SCHOOL LEADER AS BRIDGE BETWEEN SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY

School Heads are responsible for the overall operation of their schools. The role of head teacher or the School Head has become more crucial now than ever before in view of limited resources and increased expectations from schools. School leaders play an important role in strengthening the ties between school staff and the communities that surround them (Fullan, 2001).

But I think that school leaders and their school staff alone cannot do much for the improvement of the school and for the students without the support of the community because community is a place where the children are brought up and learn new skills and it provides platform for self learning. Thereby, community is the learning ground for children which provides them opportunities for their all round development. School leader should know how to use available resources effectively for involving the community and its members for the development of the school and students.

I visited an Upper Primary School, which was located at Ajitgarh, Jhunjhunu, which was headed by Mr. Sohan Lal, who was very enthusiastic about   participation of community in the development of his school. He regularly attended the meeting with the Sarpanch and he always took help from the Sarpanch for the betterment of the school. For example he took help from the Sarpanch for the maintenance of the floor of the school and the Sarpanch was always ready to help the school.

If school takes initiatives for making community as a member of school and involve parents in decision making process for their child’s progress so parents also feel that they are the part of the school and they have right to take decisions for their child so that they feel comfortable and satisfied about their child’s holistic development.

School leader can involve community members with the help of organising different activities like Bal Mela, Exhibition of hand made things prepared by students, Sports Day Celebration, Annual Day Celebration etc. in which community members including parents can visit and give their contribution in the development of school and the students.

Reference:

Fullan, M. (2001) Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

MADARSA LEADER CAN BE THE CHANGE AGENT FOR MADARSA REFORM

In the book “Madrasa Education in Modern India...A study” by Saral Jhingran which I am currently reading, the government’s scheme of Modernisation of Madarsa comes across as a striking example of how language barriers and lack of willingness on part of the government to understand the concerns of traditional bastions of education, can potentially affect the adaptation of a ‘scheme’. As we all know that Government schemes for Madarsa have been introduced for past ten years but no significant change has occurred, especially in the context of learning of modern subjects among Madarsa students.  In this context, the author talks about two government schemes of modernisation of Madarsa (first scheme ‘MOM’, 1993-94 and second SPQEM, 2009). The main reason for their unsuccessful implementation was the repeated opposition of the Maulanas and other advocates of Madarsa who expressed opposition to the idea of including modern subjects in the Madarsa nisab (syllabus), especially if the idea was initiated by the government. Another reason was that the Madarsa curriculum with ‘dini’ syllabus was too heavy in content and combining it with the transaction of the modern curriculum was making it difficult for Madarsa students to master either of them. Now it becomes essential for us to understand that some criteria should be fixed to bring balance between deeni talim and worldly education so that they can acquire both kind of learning and be able to choose an option for higher education.

Further, as Jhingran mentions, in one of the conferences held at Deoband in 1994, Maulana Marghub ur-Rehman, the Rector of Darul Uloom, argued and concluded that Islam being the perfect religion and the perfect guide for the entire life, no other kind of education was needed. It was also declared that Madarsa were doing an impressive job in achieving the goal of imparting Islamic education to Muslim children, and preparing them for guiding and leading the Muslim community in all dimensions of their lives. Despite ‘no other kind of education was needed’ maxim of the Maulanas, it is important for us to realize that coping with this challenging world is no easy task. In today’s world, the teaching of modern subjects is almost an unstated fact, and to devoid a community’s children from exposure to this world, is an equally unacceptable practice.

As we all know Madarsa is for Islamic education but in this competitive world Madarsa students cannot reach their full potential or even survive comfortably, only on the basis of religious education, which has little takers in the modern world of high-end skills and knowledge of science. To earn a decent livelihood, it is required to include modern subjects in Madarsas syllabus from standard I in order to create an open field for Madarsa student to enter into higher education after completing Madarsa courses, if they so want. In future, also they can be eligible for job in every sector on the basis of both Islamic and modern education.

In some Madarsas modern subjects are implemented by way of transaction, but there is little internalization as compared to a modern day school. Modern subjects are being taught only in the name of introduction of the subjects, no such strict criteria and time table is followed for teaching of modern subjects. Even the Madarsa management committee, community members and parents do not seem to be concerned about the same. Schemes of government are in English so it becomes a barrier for ulemas and maulanas to understand the scheme fully, and as a  result, the schemes are perceived in such a way that there they would harm the purpose of  religious studies, creating a cycle of non- implementation. Therefore it is required to translate schemes in Urdu language and make the beneficiaries understand the right intent and the purpose of the schemes, which are not essentially against the identity of the Madarsas.

HOW THE BEAUTIFUL TREE PERISHED….

I thought Indian educational system has been backward or more the less mediocre since time immemorial. But this perspective changed after I browsed through the book ‘The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century’, written by Dharampal (1922–2006), Gandhian thinker, historian and political philosopher from India. Through this book he has enabled the Indian masses to reconsider the conventional views we had about India before its conquest by the British.

