Jeevanshala Field Trip to Almora

Many of the children at Jeevanshala, the tiny primary school in village Maram in the Himalayas, have never gone beyond the villages in their vicinity. Thus, with a lot of support from well-wishers like Mr Ranjan Joshi, a 3 days field trip to Almora, one of the major towns in the region, was organised by Timeless Lifeskills from 23 to 25 June, 2014.

Twenty children, ranging from 6 to 11 years and three Jeevanshala teachers came to Almora on the field trip. They stayed in dormitory accommodation provided by Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan (USNPSS) - http://www.ueec.org.in
Atul was accompanied by his soon to be 13 years old son, Manan and 19 years old nephew, Vishrut.

The highlight of the trip was a 6 hours long walking tour of Almora. The children visited the regional post office, broadcasting studio of All India Radio, Kumaon University campus, a Khadi factory and the local museum.

What was pleasantly surprising was how the kids were welcomed everywhere.

In the market, at an impromptu request made by the teachers, a well-respected and erudite bookshop owner gave a 15 minutes talk to the children about Almora, consisting of facts and stories. At the Khadi factory, even though it was lunchtime, some ladies working there demonstrated their machines and answered questions.

Most surprising was the unannounced visit to the All India Radio broadcasting studios. The station in-charge allowed the children in even though we had not taken any prior appointment and organised a tour.

The museum officials were thrilled to have these young visitors and explained many artefacts in great detail, adding anecdotes to make the explanation interesting for this young audience. Even in the market place strangers asked where the kids were from and offered help, guidance and encouragement. Such spirit is hugely lacking in big cities!

Vishrut, who was carrying his guitar, took music lessons and helped the kids understand notes and basics of music composition. Manan demonstrated a popular computer game Mine Craft and helped the young learners get a hands-on feel of the game. The children enjoyed Vishrut’s and Manan’s company and both these boys are keen on volunteering again.

Seva Nidhi officials were pleasantly surprised to see the children clean the assembly hall every morning without anyone asking them to do so, a habit they have cultivated because they clean their classrooms twice every day.

Even though it was a first time without their parents for most kids they coped well, including the 6 year olds. They cracked jokes, told stories, played games, slept late… and had a ball!

Plans are afoot to organise a Camp in Almora in October or November this year where we hope to get resource people from different fields – music, dance, drama, creative writing and film making to volunteer. Idea will be to put together a joint production at the end of the camp. Drop us a line if you would like to pitch in - atul.pant@timelesslifeskills.co.uk

At the Mall road, Almora

So much to note down! 

At the regional post office
 

Kitab Ghar, a famous bookshop on Mall road, with its erudite owner

Soaking it all in!

Stretching our legs at Kumaon University Campus grounds

At All India Radio studios

At River View Khadi Factory

Inside the factory

Sidha Naula at Paltan Bazaar, a rather large naula

Manan giving a helping hand at the Naula

Tasty Meals at Seva Nidhi

Chilling in the dormitory after lunch

Vishrut teaching basics of music composition

Children singing with Vishrut

Manan introducing Minecraft

Children getting hands-on with Minecraft

Group Photo at Seva Nidhi Courtyard

Yay, we had a great time! At Mr Ranjan Joshi's residence in Almora

Timeless Lifeskills Workshop at Jeevanshala primary school, village Maram

Field Trip to Sudana Naula 

At Jeevanshala, a tiny primary school in village Maram, 50 k.m. from Almora the focus of Timeless Lifeskills workshops was on self-directed learning, critical thinking, creative expression and multimedia skills.

One of the projects we did was on ‘naulas’, a traditional source of water in the mountains. Water pipes and taps are now much prevalent in Himalayan villages and naulas are no longer being properly maintained. However, when there is a crisis, like the flash floods in this region in 2011, people realize the importance of such traditional sources and significance of water conservation.

The project started with a question formulation session. This is important because questions pique students’ curiosity and help in securing a cognitive commitment to follow through on the project. Questions also invoke prior knowledge and help build a connection between what a student already knows and the new knowledge acquired, thus deepening comprehension.

