Schooling for Social Change The Rise and Impact of Human Rights Education in India

by Bajaj, Monisha

• ISBN13: 9781441176745
• ISBN10: 1441176748
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-11-24
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Schooling for Social Change offers fresh perspectives on the emerging field of human rights education in India. 60 years after independence, the Indian schooling system remains unequal. Building on over a year of fieldwork, including interviews and focus groups with policymakers, educators, parents and students, Monisha Bajaj examines different understandings of human rights education at the levels of policy, pedagogy and practice. She provides an in-depth study of the origins and effects of the Institute of Human Rights Education, a non-governmental program that operates in over 4,000 schools in India. This enlightening book offers an instructive case study of how international mandates and grassroots activism can work together.

Author Biography

Monisha Bajaj is Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies of Teachers College, Columbia University, USA.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. x
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
The Rise of Human Rights Education	p. 3
Research Design	p. 6
Data Sources and Data Collection Procedures	p. 7
Researcher's Perspective	p. 9
Summary of Chapters	p. 10
Human Rights Education: Definitions, History, Ideologies	p. 15
Structure of HRE	p. 16
Normative Definitions of HRE	p. 16
Bottom-Up Models	p. 18
Global HRE Community	p. 19
Location	p. 20
Ideological Orientations and Outcomes of HRE	p. 21
Human Rights Education for Global Citizenship	p. 24
Human Rights Education for Coexistence	p. 25
Human Rights Education for Transformative Action	p. 26
Conclusion	p. 27
Education and Human Rights in India: Policy, Pedagogy, and Practice	p. 28
Indian Education: From Human Capital to Human Rights	p. 28
Structure of Education	p. 31
Uneven Development	p. 32
Dalits in Schools and Society	p. 33
Adivasi Communities	p. 34
Education and Development Across Indian States	p. 35
The Emergence and Landscape of Human Rights Education in India	p. 37
Debates on Human Rights Education in India	p. 37
National-Level Initiatives	p. 39
The University Grants Commission (UGC)	p. 40
National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)	p. 43
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)	p. 47
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)	p. 49
Linking Laws, Liberties, and Learning: The Institute of Human Rights Education	p. 53
Strategy of Persuasive Pragmatism	p. 54
Persuasive Pragmatism in Practice	p. 57
Background of People's Watch and the Institute of Human Rights Education	p. 57
Adoption and Expansion of HRE	p. 60
Role of Advisory Boards	p. 60
Government Officials as Sympathetic Bureaucrats	p. 63
Role of Headmasters	p. 67
Teachers	p. 70
Conclusion	p. 75
From "Time Pass" to Transformative Force: Human Rights Education for Marginalized Youth	p. 76
Content and Pedagogy of HRE	p. 78
Analyzing Impact	p. 79
Individual Actions	p. 83
Strategizing and Collective Action	p. 85
Continuum of Impact	p. 90
Building Solidarity and Coalitional Agency through Human Rights Education	p. 94
Gender and Agency	p. 96
Levels of Intervention	p. 98
Human Rights and Charitable Action	p. 99
Advocacy for More Equitable Conditions	p. 103
HRE and Solidarity Action	p. 107
Caste Discrimination: "You can keep your caste outside, don't bring it inside here"	p. 107
Gender-Based Violence: "Why are you beating your wife like that?… This is a violation against the Domestic Violence Act"	p. 110
Violations of Children's Rights: "Beating is the wrong way to treat students. You should use words rather than the stick to control students"	p. 112
Conclusion	p. 114
Teachers and Textbooks as Legitimating Forces for Human Rights Education	p. 116
Perspectives on Teachers and HRE	p. 118
Teachers and HRE in India	p. 120
Institute of Human Rights Education (IHRE)	p. 120
Teachers' Responses	p. 122
The role of training	p. 122
Personal changes	p. 123
Community education	p. 125
Intervening in abuse	p. 126
Taking action and reporting abuse	p. 127
Material assistance	p. 127
Teachers as Legitimating Agents for Human Rights	p. 128
Beyond the Classroom-Textbooks as Community Resources	p. 130
Conclusion	p. 132
Divergence and Decoupling: Indian Human Rights Education in Focus	p. 133
Diverse Forms of Decoupling	p. 134
Human Rights as Religious Morality	p. 136
Human Rights as Hygiene and "Proper Dress" in Adivasi Communities	p. 140
Human Rights as Left Politics	p. 143
Forms of Resistance to Human Rights Education	p. 145
Partial Acceptance and Internal Resistance	p. 145
External Resistance	p. 147
Conclusion	p. 149
Implications and Concluding Thoughts	p. 151
Implications for Global HRE Scholarship and Practice	p. 155
Recommendations	p. 157
Appendix A	p. 162
Appendix B	p. 164
Notes	p. 166
Bibliography	p. 175
Index	p. 187
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