By Tang Lu
India has a long history of night schools, a unique concept introduced more than 100 years ago by social reformers in the Western state of Maharashtra to ensure that working-class people could receive an education without having to give up their day jobs.
Soon, these night schools for laborers and agricultural workers took Mumbai and other places by storm: every day after dusk fell, laborers in a variety of occupations crowded into the packed night schools. Workers hoped to change their social and economic status through the night school.
More than 100 years later, while night schools have received much less attention in India, they remain an important educational avenue for the economically marginalized and disadvantaged, especially poor women, to change their destiny.
In India, there are formal and non-formal night schools, of which the formal government-sanctioned night schools, mainly in the state of Maharashtra, provide education to school dropouts through formal schools with the same syllabus as full-time schools and certificates of passing the 10th and 12th grade examinations, while most of the privately-funded night schools are regarded as non-formal, with the syllabus being developed by the schools themselves and being aligned with the national syllabus, and harmonized with the national syllabus. Such schools usually offer more practical skills courses.
Second Chance for Dropouts
Perhaps related to the night school tradition, coupled with the fact that the state of Maharashtra, in which Mumbai is located, provides a favorable policy environment for formal night schools to function and cater to the needs of poor dropouts, Mumbai today has the largest number of night schools in India.
The network of night schools in Mumbai, comprising about 150 night schools, attracts dropouts of different age groups. Their classes are usually held in full-time school premises from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Since most of the night schools are government-funded, some of the night schools in Mumbai charge students a nominal tuition fee ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 200 per month.
Nikita Ketkar, founder of Masoom, a non-profit organization that has been working to improve the quality of education in night schools, told The Indian Express, “A three-hour night school session provides many students with just enough time to study. Students are self-motivated and night school teachers tend to be more dedicated. They realize that with neither financial resources nor more time for tuition, night school is the most important place for these students to change their destiny.”
According to Ketkar, most of the male students enrolled in Mumbai’s night schools are waiters, fruit and vegetable vendors, daily wage laborers, government department handymen or freelance businessmen, while the female students are mostly married housewives.
In fact, many of the students attend night school to pass the Secondary School Certificate or SSC exams (as the 10th grade exams are called in India) and get a secondary school certificate, which is the basic qualification to enter a university or any kind of profession. A student working as a handyman in a government department regretted that he had missed out on many promotions and pay rises because he did not get his 10th grade completion certificate.
The Indian Express reported on some of the stories of night school students in Mumbai. 16-year-old Monish Mirza, who had been in odd jobs since coming to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh, soon realized that unless he passed his formal education exams, he would be “stuck” here for the rest of his life. Mirza decided to enroll in the Dyan Vikas night school. Every day, while his peers went home after school to rest, he worked part-time as a carpenter’s assistant, making frames to put up advertising banners. Mirza says his dreams aren’t particularly grandiose; he just wants to finish 10th grade as soon as possible so he can take a vocational training course or become an insurance sales agent.
Study for the Future
Nitin Bhalekar, 35, has been working as a laborer for an electricity supply company since he dropped out of eighth grade, and for more than a decade, although he has learned many skills from technicians, he has been unable to apply for any technical positions because he does not have a full education. Currently Nitin and his wife are both attending an evening school in Mumbai. Nitin had always hoped to apply for a better position in the company through his studies, but it was a school note from his son that prompted the couple to decide to go to night school.
That day, his son took out a note from the English-medium school that said, in English, “The oral examination will be held in a few days. Unsure of the meaning of “oral,” Nitin took the slip and asked around. Although he eventually understood the meaning, Nitin realized strongly that “if I don’t educate myself first, I won’t know anything about my children’s education”.
Like Nitin, many “parent students” attend night school not only to change their own destiny, but also for the future of the next generation.
