so as you could guess from the
introduction and from the picture behind
me I play with children I built an
organization that plays with children
and the organization is called Cael so
what does that have to do with education
I’m often asked if you are to invest so
much time so much energy and five years
of your life into something by this why
don’t you educate children instead
hopefully by the end of this talk I
would have answered this question for
you all so today I’ll be talking about
taking education beyond the classroom
and in keeping with the theme of this
entire event reimagining and redefining
education itself let’s start by just
taking a moment to think about the kind
of images that come to mind if we think
of the word education something like
this right this is not a series of
images I’ve put together for this
presentation this is a single screenshot
of Google image search right now on your
phones if you search for the word
education and then click on images
you’ll get these pictures so education
we often think about this book’s
classroom teacher blackboard pen pencil
chalk paper whiteboard marker exams
stress books studying tension passing
failing and a previous TED talk I had
started by asking some very simple class
rate questions
history geography science maths nobody
could answer it obviously we forget
everything immediately after we’ve given
the exam today I would like to start
from the other end of the spectrum on
the screen you can see a couple of
images there little bit disturbing the
first images of a man throwing the dog
off the roof of a building the point to
note here is that this guy is a medical
student the second image is of a female
monkey that wandered too close to a
hostel was captured by four guys
tortured and that means she was tied up
she was beaten with belts and rods till
bones were broken her jaws were broken
finally she was killed by having a rod
shoved up her anus again medical
students for medical students I don’t
have anything against the medical
profession but the reason I’m stressing
medical students here is I want you all
to think about it a little bit medical
students means they pass classified
right they’re already ahead of many
in this country when it comes to
education they pass Class A the eighth
pass they passed board exams class 10
and 12 both beside subjects they studied
for medical entrance examinations hadn’t
got through we’re talking about highly
educated individuals here but is this
what we want when we talk about
education some of you may be familiar
with this image or these set of images
this what happened in Bangalore New
Year’s Eve just over a month ago
supposedly a large group of men and a
large group of women were together and a
lot of women got molested is bit called
mass molestation again do you think this
all uneducated illiterate villagers on
the streets of Bangalore at least there
would be eight past ten pass there would
be doctors lawyers graduates post
graduates professionals MBAs engineers
right so where are we going wrong as a
society is education enough a current
definition of education is this enough
and it’s not linked only to animal abuse
or molestation or rape think about
anything Civic sense we see people
spitting on the roads are they
uneducated no they educated we see
people throwing garbage are they are
uneducated no they’re very much educated
so where are we going wrong I prepared a
little bit for this talk so obviously
before we talk about redefining we need
to see how its defined right so I
searched for the word education now
Oxford and Cambridge dictionary both had
a very similar thing to what google
image search said it’s about school
classroom the traditional view of
Education now if I want to reimagine
education the first thing I want you all
to do is think about what schooling is
and what education is the problem we do
is right now we equate these two we
think education is schooling schooling
for most of us I’m not talking about
some very good schools I’m talking about
the majority of schools for most of our
schooling is teachers throwing
information books giving a lot of
information as students we receive that
information we retain it for just long
enough to be able to write it down we
vomit it out through our hands and then
it’s forgotten
one year later you can’t answer a single
question of something you learned
I can ask you all but unfortunately I
wouldn’t have the time but if you all
think for yourselves if you remember
anything from class 6 class 8 l CMHC f
none of you will remember and at that
time it was supposed to be very very
important to all of us so if I were to
ask well to redefine education based on
this if you want something more than
just this book knowledge being thrown at
a children between knowledge obviously
no one’s saying to stop all this
schooling but we also need to add skills
I’m not talking about vocational skills
here I’m talking about social cognitive
and emotional competencies now a lot of
big bodies UNICEF UNESCO w-h-o they all
talk about these life skills this is
crucial for children to learn these life
skills but we don’t give any importance
to these big bodies B let’s talk about
values where do we get these values from
simple things respect concern father’s
empathy Civic sense gender sensitivity
shouldn’t always be part of our
education while we are growing up and
isn’t it a combination of all these
things that lead to our habits and
behavior as adults so the question that
arises obviously is where do we get this
education from the two most obvious
places are at home and at school parents
and teachers now if you ask parents they
have one very nice pet face article
Cabot J you ask teachers they have the
same pet phrase at scale K but J because
