The Naag Panchami incident and the Pratham legacy

You tend to run into adventures when you’re out there. We arrived at Bahtji village at about 6 o’ clock in the evening. The area was celebrating Naag Panchami by hanging temporary swings on trees, and with...alcohol. It was a fairly large village, and everyone’s eyes were trained on us as we entered in a car too big for those streets. Whose house were we going to, was the unsaid question on their lips. We were there to visit Manisha and Janabai Vakale, 2 of the 4 volunteers of the village. These girls were students of standard 12, and had taught the Anganwadi students in July-October 2007 and during the summer camp.

'Red India' the Pratham sign read at Bahtji

The modest house was filled to capacity by us; there were about 9 of us in about a room of 4 square metres. We were joined by the Upsarpanch of the village. Tea was served and I began to ask my questions about their experience with Pratham so far. As the girls began to speak, the Upsarpanch interrupted – “Excuje me Saar...”, and then he wouldn’t stop. The rest of the conversation was spent trying to keep him quiet.

He imagined that we were here to pay some money to the girls, without his permission or knowledge. And his drunken ego was not going to take that lying down. Here is what I caught of what he said – some intended for me in English, and to impress others – ‘I’m sorry’, ‘I’m a double MA from Baba Saheb Ambedkar University’, ‘ye mulgi’ (‘this girl’), ‘please keep quiet, I am talking’. The repeating refrain, though, was ‘excuse me sir, I’m sorry’.

Pandemonium ensued. People were arguing, shouting, mediating, and suppressing laughter. In all the confusion, the electricity went off. The village men were crowding in to the doorway, curious of us outsiders, blocking all sources of light.

After he attempted a scuffle with our state head (Vishwajit sir), someone led him away. The little interrogation we managed told us that the Panchayat wasn’t forthcoming, and Manisha and Janabai often found it difficult to convince the parents to send their children to the classes. Without the Panchayat’s support, the schools too weren’t supportive. Pratham wasn’t doing as well as it should have been doing, considering their achievements in neighbouring villages, and considering that there were 4 volunteers in the village.

Manisha and Janabai Vakale

Pratham Maharashtra puts large emphasis on creating awareness among villagers towards the cause of primary education. Vachan programmes are held regularly on a Sunday at a communal place, where the children are tested on their reading and mathematics in front of the parents. They are then taught by the volunteers. All this is in order for parent’s to see their child’s progress, whether it is in regular school or in the Pratham classes. Once the parent’s are aware of the situation, they are automatically involved. The Vachan programme brought together parents in large numbers initially, and now, even if the parents might not attend, they surely send their children.

If the Vachan programme doesn’t catch their attention immediately, the work of Pratham eventually does. Pratham makes itself known slowly and surely, everywhere I visited, by virtue of its commitment and achievement. The coordinators I spoke to at Aurangabad were full of stories of how the school principal first denied them even the verandah, later gave them a room right next to his own. Stories of how the village collected money to pay the volunteers as a thank-you, how the volunteers were invited by neighbouring villages to teach. How panchayats, parents and schools were waking up to the challenge awaiting them and extending their support to Pratham.

The Naag Panchami incident (as I like to call it) showed me how it would be if Pratham was working without this awareness and support of the village. And of course, it made me realise how important those things were.

In fact, almost everyone I met at Pratham Maharashtra realises that. Everyone at every level – right from Dr Gambhir of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education who was working on the science material, to Vishwajit Sir, to Vijay Chauhan (the block coordinator for Bahtji) to the volunteers - held that one of the biggest achievements of the organisation (and not the most obvious one) was to create enthusiasm in the community about education.

And this environment that Pratham has created not only supports its work, but will outlast the Read India movement and will continue to bear fruit until much later. In fact, that is, I think, the Pratham legacy here.
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