Community-based Education at Rishi Valley

Community-based Education at Rishi Valley Full Economic Citizenship Roundtable on Innovations in Education RISHI VALLEY INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (RIVER) KRISHNAMURTI FOUNDATION INDIA

Centralised curriculum • Frustrated teacher • Uninteresting classrooms • Community losing faith Why is the system failing?

Child in the driver’s seat

Teachers formulating curriculum - Meaningful support structures Community involvement - A school free of fear

Sense of achievement • Self paced learning • Self driven learner Learning Ladder

Most ruralschools –multigrade by default • RIVER model – multigrade / multilevel by design • dynamic grouping • Grade, gender and ability – not the criteria Space and time management

Community curriculum • Mothers’ stories • Traditional folk arts • Mothers’ committees • Monitoring children’s progress • Organising mid-day meals Community Ownership

Barren wastelands converted into green public spaces • Used variously for herbal gardens, water harvesting, solar energy • Provides for fuel and fodder needs Enriching village commons

Design • single-room, single-teacher • Teaching - learning materials • “School-in-a-box” • Cost of building and establishment – Rs.1,50,000 • Cost of running – Rs.15,000 per month Cost effective model

HOW? 16 to thousands of schools

Problem • Backward region • Mainstreaming girl child labourers Strategy • Creating resource group • Setting up 200 learning centres Achievement • 96.8% of the girls achieved minimum levels of learning The first challenge

Problem • Cynicism of teachers • Apathy of bureaucracy • Resistance from the textbook lobby Strategies • Designer’s workshops • Setting up 36 model schools • On-the-job support Achievement • Scaling up in phases – 36 to 280 to 10’000 schools Challenges in the formal sector

Reaching out to remote socio-linguistic minorities

Regions in India practicing the RIVER model

RIVER- Ethiopia Collaboration • Several potential partnerships-Peru, Pakistan,China Reaching other developing countries

“Trans-creation” of materials • Setting up model schools • Scaling up in phases • Putting in place decentralised support structures • Transparent evaluation mechanisms • Creating a critical mass of stakeholders Replicating strategy moving in partnerships

Range of training programmes • Hands-on training • On-the-job support and monitoring • Comprehensive training materials – teachers’ manuals, trainers’ modules, training films Capacity building

GDN criteria • Creativity/innovativeness • Social impact • Cost performance • Replicability • Capacity building Global Development Network award“Most innovate development project ”

Building regional resource groups • Consolidate research base through action research • Linkage with Universities-Metz, Regensburg, Harvard & London • Creating a network of networks VISION

Putting the child in the driver’s seat • Involving teacher and community in creating local-specific curriculum • Designing dynamic space and time management for schools • Making school as a community resource centre Innovation Recap

Joyful learning leading to negligible dropout rates • Significant decrease in child labour in the region • Enrichment of village commons • Improvement in quality of life of the community Social impact Recap

Sustainable design • single room, single teacher • Teaching learning material • comprehensive package for the whole school • Rs.1,50,000 to set up a school • Rs.15,000 a month to run the school Cost performance Recap

Experiential training • On-the-job support and monitoring • Comprehensive training materials Capacity building Recap

From partnership to ownership • “Trans-creation” of materials • Setting up model schools • Scaling up in phases • Creating a critical mass Replicability Recap

Joyful childhood - creative teachers - strong networks • Preserve the self-sustaining, self-replicating, self-evolving nature of the RIVER model Vision Recap

Thank you for your attention

Community-based Education at Rishi Valley