Learning by doing
When he entered the C.E.O’s chamber, the CEO lifted his head from the file he was reading ,smiled at him and offered a chair gesturing with his head towards the chair. The CEO, waited until he settled and looked ar him enquiringly. He pulled out a paper from his file and kept it before the CEO.
The chairman, Mr. Thomas of Hindustan lever was aghast after seeing the contents of the paper placed before him. It was a resignation letter.
The person who resigned was, Dr, Srinath Kalbag, head of the Engineering Sciences division who obtained his doctorate in Food chemistry from the university of Illinois.
Who is Dr, Srinath Kalbag ?
Seshagiri Narayan Kalbag , father of Srinath was a native of Karnataka, shifted to Bombay, erstwhile Mumbai in search of a livelihood. A non –matriculate, managed to get a job in Killick Nixon as a clerk and settled in Ville Parle, the only place he could afford to live in 1926.
Senior Kalbag added all the bare amenities to his home himself. In this process, the home has become workshop scattered everywhere tools of different kinds of hues and colors. Srinath Kalbag’s childhood days were replete with memories of his workshop like home. He and his brother got used to the regular scenario of creating useful things out of unused and thrown junk
This childhood habit left such a deep mark on Srinath, that even after his stupendous success in his job in Hindustan Lever, his favorite job used to be always stripping down and rebuilding cars.
During Srinath’s childhood days itself, his once struggling family has started showing a tremendous signs of economic development in all spheres. Senior Kalbag owned a successful Pharmacy, which is located at Lamington Road. Its not all, Srinath and his brother started a laboratory at home. This helped in a big way to work on the projects which they read in do-it-yourself books and many magazines . In addition, Senior Kalbag owned a distribution firm for Bengal chemicals.
Importance of “Hands – on “ education realized.
During this period of childhood, Srinath has realized the weak points in the Indian education system. He found it to be shallow and odd. This is the education system, where everything revolves around scoring of marks. A student need not do anything with hands. Whereas his lab taught him everything to be done in a practical way. For Srinath “ Learning by doing” is the ultimate of real education.
Srinath envisaged an education system, where one learns through work. And through such education alone rural development which is the need of the hour is possible.He feels strongly that undeveloped rural India is the reason for heavy exodus of rural people to the urban areas in search of a livelihood. Now think , if there are enough sources for livelihood in the villages, people will not migrate to cities and towns . Thus creating an immense suffocation and exhaustion of limited resources of urban life.
A strong Resolution.
According to Hindu belief, there are four stages of life viz. Brahmachari (student), Grihasta (Householder) Vanaprasta ( A stage of leading a hermit’s life and indulging in service to the humanity.) Sannyasi (the stage of renouncement of all the worldly needs and desires.) Srinath was influenced by this belief profoundly. Swami Vivekenanda’s teachings too had an influence on him.
Srinath married at the age of 27 to Mira. Soon after his marriage, he joined Hindustan Lever. He convinced his better half that he would be switching off to the Vanaprasta stage when he attains the age of 54 to do service to the society in his own humble way , thereby giving back the society what he has taken from it.
What exactly Srinath wanted to do ?
During his studies at the Illinois university, Srinath noted how well the technology is being applied to the rural development. It was here, the seeds of future projects and plans were sown very firmly in the mind of Srinath.
He and his better half came to a conclusion to offer teaching and mentoring services. And their mode of teaching is fully non – conventional. To be exact it is 'hands-on' education.
Belief and conviction.
Srinath Kalbag firmly believed that working with hands will ignite the mind. After seeing the prevailing education system, he was disgusted to note, a mechanical engineer is not in a position even to repair a small motor. A Civil engineer is not in a position to build a small wall. The entire education system is’ Text book based.’
Preliminaries to build his dreams.
He was against settling down in an affluent place. His intention was to settle in such a place where there are many school dropouts, who were made to discontinue the schools with the pretext of ‘ helping’ the poor parents. The fact however was, the discontinuation of education was due to boring education system.
He wanted to start his non – conventional education system where very simple technical skills enable the students not only solve the longstanding problems, but also create a decent livelihood. Over and above these advantages to create an awareness about the importance self esteem and self reliance in the students.
In a nutshell, Srinath Kalbag’s non – conventional education is all about learning ‘Life skills’ not through text books but through work.
Search comes to an end.
After a prolonged search for an ideal location for his dream project, Srinath Kalbag found Pabal, a village, 70 Km away from Pune, Maharashtra. Pabal is a drought prone village. Its agriculture is entirely dependent on rain. Srinath Kalbag thought Pabal is the place that exactly fits the bill.
