Letter to Aindri on her 8th birthday

 My darling jhia,

Today you turn 8 years old.

Your excitement for your birthday continues unabated and it is a lovely thing to have. I hope for you to continue having this excitement all your life long.

For your 7th birthday, since the COVID-19 pandemic was not well in control, we decided to do an outdoor birthday again. Remember, the 6h one was at the beach! We zeroed in on Tree Park, the one right beside TAPMI. The usual suspects were invited, your dear friend Tingia turned up from Bangalore, food was ordered to be delivered right at the park, and the theme of the birthday was the one thing you were obsessed with at that time - Elsa (of the Frozen fame). You had an Elsa dress to wear (with a cape and all), the decoration stuff were of that theme, and yes, your mother, continuing the tradition of baking your birthday cakes herself, made one with the Elsa theme. It was a good outing. You kids played a little bit post the celebration.

The year saw you going to school regularly as the shadow of Covid slowly dissipated. While academically you have been doing very good, a matter of deep concern was about your lunch. The slightly picky eater that you are (and I plead guilty on that count), your mother took on this task of catering to your demands and preparing wide variety of snacks and lunch. By the end of the year you started adapting to 'hot lunch' at school. Time shall tell how long that trend will continue.

We went to Odisha in April, braving the summer in Talcher. You fell ill with viral enteritis and it was a tough time. Later we watched a play (your first in fact), Ahe Nila Shaila in Bhubaneswar and you enjoyed the experience. We again went to Odisha in July, though just for three days, because your friend Tingia was getting married and no way we could miss it. Some relations, that we build ourselves, must be valued; and relationships take work to be maintained.

There was a lot of uncertainty going on about the fate of MMMC, where we work, and that occupied our thoughts for a large part of the year. But amidst all that we embarked on what would turn out as the highlight of 2022 - the Europe trip. We were very unsure, how it would go with you, for we had never travelled that long and that far earlier. The planning and preparation, which you witnessed closely, went on for months. We did it all by ourselves and with all the aspirations and aspersions undertook the journey on August 28.

We visited Stockholm where our family members live and had a great time there. We went to the gorgeous Amsterdam, to the beautiful Ghent & Bruges, then the tourist haven of Paris. You were super cooperative and walked on and on while we enjoyed these lovely European cities. You must be commended for that for in a day we used to hit more than 15k steps. You adjusted to the food too. It was a unique experience and to cherish it we have made an album of the photos and memorabilia collected. I hope you will remember the Louvre (which was a dream for me when I read the book by Dan Brown) and the Mona Lisa in it. I hope you will remember the thousands of cyclists and the beautiful canals in Amsterdam. I hope you will remember the city tour and metros of Stockholm and above all the good time spent with family. 

Your 'nani' came back from Stockholm with us and you have enjoyed the pampering of a grandparent of late. I can see that it has instilled in you the art of being demanding, but it is all fun. You started learning Karate this year and after a few sessions grew bored with it. You have started going to music classes recently. You want to join dance classes too. It is all good to try new things. Some things will stick others won't, but remember nothing will come easy. Play also needs a dedication like work for it to transform into a habit.

A lot happened in the world. Russia and Ukraine went into war and which disrupted many things. Lives were lost, economic downturn came about, geopolitical crisis continues as I write this. Wars are never good you see. Queen Elizabeth died, when we were in Stockholm. Football World Cup was won by Argentina and the g.o.a.t (not the animal) Messi got his due (though we didn't watch the WC). Countries like Iran saw women asking for their rights, and the protests continued for months. China saw protests as well and by the end of the year the Covid situation there worsened. The World started plating Wordle. Artificial Intelligence took an interesting turn with ChatGPT (I wonder how you kids will write assignments 8-10 years from now). The James Webb Space Telescope sent pictures back and we learnt so much about space and stars and galaxies.

After a break of two years, the last time when you danced to "Bhumro bhumro" and was also am emcee for the program, your school had the Annual Day in November. Endless practice (rolls eyes) for the dance-drama 'Punyakoti' ensued and you were pretty excited to be a cow. You were equally disappointed when you were replaced as an emcee this time. Showed how much you cared for it. Good thing. Perhaps will motivate you to try harder for things that matter to you.

