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O'Brien, CatherineThe Barefoot College...or Knowledge Demystified. Educationfor All, Making It Work, Innovations Series, 11.United Nations Educational, Scientific, and CulturalOrganization, Paris (France) . Education for All ForumSecretariat.; United Nations Children's Fund, New York, NY.ISSN-1020-08001996-00-0041p.; Photographs and several pages with text over graphicswill not reproduce adequately.UNESCO, 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France.Reports Descriptive (141)MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.*Adult Education; *Community Action; Community Development;Democratic Values; Disadvantaged; Elementary Education;Empowerment; Evening Programs; Foreign Countries;*Nontraditional Education; Poverty; Relevance (Education);*Rural Development; *Rural Education; Rural Youth; *SchoolCommunity Relationship; Sustainable Development; TechnologyEducation; Womens Education*India (Rajasthan); Program Replication; Self Reliance

Tilonia, a typical rural village of the State of Rajasthan(India), is home to the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) . Since 1972,SWRC has brought educational services, safe drinking water, health care, andemployment to villages in the area. It has started 150 night schools in 89villages, where children who work during the day develop literacy andnumeracy skills in an environment that values village culture, local history,and skills relevant to the area. This report describes the history,philosophy, practices, and innovations of the SWRC, the "Barefoot College."Sections discuss: (1) founding and early dilemmas; (2) the decision to movefrom reliance on "professional" expertise to working with the poor, for thepoor; (3) nonnegotiable values of this "b.lre'or,t" approachequality,collective decision making, self-reliance, decentralization, and austerity inthought and action; (4) development of night schools for poor children; (5)

emphasis on girls' education; (6) selection and training of teachers; (7)

role of the village education committee; (8) structure of the BarefootCollege, which encompasses two campuses in Tilonia and various field centers;(9) self-employment training programs for rural youth; (10) programston waterand pump mechanics, community health, technology dissemination, soYEer 'energy,women's education, and rural industries and handicrafts; and (11) programreplication in other parts of India. (SV)

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PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS

BEEN GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

Sveial Vied

clidMosearchCentre (SWRQ

Mania,Rajothan,

ndia

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and lrnprovement

iDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

I This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.

I Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

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By Catherine O'Brien

43EST COPY AVAILABLE

Education for All: Making it Work

About the project..IThe World Conference on Education for All,

held in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990, recognizedthat a policy of «more of the same» would not

be sufficient to achieve the goal of education for all.Educational systems in most countries clearly needan injection of fresh ideas, a broader vision of how

the basic learning needs of all might be met, and thecourage to turn this vision into practice.

It was the quest for an expanded and renovated vision

of basic education which prompted UNESCO and

UNICEF to launch their joint project «EDUCATION

FOR ALL: MAKING IT WORK» right after Jomtien.

The two Organizations decided to disseminate and

promote examples of educational change both inthe realm of formal and non- formal educationthrough which the principles of Jomtien would cometo life: programmes which provide learningopportunities for children, youth, and adults,including underserved groups and those with specialneeds; programmes which focus on actual learningacquisition, rather than on mere participation orcertification requirements; programmes which aimto provide a solid foundation for life-long learning,which are responsive to the learning needs andconditions of the socio-cultural environment, andwhich build effective partnerships with local com-

munities and parents.

UNESCO and UNICEF believe that effective and

sustainable change in education arises from the

inventiveness, experience and dedication of

educators, parents and community leaders at the

grassroots. The «EDUCATION FOR ALL: MAKING

IT WORK» project shows that educational innovation

and change are already underway in all developing

countries and that even the poorest countries are able

to take up the challenge of devising educational

programmes to fit their means, needs, and aspirations.

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The project strategy emphasizes educationalinnovation in practice rather than discourse. TheINNOV database presents many little-known

experiences, some of them with considerable

potential. The most promising and significant onesare showcased in the present series of booklets, orthrough films contained in the EDUCATION FOR

ALL VIDEOBANK. Others are grouped togetherand compared in a new series of THEMATIC

PORTFOLIOS, devoted to critical issues in basic

education.

All these resource materials are used in trainingworkshops, inter-project visits and similar activities

meant to support specialists and planners fromdeveloping countries in their struggle to turneducation for all into reality.

The project team will be pleased to receive newinformation, comments and suggestions from all

those interested in promoting change and innovationin basic education. We particularly appeal toUNICEF and UNESCO colleagues in the field to

co-operate actively with the project.

For more information about the project,

please contact:

Global Action Programme

on Education for All

UNESCO

7, Place de Fontenoy

75352 Paris 07 SP

FRANCE

Tel: (33-1)45 68 10 00

Fax: (33-1)45 68 56 29

Education Cluster

Programme Division

UNICEF

3, United Nations Plaza

New York, NY 10017

U.S.A.

Tel: (212) 326 7000

Fax: (212) 824 6481

If you wish additional copies of the «Innovations

series», please contact UNESCO.

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WORLD DECLARATION ON EDUOATION FOR ALL (Atli& 21

6 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

Ta sk of contents

Barefoot College, history and philosophy 8

Education 13

Ways and means 19

Barefoot campus and structure 20

Barefoot sections 22

Replicating the Barefoot College approach 28

Conclusion 32

Features 34

Puppetry 34

Oral tradition and knowledge diversity 35

Rajasthan and Barefoot College statistics 35

Children's Parliament 36

1995 ESCAP Award 37

Bibliography 7 38

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6

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Rajasthan, 'the Land of Drought and Colour', isa semi-arid state in northwestern India. One ofthe country's largest and poorest states, it

covers an area of 342,239 square kilometres.According to a 1991 census, its population isapproximately 44 million (23 million men and 21million women). Over 45 per cent of all males and80 per cent of all females are illiterate. More thanhalf of the children of school age (6-14) do notattend school and the majority of these are girls. TheState of Rajasthan is divided into 58 blocks and37,890 villages where most people survive on sub-sistance farming or manual labour. Tilonia is one of110 villages in Si lora Block, one of 8 developmentblocks in the Ajmer District.

The Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC)officially started in the village of Tilonia in 1972.

- Forty-five acres of government land and an aban-iloned tuberculosis sanatorium were leased from theovernment for the sum of 1 rupee per month (lessAn 0.05 $US) to set up the centre. Situated in theillage of Tilonia, it was to serve as a campus for

ithe surrounding villages and area. The founder,Bunker Roy, wanted to break away from the Indiansocial work tradition which had an urban, middle

class and academic orientation. He wishedto set up a voluntary organization whichwould attract young, urban professionalsto come and work with local villagers inan integrated development process. Theprofessionals would immerse themselvesin the realities of harsh rural life and parti-cipate in a pratical approach to research. The resultwould be true action and lasting development inpartnership with the deprived. This joint venturewith specialists and local villagers was symbolizedin the organization's emblem which depicts tOopeople joining hands, one holding a book and theother a plant.

SWRC, Tilonia or the Barefoot College, as it cameto be called later, began informally and small. Nopre-planning was carried out. Tilonia was really justa quiet and neglected village like the others aroundit. It had no government programme. Work startedwith a two-year ground water survey of the 110 vil-lages in Si lora Block for the Rural ElectrificationCorporation. Gradually health and education pro-grammes and later work in rural industries and agri-culture were elaborated. Bunker Roy decided towork alone at first but was then joined by three

"It

others after some eight months. The report for thewater survey was officially accepted by the StateGovernment of Rajasthan which, until then, hadmaintained an attitude of curiosity. At the time thenotion of voluntary work was still very new and thegovernment had left the SWRC to develop its strate-gies and alternatives alone.

The project spread through the natural interactionof the staff with the local communities as the needsof the area were slowly revealed. The project's phi-losophy, according to S. Srinivasan of Tilonia,meant "that urban-educated professionals had to gothrough a deschooling process. Whatever they hadlearned in their university education was in directconflict with what was happening in the field. Theyhad to come to understand the inherent value ofhuman beings and how to work with them."Initially, the SWRC was interested in providing

9

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technical and economic services to villages. As theproject advanced, however, experience taught thestaff that when they attempted to work with a villageas a whole, the more powerful members of the villa-ge would manipulate the programme in their favour.Problems were not merely technical but social too.It was discovered that in the village of Tilonia alone

there were fourteen different castes with very speci-fic social traditions. The location of a well, forexample, would become an issue because the'higher' castes wanted it near them and would notdrink from a well in a 'lower' caste area. Similarly,the irrigation schemes set up were benefitingaffluent farmers who owned large tracts of land.The staff realized that even if they only wanted towork with the rural poor, that was not always astraightforward task. Identification of the rural poorwas, in itself, problematical for 'outsiders'. As thestaff remember "when the SWRC started, we were

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confounded by the question who are the ruralpoor? Do you identify them as people who areliving in a hut and wearing tattered clothes? Weobserved that someone might be living in a hut andwearing tattered clothes and be the vested interesthimself!"

