Geetanjali Krishna: A new teacher in school

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I've often wondered why the huge outlays on education by the government don't translate to better, or let's say more meaningful, learning. Why do we assume that just by forcing children to attend classes in government schools, they learn anything at all? Walk into a classroom of any government school in Delhi, and chances are it'll have some broken windows, missing or broken fans and electricity bulbs, filthy loos, no clean drinking water...I imagine it would take a rare, exceptional child to look beyond his uninspiring environs and actually learn something.

Well, last week I had coffee with Charu Malhotra of the International Leasing & Financial Services wing, Education Technology Services (IETS), who assured me that at least some of this might change soon. Until recently, the Public Works Department maintained all the 900-odd schools run by the Delhi government, and how well they've done their job is for everyone to see. So the government decided to award a pilot project to the private sector to upgrade and maintain a third of its schools. Enter IETS, which began working with the Directorate of Education and DSIIDC to refurbish and maintain 309 schools in 201 campuses spread across the capital.

When the newly appointed programme managers at IL&FS studied the first eleven schools to understand the magnitude of the task ahead, the project seemed daunting. Dirt and poor maintenance apart, they found that in most schools, the classrooms were inadequate for the number of students on the rolls. The most basic firefighting and electrical safety mechanisms were being ignored. Whatever electrical fittings were intact in spite of poor maintenance were being stolen or vandalised.

"I wonder how any learning was happening in those dilapidated structures!" said Malhotra. She would think so. For some time now, she's been part of a team that's been working on the concept of BaLA, acronym for Building as Learning Aid. The simple yet elegant concept was developed by Kabir Vajpayee, an architect who's long worked at understanding how to maximise school infrastructure. "We study how best we can use the building itself to teach students basic concepts of math, sciences, social sciences and languages," explained Malhotra. Pradeep Singh, Managing Director, IETS, offered some illustrations: "For example, a floor may no longer be just a floor but a way to understand fractions, or a window might become more than a usual window and let a child prepare for skills in writing in Hindi/English, or a sensitively designed corridor could help children to correctly estimate distances," he said.

IL&FS is now drawing out a list of suggestions. Malhotra showed me the changes they've suggested for a primary school""bright wall colours, learning through graphics on corridor walls, using doors and windows as protractors to learn geometry, trampolines and ladders of old tyres in the playground where hopscotch and ludo are etched out with outdoor tiles. "These suggestions are in addition to the basic infrastructural changes""renovating the building, extra classrooms, toilets and clean drinking water," she said.

The beauty of the makeover is that the cost of basic refurbishment apart, the improvement in the aesthetic and educational value of the building won't cost much. "But it could have a long-term impact on the school's efficiency!" said Malhotra. Subject to budgetary and regulatory approvals from the Delhi government, IL&FS's makeover of the first school should begin next month. Meanwhile, Orissa and Gujarat have also expressed interest. So maybe we'll see government school buildings that double up as teaching aids""no offence meant to government-appointed teachers. That may not be a bad thing at all.