Drishtipat Blog

Hang on, there’s something a bit odd going on here. The scenario is familiar enough: I’m sitting in a typical classroom in a girls’ school in a small provincial town. Neat rows of students, well over a hundred of them, from Class 8. Dark wooden benches, and a blackboard that’s seen better days at the end of the long narrow room. The place is swept clean and fairly well lit though, and there is an air of studious discipline. Outside the window, the traffic rumbles on, as the bustling place goes about its business this springtime morning.

I’ve been in five hundred classrooms like this since I started working here many years ago, so why is there this strange sense of novelty? The answer suddenly dawns on me. There is a hubbub in the class, which is an entirely new experience, and good grief, was that the sound of laughter just now? Now the girls have turned round and are working together in groups of six, sharing their ideas, genuinely listening to each other, while their young teacher walks from desk to desk checking progress. She smiles at them, and they respond with enthusiasm to her comments. And, miracle of miracles, she moves beyond the front benches and commands the entire room. Hands shoot up from the back bench every time she asks a question.

I have waited a long time to see a scene like this, and I can still hardly believe it, but it’s certainly happening right here in front of me.

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