By 1979, the SWRC staff decided to rethink theirobjectives and address the various dilemmas. Theyasked themselves "Do we work with all membersof the community or just the poor? Is it better towork with the influential members of the villageand change their attitudes or support the poorexclusively and run into conflicts with opinion lea-ders? Are we here to provide technological assis-tance or, in fact, create suitable conditions fordevelopment in the villages?" The SWRC stafftook the decision to work with the poor. They iden-tified marginal farmers, landless peasants, ruralartisans, women, children, and scheduled castesand tribes as their target group. Scheduled castesand tribes also constitute the officially recognized

--2weaker sections of society and form a distinct tar-qt group under the existing pattern of government

Nothing prevented the SWRC project from pro-gressing yet a slow pace of development and growth

.10

was purposely set. The community, fixedin its traditional opposition of rich andpoor, kept its distances at first because itdidn't know how to react to strangers.People needed to be convinced of the uti-lity of the project. The dialogue with thepoor began once the founders startedtackling problems related to basic needsprovision of drinking water, establishingnight schools for the children, makingdispensaries free of charge for women togive birth, etc. The process could not berushed. Early crises, however, served ascatalysts for elaboration and innovation.After a first crisis in 1978-79, thingscame to a head when the founders came

to realize that the urban-trained professionals (doc-tors, teachers, engineers, geologists, geophysicists)did not have the capacity to stay for long periods inrural areas. High expectations, need for quickresults, parental pressure to get a "good job" see-med to have played on the minds of these peopleand, after a few years, they left. The movementtowards sustainability obviously took a further stepforward. The rural poor became more involved inTilonia as the urban-based professionals steppedaside.

The organization, until this crisis, had differentia-ted between staff expertise with the titles of 'specia-list', 'professional' and 'para-professional' (withspecialists carrying more weight in decision-making). A self-evaluation process began which wasto transform priorities and the agency. The staff star-ted to question their basic assumptions. They retainedthree onto which they agreed to build. These were:1) that there is poverty in rural areas; 2) that it won'tgo away on its own, and 3) that something must bedone about it.

This self-evaluation process and ongoing expe-rience have meant that concepts of development,education, experts, professionalism and researchhave been redefined. The result is an organization

which has become a creative leader in education anddevelopment in the region. Radical steps, however,were needed to achieve this re-organization: level-ling out the salary scale and treating all staff equally(other urban-educated staff resigned at this point);decentralizing programmes with even more powerfor surrounding villages through the establishmentof field centres and collaborating as equal partnerswith the rural poor. Today, approximately 80 percent of the staff are from rural Rajasthan. The identi-fication of the rural poor is no longer an issue.Bunker Roy firmly believes that now "at Tilonia,education and development are for the rural poorand managed by the rural poor".

Tilonia decided on the so-called "BarefootApproach" in the early 1980's. The term originallycomes from the Chinese health workers who werevillagers trained to assist their own rural communi-ties in the 1960's. Tilonia or the Barefoot College, asit was therefore called, has five non-negotiablevalues which are the foundation of all its pro-grammes from education to social work. These areliving values that create a unique culture and wor-king environment. Many staff believe that all effortsto incorporate the Barefoot College process in othercontexts must include these values. Otherwise, theyargue, the new venture may appear similar on paperbut fall short of the essential characteristics that nur-ture a sustainable development process.

Equality

The Barefoot College believes that every person insociety is important and must be respected. Womenand men are equals. In addition, education, caste andclass do not make any one person more valuable thananother. Anyone, regardless of caste, class or genderis eligible for any staff position. All the staff eattogether in a common mess and wash the dishes theyuse. This was a new experience for many of the staffwho come from villages where caste hierarchies arestill very evident and it is quite revolutionary forsome.

Collective decision-making

In keeping with the concept of equality, theBarefoot College provides equal opportunities for allinvolved in decision-making as well as planning andimplementation. A minimum degree of structurerequired to operate the College has been maintained.Attempts to remove both formal and informal hierar-chies and encourage all the staff to participate equallyin decision-making processes have been made.Village Education Committees (VEC) participate inthe selection of night school teachers and supervise aneducation fund. All Barefoot College programmes aredesigned to develop collective decision-making skillssince these are essential for problem solving.

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Self-reliance

Self-reliance and self-esteem are given high priorityin the Barefoot College. These are seen as funda-mental factors in a sustainable development process.When people develop self-confidence and join toge-ther to solve their problems, they learn that they candepend on themselves. People who have very fewresources can combine them and work together todevelop their community.

Decentralization

The Barefoot College is committed to grassrootslevel planning and implementation in a developmentprocess which takes into account the recognizedneeds of the community. Rural communities canidentify their needs and solve their own problemswhen they have access to information and education.The Barefoot College works to support the flow of

oc.a information and education facilities between ruralcommunities, field centres, the main campus and

oyernment. The Barefoot College favours the crea-ion of village committees and the development of

°41cills required for rural communities to assess theirneeds and work collectively to meet them. Data, forexample, are gathered to design and evaluate pro-

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grammes through a participatoryresearch process. Night schoolteachers, midwives and day careworkers are trained in recordinginformation on health and edu-cation topics.

Austerity

The Barefoot College stressesthe need for austerity in thoughtand action. The staff lead asimple life working for the col-lective aspirations ofrural communitiesrather than stri-ving for indivi-

dual material goals. They are avery committed group ofpeople who enjoy the highquality of life that comesthrough a fulfilling job, aclose knit community fee-ling and a stimulating, crea-tive environment.

According to the 1991 census, the populationof scheduled castes was439 million (15 per centof the total population) and that of the scheduledtribes 68 million (7 per cent). Over the pastyears, the affirmative policies of the governmenthave resulted in a considerable increase in theenrolment of these groups in primary educationand Tilonia has also adopted this approach.Bunker Roy feels that the success of Tilonia has,indeed, been to support the most deprived. Hesays, therefore, that "the reaction of those withvested interests in the villages has been one ofcaution. They speak disparagingly of theBarefoot College as an agency which only sup-ports scheduled castes (harijans), but theBarefoot College takes this as a compliment."

313

ucation

7ilonia's education programmes are seen asmeans for creating self-esteem and appropriateskills. They contribute to the learner's

community and arouseawareness about theenvironment and theforces that dominatedevelopment. Literacyand numeracy are partof this process but arenot the central goals.'Expertise' at theBarefoot Collegecomes through handson experience in trai-ning programmes andthrough the informallearning of rural life.The aim is to nurturelearning for those whohave been let downby the formal systemor who have no chan-ce of joining it. Theformal education sys-tem, Tilonia believes,is solely oriented to meet the needs of the middle-class as school hours (daytime, vacation schedules)do not suit rural children and the curriculum has anurban bias which can only prepare students forgovernment and professional employment (sectorsthat have gross unemployment). The language ofinstruction, in formal schooling, also, generallyforces children to learn in a tongue other than theirown and schools are often not located within reaso-

nable walking distance for young children. Thissituation conspires to undermine the learning expe-rience of rural children and disassociate them from

the traditional learningpatterns of their envi-

13

ronment. As ProfessorC. J. Daswani of theNational Council ofEducational Researchand Training (NCERT),remarks, this leads tochildren excluded fromthe formal system as`drop-outs', `pull-outs',or 'stay-outs'.

Obstacles andinnovations

The obstacles to educa-tion, let alone learningopportunities for girls orEducation for All, areenormous in Rajasthan.The Barefoot Collegerecognizes this reality

and its training programme tries to deal with it effec-tively. The main educational philosophy of learningfrom doing and mutual interaction is, therefore, notthrough formal classroom teaching but throughpractical experience. The importance of educationlies not in paper qualifications or exams but inachieving skills that guarantee the sustainable deve-lopment of rural communities. The crucial questionsare: can people work with their hands? Will their

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education prevent environmental degradation andmake communities sustainable? Will villagers cometo finally depend on each other and use existing vil-lage skills for their own development? The BarefootCollege's role is to facilitate villagers' empower-ment, and, in the process, allow for self respect anddignity.

The education section has beena source of continuous innovationthroughout Tilonia's twenty-fouryear history. Three experimentalschools were founded in 1975 totest new methodologies of non-formal education such as the useof folklore, songs, puppetry andtheatre in classes, training andlearning groups. The conventionalteacher-student relationship whichsees the teacher as an expertimparting knowledge to studentsevolved to incorporate a differentphilosophy in which everyoneteaches and learns. A curriculumgrew accordingly with relevantsubjects for rural children. Thismeant modifying existing non-formal pedagogical methods andsolidifying the concept of Barefooteducators. Schools were reschedu-led to meet the times of rural chil-dren and teachers were drawnfrom the surrounding communitiesand trained in the SWRC concepts.As teachers became more involved in the actualplanning and implementation stages of the pro-

, grammes, a requestioning of the role of education inthe development process occurred, particularly therole of the night school in relation to the SWRC. It

peared that the night schools could serve as a.fficture around which development could taket;§hape. As writes Aruna Roy in Tilonia's NightSchools An Alternative Approach: "when develop-ment began to be discussed, the importance of the

night school as a nucleus of awareness buildingbegan to emerge".

