Best of both worlds

Among the various exercises taken up by the CPP, Bhat ticks off earlier projects like the training of 30 illiterate women in food processing technology at the village of Sonori, the handicraft centre for women and an experiment in women8217;s co-operative farming at Vanapuri last year.

From experience gained emerged the concept of a rural-urban school children friendship exchange programme, involving 30 children from each category. Undertaken a couple of years ago, the project entitled Transforming poverty-ridden restrictive rural mind-sets to expanding emerging energising mind-sets8217; is an appropriate sample of the kind of work done by the institute.

8220;It all started when the Vanapuri Mahila Group requested us to do something for their children,8221; recalls Bhat. Visiting their school and talking to the Std VII students, the idea of an interactive programme between the rural children and their urban counterparts took root.

The preliminary research took stock of the aspirations of the rural lot: 60 per cent of the boys wished to become bus conductors, drivers, policemen; 80 per cent of the girls did not speak and the rest wanted to get into the teaching line. The urban children, on the other hand, wanted to become pilots, doctors, engineers, or get into the foreign service.

But, as Bhat explains, 8220;The decision of the children from landless families was based on their limited sphere of reference. For them, the uniforms of the bus conductor and the village police signified authority, and they wished to emulate them. But my concern was to get them to widen their horizons.8221;

The CPP arranged for the children to come to Pune and visit institutes like the Agricultural College, the National Defence Academy and the Sathe Biscuits factory. The experience proved to be an eye-opener. Talking to officers hailing from villages, learning about the benefits of scientific farming, the children were able to realise the various career opportunities possible and the tangible results of the school education which they often scorned. 8220;If not anything else, this could help minimise their drop-out rate.8221;

Then came the time for a proper exchange programme. Initially, the urban kids were given a glimpse of rural life. 8220;The village children were greatly excited on being told that they would have to explain the farming procedures to their urban friends 8211; this being their first experience of being called upon as resource persons,8221; explains the project coordinator.

8220;As a welcome gesture, there was a traditional ceremony of presenting a turban pheta to the guests, which was worn even by the hosts. Greeting cards prepared with grain stalks were also presented. The city kids had a whale of a time. Some of them had not seen a well or climbed a tree,8221; she adds.

Roles were reversed as the urban children were the hosts the next time, pointing out their laboratories, their photocopying machines, computers. By this time, their acquaintance had graduated to friendship, and they had already embarked on a regular correspondence.

This transfer of exposure resulted in widening the understanding of both sides. The change in the rural children was even more evident, as they expressed their desire to be computer literate, and 8220;we observed a remarkable change in their choice of professions.8221; Accordingly, a computer room has been set up at Vanapuri, and a mobile science laboratory Vidya Vahini8217; visited the village for children to carry out experiments.

8220;We did not stop at this exchange programme. We also organised a workshop for 62 rural teachers, introducing them to creative methods of teaching 8211; such as using nature as a teaching aid.

8220;What we realised was that despite the wide gap between the two backgrounds, there was no feeling of inferiority or superiority or language barriers between them,8221; says Bhat.

Drawing from this experience, here8217;s to more such interaction to bridge the gap between two socio-cultural milieus.