his back and we walked for about 4 hours. I was frightened, but I came to understand that this was my new family. They were good to me – treated me well. I lived with my husband, who was 11. We were only children and we just played with each other as children do. I had my first baby when I was 14. Then I had three more – all boys. And I was a widow by the time I was twenty-one. It was difficult. Everyone wanted to push me out of the village. They wanted our land. I only had my mother-in-law to help me, and I had all these children – the oldest was only seven, and my youngest, a baby. But still I went everyday to tend my fields. One day, these men from Sainji came with sticks. They were going to beat me and they would have killed me, had it not been for some other women from the village who helped me. At last, my husband’s uncle came to my rescue. He was living in Delhi at the time, but he helped me keep the land, and he gave me some help with my children – he took Kunwar, who was only ten at the time, to Delhi and educated him there.”
The scholarship and sponsorship schemes Lori has curated for the students are prioritized based on a thorough knowledge of their backgrounds. Sometimes girl children are given higher priority because of their social situation. Sometimes, if a man of a family is deceased, some or all of the children are taken care of by an uncle, which leaves them with the burden of having to take care of five or more children at once. Such families are given priority too.
In some way or another, we all have gone on a journey of asking questions that pave our way to better knowledge and awareness. This journey might have begun in school, during a chat with friends, or while reading a fascinating book. Each question we ask is like planting a seed of curiosity in our minds. As we seek answers, that seed grows into a tree of understanding and wisdom. It's through this continuous cycle of asking, learning, and growing that we gain the awareness we mustered, to navigate through the world, learning how to live for ourselves and others.
But not all of us start at the same level, and not all of us can fly by spreading our wings. The ultimate life lesson I have learned myself is that knowledge is only worthy if it’s shared and fulfilled by helping others’ quests as well as mine. I love being part of this wonderful team!
I will be penning down more articles and lending a hand to the school to collect more donations. This is the heart of the scholarship funds and it's what keeps the school doors open for every student, even those who don't have a scholarship, at a really low cost. Here's the donation link.: Click here
I love their fight for learning. I love being their teacher, telling them about little bits of knowledge I gained from the world. I love that I know for a fact that the little things I tell them are going to shape their future for the better.
Picture courtesies: Sachin Sreedas