Tilonia, therefore, separated its education pro-grammes from conventional literacy and numeracyas the perception of the roles of the teacher, the nightschool and community changed and grew. The

importance seemed to be on thecommunity's needs and desiresnot the teaching role of one personor an imposed philosophy fromoutside. Solutions lay in theresources from the community. Assays Ratan Devi, DevelopmentCo-ordinator at the BarefootCollege "people have great resi-lience. We need to tap the humanresource potential in rural com-munities. Personal examples ofthe rural development process goa long way to sustaining ruralcommunities but people need tobe organized and mobilized aspressure groups and aspire fortheir own rights. We should nottalk about improving thingswithout actually meeting basicneeds. This is not sustainable."

4

The community's opinion

A vital step in the validation oflearning at Tilonia was theassessment of the community's

needs and understanding of education. Night schoolteachers, day care teachers, midwives and villageeducation committees associated with the BarefootCollege were asked to define what rural communi-ties needed to sustain themselves. Most people putinformation and/or an educational process first ontheir list. They felt that communities could be self-reliant if they had access to information, particularlyregarding government programmes and legal literacy.In addition, they believed that by pooling their

resources and learning to resolve problems collecti-vely they could form sustainable communities andpressure groups to influence policies. The communityshowed that it wanted learning opportunities thatdeveloped literacy and numeracy skills, not just as ameans to self-reliance, but as a way of avoidingexploitation by the literate. The need for girls' edu-cation, to achieve greater equality, was recognized.A learning process that enabled students toserve their community rather than seek indi-vidual prosperity was deemed vital. The dif-ferentiation between knowledge andinformation was quite clear. Knowledge wasseen as coming from non-formal learning inthe way that it has continued for centuries inIndia. Skills and knowledge are passed onfrom generation to generation throughapprenticeships and oral traditions.Information, however, was viewed as some-thing that comes from official sources likethe government, media and the formal edu-cation system. People insisted that ruralcommunities have the knowledge to sustainthemselves and that innovations in agriculture andappropriate technology represent the kind of infor-mation that can facilitate this process.

used to share education and health information forall three sectors and ensure a coherence of philosophybetween sections. Challenges and obstacles encoun-tered by the workers are discussed and possible solu-tions explored. The central issue remains theinvolvement of the community. The 40 day carecentres for 0-5 year-old children monitored by theBarefoot College serve to keep contact with parents

Many members of the community also saw educa-tion in terms of schooling, as a vehicle for socialmobility or as an opportunity to get a job. The for-mal education system, however, was not satisfyingthese demands. The instinctive reaction was to rejectschool. A relevant education that prevented childrenfrom being alienated from their surroundings see-med the only way to interest the community oncemore. For this training skills, which had immediateday to day use, had to be imparted and facilitated bylocal educators trained in the education and develop-ment philosophy of the Barefoot College. Localstaff, such as the Balsevikas or women who run theday care programmes and the night school teachersdo, indeed, come from the villages where they work.The training sessions bring together local midwives,day care workers and night school teachers. They are

and the community. Once a mother brings in a childto the day care centre, staff attempt to build on herinterest in the child's health and education, tacklingissues of nutrition, health care and women's rights.Four day schools are also run through the BarefootCollege. The emphasis, however, is on the 150 nightschools which have now been established in 89 vil-lages for children who work during the day.

Methodology

Initially the government was asked if the nightschools could use their infrastructure since formalschool buildings were not used at night. Where thiswas not possible the village inhabitants allowed theuse of community centres in the village. Whenevereven that facility was not available the night schoolswere located in teachers' houses. The night schoolsare supervised by Tilonia's education staff and havea curriculum specifically adapted to rural surroun-dings with innovative.approaches regarding student-

15 16

teacher relations, teaching methodology, use of localpeople as resources and emphasis on girl education.There is a strong environmental orientation in thecurriculum. Students, for example, are taught the

value of wasteland development and the destructiveeffect of cutting down trees for fuel and fodder. Theclassroom methodology is essentially based on indi-vidual contact with children. This means focussingattention on the child's immediate surroundings andfamiliarising him or her with them. Emphasis is,therefore, given to imparting an educational processthat refers to agriculture, animal husbandry and thedaily activities that go on in a village. The childrenare motivated to feel a sense of belonging towardsthe school and keep close ties with the teachers tosustain their interest in attending. The curriculumconsists of Language (Hindi), Arithmetic, SocialStudies, Science, Geography and Environment.Classes 1 and 2 initiate the children to language andthe idea of reading and writing Hindi through fingermovements. Simple additions, subtractions and mul-tiplications are also introduced at this stage. Workconcentrates on mentally preparing the children to

tslind out the functions of language and mathematics.Alphabets are taught from the very beginning. By

.Ass 3, children learn to link letters to words andbids to sentences. They are encouraged to formulate4*eir own sentences. The teaching is divided into

,three quarters of four months each. By the end of thefirst quarter they are able to recognize words with

sentences. Knowledge of social and rural behaviouris introduced at this level with information on house-holds, self-government and casteism. Classes 4 and5 emphasize a detailed geographic knowledge of thedistrict and village as well as the socio-politicalstructure of the country. This includes informationon local fairs, festivals and traditional stories.Children are encouraged to learn about social andpolitical thinkers and famous personalities who havecontributed to the structure of the nation. By thisstage, teaching sessions concentrate on the power ofsentences and word construction. Ways of pronoun-cing and story-telling are introduced alongside songsand games. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry playan integral part in the curriculum for classes 4 and 5.Children are taught about rabia, kharif and pulsecrops, fertilisers and the cultivation of cereals andpulses. Vocational training is another part of the cur-riculum for classes 4 and 5. Carpentry, Sewing,Cement Block Making, Motor Winding are justsome of the subjects tackled.

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In the night schools, the youngsters are alert despi-te the fact that they have worked all day with theirfamily looking after the animals or cultivating. Theirwork is an essential contribution to the lives of sub-sistence farmers and much of the success of thenight schools is to have convinced working familiesof the importance of education. The fact that stu-dents may integrate the formal system if they want isan added incentive. Girl education is given specialemphasis as over 60 per cent of the night school stu-dents are girls. The Village Education Committeesand the night school teachers talk with parents whoare not sending their children to school and do theirbest to persuade them. The equality of girls andwomen in society is continually stressed. Thesevalues are certainly being communicated since thechildren themselves have elected a girl PrimeMinister for their Children's Parliament. ThisParliament is an exciting innovation of the BarefootCollege night schools. Children participate in elec-tions which parallel the political structure of theIndian government. They elect a prime minister,

17

ministers and a legislative assembly. The Parliamentteaches them about the political process and thevalue of recognizing good candidates on their ownmerit, regardless of caste, class or gender. For thechildren in the parliament, it is an important learningprocess to impress upon them the values ofresponsibility. It demonstrates that with powercomes responsibility and bothcan be enriching. The processalso enables the children tobecome more actively involvedin the running of their schools.All of the education programmescut across class differences andpromote values of equality,community development andenvironmental protection. TheBarefoot College night schoolsare an example where the linesbetween formal and non-formaleducation blur. Non-formal cur-ricula and teaching methodologyare applied in the night schoolsbut they also represent the only'formal' educational opportunityfor many rural children. To date,over 15,000 children have pas-sed through the BarefootCollege.

Selection and training

the villages who are, in principle, from the poorersections of society and who they feel can work withrural children. A meeting with the Village EducationCommittee (VEC) and the community is then orga-nized and debates over selections take place.Training the teachers takes two years. The monthlytwo-day meetings of the night school teachers at the

field centres are used as a forumfor tackling classroom situationsand curriculum building. Everysummer vacation, night schoolteachers undergo a 15 day trai-ning programme to strengthenskills in teaching the varioussubjects in the classroom.Teachers are constantly motiva-ted to have a positive attitude inall their dealings with children.The subject training and designare conducted in an informalatmosphere. The most importantpoint during the training is toinstill a spirit of voluntarism inthe teachers. The idea is towiden their vision and equipthem with appropriate skills todeal effectively with rural chil-dren and colleagues. It could besaid that the training programmefor the Barefoot educators is, inmany ways, a continuous pro-cess of skills development and

learning from one other. As says Dais, a night schoolteacher at Kadampura Field Centre "we are all stu-dents and teachers in the Barefoot College".

