Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Mrs. Kiran Bir Sethi : Unedited material collected for Effective people by Prof TV Rao

Mrs. Kiran Bir Sethi
One day before his final exams, a typical Indian student will sit down hard at work trying to memorize pages of notes that he never quite understood in the first place. With the massively prevalent education system disallowing independence of thought and emphasizing on pure facts and cramming over understanding, that is, quite often, the common scenario. And with every year that goes by, the children become duller and duller, forcing them through a seven hour routine filled with un-enthusiasm, lethargy, and monotony. For them, this pressurizing, dreary situation is normal.
The traditional ways of teaching are considered absolute, and there is little scope for an independent learning environment. Children’s thoughts and ideas are rejected outright without the slightest bit of consideration. For ninety nine out of a hundred, education is grades, reports, and a 90%. Children are stifled, and independent, comfortable learning, freedom of thought, and creativity is all but nonexistent, and directed toward a stiff, preordained path that every child is expected to follow unquestioningly. 
However, even within this moribund, declining education system, change is budding, and spreading. With the efforts and work of mavericks like Mrs. Kiran Bir Sethi, this stagnant, inflexible style of teaching is evolving.
Born and brought up in Bangalore, Kiran’s parents had a significant influence on her life. Her mother, Asha Bir, was one of her earliest role models and her father, Raghbir Singh Bir, ignited her then nascent interest in design. Two of her greatest sources of inspiration, Kiran’s parents motivated her to take the same career path.
During her visit to Italy, she came across a place called Reggio Emilia. The city had its own approach towards education, with the entire community taking responsibility for the education of their children while believing in their ability to think independently. They also believed in giving a child the freedom to shape its own identity, and explore itself and its surroundings to its heart’s content. Creative, innovative, and unique, this approach contrasted sharply with what Kiran had seen at her son’s school.
When Kiran’s five and half year old son, Raag, started going to school, she discovered, to her dismayed surprise, that teachers were demotivating and discouraging their students. Children were repeatedly told that they ‘could not’ do several things, and reprimanded if they attempted to explore or learn something on their own. In addition, they were made to think competitively and vie for marks and academic achievements. Stifled under an iron-tight fist, children were disheartened and cognitively handicapped, to the point where eight to nine year-olds were still struggling to confront any unfamiliar task given to them. When she realized this, Kiran concluded that the existing system was flawed, and destroying the innate potential of children. Parental expectations and pressure, coupled with a competitive mindset and the threat of punishment, was ruining the inherently playful attitude of children, and making them afraid and shy of taking risks.
Kiran decided to find another school for her son; one that she hoped would teach in a freer way, but she could not find any that satisfied her requirements. Most parents, upon finding that there wasn’t a school that matched up to their ideals in their city, would simply opt to stick to the school their child was already enrolled in. Kiran, on the other hand, took matters in her own hands. She created a completely new learning centre that followed a completely new education system- one that was exploration-oriented, emphasized on free, independent learning, and supported creativity and nurtured innovation: The Riverside School.
With Kiran believing in a literally- open learning environment, the students of Riverside spend more than a third of their time outside the school walls, going for nature walks or going exploring or even simply sitting on a log and having a lesson in a classroom of trees. With their classes remaining open-ended, without any set conclusion being doled out, the children are free to decide what to take away from their lessons. Aside from whatever they learn from the lesson itself, this practice allows them to learn to think for themselves, without becoming dependent on someone else’s thoughts. Because of this, the children become optimistic, confident, and self-assured, tackling never-before-seen problems and uncertain situations with glee, delight, and excitement. The students are allowed to lead, both inside and outside school, and are sometime left to their own devices while their teachers take a backseat.
Most Indian schools follow ‘periods,’ a concept where each lesson, regardless of subject or topic, is limited to a pre-decided time. However, Riverside did away with the idea entirely. Instead of settling for a time limit, the length of classes in Riverside is decided a day earlier by the teachers depending on the subject that is being taught, or whether a new topic or unit is being introduced for the first time. Therefore, every lesson is taught for an optimal time, one that is best-suited for the students, the teachers, and the lesson itself.
Aside from the regular, day-to-day classes, Riverside’s teaching approach is not restricted to lessons. To give a whole, complete education, one focuses as much on being a good human being as a good achiever, Riverside emphasizes as much on attitude and community service –with the Citizenship and Persistence programs- as on skills and academics. To give the students a chance to showcase and test the skills they accrue over the school year, the students are often client projects, tasks, and challenges that range from designing home-made water filter to organising a sports day or even to the writing of this very article. Everyone has different strengths and skill-sets. By encouraging and pushing a child to participate in different events and activities, one can give them various opportunities to recognize and nurture their individual skills and abilities, and train their particular field of excellence.
Apart from pushing them, these projects also give them the satisfaction of having their work approved and employed. The seventh grade students of Riverside were given a client project by the manager of the Vastrapur Lake Park to design trash bins to ensure that the park becomes clean. The third graders were asked to design an itinerary for Ahmedabad that emphasized on the city’s heritage, its most acclaimed and famous sites as well as ideal rest stops and restaurants. Likewise, tenth graders studying Business Studies designed a new ice cream flavour, deciding on a price and developing a marketing strategy to create a detailed and comprehensive proposal that was accepted by Pradeep Chona, the Marketing Director of Havmor. These projects provide platforms for the students to utilize their skills and theoretical knowledge, emphasizing on practicality and execution.
With Riverside, Kiran noticed that children are closely connected to their environment, and love to stay out playing as long as they can. However, with industrialization and urbanization, the environment is no longer safe for children to play in.
Once again trying to alter an unsatisfactory situation, she founded an initiative called ‘aProCh: a Protagonist in every Child,’ in 2007. aProCh’s aim is to work for the children, with the children, addressing their needs and wants by including them in every step of the process. Slowly, the initiative’s success grew to the point where it became manifest in child friendly zebra crossings and an event called ‘Street Smart,’ wherein an entire road is blocked for vehicles and turned into a playground for children, replete with activities and games. ‘aProCh’s work helped Ahmedabad acquire the tag of India’s first ‘child friendly city,’ even as it grew to host many more events from ‘Movie’ing Experience’ to ‘Parents of the Park.’ Of course, the names are pretty much self-explanatory.
Realizing that children’s thoughts are undervalued and underestimated in India, Kiran also founded ‘Design for Change’ in 2009, whose primary aim is to encourage children to actively make a change as well as give them the confidence to do so. Age matters all around the world. It decides who listen to whom, and plays a part everywhere from jobs and schools to colleges and homes. However, age does not play a part in the inherent value of a suggestion or an idea. If a ten year old or a thirty year old have the same idea, the child’s thought has as much value as the adult’s. Design for Change’s primary objective is to promote this concept, and give children that have already made a change in their surroundings, either from reinventing their school’s image or from defusing social taboos, the recognition they deserve.
She believes that if anyone wants to make a difference, they need to be shameless. Instead of needlessly worrying about society and ‘what everyone else will think,’ you should do what you think is necessary. On being asked to convey a message, she responded, “Take care of today and it will take care of tomorrow.” Kiran has always believed that change cannot be wrought overnight. One has to be persistent, determined, and perseverant, even when everything explodes in your face. Stay with your idea, with your passion, and you will succeed.
Primary Source: Skype Interview of Mrs. Kiran Bir Sethi by Yash Raj conducted on 19th May 2015.
1.      What inspired you, to come up with revolutionary ideas such as Design for Change and Riverside’s teaching approach? What were the sources of your inspiration?

