When we moved to UK couple of years back, both my wife and I had our apprehensions about settling in, the openness with which foreigners would be welcomed and of course how our kids would settle in, considering the new schools, friends, new city, support network, facilities etc.. And to counter the prejudices and biases created by BBC that has been sending undercover reporters for years especially to India, China & other countries.
BBC, CNN and France’s national channel all broadcast undercover stories about whats all wrong in these markets – from poverty, corruption, lack of medical services, child labour, sweat shops, prostitution, etc etc. I don’t understand - what deeper level of satisfaction they get – perhaps making their local people feel better about their governments. After 48 hours of continuous international media coverage, the ratings go up, and so does their ability to garner better money from advertisers. The stories of nameless people are lost in translation.
Now China has an interesting way to handle criticism that Western media broadcasts about it globally including in China - it just blanks out the live program being tele-casted. When I lived in China, I would be watching news on BBC or CNN and the mere mention of word 'China' would blank out your TV screen. And this would happen repeatedly, till the Chinese would figure out if the news was positive or negative about China. I was told that journalists from outside China were allowed to go to only pre-approved places and they had to share details about their projects and were not free to record or video-shoot anything. I respect the Chinese for this - they take certain pride in their culture, country and its people. Of course, not every person living in China is well-off, but the Chinese want to project a certain image about China and want to preserve it, while they evolve themselves to be world-beaters in practically everything, including winning the most Golds at the Olympics and sending the next man to the moon. Brazil once refused permission to Michael Jackson to shoot a video with favelas in the background. Reason - millions of fans around world will see the shanty towns or ‘slums’ and this would impact the tourism industry. Well done Brazil and China!!
The Indian story starts on a wrong foot ...
Now India on the contrary has a very open culture, which has its own advantages. We welcome people to come to our country, experience all they can. Of course you also get shady journalists who come and record the underbelly of the country and then not only broadcast it to the rest of the world thereby seriously jeopardizing India's image but also sabotaging the millions of $$'s that the Indian Government and companies invest in creating a positive image.
The extent to which such lop-sided Indian image has been created and carried forward in UK is evident by the fact that on an 'India Day' celebrated in schools(which is commendable - UK is really great in celebrating the diversity), kids as young as 6 years old are taught about lives of the people living in Indian villages. Is there anything wrong with that? No. But what matters is the content. Kids are taught about religions of India, culture and then about the village life. There are nearly 5000 cities & towns and nearly 600,000 villages in India. Not all of them live in abject poverty. But when kids are taught about just the village life in India, kids don't remember that the teachers are sharing about the lives of some of the poorest lot in India. They just walk away thinking - this is how the average Indians live and survive. So, what was covered in such a learning activity? - washing clothes near a river bank, carrying water on your head in a pot from one place to the other, making mud bricks (cow dung cakes - does that ring a bell?) for making walls, cooking food, ....etc. Kids do like outdoor activities (dirt is good, yes), but are these the right learning activities. Unique - yes, but learning about India - No!!!
Even though I go back to India every year with my family, my son who was learning about the different cultures and geographies in his school project finally asked me "Dad - How come Gran ma has a washing machine? Where is the river where clothes are being washed?"
Tracing Khalipathar...the India myth continues in higher classes!!!
So, this year, my son was studying in geography about continents & oceans, Europe, UK, Dolce Acqua region in Italy, India and Khalipathar et al. Khalipathar - never heard about it!!! No problem - Google will find it. Hmmm... Google threw up only 200 results. Google maps - nothing. I visited the interactive map of India - nothing. So, where did Khalipathar exist?
Till I found a project done by Action Aid - http://bit.ly/dyc21P which showed on a map where Khalipathar was and had a video and 12 slides. So this was it!!! A project done by an aid agency had become a chapter in geography class for school kids in UK. The type of questions set by educators further irked me - the weather in Khalipathar, what do they grow(its a drought-prone area), other work done besides farming(brick kiln factories), what do homes look like(mud & straw), what do children do(work & some schooling), wear, play etc. The answers that teachers expect based on the Action Aid site were totally irrelevant from a learning perspective for kids. This is akin to saying - if India's education board would talk about the UK in history books, they would talk about the the "Jalianwala Bagh" massacre where 1000's of innocent kids, unarmed women and men were killed mercilessly by a British general. Would that be fair?
Action Aid's work is great - they work with the poorest in Khalipathar to buy land, seeds, dig wells, open a residential center-cum-school for kids etc etc. Action Aid's project is a case study in "The Rights of the Child" / "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". But is that fit for a geography lesson?
So, when Mr. Bill Gates, during his India trip, announced that he is going to adopt an Indian village called "Guleria", I was really happy not only for the kids in Guleria, but also for the kids living in UK.
Yeah, keep reading :)))
Mr. Gates promised during his visit to improve the socio-economic condition of the village.
Could Guleria be the new Khalipathar?? YES!!
