Fighting mindsets
Integrating art in a system that fails to recognise individuality was one of the biggest problems. The industrial design of the school hinders the exploration of children and without changing that, the effect of art is limited. Making the case of art in a community that didn’t fully understand the importance of education was another battle altogether.
Initially, there was a lot of pushback from the community and teachers. But as more and more people got involved and became active participants in the workshops, they started valuing it more and more. Art not only contributed a great deal in changing the way the people of Kalaunjar looked at the the world but also the way they interacted with each other.
Dealing with constraints
Time often proves to be the biggest constraint of them all. Often students and teachers would suggest to increase the duration of the workshops to be able to cover more ground in the sessions.
In an environment of limited resources, getting teachers out of school for training is an impossible feat. Teacher trainings were conducted during school hours leading to short attention spans and distractions.
Motivating People
Telling teachers how to teach is almost like walking into someone’s home and telling them how to live. Developing an evolved understanding around learning is often more about unlearning - a time consuming and difficult task. Complacency and resistance to change is the default state for many educators, especially in the government system. To bring about a shift in that attitude involves the demanding task of putting a larger vision before personal needs.
Brick and mortar
Infrastructure is a tricky domain to venture into, especially in a public school. And while the involvement can lead to messy politics, the perceived value of infrastructure is the most. Infrastructure and the physicality of it makes it easy for people to measure progress and judge it for themselves.
The lack of leadership at the school coupled with changing headmasters caused the pace of change to suffer the most. 12 lakhs given by the Bihar government for the construction of the building was returned unused because no one was willing to take responsibility for breaking the existing building.
Quest’s inexperience in the construction space didn’t help either. With the community knowing more about construction than the QA team, it became hard to decipher who is speaking the truth.
Hesitant collaborators
Initially there was some resistance from students to accept their peers as leaders but over time, taking note of the changes in school, they have also found opportunities to take on responsibilities. The headmaster and teachers were also hesitant to work towards creating an active SMC fearing more accountability and less freedom.
Both the student bodies and the SMC have been critical in driving change in the school. They have not only stood tall and supported different changes but have also stepped up and taken on additional responsibilities and initiated activities for the betterment of the school.
Leadership at the school
One of the biggest hurdles to building a conducive learning environment in school was the lack of leadership. With the school seeing three headmasters in the last three years, every transfer would result in starting from scratch again. Besides that, each headmaster brought with themselves their own dogmas and biases and a huge resistance to change.
Trying to change something first requires admitting that what is happening is insufficient, and admitting that means taking responsibility of the situation at hand. This is easier said than done. At the same time, admitting is only half the battle won. Bringing about change involved all stakeholders to change their outlook towards learning.
Environment can be a fairly intangible process to grasp and monitor. And while there might be behavioural cues, the intangibility makes positive reinforcement slightly more difficult. Perhaps the most difficult things to change, is also one that makes the most impact.