In ‘The beautiful tree’, he quotes Mahatma Gandhi as saying….

…………..That does not finish the picture. We have the education of this future state. I say without fear of my figures being challenged successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because the British administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the soil and began to look at the root, and left the root like that, and the beautiful tree perished. The village schools were not good enough for the British administrator, so he came out with his programme. Every school must have so much paraphernalia, building, and so forth. Well, there were no such schools at all. There are statistics left by a British administrator which show that, in places where they have carried out a survey, ancient schools have gone by the board, because there was no recognition for these schools, and the schools established after the European pattern were too expensive for the people, and therefore they could not possibly overtake the thing. I defy anybody to fulfill a programme of compulsory primary education of these masses inside of a century. This very poor country of mine is ill able to sustain such an expensive method of education. Our state would revive the old village schoolmaster and dot every village with a school both for boys and girls.

(Mahatma Gandhi at Chatham House, London, October 20, 1931)

The beautiful tree written by Dharampal is available on the following link

www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/beautifultree.pdf

More on Dharampal and his work can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharampal

So if you thought that India has been reeling with caste system, illiteracy, backwardness and paucity of schools, this book would be an ideal read to remind us  that once upon a time we had our own wonderful indigenous educational system …..the beautiful tree.... which was destroyed by the British because they knew that this destruction would crush India…..we fought against them and won our independence …but we have not yet freed ourselves from the system of education that they have prescribed for us…when will that happen?

… PURPOSE IN POSITIVE INTERACTIONS …

Peer interactions, I think, are vital for growth of any organization. And more so in educational institutions because schools are nurturing students for their various adult and global roles. Therefore, I think, the inter play of relations among staff members and between staff vis-a-vis  school leader is very important in schools. No organization is devoid of relations- good or bad- they do exist and are, in a way, the barometer of its growth and health. But, I think, in schools these relations need to move beyond being good or bad and must be guided to a higher level of being Purposeful - Purpose of bettering student achievement levels across the school.  Peer interactions in staff need to be goal- focused because, only and only, purposeful discussions and exploratory deliberations can lead to new directions and creative solutions to persistent and enigmatic problems, which are many in schools. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that some deliberation time must be earmarked in Time tables.

I am of the firm opinion that such an intervention will go a long way in creating positive intra relationships among teachers in the school. But bringing teachers to a table where they can   Share problems and dilemmas, is in itself, according to me, a great sticky problem for a school leader. Only that leader can bring people to a discussion table whose personality is richly endowed with confidence, concern and affection. This is so because if the leader is not confident, is not genuinely concerned and has no affection than he cannot give it, simply because he does not have it.  Therefore, only a leader whose heart is in the right place, in my opinion, can lead his/her flock to create confident professional and positive personal relationships. Each person in this world values his / her relationships because each good relationship fills a void in one’s life and adds a new dimension and meaning to life. For all human beings, irrespective of the profession they belong to, Meaningful Relationships lead to fulfillment and a lot of happiness. Truly- happy people, I believe, make even tedious work seem easier. What I am alluding to is that meaningful relationships contribute to meaningful work. And as the time passes each relationship adds on and helps create and build an umbrella-like stimulating and motivating environment which has growth germinating in it.  And from this positive and caring environment, in my belief, emerges a sort of cohesion and ownership which paves and forges a path which can only lead to qualitative improvement and growth…      

SCHOOLS NEED TO OPEN UP...

                                                     SCHOOLS  NEED TO OPEN UP…                                                        “…when a school has its act together…they become more confident and proactive in seeking parent and community connections…” (Leadership and sustainability; Michael Fullan; p. 60)

 In my view , Schools as institutions exist in the society for the development of the society.   But in recent times schools, in general, seem to have disconnected from the community around it or it could also be because of some reasons best known to it, community keeps away from the school. I think in both the situations, schools are bound to be affected because it nests in society and entry to the nest cannot be insulated/gated for the’ birds whose progeny’ are inside. schools need to open up to participation, that too actively, by the parents and community .

The way forward is, I think, to set up active channels of communication –directly and indirectly through notes PTMs, SMCs, telephones and magazines in a conventional way and could also be through participation in all school activities. All this, in my view, could invite the community for partnerships for increasing achievement levels of students.  Because in my opinion , communication has to be less of a criticism and more of supportive and positive  so that  students do not have to face a non threatening environment at home .This kind of communication could prove to be an effective intervention which could help build more supportive learning environments at home. Consequently, may be bringing children closer to parents.

This kind of active participation between parent and community, I believe, could also trigger a perceptual image makeover of the school. It would definitely enthuse and comfort, me as a unit of , the parent  and community to know what transpires with children in school. They would be eager to work , and it would come  intrinsically ,for the development of the  school .But I  believe, that such channels of communications can be only established   by any school which has already fostered an  inter relational strong trust between the school leader, staff and the students prior to venturing out for trust building measures. Only Confident leadership supported confident staff who have established a positive work culture within the school will open their schools for scrutiny….

