NEP on Wheels: Day Four — Kanpur!
Day 4: Kanpur
On 4th October, I started out on the fourth day of my journey. By this point I had covered 350 Kms and was extremely tired. Yet I had to cover 170kms today to reach Kanpur. I realised that I must push myself to cover this distance and stay determined to complete my journey as planned.
En route Kanpur, I had fewer interactions, mostly I interacted with a few truck drivers at dhabas. I started talking to them about education — what they felt about education in this country, where their kids studied and whether it measured up to their hopes and expectations. Over the last three days I have realized that everybody loves to talk about education and the truck drivers were no exception — they wanted their kids to get good education, but were pretty much dismayed by the state of affairs in the schools their children went to. I initially talked to only a few people, but many more got curious and started interacting with me. I ended up hosting a roundtable of kinds with some 15 truck drivers. The talk concluded on a note that “we want our children to learn well, however the schools that our children attend lack accountability and quality.”
On arriving at Kanpur I visited the Amar Ujala office. The group reporters I met in this office knew about education policy and NEP consultations organized by the government. They complained about corruption and lack of accountability in education sector in general, and how they felt it was too deep rooted in the system for any real change to happen. They felt that what I was doing through my bike ride, wouldn’t amount to any change in education system.
I couldn’t help but wonder where this cynicism stemmed from. These are the people who write for newspapers and get us the news. If they’re so cynical about education sector, what impression would they leave on the people who get their news from them? I do feel that for a society to change, it really needs to believe that change is possible, and work towards it. The task in front of us may be enormous, but it is not insurmountable.
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My bike broke down on the way. It took a good couple hours before I could get on the road again.[/caption]
One of the reporters in the office talked about a government teacher from a nearby village. This teacher had refused a promotion, and given up on other lucrative job opportunities, to be able to continue doing what he loved the most — teaching. Amidst all the cynicism in that office this one story that left a mark on me. We need to bring out more such stories, and talk more about such people and help them pursue what they love. In whatever little way he could, this teacher was making a difference.
With this, I ended my fourth day’s journey. I would begin the final leg of my journey the next day, about which I will blog tomorrow.
You can read my travelogue from Day 1 in Mathura here; of Day 2 in Agra here, day 3 here.
Do you like what Prashant is doing? You could actually do your bit to cheer him on!
- Invite Prashant for a small discussion on education, to share his stories and understand yours while he is in your city.
- Join him with your friends for a small or entire part of his cycle tour.
- Help him raise some funds for this further journey, you can make your contribution at https://www.ketto.org/prashant-education
- If you have any other idea, just shoot us an email at rohan@ccs.in and we will make sure your ideas reach Prashant!
