Understanding political science
Political science, in simple terms, is a branch of social
science that deals with political institutions and processes, the structures
and functions of the government and the state at various levels and the way the
political power relationships work. A closer look at the theoretical and
practical aspects of political science will reveal that its domain encompasses
a study and understanding of the sources, structures, distribution and
practices of power and resources. This would mean an in-depth understanding of
the letter and spirit of the Constitution as the fountainhead, the various
structures and functions emanating from it, and the interplay between these.
The practice of political science, shall however, remain incomplete if it fails
to study and understand the interface between politics and society and the role
that politics and power plays in the day-to day life of an ordinary citizen.
Rationale for its inclusion in the teaching-learning
process in schools
The day of the birth of an individual bestows upon her,
among others, a political identity as well. An individual born in India, for
example, becomes a citizen of India, by virtue of her having been born on the
Indian soil. She now has certain rights and duties (some of them of course to
be activated at an appropriate age) applicable to her in common with all the
other citizens of India, drawn from the Constitution of India. Thus, any
individual, by default, is also a political being and has a political identity
which cannot be separated from her. Just as the individual is socialized into
her family and the society, both by virtue of being a part of that family and
society, and also through conscious efforts put in by the family and society;
similarly, the individual, by virtue of being born in a particular form of
political system, is circumscribed by the boundaries of that system, and hence,
even if no particular effort is made to politically educate her, she will
imbibe certain political character anyway. It, thus, becomes even more
imperative for the education system to take up the responsibility of ensuring
that the individual develops a mature understanding of the political system, is
able to develop a voice and exercise her choices based on critical reasoning
and holistic understanding of all the aspects in any given situation.
Political science, being a branch of the broader domain of
social sciences, also carries the responsibilities that have been placed on the
larger domain of social sciences. The Position Paper by the National Focus
Group on Teaching of Social Sciences, 2006, explains the responsibilities
placed on the domain of social sciences in the following terms: “The social
sciences carry a normative responsibility to create and widen the popular base
for human values, namely freedom, trust, mutual respect, respect for diversity,
etc.”
The appropriate age of inclusion of teaching-learning of
political science in schools
Having established the rationale behind the
teaching-learning of political science, the next question that arises is what
can be the suitable time for integrating discussions of this nature in the
school curriculum. Here, it would be useful to take recourse to the Piagetian
model of cognitive development. Piaget was a proponent of the constructivist
theory of learning.
According to Piaget, when formal operational thought of
cognitive development is attained (adolescence to adulthood), thinking in
abstractions, formulation of hypotheses, understanding complex inter-relationships,
etc., is possible. After this, no new structures are needed. According to this
model, a child, after reaching the stage of upper-primary in school education, would
thus be capable of formal operational thinking, hence the appropriateness of
this age-group for the introduction of political science in schools, integrated
with other social-science disciplines. The Position Paper by the National Focus
Group on Teaching of Social Sciences, 2006, also seems to concur with the above
inference.
The spaces for inclusion of teaching-learning of
political science in schools
Proceeding now to the next logical question of how political
science can be integrated seamlessly into the classroom. To understand this, we
will have to deal with both the aspects of the teaching-learning process, i.e.,
curriculum and pedagogy.
Providing curricular space to political science
The Position Paper by the
National Focus Group on Teaching of Social Sciences, 2006, and the National
Curricular Framework, 2005 have acknowledged the need for providing curricular
space to political science. Consequently, the nomenclature for “Civics” has
been changed to “Social and Political Life”, for the upper-primary classes, in
the NCERT curriculum. The textbooks for classes VI-VIII do a commendable job in
living up to the objectives for social sciences teaching set out by NCF, 2005.
I would like to make a
mention here of another three year supplementary curriculum designed by Avehi
Abacus Organization for the students of classes V-VII. The
Avehi Abacus project has been working with municipal schools and non-formal
education centres in Mumbai and outside since 1990 (Avehi Abacus Team, Acknowledgements, 2001).Titled, Sangati,
this curriculum is transacted in the form of six kits (two each) from classes
V-VII in all the municipal schools of Mumbai. This three-year supplementary
curriculum has been envisaged with a vision
to fulfil the objectives of education, to ‘equip children with the knowledge
and skills that they will need to face the world, to build values that will
help them take care of themselves and contribute to the society they live in
and to bring about a positive change in individuals and society’ (Avehi Abacus Team, Dear Teacher..., 2001). The
fourth kit, namely, ‘The Way We Live’, turns the focus to the Indian society of
today, the problems that we face and how these can be understood and resolved.
Various issues are discussed in this kit, like, caste, religious and gender
discrimination, economic inequalities, the meaning of patriotism and democracy,
etc. The topics that have been discussed are all really relevant and which need
to be understood by the students in their correct perspective for them to be
able to contribute positively towards making our society a better place to live
in. A very enabling curricular space has been created here for meaningful and
relevant political discussions.
Political science and pedagogy
To
render any curriculum effective, the classroom teaching needs to be able to
shift from didactic to dialogic. Teachers need to be able to discuss each and
every issue threadbare, keeping aside their biases and prejudices, and
providing multifarious perspectives on viewpoints on things. Teachers need to
be able to push students to think critically and reason things out. The
classroom space needs to be such that teachers and students don’t have a
hierarchical relationship where the teacher is supposed to know all and
transmit that knowledge to students, but it should be a space where all are
learners on the path of knowledge acquisition. The Vygotskian concept of “More
knowledgeable other” and “scaffolding” can aptly describe such classrooms.