The Barefoot College initially conducted a surveyto determine what resources available in Si loraBlock could enhance the education process.Resource people have since been identified as wellas locations. Night school teachers are local resi-dents who have generally completed their 8th grade.Many have been teaching in the night schools formore than ten years. Recruitment normally startswith discussions between community members andfield centre workers on the identification of youthscapable of becoming night school teachers. Thecommunity suggests names of young people from

17

Village Education Committees are an importantcomponent of the night school programme. Theydraw men and women together to support the educa-tion process. They select the site for the school,monitor the programme, participate in the selectionof teaching staff and canvas village households toencourage parents to send children to school. Twomembers of each VEC hold a joint bank account

18

schools are financed by the German organiza-tion Agro-Action and the Save the ChildrenFund and the concept has been replicated in8 other states. The expansion of these ideas hasbeen financed by the Government of India.There are also sub-centres in 13 Indian stateswhich reflect much of the educational orienta-tion of the Barefoot College. Each sub-centre,however,-adapts the education programme to itsparticular geographical and cultural context.

,,,Ntper4:4,-

- or *tos .

with the field centre coordinator.in their area. During monthlymeetings, night school teacherspresent monetary demands tothe committee. The VEC mem-bers are also responsible for dis-pensing teachers' salaries. Inaddition, the teachers andVillage Education Committeeswho represent local communi-ties are involved in the curricu-lum development and are askedto identify the learning needs ofrural children. The EducationSection has a Section-in-Chargeto administer the programmeand collaborate with other sec-tions of the Barefoot College.There are staff who also workdirectly with the Section-in-Charge, some of whomhave been night school teachers themselves. TheEducation Section is presently being moved from

. Ionia to one of the field centres in order to decen-itralize the education programme more fully into the

jlages. The quality of the programme is assessedy the education team and also by the organizations

e'that finance it. Some of Tilonia's staff have worked7 with the Institute of Development Studies in Jaipur

and are skilled in research and evaluation. The night

18

4 9

The government recognizesthe value of the education givenat Tilonia and, through theirShiksha Karmi and Lok Jumbishprogrammes, they have remodel-led many of Tilonia's innovativeaspects in the field of communi-ty participation, local teachers,relevant curriculum and class-room co-ordination. Manypeople from the government pro-jects have worked with Tiloniato administer their progratimegand a former Development Co-ordinator of the BarefootCollege, has been appointed tothe position of Project Officerfor the Lok Jumbish programmein Silora Block.

Ways and meansTilonia's grassroots experience in building strong rural communities offers many opportunities to learn about the

concrete application of principles of sustainability. The project has four main targets within the sphere of satisfyingthe minimum needs required by rural communities: i) to raise the standard of living; ii) to improve the quality oflife; iii) to upgrade their skills through training; and iv) to guide the community to take the responsibility of.provi-ding some of these basic services. Tilonia has activities in the following fields:

1. Production of solar units for night schools and forthe electrification of remote:villages and the training oflocal youth in production, maintenance and repair ofthese units;

2. Provision of safe:drinking water through qualitytesting and the installation:9f .hand.pumps.insuitable localities, with repair'and mainfetialice.-of the hand pumps byBarefoot mechanics;,

3. Generation of embloyment through thetraining and upgrading of handicraft skills andby the provision' at new-markets forrural women and:artisans;'

Edrication:for.children-ntiroughAhe runningof night

.:;sehoolS in villages;

wrimen2S:: -

group that

generates awareness of issues concerning rights andempowers worfien through meetings and rrielas (fairs);

6. Animal' husbandry through the rearing and stallfeeding of goats for milk andmeat as well as raising

superior qualitQUeks for breeding;

7. Wasteland development and ..regeneration by planting teed and

fodder tree species in designated areas;

K-Traditional communication media includingstreet theatre and puppet plays, produced for'local' villages on topics:of-Social and'environmental concern:.

9.The provision of basie healtkServkes.throtigh-village health workers trainedjn the prescriptiOn

of homeOpathic medicines;

10. Demystifying technology and.knowledge-which,

:7--

have generally not been accessible to rural people:

-re

...The Barefoot College.also,has eight Field Centres which function ais""resource and trainingsentres..lt,haaffiliated,'1.organizations in thirteen states across lndi7a whbseaetions are-691:dinated by SAMPDA,iih.''CrInbreila organization

in Delhi.

BEST C AVAiLikE

J.

Barefoot campus

and structure

Tilonia is a member of a number of informationnetworks on the environment and sustainabledevelopment. It is also the member organiza-

tion for India for the United Nations Eco-Volunteerprogramme which identifies and supports those wor-king locally in the field of sustainability. Tilonia'sstructure is defined by its Director, Bunker Roy, as"loose" and he considers this one of its strengths.While there are definite lines of authority such as theDirector and section leaders, there is a consciousattempt to avoid hierarchies in decision making andsalaries. There are monthly meetings which bringtogether the section leaders, field centre co-ordina-tors and the Director. Informal meetings also occurspontaneously. There is an Accounts Departmentthat oversees the finances and the responsibility forfunding requests and reports is shared by the seniorstaff. Numerous mechanisms link SWRC villages toeach other. Some of the field centres have telephonesas does Tilonia but most interaction happens throughmeetings which are held in Tilonia, at field centresand in villages. Many of the staff at Tilonia comefrom the surrounding villages and return to themeach day, ensuring constant communication.

,,Jhe original 45 acres and sanatorium buildingsnstitute the 'old' campus of the Barefoot College

land was purchased about a kilometre away and'new' campus was built in 1989. It was designed

one of the staff, who had no formal education,orking in conjunction with an architect. Plans for

the campus were drawn and re-drawn on -theA

20

4 ,1

ground as the design changed more than ten times.Bhanwar, the staff member who helped design thecampus, and who also managed the sixty masonswho constructed it, recalls that as the design wasstill not set after many revisions, "we just decidedto start building". Bhanwar's achievement with thenew campus has inspired many local people andstaff. They see him as an example of how success-ful the Barefoot College can be, proving illiteracydoes not have to stand in the way of learning anddevelopment. The campus reflects the BarefootCollege ideal of environmental regeneration andprotection. Local materials are used and the entirecampus is powered by solar energy, including itscomputers. A bio-gas plant provides the power forsterilizing medical equipment. Metal windows anddoors have been constructed in the fabricationworkshop to reduce the use of wood and glass.Rainwater is gathered on the rooftops and collectedin an underground tank of 400,000 litres for irriga-tion. Trees have been planted throughout the cam-

2 1

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r

,st

,

itot

pi

,

pus. A worm pit serves the dual purpose ofcomposting organic waste and demonstra-ting vermiculture.

The new and old campuses house themain centres for each of the programmes ofthe Barefoot College. There are administra-tion buildings, guest quarters and a stage.Many training programmes take place atthese sites. Other voluntary agencies use thefacilities and there are frequent tours for stu-dents, government and foreigners. TheCollege's eight field centres form a vital linkbetween the main campus and the villages.Training programmes are also carried out atthe field centres and some sections, such asthe education section, have moved from thenew campus to a field centre. This is part of amove towards greater decentralization intothe villages.

/7

4

THE BAREEOW CSECT NS

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FABRICAT ONSolat S

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Geodesic

3wefoot sections

Each section has its own specific programmesand activities. These are designed to interactwith each other. For example, as many of the

night schools are lit with solar lamps, knowledge ofsolar power is introduced into the children's curricu-lum. When the direction of solar panels has to bechanged, this is used as an opportunity to discussgeography and science with pupils. The dairy sec-tion provides milk for the day care children and thesocial forestry programme is connected to the educa-tion section as nurseries are planted and main-tained by children. The communication sectioncarries messages for all of the Barefoot Collegethrough puppetry, street theatre, audiovisualsand posters.

Water

The Barefoot College's early emphasis ondrilling wells and irrigation schemes changeddramatically when it was decided to focus on therural poor. Luxman Singh who coordinates theGround Water section says that they had to learnabout the politics of water (i.e. the role of opinionleaders in the villages, the distribution of limi-ted water resources and the financial resourcesthat are siphoned off through bureaucraticstructures). The water section now concentrateson the installation and maintenance of handpumps, piped water systems, grQund water sur-veys, and rainwater harvesting.

#6(.-

Pumps were only installed where they would meet_e needs of the poor with particular attention given toe needs of women. A training programme for village

youth as hand pump mechanics which replaced theearlier 3-Tier system of the Rajasthan governmentwas established. In 1979 the government had an ela-

borate 3-Tier system in place in Rajasthan for main-taining hand pumps. There was the hand pump care-taker at Tier 1. He or she was selected by thegovernment and worked free of charge. At the blocklevel, Tier 2, an inspector/mechanic was responsiblefor ensuring the maintenance of hand pumps in100 villages. For Tier 3, district level, a MobileMaintenance Team (one for every 500 hand pumps),included engineers who were responsible for allmajor repairs. The consequence of this system was

4

22

toA,

that the people who were responsible for the handpumps did not live in the villages and were not neces-sarily accountable to the people. Significant fmancialresources were required to sustain the 3-Tier system,(particularly the salaries of engineers), in addition tothe fact that it required motorized vehicles. The 1-Tier system developed at the Barefoot College pro-vides a cost-effective alternative to the previous

23

system. It places the responsibility for hand pumpmaintenance in the hands of each village and pro-motes self-reliance. Hand pump mechanics are nowtrained through the Barefoot College itself. It alsotrains the members of the ground water team and thepeople who work on the community pipe water sys-tems. Community development lies at the basis of allaction to facilitate participation. The piped systemteam, therefore, works at the rate that is determinedby the communities they work with.

