truth be told, i wasn't entirely touched by this speech. it just seemed like there was no passion behind her words, though her actions may have been outstanding. i feel as though she tried too hard to convince the audience that this was a noble cause (which it is, but somehow the lack of ease with which she spoke made for an awkwardly sounding and forced speech). in any case, if i just look at the facts, and if i just focus on the videos that shukla bose brought from parikrma, i would be inspired. for her to go to such great lengths to make sure the majority of india is educated is a true feat. the reasoning behind her wanting to start parikrma or that spark that created the organization, that would've been a far more interesting start to the speech than how she started. but the fact that she ended strong - with a vow that a parikrma graduate would be a future TED speaker was noteworthy. i appreciated that. that kind of confidence would've been wonderful to see throughout her speech. the fact that she held her speech in her hands was a warning sign of lacking the passion to speak about parikrma. the way i see it is - if you truly believe in your line of work, it should not be difficult to speak about it. the passion for your work should flow in your blood ... and personal experiences are a definite plus. her speech kind of read like a checklist or a timeline that we could very well read on parikrma's website. in any case, the work is noble. one day i wish to have the guts to do something like that. although nothing is stopping me right now, honestly. i would just need to find a way to do it. but i'm thinking i need to get my life figured out before i set out to save the world. way to be selfish, right? but sometimes you can't take care of others unless you are taken care of first. otherwise it'll be a struggle...at least, my opinion :) in any case, enjoy the speech below!
day 5: TED talk – shukla bose is teaching one child at a time
http://www.ted.com/talks/shukla_bose_teaching_one_child_at_a_time.html
in 2003 i started parikrma humanity foundation from my kitchen table.the first thing that we did was walk through the slums. you know, by the way, there are two million people in bangalore, who live in 800 slums. we walked through these slums, identified houses where children would never go to school. we talked to the parents, tried to convince them about sending their children to school. we played with the children, and came back home really tired, exhausted, but with images of bright faces, twinkling eyes, and went to sleep.
we were all excited to start. but the numbers hit us then. 200 million children between four to 14 that should be going to school, but do not. 100 million children who go to school but can not read, 125 million who can not do basic maths. we also heard that 250 billion indian rupees was dedicated for government schooling. 90 percent of it was spent on teachers' salary and administrators' salary. and yet, india has nearly the highest teacher absenteeism in the world, with one out of four teachers not going to school at all the entire academic year.
those numbers were absolutely mind boggling, overwhelming, and we were constantly asked "when will you start? how many schools will you start? how many children will you get? how are you going to scale? how are you going to replicate?" it was very difficult not to get scared, not to get daunted. but we dug our heels, and said, "we're not in the number game." we want to take one child at a time and take the child right through school, send to college, and get them prepared for better living, a high value job.
so, we started parikrma, the first parikrma school started in a slum where there were 70,000 people living below the poverty line. we started, our first school was on a rooftop of a building inside the slums, a second story building, only second story building inside the slums. and that rooftop did not have any ceiling, only half a tin sheet. that was our first school. 165 children. indian academic year begins in june. so, june it rains, so many a times all of us would be huddled under the tin roof, waiting for the rain to stop. my god, what a bonding exercise that was. and all of us that were under that roof, are still here together today. then came the second school, the third school, the fourth school, and a junior college. in six years now we have four schools, one junior college, 1,100 children coming from 28 slums and four orphanages.
our dream is very simple, to send each of these kids, get them prepared to live, to be educated, but also to live peacefully, contented in this conflict-ridden chaotic globalized world. now, when you talk global you have to talk english. and so all our schools are english medium schools. but they know there is this myth that children from the slums can not speak english well. no one in their family has spoken english. no one in their generation has spoken english. but how wrong it is.
you know, when we started with our english medium schools we also decided to adopt the best curriculum possible, the icse curriculum. and again, there were people who laughed at me and said, "are you crazy choosing such a tough curriculum for these students? they'll never be able to cope." not only do our children cope very well, but they excel in it. you should just come across to see how well our children do.
there is also this myth that parents from the slums are not interested in their children going to school, they'd much rather put them to work. that's absolute hogwash. all parents all over the world want their children to lead a better life than themselves. but they need to believe that change is possible.
we have 80 percent attendance for all our parents-teachers meeting. sometimes it's even 100 percent, much more than many privileged schools. fathers have started to attend. it's very interesting. when we started our school the parents would give thumbprints in the attendance register. now they have started writing their signature. the children have taught them. it's amazing how much children can teach.
we have, a few months ago, actually late last year, we had a few mothers who came to us and said, "you know, we want to learn how to read and write. can you teach us?" so, we started an afterschool for our parents, for our mothers. we had 25 mothers who came regularly after school to study. we want to continue with this program and extend it to all our other schools.
98 percent of our fathers are alcoholics. so, you can imagine how traumatized and how dysfunctional the houses are where our children come from. we have to send the fathers to de-addiction labs and when they come back most times sober, we have to find a job for them so that they don't regress. we have about three fathers who have been trained to cook. we have taught them nutrition, hygiene. we have helped them set up the kitchen and now they are supplying food to all our children. they do a very good job because their children are eating their food, but most importantly this is the first time they have got respect, and they feel that they are doing something worthwhile.
more than 90 percent of our non-teaching staff are all parents and extended families. we've started many programs just to make sure that the child comes to school. vocational skill program for the older siblings so the younger ones are not stopped from coming to school.
there is also this myth that children from the slums cannot integrate with mainstream. take a look at this little girl who was one of the 28 children from all privilege schools, best schools in the country that was selected for the duke university talent identification program and was sent to iim-amedabad.
our children are doing brilliantly in sports. they are really excelling. there is an inter-school athletic competition that is held every year in bangalore, where 5,000 children participate from 140 best schools in the city. we've got the best school award for three years successively. and our children are coming back home with bag full of medals, with lots of admirers and friends. last year there were a couple of kids from elite schools that came to ask for admissions in our school. we also have our very own dream team.
why is this happening? why is this confidence? is it the exposure? we have professors from mit, berkeley, stanford, indian institute of science who come and teach our children lots of scientific formulas, experiments, much beyond the classroom. art, music are considered therapy and mediums of expression. we also believe that it's the content that is more important. it is not the infrastructure, not the toilets, not the libraries, but it is what actually happens in this school that is more important. creating an environment of learning, of inquiry, of exploration is what is true education.
when we started parikrma we had no idea which direction we were taking. we didn't hire mckinsey to do a business plan. but we know for sure that what we want to do today is take one child at a time, not get bogged with numbers, and actually see the child complete the circle of life, and unleash his total potential. we do not believe in scale because we believe in quality, and scale and numbers will automatically happen. we have corporates that have stood behind us, and we are able to, now, open more schools. but we began with the idea of one child at a time.
when i started parikrma i began with a great deal of arrogance, of transforming the world. but today i have been transformed. i have been changed with my children. i've learned so much from them, love, compassion, imagination, and such creativity. parusharam is parikrma with a simple beginning but a long way to go. i promise you, parusharam will speak in the ted conference a few years from now.
day 5: Wikipedia article – (battle of towton)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton
the battle of towton was fought during the english wars of the roses on 29 march 1461, near the village of the same name in yorkshire. it was the "largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on english soil". according to chroniclers, more than 50,000 soldiers from the houses of york and lancaster fought for hours amidst a snowstorm on that day, which was a palm sunday. a newsletter circulated a week after the battle reported that 28,000 died on the battlefield. the engagement brought about a change in the rulership of england—edward iv displaced henry vi as king of england, driving the head of the lancastrians and his key supporters out of the country.
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