The end of the year also brought an end to the long run we have had with the car! The car that was of your 'Nanu' and got passed on to your Ma. The car in which you came home from hospital after your month-and-a-half stint in NICU. The car in which we went to places we could - those tens of visits to beaches, restaurants, school-of-course. Material things do become a part of our life for they are associated with the memories we make. But material things are material things at the end of the day. We finally, and on the new year day, brought home a new car. I hope we get to create memories and much better ones in this one too.

As I write this letter, this year we are planning to have your birthday at home this time. The usual suspects have been invited. You have become tad bit greedy with wanting large number of gifts.

You are growing fast and growing tall! You are exhibiting a sense of humor which is a nice thing (I am bad at that anyway). Some teenagy behavior is also being observed which is, at least not yet, giving us sleepless nights. Your compassion and understanding of things continues to surprise us sometimes. Hope you keep that up. It is essential to be a good person, everything else comes next or rather follows.

Always remember, we love you the most.

Papa

Why media should not be allowed into schools

Creator: razihusin | Credit: Getty Images/iStockphot0

Following the airing of a new clip showing the inability of children of a government school in Dhenkanal district in answering few fundamental questions, education officers have directed school principals to not allow media personnel into school premises and even file police complaints if required to prevent entry without permission. While the issue of poor learning outcomes is a serious one and the government must be asked questions about the same, media personnel barging into schools and thrusting a mic on an unassuming child is surely not the way to go about it.

Highlighting the concern

That school education is an important pillar of any society is well known. Equally well known is the fact that school education in most parts of India is poor in quality as well as quantity. Despite the best of intentions, inadequate number of teachers, ill-trained teachers, curricular lacunae, pathetic infrastructure, etc, has marred school education, including that in Odisha. The responsibility of the fourth estate of the democracy lies in constantly questioning the government of the day about measures that are being taken to fill such gaps. Such reportage, highlighting the concerns have made people and powers that be sit up and take notice.

That said, the education quality, the achieving of learning outcomes cannot be tested by reporters and journalists by asking a random few questions to any school kid. There are several good reasons for it, the first being that there is a due statistical process to evaluate these outcomes and sampling by picking any random child won’t provide the true picture. Doing that would border on sensationalism to put it mildly. Secondly, there is the issue of ethics. Does the child, a minor, provide consent to be interviewed and for it to be aired? Would there be an easy way for the video to be taken off the internet if in future the child or her parents would demand so? Would the reporter ask similar question to, say a top bureaucrat’s child? Thirdly, school is meant to be a safe space. It is ideally meant to foster growth in a non-threatening environment. The presence of any third party encroaching that space does not augur well for children at large.

School education in Odisha

The Ministry of Education recently introduced the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for schools in the country which evaluates schools on five parameters – Learning Outcomes & Quality, Access, Infrastructure and Facilities, Equity and Governance Processes. For the year 2019-20, the latest which has been published, Odisha figured in Grade I along with states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. There has been an increase in its grade from 2017-18. No guesses that following the 5T transformation of schools, the improvement has been in the infrastructure and facilities domain.

Odisha scored relatively low in learning outcomes & quality, the domain that deals with standard of students in language and mathematics (the bone of contention in the case) in standard 3, 5 and 8 in government and aided schools. In the PGI, average scores in both language and mathematics declined as the class progressed from 3 to 8.

As per Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) of 2021, student enrolment in Odisha in private schools is increasing; more and more children are taking private tuitions (nearly 15 % jump from 2020), a mere 36% household reported that they received learning material when schools were closed during the pandemic.  Earlier ASER report of 2018 showed that a mere 35% children in Standard III were able to read Standard II level text in government schools while it was 64.5% in private schools. When it comes to arithmetic, 23.8% children in Class V of government schools could do a division meant for Standard II while in private the percentage was 43.2.