The idea for the Barefoot hand pump mechanicsgrew out of a discussion in a village shop. Some ofthe Barefoot College staff were drinking tea with theowner of a cycle repair shop. One of the governmentmobile maintenance teams zoomed past and theowner from the cycle shop commented: "All for awasher in a hand pump Isn't it too silly for words?"The discussion continued around the capabilities oflocal youth to repair tractors, pumps, agriculturalmachinery and bicycles. Why not hand pumps aswell? Tilonia set out to determine if local youthcould in fact be trained to repair the 300 hand pumpsthey had installed. Once the technology was demys-tified they realized that 90 per cent of repairs couldbe accomplished with a little training.

The Barefoot College worked with the govern-ment employment programme, TRYSEM (Trainingof Rural Youth for Self-Employment) to establishtheir 1-Tier System which now involves:

the identification of rural youth from economi-cally poor backgrounds with mechanical apti-tudes, whose skills can be upgraded throughtrainingthe mobilization of government resources to paystipends to Hand Pump Mechanics (HPMs)while they are being trained for three monthsthe placement of trained HPMs in villages wherethey are accountable to the communitythe provision of credit banks for the purchase oftools so that the HPMs can eventually be self-supporting

23

Village-based hand pump mechanics on bicycleshave now replaced the government mobile unit inmany villages. Each mechanic is responsible forthirty hand pumps within five kilometres of his orher village. The Barefoot College is also workingwith communities to install piped water systems.The government of Rajasthan will consider a villageeligible for a piped water system if there are at least5,000 people. The SWRC will relax this condition ifthey feel the need is significant. They set certainconditions however. There must be community par-ticipation in the project and there must be one goodsource of drinking water that the poor have accessto. Their approach to community participation in theentire process of water management results in lowercosts than the government schemes as well asincreased self-reliance.

Community health

In the words of Bunker Roy, "to mobilizeresources from within the community, no serviceshould be given free of charge. There should be no

aor

charity in the name of development." This realiza-tion came from the endless discussions BarefootCollege members had with communities who insis-

4. 4

ted they did not want to be treated as beggars. Thisself-respect and dignity is, all too often, not visible tourban-based development agents. Rural communityhealth has been a major preoccupation of the

Barefoot College since 1973 with particular empha-sis on the health needs of women and children. Theyhave trained Barefoot doctors and health care wor-kers as well as upgraded the skills of local midwives.Night school teachers, day care workers and fieldcentre staff are also given basic health training.Preventive medicine is given high priority throughpre- and post-natal care, education programmes,family planning camps and immunization projects.In addition, eye camps, treatment of tuberculosispatients and general health care are carried outthrough the out-patient clinic on the main campusand the field centres. The infant mortality rate in1991-92 was 114 per thousand. In 1995-96 it was 69

, per thousand. Bio-chemical medicine and homeopa-'thy are encouraged over allopathic medicine since

0these are seen to have fewer side effects and are lessependent on the pharmaceutical industry. Thee`alth section has also been documenting traditional

lousehold remedies, noting down oral health tradi-tions from villager elders. Much of the communityhealth programme concentrates on clean water as it

24

has a direct bearing on health and the section regu-larly carries out water tests, covers education aboutwater and provides latrines.

Technology dissemination

The Barefoot College's strength has always beenin the field of Technology Transfer and dissemina-tion. Solar electricity, for example, is presented tochildren in the night schools and local people main-tain the panels themselves. The same holds for localhand pumps. When villagers see one of their ownbeing trained as a Barefoot teacher the entire processof education and learning is demystified. Tilonia hasmanaged to identify and transfer technology in thefollowing areas:

use of photovoltaics for lightinghand pumps for drinking water installation,repair and maintenancecommunication technology through the revitali-zation of traditional mediatechnology of Geodesic domes throughout India(small huts for living made from thatching andother sustainable materials)use of mobile water testing kitsmethods for rainwater harvestingdevelopment of wasteland for fuel and fodderwhile encouraging stall feeding of goats.

Solar Energy

Bhagwat Nandon, head,of the solar section, is aBarefoot solar engineer who typifies the SWRC'sapproach to technology. He was a priest in his near-by village of Harmara. He grew up in a large familywithout electricity in the home. He began working inTilonia in 1975 as a teacher. When Tilonia had itsfirst solar panels installed by Danfoss, a Danishdevelopment agency, Bhagwat Nandon was giventhe responsibility of cleaning the panels, dusting theparts and checking the battery. He says he under-stood nothing about electricity but was curious tolearn. One of the Danfoss team began explaining the

25

be a viable alternative and has received the supportof the state government of Jammu and.Kashmir.

reasons for coloured wires and the concepts ofAC/DC currents. Through an informal educationprocess he developed his understanding of solarpower and now heads the section that has solar elec-trified the entire campus, thirty nights schools, and522 houses in twenty-two villages in Ladakh. He hascontributed to the creation of a solar workshop inLadakh where local youth are being trained asBarefoot solar engineers. The SWRC-Leh solar teamin Ladakh is now self-reliant and has the capacity tosolar electrify villages on its own.

The Barefoot College has combined its approachto community participation with skills training andtechnology demystification in the solar energy pro-gramme. In Ladakh, rural youth are selected by theircommunity to be trained in the installation, fabrica-tion, maintenance and repair of solar photo voltaicunits. The youths, usually with low formal educatio-nal qualifications, are trained for an initial set periodand then become responsible for the maintenance ofthe units in their village as well as for the collectionof monthly contributions by participating families.This money is kept in a central bank account and isused to provide a monthly honorarium to the youthas well as maintain the central workshop. Many vil-lages in Ladakh are so remote that they would nothave received conventional electricity for anothertwenty years. Most people depend on kerosenelamps even though kerosene is costly and difficult toobtain in winter months. Solar energy has proven to

25

Barefoot construction engineers in the fabricationsection have also constructed geodesic domes inRajasthan and other Indian states. The domes are analternative to using wood for the construction ofhomes and meeting centres. Many of Tilonia's FieldCentres are graced by geodesic domes which havethatched hay roofs. In addition, the fabrication sec-tion makes stands and battery boxes for the solarsection. There is a continual demand for this sectionto produce doors and windows as the BarefootCollege is purposely reducing the use of wood andglass in their buildings.

Women

Women have played a leading role in the develop-ment of the Barefoot College. They have contributedto the elaboration of policies which recognize theirdevelopment needs, rights and injustices againstthem. Women, for example, have directly influencedthe ground water section to listen to their needsregarding the placement of hand pumps and in trai-

ning women hand pump mechanics. Employmentgeneration programmes have been designed to sup-

26 BEST GUY AVAILABLE

plement the income of women, with particular atten-tion to those who are severely marginalized bypoverty, caste or physical disability. The educationsection emphasizes the importance of girl education,trains women teachers and runs day care centres.Wasteland development has been taken up bywomen who are closely affected by the shortage of

e. 4

r

' pe

Yt L

fuel and fodder. The women's section takes greatpride in the fact that it operates without any externalfunding. Women's groups interact with other pro-grammes and influence policies for all sections.These groups evolved through contact with Tilonia'sstaff and other' women's groups. Mahila Melas(women's fairs), for example, are co-ordinated byTilonia to bring women together, celebrate theiraccomplishments and encourage them to form newgroups. There are presently 40 women's groups wor-king to ensure minimum wages for women, healtheducation, legal literacy, building self-esteem and

, organizing pressure groups.

Women's groups have played a significant role in_eaking the isolation of women who were livingrider the purdah system. As Ram Karan of theomen's Section says "rural women have always

been insecure in a male dominated society. Theyhave been isolated even among other women. Our

26

women's groups have helped them to shift from iso-lation (purdah) to group support." Women who prac-tice this tradition are strictly limited in their socialinteractions, particularly with men. In many ins-tances this meant that women who had been cloiste-red in their home or restricted in their socialinteractions passed through a significant personal

transformation. These same women are nowleaders in their community and/or staff at theBarefoot College and feel confident about

( expressing their views in groups of women andmen.

