Page 52 - EducationWorld August 2022

Cover Story

“Our model challenges the formal education system”

ilip Thakore interviewed over the country and lived
Sanjit ( ‘ B u nk e r’ ) Roy , there for six months.
Dfounder-director of Barefoot Their job was to interact
College. Excerpts: with farmers, understand
their problems and pro-
Congratulations to you and Barefoot vide simple technical so-
College (BC) on your golden anniversary. lutions. This programme
What were your objectives when you was discontinued because
promoted BC 50 years ago? agricultural scientists
My real education started when I saw complained it was too
water diviners, traditional boneset- difficult for them to be
ters, midwives at work. That was the productive while resid-
humble beginning of Barefoot Col- ing in villages. The Lab to
lege. At that time, it wasn’t Gandhi Land project needs to be
or Marx who inspired the work of the re-introduced.
college but very ordinary people with
grit, determination, and the amaz- What’s your prescription for
ing ability to survive with dignity Despite BC having proved itself as a eradicating poverty from rural India?
and self-respect without any official successful model for rural development There is no urban solution to a rural
support. These ideas were reinforced and prosperity and being acclaimed problem. Over generations, Rural
by extensive study of the teachings of internationally, the BC model has not been India that is Bharat, has devised
Mahatma Gandhi who believed that replicated in all districts of Rajasthan, let simple inexpensive solutions to
the prosperity of India’s 600,000 vil- alone India’s 600 rural districts. What’s problems of poverty — drinking and
lages was the prerequisite of national your comment? irrigation water, indigenous educa-
development. My objective was to We strongly believe the semi-literate tion, traditional healthcare systems,
bring this rich repository of indig- and illiterate have the power, confi- livelihoods and working with dignity
enous knowledge, skill and wisdom, dence, capacity and the knowledge and self-respect.
still abundant in Bharat of 2022, and skills to provide extraordinary, Paper qualified urban profession-
into mainstream thinking through affordable goods and services to their als have systematically destroyed and
Barefoot College. own communities. One of Barefoot undermined the cultural value and
College’s greatest accomplishments respect for traditional knowledge,
How satisfied are you with the growth and is reducing dependence on urban indigenous skills and village wisdom
achievements of Barefoot College? professionals and demonstrating that because rural professionals are not
I am never satisfied but our record poor semi-literate men and women ‘certified’.
speaks for itself. can serve their own communities as
During the past 50 years, Barefoot barefoot solar and water engineers, How optimistic are you about rural India
College has helped 90,000 working architects, teachers, health work- becoming a middle class society?
children attend 250 night schools in ers, communicators and computer When I first started residing in
ten states of India. Three generations programmers. Tilonia 50 years ago, village sar-
of young people have gone through Rigid formal education systems p anc hs used to ride bicycles. Today
the Barefoot learning experience. of government and private schools they have multi-crore budgets and
Over 300,000 children have also at- coupled with over- dependence on drive SUVs. They flaunt degrees
tended our preschools. paper certification to prove compe- from universities, but their mindset
Over 2,000 Barefoot College tence, are the main reasons why the is still 19th century. Now palatial
communicators have been trained Gandhian Barefoot College rural de- residences, air-conditioned homes
to produce interactive puppet shows velopment model has been rejected and multistorey buildings are sprout-
to propagate modernisation ideals. at every level. Because it challenges ing in villages. Powerful farmers with
Over 300,000 people have watched the formal education system. hundreds of acres in names of joint
these performances in 3,000 Indian family members don’t pay agricul-
villages since 1981 to change anti- What’s your assessment of the contribu- ture or income tax. Their sons and
social — especially anti-women — tion of the Indian Council of Agricultural daughters are gram sevak s, thane -
attitudes among rural communities. Research and its affiliated 71 public ag- dars, atw aris and tehsildars. Thus
p
Barefoot College has also trained riculture colleges to the Green Revolution they are law-makers and virtually
1,708 illiterate or semi-literate rural and rural development? untouchable. Regrettably, a lumpen
women from 96 countries to become When M.S. Swaminathan was sec- middle class has come to stay in the
solar engineers. These women have retary of the Union ministry of agri- larger and richer villages of India.
electrified more than 75,000 house- culture in the 1980s, he introduced a The gap between the rich and
holds worldwide, saving 45 million very innovative project called Lab to poor in rural society has widened. I
litres of kerosene from polluting the Land. Hundreds of young agricultur- am very disturbed by what’s happen-
environment. al scientists were sent to villages all ing.

52 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2022