The main reason that attracted Srinath Kalbag for choosing Pabal was the fighting nature of its people. People of Pabal, seeing that the government turned its deaf ear to solve Pabal’s problems like lack of drinking water, educational facilities and scores of amenities, they decided to solve their own problems. They have done surveys, prepared estimates, found the shortest distance to lay a pipe line for water from the dam with the help of Global positioning system.
The campaign started.
Vigyan Ashram, the brain child of Srinath Kalbag took birth. Spread over 5 acres of land, Vigyan Ashram symbolizes ‘True education.’ One can see the dome shaped structures used as living places for the students. Labs, warehouses and for a host of different purposes.
The students by helping in giving shape to Srinath Kalbag’s projects, earn money. This helps in knowing one’s worth. This also helps in creating immense hopes in the students to look towards other avenues to exhibit their skills.Thus the entire Ashram spread over a vast expanse of 5 acres was built by the students. The modus operandi is, they work under the professional masons and craftsmen . They are not only earning, but also learning so much after some time, they themselves are becoming the main masons and master crafts men. Thus, the Ashram is making the students valuable craftsmen in different trades.
The entire education in Vigyan Ashram revolves around workshops, cattle yards, Kitchens, Biogas units, agricultural departments, where every student has to work. They are the brick bearers, they are the masons, they take care of the cattle, grow the crops and every time a new idea flashes, a presentation has to be given and discussed thoroughly the feasibility aspects with a bare minimum cost.
Another striking feature of Vigyan Ashram that makes it stand out is, Kalbag and his students are experts in Reverse engineering. Means, they buy an expensive product which has a wider use in the villages like tractors , crop cutters or portable groundwater locator . It detects water under the ground and its useful and wisely used product by the farmers. This product costs Rs. 25000. Its price is not within the reach of all the farmers.
Now comes the most interesting part. Kalbag buys one portable groundwater locator and asks the students to strip it and remake one, which is less expensive. Hence it becomes a product that is well within the reach of all farmers.
Its another advantage is, every student after completing the course will buy one and starts his own business of manufacturing of ground water detectors at a throw away price.
Diploma in basic rural technology.
Vigyan Ashram offers a course in Basic rural technology. Students , after completing the course, get an easy livelihood. There is no fear of uncertainty. They can face the world without any fear.
Diversification.
Srinath Kalbag also diversified his campaign. A rented shed was used for educating the children from the nearby villages. Seeing the noble intentions of Srinath Kalbag, Indian institute of education, Pune, expressed its willingness to work with Srinath Kalbag .
Gradually, over a period, the number of students increased. After a couple of years, the government allotted 4 acres of land. After 3 decades, Srinath Kalbag’s dreams one by one started taking shape.
Encouraged by this Srinath Kalbag started weekly classes on IBT,introduction to basic technology in more than 100 different schools.
Success Stories
The premises of Vigyan Ashram is replete with success stories. Kasam Inamdar, a school dropout learned in Vigyan Ashram how ro make geodesic domes. Today, he is doing a roaring business of constructing dome structures from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
Sindhu Borhade, was a school dropout. After her marriage, she along with her husband joinrd Vigyan Ashram and learned all about poulty and management. Today Sindhu earns around Rs. 110,000 per month.
Many students, after learning Computer assembling are doing successful business after the completion of the course.
Chikkies are made of groundnuts and jaggery. It’s a delicious product loved by children and elders alike. The downside of this product is, it is rich in calories. Vigyan Ashram students devised a method that enables the removal of excess calories. They are cheaper than the Chikkies available in the market and healthy.
Egg hatching in a large scale is a regular activity in a hatchery. Farmers use incubators that run on electricity which is expensive for this purpose. Incubators made in Vigyan Ashram is not only inexpensive, but also provides the facility of hatching 100- 500 eggs at a time.
Another innovation of Vigyan Ashram is mobile chargers run on solar energy. These chargers are handy in places where there is no electricity and during power cuts.
Hearing aids. They are without wires, light in weight and need negligible maintenance. Efforts are on to make Hearing aids that run on solar energy.
Cooking oils sold in the market are adulterated oils. Vigyan Ashram’s devise enables you to make cooking oils from groundnuts and sesame without the fear of adulteration.
Mech Bull, a unique creation.
Mech Bull is a goods carrier built from the cast off parts of a jeep by the Ashramites. Its a four-wheel drive that took only Rs. 60000. Anyone, desirous of building a Mech Bull can buy the detailed plans from the Ashram.
An ex Ashramite Shantaram Shindade built 10 Mech Bulls in his work shop on outside orders.
A Magsaysay award winner
An ex Ashramite Neelima Mishra who learned the rudiments of social service from Vigyan Ashram won the coveted Magsaysay award. This is a shining example of Dr. Srinath Kalbag ‘s vision. He achieved success through example. He had immense self confifence.
Dr. Srinath Kalbag passed away a decade ago. But his spirit continues to lead the way.
Illustration : Author.
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