Give it a few years and Mr. Gates and his team will transform it into an ideal Indian village. Hence, teaching about Indian villages will not only become easy due to the wide teaching material available but also provide a balanced viewpoint about Indian society.
5 reasons why UK educators should replace Khalipathar with Guleria
1st - Guleria will soon be easy to find on search engines - bing, google, yahoo. Making it easier for parents/kids/teachers to read about it. Khalipathar by comparison is mentioned on very few sites.
2nd - Guleria will be available on maps databases thereby making it easier for teachers/parents/kids to find it on the map of India. Khalipathar on the contrary is available only on a map created by the aid agency.
3rd - Teachers, parents and kids can find more pictures, videos for Guleria compared to limited ones available for Khalipathar
see - Economic Times pictures http://bit.ly/a6iqNr
There is a video already available wherein Mr Gates is talking about it -
4th - Life will hopefully improve faster with Mr. Gates involvement and hence Guleria may become one of the first PC/IT-driven villages in India. Kids could sit in virtual class-rooms thanks to mobile operators coverage, while doctors could do remote examination and farmers could sell their limited crops at best prices over the phones. That would offer a more insightful view about village life in India. Not to mention the right image about India to kids in UK.
5th - Finally, over the coming years more people would visit Guleria and write about it, thereby keeping its image fresh and relevant.
And here are 5 questions that parents can coach their kids for exams?
1st - How eco-friendly is Guleria's housing and transport vs. the one used in your local village(most family people live small villages and towns in UK outside London & Manchester cities)?
2nd - How fast is the speed of broadband in Guleria vs. the one available in your UK village?
3rd - What is your search score on Google - Guleria vs. your local village?
4th - Who visited your school in the last 3-6 months - Bill Gates, your local Minister, media etc?
5th - Describe the flora and fauna in Guleria vs. your village.
And finally 5 activities that teachers can ask kids to do on an 'India Day'
1st - Draw a solar panel circuit that runs electricity and different appliances in house
2nd - Show how a farmer in India buys and sells his crop using a mobile payment system
3rd - Which natural insulators and conductors can be used to keep houses cool in summer and warm in winter
4th - How can you make butter from milk - that would be fun for kids to learn!!
5th - Think how can you keep mangoes and colas cool without having a fridge.
C'mon UK's Department of Education - you can do better!!! Don't do a "slumming it" after "Slumdog Millionaire". Be genuine, be relevant, be inspiring to the kids in UK - they deserve better!!!
And thank you Mr. Gates for providing the stimulus material for the UK Grade 4 Geography syllabus!! And giving every kid in the UK a chance to learn about the world in an unbiased way!!!
BBC, CNN and France’s national channel all broadcast undercover stories about whats all wrong in these markets – from poverty, corruption, lack of medical services, child labour, sweat shops, prostitution, etc etc. I don’t understand - what deeper level of satisfaction they get – perhaps making their local people feel better about their governments. After 48 hours of continuous international media coverage, the ratings go up, and so does their ability to garner better money from advertisers. The stories of nameless people are lost in translation.
Now China has an interesting way to handle criticism that Western media broadcasts about it globally including in China - it just blanks out the live program being tele-casted. When I lived in China, I would be watching news on BBC or CNN and the mere mention of word 'China' would blank out your TV screen. And this would happen repeatedly, till the Chinese would figure out if the news was positive or negative about China. I was told that journalists from outside China were allowed to go to only pre-approved places and they had to share details about their projects and were not free to record or video-shoot anything. I respect the Chinese for this - they take certain pride in their culture, country and its people. Of course, not every person living in China is well-off, but the Chinese want to project a certain image about China and want to preserve it, while they evolve themselves to be world-beaters in practically everything, including winning the most Golds at the Olympics and sending the next man to the moon. Brazil once refused permission to Michael Jackson to shoot a video with favelas in the background. Reason - millions of fans around world will see the shanty towns or ‘slums’ and this would impact the tourism industry. Well done Brazil and China!!
The Indian story starts on a wrong foot ...
Now India on the contrary has a very open culture, which has its own advantages. We welcome people to come to our country, experience all they can. Of course you also get shady journalists who come and record the underbelly of the country and then not only broadcast it to the rest of the world thereby seriously jeopardizing India's image but also sabotaging the millions of $$'s that the Indian Government and companies invest in creating a positive image.
The extent to which such lop-sided Indian image has been created and carried forward in UK is evident by the fact that on an 'India Day' celebrated in schools(which is commendable - UK is really great in celebrating the diversity), kids as young as 6 years old are taught about lives of the people living in Indian villages. Is there anything wrong with that? No. But what matters is the content. Kids are taught about religions of India, culture and then about the village life. There are nearly 5000 cities & towns and nearly 600,000 villages in India. Not all of them live in abject poverty. But when kids are taught about just the village life in India, kids don't remember that the teachers are sharing about the lives of some of the poorest lot in India. They just walk away thinking - this is how the average Indians live and survive. So, what was covered in such a learning activity? - washing clothes near a river bank, carrying water on your head in a pot from one place to the other, making mud bricks (cow dung cakes - does that ring a bell?) for making walls, cooking food, ....etc. Kids do like outdoor activities (dirt is good, yes), but are these the right learning activities. Unique - yes, but learning about India - No!!!