Rural industries

Promoting rural handicrafts has been one ofthe on-going objectives of the Barefoot Collegewhich co-operates with weavers, leather arti-

' sans, women working on handicrafts, tailoringand block printing. Employment creation andtraditional skills have been combined in theRural Industries section where the organization

, assists people in upgrading and developingskills. The products created are marketed by

Tilonia in national exhibitions and international mar-kets. The programme, unfortunately, faces the ten-sion of many development organizations which havehandicraft projects. Their aim is to facilitate thedevelopment process but at the same time artisansare confronted by the realities of marketing products.This requires a more "business-oriented" approachof quality control, meeting orders on time and crea-ting marketable designs. Patience and perseveranceare needed to convince craftsmen to think of this anduse new techniques. Traditional crafts such as blockprinting are being supported through a special trai-ning programme of the Barefoot College. Last yearover 500 women began to learn the skill of blockprinting. This was in addition to the 500 artisanswho already work part-time with the BarefootCollege. Environmental awareness regarding mate-rials and process has been incorporated into the ruralindustries section. Waste material, for example, fromthe tailoring section is used in appliqué work and the

27

creation of colourful mobiles. Vegetable dyes areused for dying cloth and block printing.

The Social Forestry programme supports the deve-lopment of wasteland with trees that provide fuel,fodder, and shade. Fruit-bearing trees are planted toencourage villagers to include fruit in a diet thattends to be deficient in fresh fruit and vegetables.Once again, village committees are used to co-ordi-nate wasteland development programmes for theirvillage. The'animal husbandry section assists goatand sheep farmers of Si lora Block in the improvedmanagement of animals. Their strategies include; i) theprovision of goat buck servicing for breed improve-ment, promotion of stall feeding to reduce environ-mental destruction caused by grazing, improvingmilk production, ii) fodder resource development onwastelands; and iii) information dissemination andeducation through puppet shows, training camps,preparation and screening of audiovisuals and expo-sure tours. The Dairy Unit, based on the old campus,looks after cows, goats and one buffalo. It sells milkto staff and gives it to the Day Care centres inTilonia village. The manure from the dairy unit isused in the campus bio-gas plant. The bi-productfrom the bio-gas plant is a slurry that can be used asfertilizer in the organic agriculture programmewhich is also based on the old campus. The agricul-ture section uses a plot of land on the old campus todemonstrate organic farming. Crops such as wheat,barley, alfalfa grass, vegetables and chick peas aresown. In addition, new seed varieties are tested. Twofield centres also have land for demonstrating agri-cUltural techniques.

At the communication section, emphasis is givento the oral traditions of Rajasthan. Traditional mediasuch as puppetry, street theatre, audiovisuals andscreen printing are used to carry messages on socialvalues, the environment, health, women's rights andeducation. Puppetry and street theatre engage com-munities in discussions about social inequalities,child marriage, money lenders, afforestation, mini-mum wages and traditional beliefs. The communi-

27

cation team has even gone to work sites wherewomen labourers are not receiving minimum wagesto encourage them to demand their rights. Stafffrom other sub-centres and voluntary agencies cancome to Tilonia for training in these communicationskills. The staff readily point to themselves asexamples of how values are changed through theBarefoot College. One of the traditions that thecommunication section deals with is the commonpractice of borrowing from money lenders to financeelaborate death feasts and funerals. These traditionscan put families into debt for generations. One staffmember mentions that prior to working for Tiloniahe would have spent Rs 15,000 for his father's fune-ral. However, when his father died, he chose tospend Rs 1,000 and felt confident enough to standby his new values. None of the staff practice thedeath feast tradition. Results are evident throughoutall sections.

Since its inception, the Barefoot College has trainedand Put in the field:

nearly 600 Barefoot mechanics, repairing andmaintaining over 20,000 India Mark II handpumps20 Barefoot solar engineers who have solar elec-trified the College campus, 300 adult educationcentres in 6 states of India, 22 villages in Ladakh(11, 500 ft. in the Himalayas), 30 night schoolsfor childrenBarefoot construction engineers havefabricated and installed over 50 geodesicdomes in 5 states of IndiaBarefoot communicators, using traditio-nal media have travelled throughoutSilora Block conveying relevant socialmessagesBarefoot doctors and health care wor-kers are being used extensively for pre-ventive health care.

28

eplicating the itrefoot

College approach"The founders of the SWRC could hardly be

accused of stacking the cards in favour of easysuccess for their experiment. Indeed, if it could bemade to work under therugged conditions in theSi lora Block of AjmerDistrict it could probablywork anywhere" wrote aresearch team that analyzedthe SWRC during its earlyyears.

7here are very few writ-ten manuals at theBarefoot College. The

solar section recently produ-ced a non-technical manualfor their training but view thisas a small supplement to theirpractical, hands on trainingapproach. Each section runsan informal training program-me that is adapted to the trai-nee and built on the oraltradition of Rajasthan. No for-

c,-, mal educational qualification-r-?,.is required. Anyone with an

Wrest and aptitude qualifies for training. Peopleearn by doing, at their own rate and as long as they

..,, are interested in being trained. Hand pump mechanics,

generally train at the Barefoot College for three,-

months and then are given training in the area where

they work. Night school teachers have an initial trai-ning period and then return to the.campus for trainingevery few months. There are no 'experts', simply

people with greater experiencethan others and these are thetrainers. Everyone, however,is seen as a contributor or tea-cher in a learning process.Village Committees workwith the field centres and thestaff assist them to under-stand and carry out their res-ponsibilities. Anyone canreach the management ofTilonia with suggestions and

't ideas for change. This is acti-vely encouraged throughTilonia's informal structureand the meetings held atTilonia, field centres and thevillages. Many of the staffhave a history of working in anumber of areas at theBarefoot College. They maywork for some time with themedical section, then theaccounts section and discoverthat the communication sec-

tion really attracts them. The College promotes thisfluidity amongst sections and this is one of the contri-buting factors to the low staff turn over. More thanhalf of the staff have worked at the Barefoot Collegefor ten years or longer.

28 29

Tilonia is conscious of how it grows. It has thecapacity to grow quicker but has chosen not to. Themain reason for this is that it does not want to lose itsintegrity and its adherence to its philosophy andvalues. Things can change superficially but Tiloniais interested in deep changes that contribute to buil-ding sustainable communities. A replication ofTilonia's programme needs to be radically enrootedto work. What aspects of the Barefoot College canthen be shared with other organizations, the govern-ment, educators, administrators throughout India andother countries? Part of the answer to this can befound in the sub-centres which have been establi-shed in thirteen Indian states and in the Lok Jumbishand Shiksha Karmi programmes of the RajasthanGovernment. It should be noted, however, that theBarefoot College staff resist the notion of replicatingthe Barefoot College as if it were a commodity thatcould be packaged and sold. They no longer writeabout their work as a development model that can becopied as they did in earlier documents and insistthat the Barefoot College is a process. As such thereare essential elements, some of which are intangible,which can only be carried into new organizations bypeople who are sensitive to them. Moreover, theyfeel that Tilonia's five non-negotiable values shouldbe central in any venture which may have similaraims. There are several organizations, however,which have taken up Tilonia's message and adaptedit to their cultural and socio-economic context.

SWRC-Leh, Ladakh

This sub-centre has close ties with SWRC-Tiloniabecause their solar and ground water teams interactconstantly. The Director of this sub-centre, PhuntsogWangchuk Ka Ion, is Ladakhi and sustains theBarefoot approach through training local youth insolar engineer and drilling teams. The demand forsolar energy in the region is greater than the presentcapacity of the sub-centre. Despite this pressure toexpand quickly, they are committed to working at arate that maintains the quality of their work and thekind of development process they support. The staff

29

carry out rigorous treks under arduous conditions tomeet the energy and water needs of remote villages.Community participation is central to their approachjust as it is in Tilonia.

SWRC-Daporijo

In operation for six years, this sub-centre is nowbeginning to call itself a Barefoot College. It is situa-ted in the north-east of the country in one of the mostremote and inaccessible states, Arunachal Pradesh.Appropriate technology, women's groups, handi-crafts, health and education have been the focus oftheir work. Geodesic domes have been constructedas community centres and the staff have experimen-ted with construction materials and methods thatmake dome construction more accessible to localpeople. They have solar electrified ten adult educa-tion centres and have set up demonstration units ofpre cast drain channels for sanitation or minor irriga-tion and roof water harvesting systems. They are inthe process of opening ten night schools for children.The Daporijo staff are concerned about the exploita-tion of tribal people as well as the natural resourcesof the region. They are facilitating the training ofleaders who can represent and defend tribal interestsand protect the environment.

RASTA/SWRC-Wyanad, Kerala

The Director of the Kerala sub-centre and her hus-band have years of experience at the BarefootCollege. They established RASTA in the south ofIndia in 1984 where they have concentrated on naturalresource management which has generally been over-looked in a state where basic life indicators arerelatively high for a large sector of the population.They have designed bio-gas and bio-mass plants thatare shared with other organizations in the 'Tiloniafamily'. RASTA has been working on education withtribal groups and follows the Barefoot College modelof night schools. They have programmes for women,health and sanitation. Water shed management pro-grammes have been carried out in two areas and local

30

farmers have been organized to prevent sand miningfrom river beds and the building up of vegetation onriver banks. RASTA has also been working with theM. S. Swaminathan Institute in Madras on a bio-diversity project to preserve local seeds.

