mf10 18-23 bala

18 MINDFIELDS FIRST QUARTER 2010 WWW.MINDFIELDS.IN

Enter any classroomand this iswhat you are likely to see - children pushingchairs, pulling desks or throwing furniture around in their free time. BaLAenters the scene with a small measure - the furniture is marked in paint

with its weight andheight. So that a child knows that she just shiOed a 5 kg chair,or liOed a 10 kg table! A random act of energy venting turns into a measurableachievement of what the child has done – a very big deal from the child’s pointof view!

Me moment children enter the school premises, milestones on the pathwayinform them of how far they are from the classrooms. 30 metres. 20 metres. 10metres. Numbers that are conventionally conNned to books suddenly becomevery real, and help kids estimate the actual distance covered.

PROTRACTOR DOORS,NUMBER LINE FLOORS

Building as Learning Aid (BaLA) is an innovative way of looking at the relationshipchildren have with their school building. Kabir and Preeti Vajpeyi, co-founders ofVinyãs (a centre for architectural research and design) and the originators of BaLAhave developed 150 child-centric design and architectural makeover ideas forstate-run schools across India. Rima Chibb brings us the story.

EXCLUSIVE

Text: Rima Chibb

Photos: Vinyãs

MF10 18-23 BaLA:Layout 2 3/24/10 10:32 PM Page 2

2010 FIRST QUARTER MINDFIELDS 19WWW.MINDFIELDS.IN

Kabir Vajpeyi, the architect behindBaLA describes the formulation ofthese design concepts: “We did adetailed study on the behaviourchildren exhibit in school spaces –how they interact with the floor, wall,pole, pillar, corridor. We madeobservations to find out how wecould expand this interaction… giveunique experiences to children,contribute to the fun value of their

learning process. How can we take abarren space, and break it up tocreate pockets for girls and boys,children with different needs,children who are boisterous, childrenwho take the backseat and observe -all these needs are equally valid”.

BaLA is about maximising theeducational value of a built space forchildren. It is an interdisciplinaryconcept that combines architectureand design with child development,pedagogy of learning languages, mathand science; and a child’s ownaspirations. It attempts to address thelearning needs of children whilekeeping in view the four pillars oflearning (as propounded byUNESCO for education in the 21stcentury) - learning to know, learningto do, learning to live together andlearning to be.

TThhoouugghhttffuull SSppaacceess

School buildings are not merestructures or a collection of rooms.They have the potential to energisethe whole learning environment. Andyet, though a school building is themost expensive asset of a school, littleis done to use the physical space as anactive learning resource.

BaLA aims at using elements like thefloor, walls, pillars, staircases,windows, doors, ceilings, fans, trees,flowers, or even rainwater as learningaids. For example, a window securitygrill can be moulded to help thechildren practice pre-writing skills orto understand fractions; a range ofangles can be marked under on thefloor to explain the concept of angles.Every time a child opens the door,they can learn about angles; ceilingfans can be painted to function ascolour wheels; shadows of a flag-polecan act like a sundial to measuring

time; planting trees that shed theirleaves in winters and are green insummers make a comfortableoutdoor learning space.

“If language development happenswhen we speak to each other,’ saysKabir, ‘we must create spaces forcommunication – within a largegroup, between peers, between olderand younger children, boys and girls,teacher and student. Thiscommunication may happen as theyare walking, sitting or standing nextto the wall. A shy child may want towrite or draw to express themselves.We create a range of optionsthroughout the environment whichare age-appropriate and accessible toall unlike TLM (teaching/ learningmaterial) which is subject and gradespecific.”

So elements created by BaLA areopen-ended, activity-based andencourage self-learning. They arebased on the assumption thatlearning is a continuous process andhappens all the time. Theseinterventions are easily accessibleoutside the confines of the classroomand children can use them before andafter school hours. Structured as wellas unstructured interactions canhappen on steps, in corridors, in theoutdoors. Partially understoodconcepts in class get reinforced

EXCLUSIVE



through peer learning as childrenrevisit them with a 3-D multiplesensory experience.

HHooww BBaaLLAA HHaappppeenneedd

The concept had its genesis in1990’s Lok Jumbish Programme inRajasthan. The Lok Jumbish was aturning point in the history ofeducation in state-run schools. Oneof the major highlights of thisprogram was to involve the largercommunity in the process ofeducation. Kabir, a young architectin those days, happened to watch alate-night street play abouteducation. He made a resolve toexplore the space betweeneducation and architecture, and thepossibility to connect the two. It wasno easy task. Even today, while theState’s intent is to create schoolswhich have a child-focused learning

environment, the sensitivity andtraining of the implementers(project engineers, civil engineers,masons) towards this aspect islargely non existant.

“In India you don’t have theresources to make those 8 lakh newschools. Where will you get thefunds? Where would you get somany engineers out of theengineering colleges? These are realproblems. We tried to intervene in asystem which usually works with noarchitects, and built upon sensitivityand existing attitude. Scaling-up ofthis concept also had its share ofstruggles. Lok Jumbish fundsallowed for only repair of schoolbuildings and nothing more” saysKabir.

With this reality check in place, aseries of hands-on sensitisation

workshops were conducted forteachers, headmasters, architects,project engineers to look foralternatives to reach the larger goal.A consensus was reached that itmade sense to strengthen existinginfrastructure rather than create anew one.

PPrroocceessss aanndd CChhaalllleennggeess

What can well-meaning architectsdo to benefit children, speciallywhen there is no precedent? Thiswas the pressing question.Architects and engineers on the fieldhad started attending the teacherstraining programs. The incentivebeing free food and getting to knowthe needs and circumstances of theschool. Each architect wasencouraged to give an idea, work outthe feasibility, timeline of executionand take complete responsibility of

EXCLUSIVE

Prewriting grooves on wall panels of NDMC school New Delhi



the implementation - all this waslinked to their financial incentivepackage.