both one to blame the other side parents
are blaming other children not their own
children other children that day
children interact with in school for
anything wrong that their child has done
teachers are more than happy to say
article k purchase school GARP a coach
may sit there they come to us like this
so both sides very nicely watch the
hands of the matter subjective but I get
school building it the other two places
we can learn this in school is model
science class and physical education
class but again both these classes are
given on a ranking of how important
these classes are they’re right at the
bottom if there’s any path to be covered
of syllabus completely or someone has
come to donate something some practice
for something these are the two classes
that are always given for all these
other things let’s take a look at what
one we can learn outside the classroom
and more specifically on the playground
there’s a ton of thing that we can teach
on the playground which are almost
impossible to teach in the classroom
some of them on the slide behind me but
they’re much more something as important
it’s as I empathy which around the world
leading education is say as is the
single most important thing to teach our
children is almost impossible to teach
in the classroom we need to expand our
view of what education is to beyond the
classroom today I’ll just be taking up
one of these things gender sensitivity
since it’s very relevant to us as a
society today now when we talk about
gender there’s so many terms that keep
flying around gender roles gender equity
gender discrimination gender-based
violence we do so much of this outraging
on social media mothers teach our sons
men don’t do this then men come back
with not all men and then they get more
bash for saying that not all men think
instead of all this shouldn’t we think
of better solutions so we think of stuff
like CCTV cameras we think of stuff like
teaching self-defense to women or girls
empowerment we go out for these dinners
and candlelight vigils but any of these
preventive in nature and they all
curative at the most deterrent better
lighting or see city cabinet is not
going to solve the problem
it’s just deterrent so where do we teach
our children to stop all this now
recently I had a researcher from
Columbia University in New York come to
me and she said we thought we are
talking to thought leaders and education
is about gender and what we can do in
terms of policy recommendations of
course curriculum or teacher training so
I told her I don’t think I’m qualified
for all these big big things but I just
want to ask you a couple of questions
and then you can look into it further so
today I’m asking you all the same
questions across this country of ours
when a teacher says children line up by
to be stand in lines like this boys and
girls separately and when we do this and
then go into classroom and sit like this
all across this nation 95 99 percent of
the schools I can guarantee you I suited
like this co-educational schools boys on
one side girls on one side girls in the
front boys at the back when we do this
and then we complain later when they
grow up about women’s only compartment
women’s only parking separate lines for
women our ticket counters and being only
teaching our children this and we the
ones who are saying stay away from each
other
if you come together this bound to be
something now we had project failed we
start everything in a circle initially
when we start at a location we say golem
a lab job get into a circle obviously
because they’re so conditioned to it
there will be girls on one side boys on
one side and at the ends of these two
lines you can’t see it in this picture
but obviously there’s a boy here who is
next to a girl and there’s a boy here
next to a girl they won’t hold hands
it’ll be a gap even if it’s of old hands
they’ll do this and the girl will do
this but there’ll be a gap because
they’ve been taught not to do it they’ve
been conditioned that is strong I’m not
talking about big girls and boys I’m
talking about very much pre puberty
small little kids they’ve already been
taught that it’s wrong after some time
we finally managed getting them to mix
up and stand in a circle now because I
come from a background where I work with
underprivileged children you might think
well this is only with underprivileged
children this is a couple of photos from
a very high in school in Gurgaon I’m
talking about the kind of school with
AAC classrooms AC cafeteria cost the
coffee kind of things in the cafeteria
probably AC buses now girls and boys in
this playground they’re on the same
playground playing the same spot of
football but separately one of the best
schools of this country
now of course I’m being very very
critical because this picture also has a
lot going for it first of all girls are
played girls of this a to this size I
told that kil painting it first of all
they’re playing number two they’re
playing in front of guys number three
they’re playing a men’s part of football
normally even if girls play in a
physical education class they would be
playing badminton or cocoa you know the
legal experts they don’t play football
so there’s a lot going for this picture
also and this is a picture of a kale
session which is taking place in a
village it’s not even this is an
agricultural field they don’t have a
playground this is what we are able to
do and it doesn’t come easy we have to
break stereotypes we have to
break down barriers we have protection
out of the silos that they have been put
in by us and then get them to mix up but
isn’t this such a beautiful picture and
how much do you think these girls and
boys have learned they’ve learned to
respect each other girls have learned
