Educational space matters…….Kanti Bajpai
Space matters. Modern Indian spaces are abominable. This does not seem to bother us very much. It should. We need a space revolution, and this needs the collaboration of architects, town planners, the government, more broadly and, of course, citizens.
Let me focus on a space that i am more familiar with: universities and schools. The HRD ministry is working hard to expand and improve the Indian educational system. The government has passed the Right to Education (RTE) Bill and has unveiled ambitious plans to expand the university system. Both initiatives deal with space the RTE does refer to the provision of appropriate spaces for schoolchildren, and the expansion of the university system will entail the construction of new teaching and research spaces. The sensitivity to space though is mostly a quantitative one. The quality of spaces matters greatly as well.
It is a wonder that Indias youth go off to learn every morning with such cheer a testimony to the resignation as much as the resilience of our young people when our educational spaces are so dilapidated, dingy, ugly and uncomfortable. I refer here not to village schools and mofussil colleges and hole-in-the-wall private institutions in the lanes and bylanes of tiny provincial towns. I refer to educational institutions in the six big metros and the second and third tier cities of India which are home to hundreds of millions of citizens.
How can students and teachers focus on first-rate learning in environments such as these? Learning requires appropriate spaces. Human bodies need elbow room. They give off heat so there needs to be space between them. Their chairs and desks have to be of a certain size. Classrooms need access spaces the doors and aisles must be big enough. The acoustics are vital. A teacher, standing in front of a class for five-six hours a day cannot shout her through session. She is a teacher, a facilitator and a guide, not a sergeant major barking orders.
If there are more than 30 students in the room, as in university lecture theatres, then sound equipment is vital. Sound equipment requires further investment in acoustics and in power backups. The furniture in the room must be adaptable. A teacher, even at the university level, may wish to rearrange the students into smaller discussion groups or sit in a circle with students to encourage the exchange of ideas. The classroom must be cool enough for students to focus on matters of the mind rather than the heat and smell of each others bodies. The room needs sufficient and reliable light so that one can write comfortably and read what is on the board. Bright classrooms can be challenging spaces for computer screens. How does one provide lighting for both concerns?
Educational spaces are not just teaching spaces. One of the biggest cruelties we practise on young people is the toilets we force them to use in educational institutions. The textbooks preach the importance of personal and social hygiene, but the educational environment teaches them something else. Schools, colleges and universities have the filthiest toilets anywhere in India. This raises the larger issue of the cleanliness of the education space the corridors, grounds and staff rooms. These too usually reek and are littered with rubbish.
Educational institutions need recreational spaces as well. These spaces might be indoor or outdoor. But they require thought. Indoor spaces need to be furnished properly. Their location matters. They wont be used if they are located in the wrong place. Outdoor spaces also need to be configured properly. Plantation is important. The outdoors must be tended and cared for. A garden or playing field that is a dust bowl will not attract.
There is a great deal more one could say about educational spaces about libraries, walkways, cafeterias. Is anyone interested? After two decades in the Indian school and university system, my sense is no. The government, educational managers, teachers and, alas, parents and students are insensitive to space. The Indian educational experience is the worse for it. We can pay teachers better, provide cheap computers and build new buildings as much as we want, but shoddy spaces will produce shoddy education.