Leader as a Facilitator

I want to share one successful story of a school head of Uttarakhand. When he was appointed in the school he had no infrastructural facilities, had no resources, the condition of the school was very bad, He did not get any support from the school management. Then he gave his contribution at his own expenses in improving the condition of the school. His family members also joined him in this work. His wife prepared mid day meal for the students. He spent all his income and monthly pension for the improvement of the school. Then he started taking help from the community and now the school has all the required facilities and the condition of the school is very good. By investing his own resources in the pursuit of his vision of quality education for every child in the community, he has won the trust and support of his staff and parent community. By seeking out the primary cause of drop-outs and creating hostels to solve the problem, he has demonstrated concern for his students and has shown the way for finding creative and innovative solutions. This is a live example of a facilitative leader.

What are the qualities which makes a leader a facilitator?

In the module Leadership Effectiveness, Education Leadership Programme Courses by Center for Education Management and Development, (pp-1) the author defines the qualities of a facilitative leader that he is a visionary and is focuses on specific goals and objectives. Driven by values, he is humanitarian and has a balanced and serene temperament. He is centered and conscientious, a lifelong learner, a proactive, rational, liberal thinker, with vast experience, the leader is innovative, creative, empowering, impartial, supportive, flexible, open minded and transparent, with a polite bearing. He is able to accept criticism, act as counselor, deep thinker, problem solver, is able to accept his shortcomings and believes in others’ abilities and competence and has concern towards increasing others’ competence and welfare. “The facilitator is a person who helps a group free itself from internal obstacles and difficulties so that it may more efficiently pursue its goals.” (Thomas  Keyser, pp-26).

But I think somehow this model is too theoretical because it is not possible for an individual to have all these qualities. He may be efficient in one field and another one may be efficient in another field. So we should make this more practical so that it can be implemented in real life situations so that it can be helpful in making the process of education more effective.

Here I would like to conclude that the facilitative leaders might be the first to innovate, but the last to produce real-world results. But leaders cannot do this work individually. They need support from all the members of the school, students, community participation. All of them should work together in a collaborative manner with team spirit. Only then the institution can achieve its goal successfully. Thus a facilitative leader channelizes the energies and skills of his team to achieve the set targets.

Reference:

· Leadership Effectiveness, Education Leadership Programme Courses by Centre for Education Management and Development

·       www.doh.state.fl.us/family/mch/training/leadership/leadership.ppt

‘Intelligent schools’: what does it mean?

In the book  ‘Policy and Practice in Education’ which I am currently reading, by Jim O’ Brien, Daniel Murphy and Janet Draper, the concept of “Intelligent School” strikes me as a particularly useful concept to think about school improvement that is so urgently needed in India. Around the year 1999 Scotland redefined the organizational structure of the improving school and made providing a good education for their pupils the core mission for each school, terming this new school an ‘Intelligent school’. This self- aware model of schooling envisages a community in which both teachers and learners are aware of what makes for effective and successful learning. In this kind of model the teachers and the learners are open to new learning and are open to respect the diversity involved in learning and work with and for each other to develop a healthy climate of mutual support and respect.

 I think ‘Intelligent School’ doesn’t mean producing good examination results only. School should not be working as an organization that needs to be constantly monitored and evaluated by an external body instead, it should be intrinsically motivated to develop within itself quality learning and development among students, teachers, head teachers and managements with the main aim of bringing wholistic development.

I agree with the Scottish concept of the ‘Intelligent School’. In India there is no such concept of intelligent school, but it can be developed by adapting some features of ‘Scottish Intelligent School’, some features of ‘successful schools’ of other countries and by setting and implementing some new norms to make a school an ‘Intelligent School’. Here I have shared some of my own thoughts to make Indian schools ‘Intelligent Schools’, they are:

Ø  Shared vision: every member of the school must understand, share and contribute to the vision of school, otherwise will not be able to achieve its goal.

Ø  Team learning/team building: sharing of ideas and learning should be important for a school.

Ø  Practice skill among each individual so that it is internalized.

Ø  Develop the school system as a whole, not in separate parts.

Ø  Encourage school members in teams to develop mental models that are more realistic in work place.

Ø   Role of teachers and school heads need to change.

·         They should keep up their reading and writing habits.

·         They should update their knowledge time to time.

Ø  Each and every member of the school community should learn and be aware of new technologies.

Ø  School administrators need to be transformed to school leaders.

Ø  Active participation of community and parents should be encouraged for a successful school.

I need everyone’s suggestions and comments to make Indian schools more effective, therefore I put a question here, What steps should be taken to make Indian school an ‘Intelligent school’?