The Headmaster`s Story
With A Little Help From My Friends by Dev Lahiri. Rupa Publications
Highly
intelligent. Quicksilver character. Maverick. Quick study. Impassioned. Born
educationist. All these words fit Devapriya Lahiri , former Headmaster of
Lawrence School, Lovedale, as well as Welhams Boys, Dehradun, to a t.
It`s been an
eventful, even chequered career for the educationist who has recently written
his memoir, called With A Little Help From My Friends. While the book makes for
a very interesting and informative read, the real nuggets are the ideas Lahiri
puts forth.
But first,
something about the man himself. His early years are a classic example of the square- peg- in- a- round- hole syndrome;
nothing seems to have held his interest or attention for too long. After
graduating from St Stephens, he tried his hand at being a tea planter but didn’t
last long there. Then he headed off to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship and did
very well there, making good friends… and having to give up his room to Benazir
Bhutto! On his return, he had a stint at the Oxford University Press in
Kolkata, then joined Doon School as a teacher. From there, it was down south to the Nilgiris, to head
the Lawrence School Lovedale, a period
he looks back on with mixed feelings. After Lawrence, it was onto a rather unsatisfactory stint writing
content for education software in
Bangalore. Thence to Dehra Dun where he headed Welhams Boys School, another
stint marked by controversy. A year at the
Wasatch Academy in Utah followed, and now Lahiri leads a retired life in the Doon
valley, along with his charming wife Indrani, and his many dogs.
In the first
public school he headed, bullying was rampant and he took several steps to put
an end to that, steps which pitted him directly against truculent students and even more truculent parents, not
that he cared. In the second school, it was drugs, and there too, he undertook
several innovative ways to rid the place of this deadly menace. Driven by his
desire to reform and set right several maladies inherent in the education
system, Lahiri fights what seems to be a pitched battle at times and does not
always meet with success. But he perseveres….
And in
between, as if all this excitement was not enough, there are continual arduous battles to be fought
literally for his life, culminating in a seven-hour surgery after his organs
all began to shut down one by one. But this long-distance runner is nothing if
not indomitable and he perseveres…
The book
contains quite a few insights into the education system. Talking of schools, he
says, ``It is my considered belief that schools in India spend too much time
looking at themselves. It`s all about better board exam results than the
others, winning all the inter-school tournaments and other such
accomplishments. While all these are certainly important, it is equally
important, I feel, to teach children empathy, especially for those not as
privileged as themselves. Schools must produce citizens who will not only have
a burning desire to excel in whatever they do but also want to make a
difference to the society around them. ``
Lahiri then takes apart the public school system
with its uncompetitive salary structures for faculty, rigid hierarchical
structures, its old world style of management. Public schools, avers Lahiri, need to seriously reinvent themselves
if they have to stay relevant.
Parents
don`t escape the harsh glare of the spotlight, either. One of the biggest
impediments to the progress of our educational system is the lack of
cooperation between parent and school, says this educationist. ``It is one of
our biggest failures to not be able to evolve a culture of partnership between
the two. In the old days, parents were quite content to hand over the child to
the school, secure in the belief that the school would do its best with the
child. This naivete had its own pitfalls… Now the pendulum seems to have swung
to the other extreme particularly with the media, ever anxious for a story,
having jumped into the fray. TV channels are quick to pull the trigger and
bring in panels of experts to pass judgment on what may have happened in a
school, and the voices of the Principal or the teachers are completely lost in
the din. Too often, parents see their role vis- a- vis the school as one of
`them` and `us.` … both parents and schools need to work very hard to build a
partnership and eliminate the trust deficit if education is to be truly
meaningful.``
Elsewhere,
Lahiri avers that our school education
system has become completely bogged down with content. The syllabus is king and
the teachers spend all their time and energy in fighting the battle to deliver
it. In the process, creativity, problem solving, research and reference all
fall by the wayside. Somehow we must arrive at a more equitable balance between
skills and content. We must learn to value an education for the sake of an
education.
The searing
honesty in every word of this book is the first thing that catches the reader`s
attention. The style is direct, looking the reader in the eye at all times. The
sentences are crisp, the humour wry and often self-directed.
It has been a long and winding road for this impassioned educationist. In
the end, the author wonders aloud if life would have taken an altogether more
peaceful path if he had played ball both at Lawrence, Lovedale, and at Welhams
Boys.` By then, though, the reader has a clear idea of the manner of man
Dev Lahiri is. In the end, as he says, a man must do what a man must do.
Hundreds, thousands of his loyal students will second this sentiment, loudly, vociferously, emphatically.