LESSONS FROM CONTEMPORARY SCHOOLS Nita Kumar When we look at the panorama of schools in Banaras today, the first thing that strikes us is the amazing variety and range of these schools. They can be called anything from Shishu Mandir (Temple to Infants') to Oxford Public School. There is a Harvard and a Cambridge too, as well as two St Josephs, one Catholic and one 'secular', a St Mary's, a St John's, and a St Vyas. There are innumerable Little Birds, Tiny Tots (and Tiny Taughts), Sun Beams, Golden Boughs, Temple Bells, Gloria, Glorious, Margarate [sic], Don (and Dawn) 'Public Schools,' 'Academies' and 'Convents'. Most have grand and impressive signs that lead onto a verandah, playground, or narrow passage with another opening, which leads in turn, like the White Rabbit's tunnel, into a whole world. These are all ostensibly English medium schools, and want to make their affiliation clear from their very name. Then there are all the Hindi, Urdu, Urdu-Arabic, and Sanskrit medium schools that pronounce their own intentions by their nomenclature. Most of the Hindi schools are named after role models, such as Tulsi Das or Madan Mohan Malaviya. But the cultural fund to be gained in thus naming them is arguably lost as children and the public reduce the names to undifferentiable barebones: TVS, CHS, DPS, and so on. Madrasas are typically, in flowery Urdu, gardens, springs, and centres of learning. Non-madrasa Muslim schools are a stark contrast: City Girls' School and National Public School. Sanskrit schools all name the patron, and sometimes only the patron, as another abbreviation takes place, with only the first part of the name spoken, thus: Adarsh Rani Chandravati (Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya); Goinka (ditto); Sri Nandlal Bajoria (ditto). I collected basic data on about 100 of the schools of Banaras, choosing them randomly from what accosted me in the streets and lanes. Some fifty of these I pursued further, visiting regularly, observing in their classrooms, interviewing their managers, principals, teachers and servants, interacting with the students, and studying their textbooks and odd materials. In this essay, I partly act as the naive observer, asking some basic questions about schooling. Of the many fascinating processes that go on under the school roof, or the improvised roofs in the courtyard as the case may be, I focus on one direct question and one indirect one: What is the child learning in these schools? And what do we learn Nita Kumar is on the faculty of the Centre for the Studies in Social Sciences, 10 Lake Terrace, Calcutta 700 029 Fax 033 466 6958 E-mail:nita@csssc.ernet.in SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN, 47 (1), March 1998