Kerala - Kottayam   

Community should decide on content of education: Medha

Staff Reporter

The activist calls upon students to participate in social action

ACCUSING FINGER: Environmental activist Medha Patkar visits the brick kilns along the Meenachil river at Punnathara, near Ettumanur, in Kottayam district. Nearly 20 brick kilns dot the course of the river, causing acute shortage of drinking water in the area. Photo: Johney Thomas

KOTTAYAM: Environmental activist Medha Patkar has stressed the need for the involvement of the community in deciding what should be taught in schools.

Interacting with a small group of her followers at an `alternate' school at Thottuva near here, Ms. Patkar said it was the corporate giants who were entrusted with the responsibility of drafting the education policy under the new dispensation. The crucial question was who decided what should be taught and what values should be inculcated. The `alternate' education she was championing ensured that decisions were taken by the community in which the institution functioned, with the parents acting as the core component.

On the other hand, students must get involved in issues relating to the community and participate in social action, she said. "Our schools in Narmada Valley were closed down for one year when the agitation was at its peak and it was the children who participated whole-heartedly in the fight," she said. What made the difference was their awareness of their rights, their commitment to the environment, she said. Ms. Patkar stressed the need for the teachers to reach out to the level of the children.

Earlier, she visited Punnathura where rich paddy fields have been devastated on account of unmindful clay mining.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Community should decide on content of education: Medha

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu