The Joy of Doing Nothing!

When I first started out in Vismaya Kalike, I was met with this uncomfortable feeling of being clueless. The first day I visited a center, even though I advocated truly for the well-being of children and their agency, I was not at ease with the disorder. As adults, we need to be in order, there should be some system and with it comes the ebb and flow. I was wrong. I understood that I thought of things in a linear format and I was blissfully unaware of it. Every time I visited a center,  I tried playing with them, directing the play mostly myself until children took the lead. I was happy when they were engaged in something. I thought learning was always discovering something new.

I wanted to keep them engaged and not bored. So I made them do something. I thought I had control over their learning and my time spent at the centers. I was wrong again. I couldn't let go of the control, the need for something productive and the more I pushed it, the more clueless I felt. Until I opened up to my team. Until I found myself at point zero again. 

In my visits later, I started placing myself as a passive observer, somebody who has joined the children in their journey in the centers. 

Realms of learning and Unlearning

Heutagogy - Is it what we were longing for?

I did not know for so long the process we were advocating. I knew that we vouched for the freedom of children, their right to be happy, free and  We chanced upon it in one of our journal club reading sessions. In discussion with my team, Vignesh pointed out this term - Heutagogy - Self directed learning, where the motivation to learn comes intrinsically, sustains with the child’s effort, where the adult only becomes a passive observer and a resource point. 

I started questioning - who are these centers for? And how do things usually happen in Vismaya Kalike? Upon discussion with the team on their earlier thoughts on Vismaya Kalike, I understood that Vignesh, Venkatesh and Abu had imagined a space where the children are free. We were not a place to further their studies. We were a space where children should feel understood, safe and heard. 

The ‘En’ - When children do their own things or just nothing at all !

I recalled reading about the Japanese concepts of ‘En’ in one of our reading sessions again. In Japan - ‘Free space’ aka ‘En’, is more like a sustainable learning community mainly for out-of-school children and youths: so-called school refusers.

In the 80’s and 90’s Japanese schools pushed the children and trained them to suit the capitalistic urges - which increased the pressure and dropout rates. When the number of absentee children increased in the 1990s, the Ministry of Education said that it “acknowledged” the social significance of alternative learning facilities. I delved into understanding the concept more. Because I thought it connected with our thought of what our space is meant to be. Each and every child is an individual human being, who has unique worth and dignity.

The philosophy believes that the child wishes that his/her individuality and difference from others be accepted and that respect be given to what he/she naturally is. The child is a full subject of rights. Under the international principles including the best interest of the child, non-discrimination and respect for the views of the child, his/her rights shall be guaranteed comprehensively and in reality. These rights are indispensable for the child to realize him/herself and lead a life of his/her own with human dignity. 

Children are partners, who form society with adults. As members of the present society and as responsible actors of the future society, children have specific roles to play through the involvement in the design and formation of society as well as the right to participate in society. For this and other purposes, society shall be open to children. They named the facility as En. “En” in Japanese has various meanings such as “circle,” “connectedness,” “banquet” or “performance”.

Even at ViKa we sometimes tend to measure our effect on children or the benefits children ‘should’ get or harness - We need to rethink what we are actually offering the children. A free space for relaxation / a place to excel in their studies, the latter case would definitely box us into a tuition category. But we aren't tuition centers. However much we tend to consciously stay away from our analytical approach to learning, we are analytical at the end of the day. What I understood from the Japanese concepts of En is that they have a philosophical approach towards learning in general. It is because they think of learning outside academia. They apply it to the general mundane life that each of us have. They apply their everyday learning to their everyday lives. It is understood that they not only regard the concept of learning itself as a skill but also devote time and energy, even the government, in making children feel and be part of the practical world.

At Vika too, we want the children to claim that space of their own, in regular lives. If they are aware of what and who they are, become aware of their capabilities, aware of the general well being of them and those around them, then most of the job is done and dusted. I used to underestimate the capabilities and the seer empathy that the children had in them. I thought why make it harder for them than it already is. And so in between the confusions, I had forgotten the vital question. Then why Vika? Why would they show up to the spaces they call their own after the school/ Don't they have enough already on their plate? And how do we apply it to our centers?

And in the months to follow, I got the answer to my own questions. That too quite easily. All I had to do was let go of my pre-existing knowledge on how learning and thinning works indeed. Not linear, not parallel, but all in a circle. I sat with different groups of children, went back and forth understanding the same question, same subject, same play but this time, on their own terms. They decided and I took part. Later, they started thinking, I started being the observer. Observer, not the overseeing adult. Just the observer and when they asked, the participant too. 

In discussions with our team in the following journal club meetings, we discussed how to make this approach plausible.

How does it apply to our center? How do we promote self directed learning? We have seen children pick up on certain things that we mention and have an interest in some topics and they go forward. Can we create a more streamlined method for self directed questions?

Things are a lot more controlled and tight at the center. For a truly self directed space we need more entropy and that’s something we need to create in our spaces. This doesn’t necessarily come from new things. We can create and foster curiosity by going deeper in topics as well. One idea can also off shoot multiple things. We need space to play to create higher energy levels. That’s a crucial component to get creative juices flowing.

I also understood that all of our centers are in different phases of growth. At Avalahalli, most of the games and activities are starting to be self directed. So children form groups of their own. They plan, negate and take forward their time. Sometimes it feels like an adult does not have control over the time being spent there. 

References:

Fostering Alternative Education in Society - Palgrave International Handbook  : https://www.academia.edu/15514188/Palgrave_International_Handbook_of_Alternative_Education

History of Heutagogy as a self-determined learning : https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/29854/1/Proceedings_FINAL_VERSION_F2.pdf#page=147