I
would now like to exemplify how the creation of such an enabling environment is
possible in the class. To do so, the backing of a strong and enabling
curriculum is of utmost importance, because if so, the curriculum itself can
sufficiently guide the teacher in steering the discussion in such a manner that
it becomes interesting and challenges the minds of the students. As the Sangati
curriculum (mentioned above), in my view performs this role to a near perfect
level, I would like to borrow my example from this curriculum itself. In Kit IV
of the curriculum, there is a session/chapter on ‘patriotism’. The ‘Main ideas’
sought to be conveyed through this chapter themselves give an indication of
what is to follow. In brief, these aim at deconstructing the idea and meaning
of the term ‘patriotism’, whether it means only to express one’s love for one’s
country through symbolic acts or by hating the ‘enemy’ countries, or it can
mean much more as in to fight problems like poverty, inequality, illiteracy,
etc., and to realize one’s full potential to ultimately benefit the nation.
In order
to convey these main ideas, there are various activities and interactive
sessions envisaged, along with some meaningful questions, leading to certain
open and critical discussions. As an example, the session/chapter begins with
the story of Jarnail Singh, who is a 16-17 year old boy, and is writing a
personal diary, wherein he conveys his dilemma of not wanting to join the armed
forces while his entire family wants him to. Through the diary the ideas of
what patriotism means, the various problems afflicting our society, and how
Jarnail Singh wants to contribute towards ameliorating them, etc., are
discussed. In the end, a very rich and meaningful discussion is attempted
through questions like “Do you agree with Jarnail Singh’s view that there are
many ways to serve your nation? Do you think Jarnail Singh is a patriot? Why?
Should one’s patriotism make one hate other countries and fight wars with them?
Students are further encouraged to think about and discuss various problems
like corruption, inequality, etc.
Through
such meaningful activities, discussions and questions, political science can be
made really relevant, interesting, and meaningful in the classroom space. The
above is a demonstration of the kind of pedagogy that can result in an
enriching learning experience for students. I do believe that curricular
support is essential for the creation of such a pedagogic space. However, determined,
thoughtful and resourceful teachers can make a conscious attempt to do this
even in the absence of an enabling curriculum, by going beyond the textbooks.
For instance, the concept of democracy may not be limited to just “a government
for the people, by the people, and of the people”. Meaningful discussions can
be held around this topic like relationship of democracy and equality, is
meaningful democracy possible in an unequal atmosphere, is democracy only a
political concept or mandates the presence of at least some sort of
egalitarianism to make it truly meaningful, etc. However, this
is not many a time possible as the prejudices and biases of the teacher, her
socialization into the dominant perspectives, etc., play a crucial role in
dampening the impact.
I would also like to highlight the role
of a force that is outside the curriculum and the pedagogy, but has a
substantial role to play in shaping both of them, as also what the students
gather from the interplay of both of these. This force is the prevailing
political discourse of the day, which is predominantly shaped by the ideology of
the political party in power. A visible impact of the prevailing political
atmosphere was in the students’ understanding of the concept of patriotism,
when I actually got a chance to interact with them during the course of my
field study. In terms of the understanding of what ‘patriotism’ means, an
overwhelming majority related it to symbolic acts of respecting the national
symbols like national anthem, national flag, etc. They also looked in awe of
the armed forces of the nation. Such an understanding seems to concur with the
general mood prevailing in the society.
Conclusion
Having understood the inseparability of
our political identity from us, it is not only desirable but imperative to
provide a sound and mature guidance to children, so that they can become
well-informed thinking individuals and citizens, and are able to make
intelligent and well thought out choices in any situation they might encounter.
The form and content of political science education though, should be such that
it promotes critical thinking and understanding in students and an
acknowledgement of the presence of diverse perspectives, rather than a meek
submission to the dominant perspective. The creation of this enabling
teaching-learning atmosphere requires an enabling curriculum, pedagogy, and
most importantly the promotion of the development of an independent perspective
in the educational institutions, not influenced by the political ideology and
prevailing political atmosphere of the time. Meeting this last requirement
seems most daunting and challenging and will require dedicated and sincere
efforts by the political class, if at all there is a willingness to adhere to
this goal.
References
National Focus
Group. (2005). National Focus Group on Teaching of Social Sciences.
Piaget’s stages of Cognitive
Development. www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/psych406-5.3.2.pdf
Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development
Textbook
Development Committee. (2005). Equality in Indian Democracy. In T. D., Social
and Political Life II. New Delhi: NCERT Textbook Publishing Bureau.
Textbook
Development Committee. (2005). Key Elements of a Democratic Government. In T.
D., Social and Political Life I (pp. 36-40). New Delhi: NCERT Textbook
Publishing Bureau.
Avehi Abacus
Project. (n.d.). Avehi Abacus Project. Retrieved from
www.avehiabacus.org: http://www.avehiabacus.org/sangati.html
Avehi Abacus Team.
(2001). Acknowledgements. In A. A., Myself, My Body, Our Needs Needs -
Sangati Kit I. Mumbai: Avehi Abacus Project.
Avehi Abacus Team.
(2001). Dear Teacher... In A. A., Myself, My Body, Our Needs : Sangati Kit
I. Mumbai: Avehi Abacus Project.
Avehi Abacus Team.
(2003). Patriotism. In A. A., The Way We Live: Sangati Kit IV. Mumbai:
Avehi abacus Project.
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