Note
from the Author
This book is about a process
of transformation that started ten years ago in two schools in Mumbai. Just
where does one begin to place on record a series of events that span a decade ?
The more I delved into the events the more intriguing it appeared. Each
interaction provided a different pattern in the kaleidoscope.
If the events were to be
documented which ones should I select as significant and illustrative? Every
aspect was linked inextricably with others and to elaborate on one meant
detailing the others as well. Each event then proved to have multiple angles
--- the management perspective, the teacheers viewpoint, the students’
experiences, the parents’ expectations apart from the academic objective. The
more I mulled over it the more I became clear that perhaps what was required
was to see the programme through the eyes of its key characters. Each
perspective then became the substance of a chapter.
I also recognised that what
needed to be documented was the process of change, not its product. What had
been launched was a process of transformation and in the transformation often
what is forgotten is the process. It was necessary for the schools themselves
to pause and reflect upon where they began, where they had reached and how they
got there. Perhaps each individual institution attempting change would require
to undergo its own process rather than replicate the model.
A series of interviews, focus
group meetings, classroom observations, academic meetings, file reports,
records and anecdotes from the teachers form the basis of the material
presented in this document. It is hoped that the perspective presented is
sufficiently broad-based for any reader interested in education.
Sucharita Narayanan
Documentation Specialist
School Improvement Programme,
Aga Khan Education Service,