An unusual synergy starteddeveloping - the collaboration ofteachers and headmasters with theengineers and masons to dosomething relevant for the child. Forthe first time, the project engineersreally ‘looked’ at the ultimate clientthey were servicing- the child!Results started showing, schoolbuildings were looking inviting –and they made the largercommunity finally sit up and takenotice. People started donatingfunds and took proud ownership tomake this initiative successful.

By then the Building DevelopmentFund of Lok Jumbish had collapsedand the learnings from this and theDistrict Primary Education Program(DPEP) were integrated into thenational level, more ambitiousprogram known as the Sarv ShikshaAbhiyaan (SSA). BaLA initiativeswere shared with fresh perspectivesand detailed insights. Architects,pedagogues, child developmentprofessionals, child behaviouranalysts, environment experts andpeople from the field of culture,language, science and arts came onboard as think tanks andimplementers. The intent was tocontinue the process of innovationwhere each school identifies its owncreativity and have its own characterand ownership - in the initial 26 sitesat Lok Jumbish, no two sites lookedthe same, post-intervention. The“what to do” came from the teachers,the “how to do” came from thearchitects and engineers and the “taskto be done” was done by the masonsengaged by the school and surely thecharacter of BaLA started emerging.

EXCLUSIVE

Board games on floors of Savda Ghevra school, Delhi

Activity map of India, Gujarat

Preeti & Kabir at Kantela school in Porbandar addressing community



RReeaassoonn ttoo CCeelleebbrraattee

“Wherever BaLA has beenimplemented well,’ shares PreetiVajpeyi (Kabir’s wife and the otherhalf of the Vinyãs team), ‘the self-learning success stories areencouraging. Learning is no longerteacher-directed all the time. Instead

there is group learning, peer learningand cooperative learning. Beingpermanent, these design elements donot get lost or consumed, and areavailable all the time unlike otherteaching aids.”

The ripple effect was infectious. Oneof its success stories has been Jingle

Bells Nursery School, Faizabad–privately run school where themanagement was convinced aboutits benefits. The school set up ahighly interactive ‘Tyre Playground’which takes into account all thedomains of child development:Physical, Social, Emotional,Cognitive, Creative and evenEnvironmental (since all thematerials were recycled). Theseinnovations were shared with alleducation stakeholders throughphotographs and videos across thecountry.

In a remote village school ofJunagarh, Gujarat, the HeadmasterChandubhai Dhanani attended ateacher training workshop on theeffective usage of BaLA. On his wayback, instead of going home, he gotoff the bus and went straight to thelocal fabricator and manufactured abarrel wheel with wooden flats fixedit on a channel which runs ondiscarded ball bearing of a truckrecycled it into a indigenous Zorbieball for children.

It was further innovated upon inanother school to add a cognitiveconcept which involved cyclicalpatterns. The story was clear- BaLAwas forever evolving as it gotaccepted and spread to differentindividuals, schools, topographiesand cultures.

Since the head master and theteachers are the key agents whoreceive Government funds toimplement BaLA, they get all thecredits for this visibly changedoutlook in schools. It was found thatthese interventions motivate teachersto do better teaching, resulting inincreased attendance and growingcommunity enthusiasm.

EXCLUSIVE

Tyre climber at Jagritu School, Mushidabad

Children on Number line stepping stones along a Mystery wall of NDMC, Delhi



Vinyãs continues to providetechnical support to design,implement BaLA in thousands ofSSA schools across the country instates ranging from Jammu andKashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab,Delhi,Rajasthan, Gujarat, MadhyaPradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa,Karnataka, Tamilnadu, etc.throughtechnical support materials,orientation, workshops on capacitybuilding of education planners andadministrator, pedagogues, teachers,and civil engineers.

However it’s also had its share ofsetbacks. Distorted versions ofBaLA innovations have found atoken cosmetic appearance in someschools especially in Punjab.Painted versions of the 3Dimensional concepts are beingtreated as mere decoration with noadditional value for the child and noownership of the community.

Kabir & Preeti reflect on thechallenges that lie ahead : How doesBaLA upscale itself to reach theunreached pockets in remote areas?How does it address the gaps createdby lack of resources and teachers?How can it provide for capacitybuilding of so many teachers toeffectively use it to its maximumpotential? And should it beintegrated with the core curriculumof learning? How can this learning bemeasurable? And finally, how do youensure that each and every childbenefits out of it?

With a thrust on activity-basedlearning all over India, BaLA reformsin schools are undoubtedly morerelevant today. A big indicator of itssuccess is that even when the schoolscloses for the day, BaLA induced self-learning continues. Kids joyouslypush their classroom doors open,measuring the angle of the door on

the protractor painted on the floor -10 degrees, 20 degrees, 30 degrees.They tickle their brain with theabacus, visual illusions and negotiatethe tyre climber as they head homeonly to rush to school early nextmorning, before time, to standagainst the measuring scale on thecorridor wall, and see if they havegrown taller overnight! �

EXCLUSIVE

BaLA Teachers Workshop, Gandhinagar

RIMA CHIBB is afilmmaker andd e v e l o p m e n tcommunicator. Hastaken it upon herselfto undo the all-pervasive ‘dumbing

down’ brought in by the idiot box. Conductscreative expression workshops for youngstersand is fearlessly empathetic with those whohave learning struggles. You can reach her [email protected]


mf10 18-23 bala

Documents