Students were encouraged to seek answers to their questions from teachers and family members. One of the questions the students had posed was – how old are these naulas? One boy shared that he asked his grandmother who told him that the naula in their village was still there when she had got married. She remembered this because on entering the village for the first time after marriage she was taken straight to the naula to pay her obeisance, as naulas were considered sacred. She said that her mother-in-law had in turn told her that she too had visited the naula when she got married! We later figured that many naulas have been around for hundreds of years.

To understand naulas better we made a field trip to a naula situated not very far from Jeevanshala called, Sudananaul. At the site their teacher, Sandeep, who is extremely knowledgeable, explained to them how a naula works, how it requires expert craftsmanship and what is the relationship of the jungle and the naula (broad leaf trees like Oak are extremely important because they break the speed of falling rain and hence rain water seeps into the ground instead of flowing away).

Sandeep also explained how in olden times naulas contributed to social cohesion. People would gather every day to fill their vessels and in the process they discussed family matters and helped out if a family was facing some problems. Much like the water cooler effect in corporate socialising!

The children later wrote articles based on answers they found to their questions and created a newspaper. They also used play dough to depict naulas and forests and made stories about the importance of reviving naulas. 

In a second field trip they made a documentary on a local ‘gadhera’ – another natural source of water. They showed off their knowledge of various trees and shrubs – their medicinal value and other uses.

While in the forest we watched documentaries created by Himalaya Seva Sangh on water conservation and filtration related issued and ended the day with a picnic.

We are going on a... field trip!

Sudana Naula (naula is a traditional source of potable ground water)

Forests (specially large leaf trees) and Naulas have a symbiotic relationship

Class 4 and 5 Students of Jeevanshala

With Atul

Games and Eats!

It was a great learning experience

Another Round of Timeless Lifeskills Workshops in Himalayan Schools

If Mahatma Gandhi were alive today would there be no corruption in India? Would relations between India and Pakistan be better? Would he run a factory or spin the wheel? What impact did Mahatma Gandhi have in the Kumaon region? Did the Himalayas influence him?

These were some of the questions posed by 6th, 7th and 8th class students of Aarohi Bal Sansar, a school in village Satoli 30 km from Almora, at a recently concluded workshop on self-directed learning skill. The workshop was conducted by Atul during his almost month long trip to the Himalayas in June and July.

The workshop kicked off with a discussion on ‘what dispositions make Eklavya an Eklavya’? Students listed intrinsic motivation, determination, perseverance, focus and resilience as some of the traits of Eklayva (who is a great example of a self-directed learner*).

The students then created a newspaper on Mahatma Gandhi based on the questions they had earlier raised. In finding answers to these questions the students followed a process of ‘guided discovery’. They sought inputs from their teachers, from books in their library and searched the internet.

There were lively discussions on each article, which facilitated reflective learning, an essential element of self-directed learning. The students then played the role of editors and set parameters to judge the quality of articles they had written, which in turn decided which article should come on the first page, second page and so forth. The editorial criteria set by the students included – critical thinking, creativity, self-expression and narrative quality. The exercise culminated in the production of an 8-page broadsheet newspaper, which the students titled ‘Aarohi Reporter’.

At the start of the workshop on each of the four days Atul explained the big picture – how our economy is undergoing a phase change and computerization, mechanization, hyper connectivity and knowledge explosion are making the future very uncertain. More and more jobs are now better done by machines, computers and robots - like the bank tellers being replaced by ATM. In such an uncertain scenario ability to become a self-directed, lifelong learner, who yearns to constantly learn and reinvent becomes imperative.

It was also discussed how technology is opening up freelance opportunities like animators and programmers who can provide their services remotely to companies and organisations in India and abroad using the Internet. Talented individuals can set-up pollution free, low energy consuming, micro enterprises that are highly suitable to the Himalayan ecosystem while earning well and doing very creative work.

Cutting edge research on education psychology, like Carol Dweck’s work on Mindset and Angela Duckworth’s research on grit were explained to students in the form of interesting activities.

The workshop concluded with a fun activity – making stop motion animations, something Atul had introduced to the students when he had visited Aarohi Bal Sansar last December.

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*(In the Indian epic, Mahabharata, Eklavya is a tribal prince who, when denied archery training by the royal teacher Dronacharya, makes a clay model of the teacher and teaches himself archery. He becomes a great archer).