Pinky Jaiswal, a 30-year-old Mumbai housewife who is attending eighth grade in an evening school, has aspired to a banking job since she was a child, but her lack of a secondary school certificate almost made her give up on that dream. Jaiswal comes from a poor family in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. When she was a student in her hometown, Jaiswal was forced to drop out of school when she failed to do well in one of her final exams and her father, who was poor and ill, used this as an excuse to declare that he would no longer spend money on her education. Married, Jaiswal still dreamed of going from housewife to bank clerk. “I don’t want to be a maid anymore cleaning houses for other people, I want a good job with a good salary.” “I want to study so I can be self-sufficient – my daughter will never have to live like me again.” she said.
According to a preliminary study conducted by Masoom on night schools in several cities in Maharashtra, the SSC exam pass rate for night school students has risen from less than 30% to 60% to 80% in the last 10 years, with a dozen of them having pass rates as high as 100%.
Several cases show that some students have successfully moved on to a new life after graduating from night schools, and some of them have entered universities to continue and complete their higher education, with some even pursuing doctoral degrees. There are also a number of night school graduates who have taken the initiative to participate in running night school trust funds or joining non-governmental organizations related to the evening school business.
“Night school has given me a second chance to stand on my own feet and live a dignified life,” says a divorced woman who graduated from a night school in Lower Parel, Mumbai.
“Harvard University of the Rural India”
Unlike Mumbai’s night schools, the Barefoot College, which was born in 1972 in the Rajasthan village of Tilonia, belongs to a different category: non-formal night schools. After interviewing Barefoot College last year, American columnist Nicholas Kristof described it as “the Harvard University of rural India ，minus wingtips or heels”.
For more than 50 years, Barefoot College has successfully trained illiterate villagers to become barefoot entrepreneurs, nutritionists, engineers, and doctors through non-formal education that teaches skills ranging from medicine to solar engineering.
In particular, Kristof recounts the story of Chota Devi, an illiterate woman of Dalit origin. Dalits are untouchables who are at the bottom of India’s caste system. In rural India, discrimination against the low castes by the high castes is ubiquitous. After six months of training at the Barefoot College, Chota went from illiterate to a solar technician, skilled in making solar lanterns and installing solar lighting systems. With this job, Chota now earns 80 dollars a month. She is proud to say that every time she returns to her home village, the villagers even call her “ma’am” with respect, something that is almost unimaginable for Dalits.
Chota’s story reflects the Barefoot College philosophy that, given the right circumstances, anyone can learn what they want to learn. Bunker Roy, the founder of Barefoot College, says the college encourages students to try things and realize they can do anything. Barefoot College alumni emphasize that their learning “comes from doing, experimenting and making mistakes”.
Barefoot College has now established nearly 30 solar-powered digital evening schools in 10 states across India, utilizing facilities such as solar projectors and offline servers to provide digital non-formal education solutions to remote off-grid poor communities.
To date, approximately 1,000 children who were previously out of school have been reintegrated into the formal education system, and approximately 57 per cent of these students are girls.
In addition to children, Barefoot College places special emphasis on building the capacity of older rural women to transform the quality of life in rural villages by improving their skills. Keisha Devi was a daily wage laborer before joining Barefoot College in 2009. She studied dentistry under the guidance of an Italian doctor at the Barefoot College and received training in basic homeopathy and biochemical drug management.
Devi said, “There used to be no dentist in our village. Now, I teach children how to brush their teeth and also do simple dental treatments like cleaning plaque, fillings and extractions …… I have successfully treated thousands of patients here.”
Magan Kanwal was one of the first solar engineers trained at the Barefoot College, and she graduated 20 years ago and hasn’t left since. As head of the Solar Engineering Training Center, Kanwar regularly lectures to women from electrified villages around the world. While watching Kanwar explain complex circuits with ease, it’s hard to imagine that she didn’t even graduate from elementary school. Yet by watching, learning and practicing, Kanwar has been able to install, operate and repair complex solar systems with ease, and has traveled to various countries to train barefoot solar engineers.
In a documentary, Kanwar describes how she thought she would never be able to master solar lighting technology because of her lack of education, but after a lot of time and hard work, she was finally able to do so.
“If I can do it, I believe other people can do it,” Kanwar emphasizes, adding that one of the most successful aspects of the Barefoot College is that it allows women to be trained and ultimately become independent. And it proves how important education is for women. #
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