The following blog draws on a recent blog post by Martin Macwan, founder of Navasarjan. You can see the full post by going to the Navsarjan middle school website. You can also visit the Navsarjan website or read our recent posts on the great work that is happening in Gujarat, India.
Excerpts from a post by Martin Macwan, Founder of Navsarjan Middle Schools and GEF Partner
Should there be caste in schools?
Navsarjan Trust has grappled with this specific question for the past three decades, just like many concerned citizens of India. However, with due respect to our national progress on many counts, the fact remains that caste continues even today, especially in Gujarat public schools, where children, and at times the teachers, are discriminated against on the basis of their caste identity. Thus, caste has become a national shame and an international embarrassment.
Post-Independence, our national vision for education was to train and raise citizens, and not a caste-ridden generation. Navsarjan Trust has made a breakthrough in its own primary boarding schools (grades 5-8) to break the bonds of caste and sub-caste, and created an environment where children across castes live and learn together.
Navsarjan schools’ slogan is NO PLASTIC; NO CASTE.
There is a need to understand that caste is equally, if not more, dangerous to the future of our society alongside a clean environment.
In Navsarjan boarding schools, each student’s family contributes Rs 750 monthly to cover meals for the student. Beyond this, Navsarjan schools are required to raise donations to support teachers’ salaries and cover other related school expenses such as teaching and learning materials, electricity costs, etc. To date, Navsarjan schools have received significant support from foreign donations, including support from GEF. However, Navsarjan is now aiming to find ways to increase donations and support from local Indian and community donations.
To this end, Navsarjan recently organized a school event in which concerned citizens were encouraged to participate in and witness how a Navsarjan school functions. The event was intended to showcase the quality of education which can be achieved if teachers and students co-construct a value system of EQUALITY. It was also an opportunity to raise funds and pledges from friends. We are pleased to report that we raised about 400,000 Rupees or around $6,300 USD at the event. We also invited concerned citizens to turn our idea of NO PLASTIC; NO CASTE into a movement.
For more information please contact us at info@globaleducationfund.org.
