Monday, October 13, 2008
"Fakta Timepass"
Talking to the students here (I am able to do that somehow), I hear that line more than anything else. With my ever-expanding knowledge of the Marathi language, I am starting to understand the dynamics of village life and India in general - but specifically the Ashram I am situated at. Maybe you'd understand a little more when you see their daily schedule.
5:30A Wake-up
5:50 - 6:30 Prayer/Run/Morning Exercise/Yoga
6:30 - 9:00 Morning Routine/Free Time
9:00 Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30 Class (Theory)
10:30 - 1:00P Practicals (the Ashram promotes 'Learning By Doing')
1:00 - 2:00 Lunch
2:00 - 5:30 Practicals (Cont'd)
5:30 - 7:30 Free Time (usually students go to the village and chill)
7:30 - 9:00 Meditation/Discussion
9:00 Dinner
After dinner is free-time. I believe 'Lights Out' is at 11P but that doesn't seem to be enforced.
This is the schedule everyday with the exception of Saturday where everything is the same except for the absence of class and practicals.
As you can see, not only are their days very long but there is almost six hours of practicals. I'm not sure if you all fully understand what practicals are so I'll briefly explain the educational structure of the Ashram. Students come here for a one-year course in Basic Rural Technology (BRT) and receive an accredited diploma (DBRT) upon completion of the course. The program is aimed mostly at students from rural areas who are school dropouts (but have at least passed 8th standard) and who have a desire to start their own enterprise. There are four areas of study: 1) Engineering, 2) Energy & Environment, 3) Agriculture & Animal Husbandry, 4) Home & Health. There are 8 - 9 students in each area for 3 months and then they rotate afterwards.
Engineering and Agriculture seem to have the most work and generally keep the students busy from morning until the evening. The complete opposite is the case for the other two sections. How much can you teach about cooking (esp. when they don't get to really cook) or health (esp. when they can't really practically apply lessons except from time to time, if even). Energy & Environment really has no reason to be as free as they are - there seems to be a lot to teach but the teacher tends to be slightly lazy (most of them are). I've noticed a lot of these problems in the program but unfortunately I can't really do much yet since I don't speak Marathi and I've seen the director all of 6 or 7 times in the last month I've been here.
So I asked the students the other day in my broken Marathi, "What do you guys do all day?"
"Fakta timepass."
No need to flip through my "Learn Marathi in 30 Days" book to translate that.
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Let me end this on an exciting note. I've uploaded some pictures to Flickr. (I think if you click on that sentence, the link is there. This blog theme is ghetto. I'll change it soon.)
5:30A Wake-up
5:50 - 6:30 Prayer/Run/Morning Exercise/Yoga
6:30 - 9:00 Morning Routine/Free Time
9:00 Breakfast
9:30 - 10:30 Class (Theory)
10:30 - 1:00P Practicals (the Ashram promotes 'Learning By Doing')
1:00 - 2:00 Lunch
2:00 - 5:30 Practicals (Cont'd)
5:30 - 7:30 Free Time (usually students go to the village and chill)
7:30 - 9:00 Meditation/Discussion
9:00 Dinner
After dinner is free-time. I believe 'Lights Out' is at 11P but that doesn't seem to be enforced.
This is the schedule everyday with the exception of Saturday where everything is the same except for the absence of class and practicals.
As you can see, not only are their days very long but there is almost six hours of practicals. I'm not sure if you all fully understand what practicals are so I'll briefly explain the educational structure of the Ashram. Students come here for a one-year course in Basic Rural Technology (BRT) and receive an accredited diploma (DBRT) upon completion of the course. The program is aimed mostly at students from rural areas who are school dropouts (but have at least passed 8th standard) and who have a desire to start their own enterprise. There are four areas of study: 1) Engineering, 2) Energy & Environment, 3) Agriculture & Animal Husbandry, 4) Home & Health. There are 8 - 9 students in each area for 3 months and then they rotate afterwards.
Engineering and Agriculture seem to have the most work and generally keep the students busy from morning until the evening. The complete opposite is the case for the other two sections. How much can you teach about cooking (esp. when they don't get to really cook) or health (esp. when they can't really practically apply lessons except from time to time, if even). Energy & Environment really has no reason to be as free as they are - there seems to be a lot to teach but the teacher tends to be slightly lazy (most of them are). I've noticed a lot of these problems in the program but unfortunately I can't really do much yet since I don't speak Marathi and I've seen the director all of 6 or 7 times in the last month I've been here.
So I asked the students the other day in my broken Marathi, "What do you guys do all day?"
"Fakta timepass."
No need to flip through my "Learn Marathi in 30 Days" book to translate that.
----------------------
Let me end this on an exciting note. I've uploaded some pictures to Flickr. (I think if you click on that sentence, the link is there. This blog theme is ghetto. I'll change it soon.)
