First of all apologies for the lack of photos, but my camera has been acting up. I commit to sharing photos with anyone who expresses interest as Debbie has indicated that she will make copies of everything for me.
So we are becoming quite adept at crashing wedding celebrations here in India. Last night there was another wedding ceremony at the hotel. We again had been watching the preparations for the last couple of days in the courtyard behind the hotel. As the day approached, we decided to wander through the area to look around before all the guests arrived. The bride's father happened to be about and he insisted that we come down to the celebration later that evening. Those of you who know my Mennonite sensibilities realize that I could never pass up a free supper, so we went down around seven p.m. dressed reasonably well so that we might "blend in". Well there was no chance of actually blending in and we are now captured forever in a series of wedding photographs that in the future the family will be wondering, "Who the heck is that!?". Anyways, the food was beyond a single human's capacity to enjoy (yes Ian, I attempted to try it all......twice!!) and as always the family and everyone we met was warm, gracious and most inviting. A kinder and gentler people could not be found!
Our second week of instructional strategy sessions have begun in Guwahati with what was intended to be teachers from Mizoram and Manipur. Unfortunately, the teachers from Manipur that were supposed to be attending the training sessions this week were arrested and placed in jail (131 of them) for expressing concern about the condition of education in their state. Also, many teachers are currently involved in a government census (the government uses teachers to conduct the census because they are the only generally trusted professional group) so they are not able to participate in our professional development sessions. There are six teachers from Mizoram (the second state that this training was intended for) and because the overall numbers were a bit slim the local leadership extended the invitation to additional teachers from Assam and Megalaya (who actually had their scheduled sessions last week). All in all we have an excellent, if not eclectic and language diverse group, that we are working with this week.
There are all kinds of things happening with the teacher federations here. There are concerns about level 5 (grade 5) being added to the mandatory primary education in the country without regard to class size or the professional development needed for the teachers to adequately teach level 5. There are are also concerns about class sizes that would be unheard of in Canada, and of course, there are ongoing discussions / disputes about levels of compensation.
The sessions are proceding in a way that gives us much optimism and excitement. Both Debra and I have been encouraged by what we have seen from the leadership and the commitment of the classroom teachers here. We can only hope that our efforts support the system of public education in India and the desire to provide high quality education for all throughout the country. We are highly impressed by the commitment of the individuals involved both in leadership and classroom delivery of public edcuation. Our desire is that what we offer might be enhanced and spread through the states to support child centered teaching strategies throughout the country.
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