Learning is Shapeless

One could wonder what is the meaning of ‘shapeless.’ I ran a simple Google search to look at the words used to describe it, and what came up was this:

Rather weird, isn’t it? More than synonyms, they look like judgments. Disappointed, I moved to the famous quote by Bruce Lee - Empty your mind - Be formless, shapeless - like Water.

Like Water - fluid, dynamic, flexible, contextual, and most importantly, adaptable.

We keep this in the background and look at the current times - The pandemic has been significant in reshaping our ideas on what works and what does not, especially in solving multiple problems that we have been facing as a society. One such problem that has been spoken about a lot during the pandemic is the challenge children face in ‘learning.’ Just like the synonyms for ‘shapeless,’ which has a preconceived negative connotation attached to it, the very definition of ‘learning’ also has quite a lot of pre-defined ideas that we have as a society. I aim to try and reshape how we look at “Learning” in our minds.

Well, learning is like Water - dynamic with no definite shape. We as a society have been continuously made to believe that children learn only in schools, learning for children is from textbooks etc. It can only happen in a formal environment. We overlook the fact that learning can be from everywhere and anywhere. Learning is genuinely shapeless.

Has education taken a beating with the pandemic? Absolutely yes! Have millions of children lost out on education? Because of schools being closed? Yes. UNESCO has reported that school closures due to the pandemic have affected more than 320 million students across India. World Bank has also mentioned that the estimated loss of lifelong learning for millions of Indian students has been substantial during the pandemic.

With the pandemic, the model of education shifted entirely to an online mode. Children started classes on smartphones and computers. But are all children getting access to education? No. Because the pandemic exposed a massive digital divide within India’s education syndication, most interventions involve the internet & smartphones. Unfortunately, they are out of reach for the majority of the population. NSSO also stated that fewer than 15% of rural Indian households have internet access, while 42% of urban Indian households have internet access.

All these statistics highlight that millions of children don’t have access to ‘education.’ But are education and learning connected?

By definition, ‘Learning’ refers to an intellectual process of acquiring new skills and knowledge through experience, study, or teaching. Education is an enlightening process of receiving and providing knowledge through systematic instruction. So by no means is education merely a degree. Instead, the latter is a means of education. And, a good education is certainly no prerequisite for good learning.

This is the story of Gayatri, from the village of Balabhadrapsad in Odisha, where we at ThinkZone implement our programs. With the schools out of reach during the pandemic and no smartphone at home, studying looked like an unachievable option for her child. And Gayatri does not have a good education degree to boast of. In such a scenario, anyone would expect to doubt Gayatri’s concern for her child’s education.

This is the story of Nityashi, from the capital city of Bhubaneswar, Odisha where the only child of the house attends a known school and whose parents have enrolled for online learning from a well-known company.?Would there be any doubt in our minds that the parents of Nityashi do not care about her education?

Out of the two scenarios, where do you think learning is happening?

This image of a beautiful classroom will symbolize words like a qualified teacher, good grades, quality education, successful career, etc., in our minds. However, the appearance of this classroom in a public school in a remote village would generally symbolize a lack of learning, bad grades, un-skilled teachers, etc. Hence, we would conclude that this is not an excellent place for learning.

Excellent socio-economic background and educational infrastructure automatically seem to reflect to everyone that learning is happening. But if we knew that Gayatri was teaching her child at home, we would not associate it with 'Learning.’ If we knew that children studying at a community learning center run by a passionate youth Priyanka in a remote village of Odisha have made considerable improvements in language and arithmetic scores, we would still not associate it with ‘Learning.’

I have had the opportunity to be working with some fantastic people at ThinkZone. And at ThinkZone, our job is to challenge this very narrative of what is ‘learning.’?We want to highlight that one does not always require flashy things to bring about positive change or create learning opportunities for children.

Innovation doesn't have to mean new, bright, and shiny. It can be as simple as perfecting something that we know works. Sometimes proactively doing the same old thing gives the desired result. We believe in simple solutions and honestly believe that reinventing the wheel is unnecessary.

So instead of creating a new solution from scratch, we decided to enable quality learning opportunities for children by supporting youth from local communities into becoming education leaders. These youth are not only invested and aware of the development needs of the children in their communities; they are also passionate and want to do something on their own.?What they need is the right nudge. We have worked with thousands of motivated youth using a blended strategy of accessible digital solutions and instructor-led support. And what we see is youth like Priyanka who passionately work towards supporting children in her village. No flashy things, no beautiful classrooms but significant learning gains! Learning can happen anywhere, can't it?

Again, irrespective of the parent's education, if the right nudge is provided to them through localized solutions and accessible technology - they very well can support children in their learning process. So, we work with communities to support at-home learning for children using remote instructions by phone and simple text messages. And when parental engagement is connected to the child's development through these simple solutions, what emerges is the realization that Learning can genuinely happen anywhere.

What we forget is that learning is much more than just reading and writing. Learning can also be about the child listening, observing, or analyzing something. And without a smartphone and internet connection, parents who might not have an education degree can very well be nudged to create quality learning opportunities for children in their own homes.?So yes, learning can happen anywhere.?

Our belief is best summarised by seeing actual positive change on the ground and also via independent evaluation by leading academic researchers who found out that parents from low-resource settings can significantly impact their children’s learning, with the average learning level increasing by as much as 21.6% for Maths and 24.9% for Odia even during schools lockdown.

It has also been strengthened when we encounter real stories of change-makers like Priyanka, who continuously strive to provide meaningful learning opportunities for children in their villages. Priyanka, like many youths, had faced challenges when they were kids. But with the proper support and nudge, she has become a role model for young children during their formative years.

Because we often forget in our assumptions that while teachers like Priyanka may not be from elite colleges or parents like Gayatri may not have degrees to show for them, they have skills that have allowed them to survive. If we provide them with the right nudge and support to continuously improve their skills, they can become significant sources of learning for children

We, as a society, have been made to believe that quality learning for children is completely dependent on families' socio-economic background, educational infrastructure, and formal education degrees.?But as we see from the stories of Gayatri and Priyanka, learning can happen anywhere, even without traditional educational institutions.

That makes learning a fluid, dynamic, flexible, and very adaptive process, just like water. I hope we all genuinely see the shapelessness of learning and how much more valuable it makes learning in our lives.

Please check out my TEDx talk on 'The Shapelessness of Learning' and do share your thoughts.

TEDx Video Link: https://youtu.be/V1DOdQfPsgg