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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/the-barefoot-college-reinventing-rural-education/>
"It is a hot, dusty morning in Tilonia, a tiny village in the Indian state of
Rajasthan. Under a brilliant pink flowering bougainvillea, a 77-year-old
stands, a little tired, a little old, but resolutely barefoot. This is Sanjit
‘Bunker’ Roy, the three-time Indian national squash champion who devised a
social experiment in 1972 to address issues that plagued rural India at the
time — poverty, illiteracy, disempowerment and gender inequality. His
experiment, half a century down the line, is known as Barefoot College, a
non-formal learning center which leverages the natural acumen and ingenuity of
illiterate villagers to transform them into barefoot entrepreneurs,
nutritionists, engineers and even doctors.
“It is a myth that just because you can read or write, you are educated,” says
Roy. Wearing his trademark kurta pajama and bearing a gentle, scholarly air, he
is an unlikely heretic. But fifty years ago, when he established the Social
Work and Research Centre (SWRC) in Tilonia, about 90 kilometers from Jaipur,
Rajasthan, the idea that the complexities of engineering, architecture, even
medicine could be taught through practice — and not necessarily in academic
institutions — was as radical as it is today.
“They asked me, ‘How can you say schooling isn’t necessary?’ I told them our
schools and universities were churning out mechanical engineers who’d never
held a spanner in their hands and graduates with no understanding of how things
work in India.” Instead, he established SWRC, a practical-training approach to
demystify and democratize technology and education for the rural poor and
develop social entrepreneurs to enrich and sustain in situ markets and
institutions.
It was an idea so audacious that even Roy’s mother thought it would crash and
burn. But it did not."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