Even though I go back to India every year with my family, my son who was learning about the different cultures and geographies in his school project finally asked me "Dad - How come Gran ma has a washing machine? Where is the river where clothes are being washed?"
Tracing Khalipathar...the India myth continues in higher classes!!!
So, this year, my son was studying in geography about continents & oceans, Europe, UK, Dolce Acqua region in Italy, India and Khalipathar et al. Khalipathar - never heard about it!!! No problem - Google will find it. Hmmm... Google threw up only 200 results. Google maps - nothing. I visited the interactive map of India - nothing. So, where did Khalipathar exist?
Till I found a project done by Action Aid - http://bit.ly/dyc21P which showed on a map where Khalipathar was and had a video and 12 slides. So this was it!!! A project done by an aid agency had become a chapter in geography class for school kids in UK. The type of questions set by educators further irked me - the weather in Khalipathar, what do they grow(its a drought-prone area), other work done besides farming(brick kiln factories), what do homes look like(mud & straw), what do children do(work & some schooling), wear, play etc. The answers that teachers expect based on the Action Aid site were totally irrelevant from a learning perspective for kids. This is akin to saying - if India's education board would talk about the UK in history books, they would talk about the the "Jalianwala Bagh" massacre where 1000's of innocent kids, unarmed women and men were killed mercilessly by a British general. Would that be fair?
Action Aid's work is great - they work with the poorest in Khalipathar to buy land, seeds, dig wells, open a residential center-cum-school for kids etc etc. Action Aid's project is a case study in "The Rights of the Child" / "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". But is that fit for a geography lesson?
So, when Mr. Bill Gates, during his India trip, announced that he is going to adopt an Indian village called "Guleria", I was really happy not only for the kids in Guleria, but also for the kids living in UK.
Yeah, keep reading :)))
Mr. Gates promised during his visit to improve the socio-economic condition of the village.
Could Guleria be the new Khalipathar?? YES!!
Give it a few years and Mr. Gates and his team will transform it into an ideal Indian village. Hence, teaching about Indian villages will not only become easy due to the wide teaching material available but also provide a balanced viewpoint about Indian society.
5 reasons why UK educators should replace Khalipathar with Guleria
1st - Guleria will soon be easy to find on search engines - bing, google, yahoo. Making it easier for parents/kids/teachers to read about it. Khalipathar by comparison is mentioned on very few sites.
2nd - Guleria will be available on maps databases thereby making it easier for teachers/parents/kids to find it on the map of India. Khalipathar on the contrary is available only on a map created by the aid agency.
3rd - Teachers, parents and kids can find more pictures, videos for Guleria compared to limited ones available for Khalipathar
see - Economic Times pictures http://bit.ly/a6iqNr
There is a video already available wherein Mr Gates is talking about it -
4th - Life will hopefully improve faster with Mr. Gates involvement and hence Guleria may become one of the first PC/IT-driven villages in India. Kids could sit in virtual class-rooms thanks to mobile operators coverage, while doctors could do remote examination and farmers could sell their limited crops at best prices over the phones. That would offer a more insightful view about village life in India. Not to mention the right image about India to kids in UK.
5th - Finally, over the coming years more people would visit Guleria and write about it, thereby keeping its image fresh and relevant.
And here are 5 questions that parents can coach their kids for exams?
1st - How eco-friendly is Guleria's housing and transport vs. the one used in your local village(most family people live small villages and towns in UK outside London & Manchester cities)?
2nd - How fast is the speed of broadband in Guleria vs. the one available in your UK village?
3rd - What is your search score on Google - Guleria vs. your local village?
4th - Who visited your school in the last 3-6 months - Bill Gates, your local Minister, media etc?
5th - Describe the flora and fauna in Guleria vs. your village.
And finally 5 activities that teachers can ask kids to do on an 'India Day'
1st - Draw a solar panel circuit that runs electricity and different appliances in house
2nd - Show how a farmer in India buys and sells his crop using a mobile payment system
3rd - Which natural insulators and conductors can be used to keep houses cool in summer and warm in winter
4th - How can you make butter from milk - that would be fun for kids to learn!!
5th - Think how can you keep mangoes and colas cool without having a fridge.
C'mon UK's Department of Education - you can do better!!! Don't do a "slumming it" after "Slumdog Millionaire". Be genuine, be relevant, be inspiring to the kids in UK - they deserve better!!!
And thank you Mr. Gates for providing the stimulus material for the UK Grade 4 Geography syllabus!! And giving every kid in the UK a chance to learn about the world in an unbiased way!!!