Ask questions – the right ones

The issue of not making spectacle of poor learning outcomes applies to ministers and bureaucrats too. Only a few days ago, the concerned minister during a school visit directed deducting salary of a headmistress due to poor response by a student. The whole 'catching by surprise' plank does not augur well with children in a school. The disallowing media person into schools is also seen in Odisha in conjunction of them being kept out of the secretariat, SCB medical college, etc, the latter being highly condemnable; yet which cannot be conflated with the issue of minor school children.

Not allowing media personnel to enter schools should not deter them from raising issues about school education. There are several studies starting from ASER to NITI Aayog to Ministry of Education which regularly survey schools which provide information about state of affairs. Teacher shortage is a massive concern and media should highlight that. RTI tools should be employed to learn more about quality of teachers, appointments, irregularities, etc. Nothing stops media houses, number of which are mushrooming each day, from investigating multitude of issues that plague school education. That said, these are more effortful processes as compared to asking few questions of mathematics to the unassuming school children.

Mummy & School

Ever since we (speaking on behalf of my sister too) have gained sense of the world, Mummy and school has been conjoint words for us. My mother is a school teacher who retires today. After working for 39 years and 9 months. Retiring as Headmistress of a school where you started working would be special; and Mummy has had a unique stint. Joining as a teacher in a school which was established in 1977, and well before she was married, Deulbera Colliery Model Nodal High School (current name; else for us it has always been Model High School) has been an integral part of her life.

We stayed close to the school. In a Miners Quarter (MQ in short) allotted to teachers. We could hear the school bell ring (the piece of railway track iron with a hole made in it) at 10 in the morning, then the recess and so on. School, though we didn't study there, has been an integral part of our lives as well. 

My earliest memories involve being pampered by Mummy's colleagues, going on school trips, being around in umpteen number of school functions which would involve song preparation (In the karaoke days, those sessions don't happen, so iykyk), Ganesh puja & Saraswati puja at school, the sports days, etc. In summers there would be "bundles" of answer papers at home which Mummy would correct and sometimes I got to add the marks of. There would be morning school on Saturdays and in later years in scorching summers of Odisha.

39 years and 9 months is a long time. Mummy has seen up close the school transform from being a colliery school (Talcher is India's top coal producing city), to semi-govt status, to being accorded high school status and finally at the end of her career being "transformed" (infrastructure upgradation) as per an endeavour of the Odisha government.

Back in the day whenever Mummy's student would cross path on the road on a bicycle, whatever the speed, they would get down, to pay their respect. I found it very amusing and quite irksome. I hope they don't do it these days. From what I have learnt, Mummy has been quite a disciplinarian, something that she perhaps have taken from my grandfather and the early headmaster's she has worked under. Never one to physically punish students (something that was common many years back; remember 39 years), her no-nonsense attitude perhaps set the rules.

Through the years Mummy taught various subjects, originally from Sahitya (literature) to history, to Odia and more. The workload at school had only increased over the years and the last stretch of being Headmistress has been stressful for her. But she enjoyed her work. To get things at home done, get ready, wear that saree (earlier there was no uniform for teachers), grab the bag and walk to school (take the auto, later when we shifted house) has been a routine we have witnessed growing up.

Mummy not merely did her job, but her commitment to the school, the burning many midnight lamps (sometimes literally because we had a lot of power cuts) to prepare some or the other document (Hand written. People with good handwriting like her often get more work), to focus on moral values of students, to support (train actually) co-curricular activities of students, bring innovative ideas has contributed in making Model High School stand out among other schools. 

To not do that from tomorrow onwards will be surely different. A 39 years 9 month long routine builds a muscle memory of different kind. The psyche is attuned to that. Couple of generation of men and women have been her students now. Leaving all that, shifting to a new city later, will be challenging and will truly herald a second innings (however cliche the expression sounds). 

An almost four-decade long career, which she herself wonders how she pulled through, has come to a close today. It is time to reminiscence the days gone by, the fond associations, the moments of glory, the richness of service provided, the immense learning that has occurred, the innumerable lives touched. And through those thoughts look forward to better things.

For Model High School, Subhasree Mishra will be an integral part of its existence and growth. For hundreds of students, Mishra didi will have played some role in their lives. For us, Mummy and school will always be conjoint words.