Learning through doing

When concern for the poor is largely missing in today8217;s world, the passing away of Dr Srinath Kalbag, whose monumental contribution in ...

When concern for the poor is largely missing in today8217;s world, the passing away of Dr Srinath Kalbag, whose monumental contribution in making hundreds of rural youngsters, mostly school dropouts, into self-made rural entrepreneurs, is a sad event.

Kalbag8217;s idea of seeking 8216;vanaprastha8217; was by migrating to the drought-prone village of Pabal, in Pune district, where he lived with wife Mira in a home, some 250-odd square feet, on top of a hillock, for two and a half decades. This was not done to 8220;get away8221; from the hassles of living in Mumbai and breathe fresh air. It was done to breathe life into the talents and intelligence of Rural India, to make 8220;Bharat8221; stand on its feet.

He had retired as a senior corporate head of Hindustan Lever8217;s engineering science division and could well have afforded to look after his own comforts. Instead, his mission was to spread non-formal science education to rural youngsters through the concept of 8220;learning by doing8221;. He was convinced that the present educational system was the wrong barometer to judge the intelligence of a child since 8220;you never use your hands to do what you learn because you never learn what is relevant to real life8221;. And he would add, 8220;Isn8217;t it a pity that an engineering student who is supposed to be armed with technical knowledge, knocks at the door of a mechanic to repair his bike?8221;

When he was a young man, he had decided that he would spend 27 years as a breadwinner and the next 27 years to launch a movement. His approach was two-fold: First, he got in touch with renowned educationists like J.P. Naik and Chitra Naik at the Indian Institute of Education, Pune. This resulted in the inclusion of an extra subject in the school curriculum called 8216;Non-formal science education8217;. Many schools in and around Pabal adopted it.

His other mission was to expose school dropouts to 8220;usable technologies8221; that would make them learn and earn. The were made to master the art and science of masonry. Thus sprouted a few 8220;kutiyas8221; 8212; one of them, a pathology lab, wherein various blood and urine tests were done at throwaway prices.

Kalbag brought computers to the Vigyan Ashram and many a school dropout turned literate. A four-wheeler called Mechbull was engineered at the ashram at a cost of Rs 60,000. A portable ground water locator kit was made by Kalbag for a nominal sum and youngsters turned into entrepreneurs while manufacturing them. Others were encouraged to open poultry farms, others still, learnt plumbing, wiring, welding windows, making door frames and geodesic domes. Today, many of Kalbag8217;s 8220;children8221; make a decent living. His latest project was a wireless information network for the district.

Truly did this man spearhead a silent social revolution, where failure in school was the best qualification for 8220;higher learning8221;. One can only hope his movement remains as immortal as his work.