Class Act…..Taneesha Kulshrestha
Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi are making thousands of children across India look forward to each day of schoolby improving the learning environment
Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi are making thousands of children across India look forward to each day of schoolby improving the learning environment
For a long time, only a few children attended school in Sardar Nagar, a remote village in Gujarats Bharuch district. And, of them, very few made it beyond Class One or Two. A good number used to leave after eating the mid-day meal served by the government. Now, though, attendance has risen sharply. Where only about 20 children would be in school well before classes began, there are as many as 160 today. The majority stay on after school to play and learn some more. This transformation has come about because of the efforts of architects Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi.
The Vajpeyis implemented their patented concept BALA (Building As Learning Aid) in the Sardar Nagar school. The initiative is targeted at children between Classes One and Five. The idea is simple: to use every bit of the inside of a school (like floor, walls, ceiling and stairs) and every bit of the outside (like trees, plants and open spaces), to make learning a fun activity and create a conducive environment. It could be through a simple task as painting numbers on stairs, so children can count them as they go up and down. Learning doesnt happen in the classroom alone or only with a teacher. A child learns all the time, says Preeti.
Says Ashok Kumar, a teacher at Sangli Mess NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Corporation) school in Delhi: It has made teaching easier. For instance, we have doors painted as rectangles, and windows as squares. When a child sees these shapes he knows exactly what shape it is, he says.
The Vajpeyis implement the concept through their architectural design firm, Vinyas. Though its objective seems simple enough, a lot of hard work has gone into the BALA initiative. For instance, Preeti studies the shade patterns in a school for months before deciding where the schools play and activity area should be. Similarly, the Vajpeyis found that many government schools across states were closed for much of the year. In some regions, it was too cold inside the building during winter; in others, the roof leaked during the rains; and in summers, it was too hot inside. So, teachers often held classes under a shady tree in the summers and in the sun in winters. Considering this, Vinyas built a raised platform for the children to sit on. This way we gave some dignity to the space marked for classes, says Kabir.
The BALA concepts design initiatives go right into the classroom. For instance, adjusting the blackboards height to suit children, drawing rulers on the wall and using bright colours to reflect light. We have a manual of close to 150 such ideas. One can adapt them to various school structures, says Kabir.
BALA is now being rolled out in thousands of schools across the country. Judging by what school principals, teachers and students have to say, it has been a successful initiative. Small children could not recognise colours earlier. Now, they are able to do so. They are also able to count much better. As it is something they enjoy doing, they learn faster, says Varsha Sehgal, principal of the Sangli Mess NDMC school.
Mayank, a Class Five student, feels that his school is nicer than other schools. Our school looks so much better, he says.
However, VK Sethi, principal of Navyug NDMC school, believes there is still room for improvement. Teachers are more concerned with finishing their syllabus and teach according to traditional methods. To make BALA more effective, more teachers should be trained to use the concept. Also, more assignments need to be designed around BALA so that a child interacts with it more, says Sethi.
Humble Beginnings
The BALA initiative has its origins in Lok Jumbish, a movement to promote education in Rajasthan, which the Vajpeyis were a part of. The penny dropped one day when a girl working with them suggested they paint figures on the floor in a stapoo (a childs game where one has to jump blocks), such that the children could learn numbers while playing.
We wanted to contribute to education as architects. This way we could ensure that we worked with ideas that ensured greater learning, says Preeti.
In 2000, they presented the idea to Unicef, which agreed to a 10-month pilot project. We ended up doing this for the next two years, says Preeti. There were 150 people involved with the project at the time.
The Delhi government was next to look at the BALA concept. It decided to implement the initiative at schools run by the NDMC. Even Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit threw her weight behind it. But in the end, despite much fanfare, nothing of note happened.
It was in 2005 that the tide started turning. The Vajpeyis were given 20 minutes to make a presentation at a conference of state education secretaries in Mumbai. They ended up speaking for 90. The questions just did not stop coming. They asked us where we had been for so long. It was a little ironic but, nonetheless, a happy moment for us, says Kabir.
Mass Adoption
Many states, including Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh showed interest in BALA. Soon, the project took off in right earnest. In 2006, Himachal Pradesh allocated money for implementation of BALA in 1,300 schools. The Vajpeyis claim that Karnataka has 10,000 BALA schools while Delhi has 925. Gujarat, while slower in adding numbers, has been the most disciplined in adopting BALA as a concept, says Kabir. The state, today, has over 300 such schools, with another 750 nearing completion. They have trained 300 engineers for the purpose. They are getting the basics right. We cant be everywhere, and these engineers can now replicate BALA in the right way, he adds. Replication has been a problem. People paint a school and say it is BALA. It is not so. There is a scientific approach and focus behind the concept, explains Preeti.
But others have taken the concept to heart. A school in Fareda village in Gujarats Junagadh district has adopted BALA so successfully that people have taken their children out from more expensive private schools and enrolled them in the government school, say the Vajpeyis. That, in itself, is a huge acknowledgement of what they have achieved. The cost of adopting BALA isnt high at all. For instance, it can cost upwards of Rs 1 lakh to make a classroom in a rural area. The classroom we made in the open cost Rs 5,000 and was more effective, says Kabir. He adds that the idea is to draw from local knowledge.
Currently, the Vajpeyis run training workshops for BALA and also consult with education departments and individual schools for on-ground execution. We charge on the basis of time and preparations we put in, adds Kabir. For instance, a theoretical workshop for teachers could cost Rs 5,000 per person per day. The Vajpeyis have also inked training contracts of a longer duration with various state governments, including those of Gujarat, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa. These vary from Rs 3-4 lakh per annum to Rs 20-22 lakh, depending on the level of activity.
The next innovation in the BALA universe will be for physically and mentally disabled children. I am researching the same for my PhD, says Preeti. Given how well they have done so far, this innovation is also sure to be a success.