It didn’t start with inspiration as much as desperation. And the source of that was what my son was going through at his school. My desperation to do something for my son became my inspiration. However, other than that, my inspiration would be Mahatma Gandhi. How long he stayed with the idea of freedom, and achieved it in the end. His tenacity and perseverance inspired me to keep going.

2.      What challenges did you face, during both the creation and development of Riverside and Design for Change?

The challenge was stamina, and perseverance. How long you’re willing to stick with your idea when things don’t work the way you want them to. Everyone has fantastic ideas, but ideas alone can’t change anything. It’s your stubbornness, and persistence, and stamina, coupled with the idea itself that can propagate the change. Sometimes you may struggle, you may suffer, and you may hit an obstacle every other step you take. Sometimes you’ll be so tired that you may think your idea is not worth the effort required to realize it. At those moments of weakness, you simply need to take another look at what inspired you in the first place, and you will find the strength to keep moving forward.

3.      What do you think are your strengths? When did you discover them? How? How did you cultivate them?

I think my strength is really the ability to stay with the idea I had fifteen years ago and feel as passionate about it today as I did when I started Riverside. However, I think my greatest strength is not me, but my teacher team and the entire Riverside community. They support me continuously and are always inspiring me, and when I feel tired or worn out, I just have to take a look at everyone else working as hard as they can to get pumped up again.

4.      What, in your opinion, are qualities that people need to cultivate to make a difference for others?

I think you need to be shameless. If you truly want to make a difference, doesn’t worry about what people think. Does what you think must be done to change what it is you want to change?

5.      Would you like to give us a message?

I think that people are too concerned with the future to act decisively in the present. I think that if you take care of today, it will take care of tomorrow.

As per the interview conducted by Yash Raj, TVRLS and co-authored by Vishwesh Desai, Riverside School.

Below are references from which the secondary data is collected on 19th May’2015:

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