In summer 2018 a visit of two future teachers of the University of Teacher Education Zug to an Usthi school in India could be organized again. For the Indian as well as for the Swiss teachers the exchange seems to be an enrichment. The following report was sent to us by the two students after their visit to Puri:
“We, Carmen Suter and Olivia von Holzen, are students at the Lucerne College of Education. Over a period of two years, we have been dealing with various intercultural topics within the framework of the specialisation subject “Pedagogical Development Cooperation” and have prepared ourselves for our voluntary project assignment. In summer 2018 we had the opportunity to live 5.5 weeks in Puri and to participate in the everyday life of the Penthakata School of the Usthi Foundation.
After a long journey we were welcomed by Ratan Barik at the airport and the following day the whole school welcomed us as their guests. In the following first weeks we focused on observing the lessons. The entire school culture of the Penthakata School is very different from the one we are used to in Switzerland. For this reason it was first about getting to know and exploring the school system, the teaching methods and the organization. On the one hand these observations were extremely important for us in order to better understand the school structures and the lessons, on the other hand uncertainties of all participants could be reduced during this time, so that a mutual trust to the teachers and to the school management was won, which certainly represented an important basis for the further common exchange.
After this initial phase we were given the opportunity to teach two to four lessons per day in different classes. At the Penthakata School, knowledge is taught to the students almost exclusively through frontal teaching and it was therefore the wish of the school management that we show a different, for us familiar, variety of methods during our lessons. The teaching was a great pleasure for both of us and it was nice to see that the children also responded to our methods. We also experienced the teachers mostly interested and open to our way of teaching. An important lesson we learned from our lessons was that with a minimum of materials and little infrastructure, we can still have instructive and good lessons.
A formative insight, probably one of the main findings, was also for us to realize what an incredibly great privilege education is. While we were both aware of this, we have never seen the importance and impact of education on individuals and their lives as clearly as in India. Education so often makes the decisive difference for the future of people – we can connect this statement with faces and life stories after our stay in India.
It was certainly also very formative to see the great poverty in which many people live, especially the children of the school. In addition to the lively and colourful culture of India and the many beautiful and interesting encounters and conversations, we have also got to know India from another side, have seen many unattractive, sometimes unworthy of human beings and shocking things and therefore both had to find a personal way to deal with these experiences and images.
In addition to the many educational and cultural experiences, we also learned a lot about ourselves. We were confronted daily with situations that were unusual for us and we often did not know in advance how we would react to certain situations. Surely we were an extremely big support for each other, we could take a lot with a pinch of humor and also keep our positive attitude in case of unforeseen situations. But we also felt supported by the whole Usthi team during the whole stay, be it by the teachers or the local school management or by the foundation management in Switzerland. Therefore once again a big thank you to the whole Usthi Family! We look back on our time in Puri with many positive memories! धन्यवाद”
We thank Carmen and Olivia for their visit and commitment to the Penthakata School and the PH ZUG for their cooperation.
