The Hindu : Karnataka News : Where teaching and learning are a mere formality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Where teaching and learning are a mere formality

By Rishikesh Bahadur Desai

Meals being served to children at the lower primary school at Khanapur Banjara Tanda in Bhalki taluk.

BIDAR, JULY 18. The teaching and learning process at a lower primary school at Khanapur Banjara Tanda in Bhalki taluk is a mere formality.

Students, who belong to the Banjara Tribe, do not know Kannada, which is the medium of instruction. And teachers cannot speak Lambani. However, this seems to have not affected the school. On an average, 25 students pass the fifth standard every year.

The tanda, which is less than 20 km from Bidar, has been facing several problems. Residents say they had no school till 1985. It was first started in a hut built by them. A building came up only 10 years ago.

Imparting education has become a major problem here. Only one student, who studied in the school, went to college. After passing out of the college, he joined the Border Security Force as a soldier.

Another student is in final year BA and two others are studying in a pre-university college in Bidar. No girl child from the tanda pursues education after passing out of the school. The average attendance of girls in the school is two in each class.

Kishan Nayka from the tanda said many children learnt "nothing'' in the first two years in the school. Only a few, who learnt to read and write, continued their education after the fifth standard.

He said most of the parents in the tanda did not send their daughters to school. The number of girls going to school had increased drastically only in the past few years. The situation was no different in 150 of the 194 tandas of Banjaras in the district, he added.

"We have been complaining that Banjara children do not understand what is being taught in the school. We have been demanding that teachers from the community or those who can speak Lambani be posted to the schools in tandas. But little has been done in this regard," said Govardhan Rathod, leader of the community.

The Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Amrit Bettad, said efforts were on to solve the problem. The District Institute of Education and Training had come out with a handbook for teachers posted in schools in tandas. A workshop of Lambani-speaking teachers was held in December last. A book to help teachers acquaint themselves with the language was released recently, Mr. Bettad added.

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