SECMOL

Mere days will draw the curtain on the two months I’ve spent here.  Whilst I eagerly anticipate the events to come, I can’t help but feel more than melancholy about my departure.

I will almost certainly pine for the serenity and magnitude of my current milieu although not nearly as profoundly as my daily exchanges with the students.  

SECMOL is something of a mixed bag, but no matter what frustrations I’ve encountered, they were and will always be trumped by the interactions and relationships with the students.  At the end of the day, SECMOL offers much to the students especially in the way of developing self-confidence and social interaction.  Many of the students have described this year as “luxury” and they have yet to utter a disparaging word about the program.

SECMOL is non-government course of education which is mainly offered to students who are taking a year off from their regular studies.  A majority of these students have failed their exams and are attending the program in the hopes of strengthening their knowledge, skills and English in order the pass the exams to progress to the next successive class.  There are no reported numbers in regards to how many of the SECMOL class end up advancing to the next year although the national statistics note that only 25% of children pass their exams. It isoutrageous that the exams are conducted in English when the teachers give their lessons in (depending on the region) Urdu, Hindi, or Ladakhi.  This alone appears set the stage for failure. There is no doubt that this is a wider failing of the educational system in India.

SECMOL attempts to fill in these gaps and the effort and intention is a worthy one.  There is no doubt that it is a program that is of benefit to those who undertake it.  However, there are elements of the organization that were initially quite exasperating especially as I entered this experience blindly.

Perhaps coming from a Western country, I hold expectations or ideals that just aren’t supported amidst this institutional nightmare.  I refer to a broader system outside of SECMOL where teachers are allowed (and at most times expected) to utilize corporal punishment with the students should they make a mistake (heaven forbid).  As a result, students have become adept at memorization without cognition.  However, if the objective for staff and volunteers is to prepare the students for their exams then certainly it would be helpful to know what it is they are meant to understand, what they have already been taught, etc.  

I was taken aback in regards to areas that lacked structure combined with having the responsibilities of several classes shifted onto volunteers.  This wouldn’t be problematic if there were a syllabus or curriculum to follow or if long term volunteers were running classes throughout the year.  However, there are no records of previous lessons nor could anyone provide me with an indication of what level or subject matter to address in a concrete manner.  All in all, little guidance and no monitoring were provided in this respect.  Again, I tried to go with the flow, and feel I managed pretty well considering my expectations, but SECMOL was not aware of what I was teaching or how I was teaching it.  For all they knew, I could have been wildly inappropriate and incompetent (I wasn’t).

My main point is that some tightening up and organization could possibly produce more positive learning outcomes.  I detest unnecessary bureaucracy especially as I was knee deep in that nonsense in my previous work environment, but something as simple as learning objectives for the school yearor an outline of what topics need to be addressed and what has already been covered wouldn’t go missed. On that note, I have mentioned all of the above to the staff here.  It has generally been met with nods of agreement but in a way that a parent might absently agree with their young child who tellsh im or her that it’s better for the environment to buy only recycled products.  Putting something into practice is a whole ‘notha show.

In any case, SECMOL was an edifying introduction to India and my English teaching experience.  I have been informed that many other schools months will generally offer similar practices so I’ll have to make the most of it.  As stated, my feelings about the structure will always be secondary to those of my overall experience and my memories of the students here.

I’ve had a moan and grumble about rats in the night, lack of a nutritious diet, and a permanent staff member who appears to work hard at avoiding work, but I would do it all over again if I could.  Perhaps now that it is the end of the road and I have a good bill of health, I feel that I could spend more time here but 2 months was a psychologically and physically manageable period.   However, I was almost convinced that M, who volunteered here for half a year, was going to set fire to Ladakh before she exited.  It can be a bittersweet experience so one needs to assess their limits and expectations, but unless you don’t have a heart; it will certainly be broken upon departure.