Title: Covid19 and Generation Z – One year after lockdown
One year ago, after a 3-month lock-down, we spoke to Abhijit Sinha, a 2015 kanthari graduate and the Founder of Project DEFY (Design Education for yourself).
(Read last year’s Covid and Generation Z blog post here)
Abhijit builds nooks in India and Africa. These are small makerspaces in which anyone can create, build, research and learn. He promotes schools without teachers. Our question is now, is the covid crisis with school-lockdowns lasting for more than a year, a good testing ground for designing our own education?
Abhijit, who is currently in Zimbabwe, arranging nooks in small communities, saw the lock-‘down back then as something positive. “I think, 3 months no school is not too bad. It’s a time to rest a little. To find out what you really want. When do these children get such a chance again during their 20 years of education?” And he left us with a question: “Can we use this lockdown to grow closer to each other?”
kanthari: Now, it has almost one year since our last interview, and the covid situation has gotten worse. Schools have still not re-opened. The 10th grade examinations have been cancelled and the students of the 12th grade have to expect that these get postponed. What are your thoughts now? Back then you were at the opinion that 3 months is not a big deal.
Abhijit: Oh, it is still not big of a deal. But ultimately the school system is designed to only achieve milestones. The system is not interested in achieving learning. The only focus is on quarterly or yearly exams and eventually moving to next grades. If learning was the criteria the decision makers would have acted differently. But that clearly was not the case.
kanthari: Did you have experiences of children gaining something during this period?
Abhijit: Definitely. Tough experiences teach us a lot. Even during strict lockdowns, adults were trying to fix their situation back home, figured alternative ways of income, restart businesses, etc. Children were trying to understand what more could they do, since they were missing school.
They were forced to continue their studies through online classes even when work had come to a stop.
After the first six months of lockdowns in India, when we at Project DEFY started working with communities, it led us to think about our lives in many ways. It has also made us helpless. But having a community to be with and learn with was a pressing need we saw. People realized the need to be closer during this pandemic.
kanthari: As you said, the only milestone for schools was exams. But recently, the state and central government in India cancelled crucial exams. What are your thoughts about this? And who do you think will panic more – Children or parents?
Abhijit: It really depends on how far parents have been successful of imbibing the importance of examinations in children. After a point, children just become as panicky as their parents. Overall, it is just a sign of the faith that the system has been able to put in everyone’s mind, that success is proportionate to exam results. The exploration of the present is given very little importance. The education system needs to look at some other form of learning devoid exams and explore alternative methods in this time.
kanthari: So, what could schools do?
Abhijit: I am not sure what they can do and if they really have the resources to do something. What they have is a space which cannot be used now.
The only thing about schools that would in my opinion be beneficial for children is to come together and that cannot happen this year. What schools need to do according to me is, stop being schools! Forget about being closed in classrooms. They should go out into the surrounding communities. Start building a new way to learn, for example learning from being in nature. But that would not happen as they are made to function only within four walls.
kanthari: Have you been able to take advantage of this situation to make an argument for alternative learning?
Abhijit: I really hope my arguments do not need a crisis like this. In the first few months a lot of parents were thinking about what education could be and they were reflecting on their role. But as the online classes started, I do not see that intent anymore. Everyone got into a waiting mode. In a way it has gone back to a new status quo. People again are becoming deaf to listen to alternative methods of learning. However, when we, as Project DEFY team go into smaller communities, to set up a nook, there is a lot more impact and people can understand our method of learning. We introduced “FLITE projects”. FLITE is a micro educational model that can be used in homes. So, families could access learning during lockdown, it is a bit like strangers coming together in a nook to learn. But here it is the families that come together and learn together. This is executed through phone and internet for a period of three to six months where they create their own learning journey.
kanthari: Spending a lot of time together in their homes can also cause violence and abuse. What is your experience?
Abhijit: Through our facilitators, we have heard that things were awfully bad. But it helped that someone has been in touch with them from our team. It makes them a little more accountable. There is consistent communication from our side and hence families understand that what happens at home may not just stay at home. When we started the project, we felt, maybe we can help with income or skills. That is what everyone else was thinking. But the feedback from families was, the best part of this program was that someone is listening to them. This gave us a lot of encouragement and we balance listening and learning for better support. Specifically, to tackle abuse we created flyers with games where you could secretly pass on a message that you are being abused at home. That has not gone very far, but we keep experimenting.
kanthari: What will this year look like for Project DEFY?
Abhijit: In a way this year will be worse than last year with the number of deaths happening and with the health systems falling apart. But even in a crisis we need to look at opportunities to do what we can do. There is no point in planning much because we cannot predict anything anymore. We may not be able to even get out of our house. We need to be flexible to ensure this pandemic doesn’t break us. Everyone in our team has a purpose and they workday and night. That does not change this year.