Shiksha Karmi

Shiksha Karmi's conception of education is basedon the assumption that an agent of change, notablyin the field of education, can work effectively only ifhe or she belongs to the same locality. This strategyis particularly important for remote and isolated vil-lages where it is very difficult for an outsider to stayor to be accepted. According to the RajasthanShiksha Karmi 1994 Report "in such conditionseducation qualifications appear to be of lesserimportance than the teacher's willingness and abilityto function as a social worker".

The Shiksha Karmi Project was started inRajasthan with the assistance of the SwedishInternational Development Agency (SIDA) to revita-lize and expand Primary Education in remote villagesof Rajasthan. It is an offshoot of the three experimen-tal schools that were run by Tilonia from 1975-78.The project is now being imPlemented in sixtyblocks. Shiksha Karmi has taken up many ofTilonia's innovations in education. The identificationand selection of rural youth as teachers is undertakenjointly with SWRC education staff, field centre wor-kers, the community and the Village EducationCommittee. The Shiksha Karrni project has adoptedTilonia's emphasis on appropriate learning with 70per cent of the activities related to the local environ-ment. Specific external activities like Bal Meta,

, Excursion, children's visits to other schools, parents'6 trips and the teacher's accountability to the community-?_are all innovations that evolved through Tilonia.

upervision of schools aims to tighten the educationalrocess and the teachers' skills. This supervision is

'not intrusive and is conducted in a participatory man-ner. The Shiksha Karmi day school teachers usemodels developed by Tilonia's night schools. This

30

Barefoot approach means they are free to conceivetheir own books, songs and games to initiate the edu-cational process. They are then backed up by the edu-cation staff, field centre workers and other teachers.Self-reliance lies at the basis of the teaching metho-dology and, although many Shiksha Karmi teachersdo have higher educational qualifications thanTilonia's night school teachers, they are still calledupon to draw inspiration from the local surroundings.

Lok Jumbish

Lok Jumbish literally means 'people's movement'.It is a project for Education for All in Rajasthan bythe year 2000 through peoples' mobilization andparticipation. It is a joint project bringing togetherSIDA, the Government of India and the Governmentof Rajasthan. The main goals of Lok Jumbish are:

1. Universalization of Primary Education. This isviewed as a composite programme of access to pri-mary education for all children up to 14 years of age;universal participation till they complete the primarystage; and universal achievement at least of the mini-mum levels of learning.

2. Provision of opportunities to maintain, use andupgrade education. Facilities for the development ofskills, to all persons who are functionally literate andthose who have received primary education.

3. Creation of necessary structures, and the setting inmotion of processes, which can empower women andmake education an instrument of women's equality.

4. Making necessary interventions, and creatingcircumstances, to enable the 'lower castes', the mostdeprived of the tribal people and the other poorestsections of society, advance towards equal participa-tion in basic education.

5. Improving the content and process of educationto relate it further to environment, culture and wor-king and living conditions.

3A

Much of the implementation of Lok Jumbish inthe field is done by voluntary agencies. Each agencyis entrusted with a cluster of villages where they areresponsible for environment building, informing thevillage community about the programme, identi-fying and training core teams, assisting with schoolmapping, establishing field centres and supportingvillage education committees. Lok Jumbish hasincorporated many aspects of the Barefoot Collegein its approach to community participation, fieldcentres, teacher training, emphasis on gender anduse of voluntary agencies. The Barefoot Collegealso coordinates the programme in twenty villages.

Shiksha Karmi, Lok Jumbish and the IndianGovernment have all assimilated various compo-nents of the Barefoot College process with conside-rable success. It seems, however, that there isgenerally greater adherence to the five non-nego-tiable values of Tilonia when staff, who have wor-ked at the Barefoot College, decide to establish theirown centre. One of the values that changes with thegovernment-run projects is that of austerity. Whilethe spirit of volunteerism has been central to theBarefoot College and its sub-centres, this is notalways the case in government bureaucracies.Shiksha Karmi teachers are paid a 'voluntary' wage,however, the urban-based trainers are not. This isdue, in part, to the greater cost of living in the cityand points to one of the advantages of voluntaryagencies that are located in rural areas. The Section-in-Charge of the Barefoot College education, TejaRam, believes that leadership should be the key toincorporating essential features of the BarefootCollege in a new project. He feels that a pro-ject leader would have to be completelyclear about his or her objectives andbe answerable to the communitiesinvolved. He says "the overridingconcern is to be able to unders-tand the aspirations of ruralcommunities, lead an austerelife and have genuine interac-tion with people."

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7ilonia is not totally self-sufficient in itsfinancing as some of its funding isexternal. It has, however, diversified its

funding base. The organization receives40 per cent of its funds from Governmentsources and 40 per cent through foreign agen-cies. 20 per cent of the funds are generatedthrough the sale of handicraft items and theinstallation of solar power packs. The fundingto Tilonia from government grants is to carryout work that can be done more effectivelythan the State. The role of outside fundingagencies is one of collaboration, networkingand specific training. The agencies are in turngiven regular feedback on their funding. Thisprovides them with constant data and expe-rience to influence and direct their policiesand strategies. Groups such as the Save theChildren Fund and the German Agro Actionare particularly involved and are motivated towork with an organization such as the SWRCwhich tackles many of their concerns. These groupsalso work in joint workshops, training camps andvisits to the organization to get first hand knowledgeabout the SWRC. They are interested in the collectivestrength of the organization as well as its programmesand strategies. External funding is, therefore, an ope-ning for projects to learn about Tilonia. Someresources come.from the sale of handicrafts, nationallycand internationally. Some come from communitiesthemselves. Germany's Agro Action recommends

at those interested stop in to visit the Barefootojlege when they are in India. Tilonia is self-

ufficient in terms of its expertise in education and'development. It is self-sufficient with respect toelectrical power (solar) on the main campus and itswater requirements.

Power within Tilonia is shared democratically andthis balance is respected. Barefoot College staff areconvinced that projects involved in rural developmentmust be based in a village working in true partnershipwith the poor. Fundamental changes in social and eco-nomic structures only come from living closely withpeople in their communities and understanding theirculture. This, in turn, provides a basis for mutual lear-ning and respect. It affords the opportunity to recognizeskills and knowledge within the communities. TheBarefoot College teaches the value of questioningassumptions regarding the role of education for deve-lopment. It asks whether the overt and hidden curricu-la are developing the correct values. The Collegecampus represents a model for educators to emulate.Few schools can claim to be so environmentally

32

33

friendly in terms of energy, water and waste manage-ment. But more importantly the Barefoot Collegedemonstrates the possibilities for working with ruralcommunities to generate programmes for advance-ment. "Thin lc globally, act locally" is a familiar phrasefor many people. Societies and environments aroundthe world are interconnected through their problemsincreasing unemployment, urban overcrowding, esca-lating poverty, environmental degradation and redu-ced opportunities for youth. Tilonia tackles theseissues at local level to have a global influence. It ques-tions our assurriptions regarding the role that educa-tion can play in building global sustainable societies.Are education programmes preparing people for sus-tainable livelihoods and lifestyles? That is,employment and lifestyles that do notexploit people nor the environment in thisgeneration or future generations? Can wefind more innovative ways to meet our basicneeds? Have our definitions of experts andprofessionals led us to develop networks andsystems that are more complex than theyneed to be? Have we marginalized people,their knowledge and skills in the process?Throughout the world, youths are leavingtheir rural communities to seek jobs in citieswhere unemployment is high. City infra-structures cannot sustain this influx ofpeople. The Barefoot College demonstratesthe possibilities of working with youth andthe building of sustainable rural communities.

Tilonia is a genuine adherence to its philo-sophy and values. While some organizationsmay appear special on paper, they may notalways work democratically (especially withrespect to salary scales) and few could matchTilonia's belief in a simple, sustainable life-style. Many administrators prefer to liveaway from rural areas and believe in theirwork from afar. The sincerity and convictionof the Barefoot staff is very strong and quitemoving to experience. As one staff memberstated, "we have a collective charisma". TheBarefoot College staff know that people aregenuinely more important than money. Aproject may be unsuccessful in meeting some

of its objectives, yet if it facilitates personal growth andwell-being it is a success. Staff point to Tilonia's fivenon-negotiable values as the foundation for the Ti Ioniaculture. It is perhaps these values that have attracted aparticularly vibrant and creative staff. To some extent,Ti Ionia creates an artificial environment in which thereis equality, mutual support and openness to creativeexpression. Throughout the world, many people's liveshave either drifted from these values or have neverexperienced them. Tilonia offers the opportunity forpeople to connect with a profound experience of theirown humanity and shows they can contribute to asociety where education and development work handin hand towards sustainability.