how to say no and they know that they
they have Huck they have a right to say
no boys no they have to respect that no
they know each other strengths and
weaknesses
boys and girls know how to talk to each
other respectfully and we’ve got proof
of all this after they do this on the
playground they go back and gradually
they start sharing Tiffin they start
sharing notes they start coming together
to complete class of that assignments
they come together to do projects and
isn’t that what education should be
about now again I’m just talking about
one thing and that is gender sensitivity
I can talk 20 minutes each on all of
these things so again let’s ask
ourselves is this the education we want
or do we need to expand the definition
do we need to be imagine and redefine do
we need to include something like this
in education do we need to say yes this
is education this as important now they
say a picture speaks a thousand words so
I’m not going to say much about this
picture just that two years before this
picture were taken these were the exact
same boys and girls who wouldn’t hold
hands wouldn’t talk to each other
wouldn’t interact with each other and
I’ll just add one more sentence which
many many girls in this country are told
that girls shouldn’t laugh this is what
we are able to do through play let chaos
taming it you need someone to challenge
that we do a lot of stuff through play
being able to do what we call complete
education now this pictures of neeraj
when we made leaders four years ago is
from a shelter home in Lucknow he was
very much this angry young man kind of
figure very temperamental he resisted a
lot of stuff we do a project here so we
do a lot of what you can call
cutting-edge educational stuff at
project Hill we have something we call
safe spaces we use peer pressure both
positively and negatively because we
work in groups we have no concept of
punishment we are not even allowed to
get angry the the only punishment the
level of punishment with something
called timeout which is considered very
very high for this country at least and
neither resisted all of these because it
it did not equate with his view of what
things should be like but gradually
needed realized that he could see
changes in himself and in his peers and
he could attribute that to our project
he’ll sessions when we put out a call
for youth leaders from a program to
apply and become youth leaders and help
other children to do something Neera
applied he went through that process of
getting recruited and now he works for
1,200 children in Lucknow
using the same techniques that he
resisted earlier they’re lucky enough to
have neeraj we were able to get
permission for him to fly down here to
Bombay so he’s here with us today I’d
like him to share a few words on what he
has learned through project Hill and the
differences between his schooling and
the education he receives their absolute
camara Namaskar mera naam needed an
American or cake centromere at all me
school be the town or coming to you 3
the room put a kill me or borisovitch ok
SATCOM guard town I got a bum knee
school K Barry Masucci to have my school
man naima stickers active on ipad Tommy
G gamma GB curtain tomar party came up
atomic mass but mass teenagers active
but Tameka sekarang gay-looking
again project kill kids they can know
how mama stick on a mile all day taking
about Tommy Jeannie I got hung musty car
take our tailor but American elected to
the do Mohammed are teeny now Martin
well Camus omnia 10k I’m Nicola but
tamazuki I got an IV charge no China
school me dos sorry ma’am get a key to
Montebello yo Yancy Tucker knowledge
over here
humming ah buddy hum Dante kick ass in
here just give yourself up now bitch on
a dock party again which are a chlamydia
tail tore my butt outta array logic yoga
to a girl predict kill me blah but
Radnich I have a gala to I say the DBS
one tear Hamas its neighbor directly
come from didn’t a happening but could
we get a tow or hamari beti girl Bella
to tear totally beyond me but I think
galatea negara che agar hamari Masao ta
to my support cart a this giving us a
hum a did he be a pay it Rutter’s to the
attack on say confidently call my cell
Carla tape made a my name in Pattaya
made a mine ma may come to see chal
Sigma Tau agar apni baat confidently
kissing some relics okay all life man
okay lay her company or sucked I to
meadow City tickity teamwork just make
it to second helper take the second
model curtail or it to take a satchel
take to segi problem so so entails all
kurt m q ki aur hum lobular color key
mix okay Kelton Tommy particular quick
shot case a BF connect and say bad Carla
I don’t get a spec we got a cookie
school I don’t look my cell 16
you get a lease made magma oxygen or
Smith nothing
don’t agree with rhaggy look at his
degree got cap Ida their army is up
basically to see Kenny or Matt I’m gonna
juggle project calcio
a technicality a torch a circle joke
Alma did they replace the live man’s if
you don’t plan homey they can call you
bite on you like me penny bar somebody
they can give you some one-minute TV
where they can or Marisa Playa here
keeta same a community you Toledo ke
baras over chick is at Concord town
Matata keep our sober Timothy
comes at embarrass or borrows over
Tamara Barra community utility nickel in
a hurry community youth leader
barabara so but Yokosuka anyone so I’m
already out of time I’ll just leave you
all with this this is by Ross Hall from
Ashoka this is what the new age
education is supposed to be this is
where we should be moving towards
education and this is what we try to do
a project hill and as an outcome of this
talk I’d like you all to think of what
education should be and gradually as a
society we need to move education the
classroom
[Applause] [Music]