It is
often one of the first questions an architect asks while building a space for
education, and the last question a teacher asks when s/he feels their students
could do better. Evolving through many discussions over centuries, Google now declares
that - “It is a space that the learner and the teacher co-create”.
“It
should be open, where children can run wild and free.”, “It should be filled
with bright and colourful things”, “It should be a space beyond four walls, undefined
by the chairs and desks”. With all these pre-conceived notions in mind, I went on
my first field visit to a Pratham Anganwadi in an Urban Center in Lucknow.
After walking
through the tiny lanes, we heard the loud cheer of students coming from a tiny
hall in the middle of the road. There were 20 tiny tots, 2 volunteers and one
fellow of the anganwadi gathered in the centre and the children were all
sitting in a circle. Most of them sat cross-legged and a few others were
perched on their mothers’ laps (naturally, their mothers’ laps were more
comfortable and harder to let go of!).
While scanning
the room, my eyes caught a tiny body sleeping right in the middle of the circle.
The few adults with me were going to wake him up when Zeba, the lady responsible
for this particular anganwadi, simply lifted him up and added him to the
circle, without disrupting his sleep or even making him twitch. He lay there peacefully
curled up, while the other children worked on their activities.
20
minutes later, the children began building pyramids with colourful plastic
cups. Raghu, the sleeping boy, woke up and sat up like a spring. He rubbed his
eyes one last time, picked up the glasses and started building pyramids too.
Active, laughing and thoroughly enjoying himself, he also participated in the
storytelling and the tablet session. It was almost unbelievable that this was
the same boy who was sleeping a few minutes ago!
We often
design spaces according to our interpretations of “free and wild”. Adult
interpretations. This experience made me rethink the idea of a learning space.
It made me feel that wall or no walls, chairs or no chairs, we need to
interpret and create the space for a child to be comfortable. Comfortable
enough to curl up, comfortable to learn but most of all comfortable to be
oneself. He was given the time and the space to rise and shine. And so he did!
Sometimes,
reality can be more colourful than dreams..
.
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