33 3 4

1

PUPPETRY

Jockim Cha Cha (joking uncle) is the colourful spokespup-pet in a pantheon of puppets made by lilonia's communi-cation team. He introduces puppet shows, describes themoral of a story and generates discussion with the audience.Being a puppet, he gets away with saying controversial andsensitive things. Jockim Cha Cha and his puppet friendsaddress issues of casteism, discrimination against women, problems with moneylenders, child marriage,alcohol abuse, injusticies against women, environmental degradation and much more. "Even when theaudience is laughing", however, explains Bhanwar Ghopal, a member of the communication team, "they

can be experiencing "the pain of their predicament". The audien-ce often asks for plays to be repeated.

The communication team prepares scripts for their puppetshows. They are alwajft ready, hoWever, to improvize dependingon the issues that are most tilerant to the village where they arePerforniing7,15uppetni haS.:become an important component forthe nighfiChool programine'. The puPpet-making process takesapproximately, ftVe--days'. Newspapers are pounded into a pulp,mixed with:,Wafer and. flour -from a !Om! plant This is used toshape the:puppet's. head.' Once dry, the head is painted and itscostume sewn by the commUnicatiOn team. Puppets made bythe communication team are also sold in national exhibitions. Ittakes one month to,train people in handling pupriets and script

writing. Synchronizing puppets with dialogue takes another niOrith. Babulal and Ramniwas share the jobof co-ordinating their team. "Puppet Making absorbs me coMpletely,7i saye Babulal. "lam: always lookingfor new ideas". Babulal has worked at the Barefoot College'iince 1981:and was a mernber of the com-munication team that travelled to Norway to perform for ro"yalty.

RAJASTHANSize: 342 239 sq kmComposition: 30 districtsPopulation: 44 million

SILORA BLOCK (in the district ofAjmer)

Size: 82 349 sq km110 villages in Si lora Block

I I

The Barefoot College has a fulltime staff of 200 as well as 287part time staff including 90 villagelevel health workers, 82 day careworkers and 115 night school tea-chers.

1993 - 170 staff- 19% educated beyond secon-dary school

- 82% from Ajmer District- most workers in 26-45 age

group

ORAL TRADITION AND KNOWLEDGE DIVERSIlY

"Folk tradition is by itself a Barefoot College because people learn by doing and passon their knowledge and skills from generation to generation." Ramniwas. BarefootCommunicator

The people of Rajasthan have developed a rich oral tradition over the centuries. Songsand stories are told in dialects that change about every 30 kilometres. Musicians regu-larly perform for religious festivals and family celebrations. Traditional skills and know-ledge are passed down in an informal learning process. "Learning by doing" is thenorm for those who apprentice in the arts, handicrafts and trades. Oral traditions.however, are fading and being replaced by television, music industries, mass produc-tion of textiles, shoes, clothing, household items, and so on. Artisans are turning tomanual labour in order to support themselves. Formally educated youth are seekingjobs in the cities rather than learning thetraditional skills of their parents. TheBarefoot College is, therefore, working tosupport local artisans, documentingtraditional knowledge and skills. Theyhold festivals to save folk traditions fromextinction and have established trainingprogrammes to upgrade skills and teachnew ones to women, men and youth.Their communication section has over1,000 hours of video recordings with folk,musicians. The night schools perpetuatelocal songs and stories in the cUrricUlum:'Village resource people contribute to thequality of education in the niOt ithools. Mahy df the staff pOssess traditional skills-such as miniature painting, hoMeoiiathy, irbh irnithing., tailoring, Weaving, agricultureand animal husbandry. .

Unfortunately, the Barefoot C011egSstaff are deeply concerned that their efforts aloneare not enough to steth'ih'erMOMehiiiih.toWafilS:Medern_media, commerCial prOductsand the Ultimate lose Of loCal lcultureS::Thei feel that therejs a CUltural emergency inRajasthan and that knowledge aid ikillS fiat' reit With the village elderS will die withthem. Within the next tWehtyryearsthejf sWthis vast Weelth of knowledge and cul-tural diversity will be extinct; While:Sbniepeoige MaY feel that this loss of diversity isoffset by the benefits of 'hi6deiniiiii* the' College staff see king unemployment,loss of identity and self-esteem of rural youth, ai a shift away from sustainable life-styles and livelihoods: Modern technblegies Stith as solar energy, improved leather',tanning, and computers-Ote:iiInbrateril*the College ai they contribute to buildingsustainable communitiei'27 'il4.WiesiiiiiirilZ-UltUral diversity and different Ways of

owing may prove to be as'cntical, if *not:more critical, than protecting bio-dwersity.

CHILDREN'S PARLIAMENT guages before the age of seven. FOr Tilonia, inno-vations serve to make' children feel equal and res-ponSible SOciety .membere . regardless Of caste'gender or. econOrnic SittietiOn:=;Opening ,up Chi!-dren's minds to.What is .POssible to them is the

'Mein. objective. Working children contribute totheir households :and their, fathily incomes buttheir contributions and opinions are not acknow-ledged. The Children's Parliament is one way ofrecognizing the fact that children's voices need tobe heard. When people now aSk "What's new with

Tilonia's schools?" Staff often reply "children havebegun to run them".

. . .

'The Most Perplexing' and challenging but impor-tant of aildren's rights in the'UN's Conkieiition isthe right of the child to particiriate. The SWRC has"alWays valued and letpeded the :OPiniorii'W Chil:dren, and with the Bal Sansad or parhament theyhave a chance to get actively involved in the run-ning of their schools. This includes planning anddecision-making but the children bear their newand heavy responsibilities with ease and enthu-siasm. For Tilonia, working with thousands of chil-dren over an area of 500 sq. km., the only reliableresources are the teachers, the children and theircollective enthusiasm. Innovation is not only toimpart reading and writing skills. It should notmean, for example, that children learn nine Ian-

Last electionsThe Formation of the New Cabinet : June 1, 1995There were 17 Member of Parliament seats

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1995 ESCAP AWARD

In April 1996, the UnitedNations body ESCAP

(The Economic and SocialCommission for Asia

and the Pacific) awardedthe Barefoot College its1995 award. The SWRC

was chosen out of55 applications from19 countries for its

exemplary achievement inhuman resource

development. Theindependent international

jury commended theCollege for its innovativeprogrammes to promote

employment for rural youthand its efforts to bring

education to themarginalized through self-help, basic skills and the

belief that villagers can traintheir peers

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38

Education for All, Making it Work is a major .

international UNESCOIUNICEF programme to

collect, analy:e and pannote successful basic

education projects in the developing woild.:

Previous issues in the series:

No. 1

All Children Can LearnChile's 900 Schools Pmgranmie fin- the Underprivileged,

1993 (Arabic, English*, French, Spanish5)

No. 2

In our own HandsThe story of Saptagram, a wimlen's self-relia»ce

moeement in Baligladesh, 1994 (English*, French)

No. 3

" -VWithin.Reach. The sun:), of PROPEL, a non:filrInal education prOject fth

niral children in India. 1994 (Arabic. English*; French*)

;.,,,,Blazing the TrailThe Village Schools 4Save Children1USA

in Mali 1994 (English*, French*)

No. 5

On the Right TrackServors early tbildhood and adolement development

programmes in Trhridad and Tithogo. 1994 (English.

French)

No. 6

Breaking ThroughTOSTA1V's non fornud basic ohumion programme in

-tut/intuit languages in Senegal, /995 (English, French)

'No. 7 ';

'Voices .across the HillsThailand's Hill Areils Education.Pmject, /995 (English.

--';,.:No. 8

Daughters of the EarthSkills-Intsed Literacy Programme for ti'mnen,Claim. 1995 (Chinese. English, French)

No. 9

-The Children or the NileT/u. Community Schools Project in tipper Egypt,

/995 (English, French)

No. 10or Copper and FireThe Sc/I-hrIp Acrion Phut jOr Education

(SHAPE). Zamlna / 9% ( English. I.:much)

* ()ut Ofrrinl

II IIIII!

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Supervising editors:Dieter BerstecherRosa Maria Torres

Editor:Benedict Faccini

Art Direction:.Jacques ZahlesHEXA Graphic

Photographs :Ian Murray

IllustrationsBhanwar Gopal

Photo-engraving:Ink'Position PhotogrFrance

Printed by:Marco Grafico,Madrid, Spain

'

The opinionsexpressed in thisdocument are thoseof the,author andnot necessarilythose of UNESCOor UNICEF

For further informationabout this project,

vt4 pleas2 contact:

BAREFOOT tCOLLEGESWRC lilonia305 816 Madangai.4.-.1.' le!District Ajmer ;'").Rajasthan, India

Fax: 91 14 63 88 06

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Social Science and Humanities Research Cinincil or CanadaThe Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute

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