#The Center for Urban Pedagogy

[shantijuniors]

Top 10 Preschool Franchises in India: A Comprehensive Guide for Aspiring Ent

Preschools serve as the first step in formal education, helping children develop social, cognitive, and motor skills essential for their future learning. With increasing awareness about the benefits of early education, the demand for quality 10 preschool franchises in India has skyrocketed.

Importance of Early Childhood Education in India

Preschool education in India has witnessed remarkable growth over the past decade, with an increasing number of parents recognizing the importance of early childhood education. This surge in demand has opened up lucrative opportunities for entrepreneurs to invest in preschool franchises. Whether you’re an experienced business owner or a first-time investor, choosing the right franchise is crucial for success. In this guide, we present the Top 10 preschool franchises in India that offer promising business prospects, comprehensive support, and a strong brand reputation.

Why Choose a Preschool Franchise?

Benefits of Preschool Franchising

Investing in a preschool franchise offers a lucrative business opportunity with the added advantage of being part of an established brand. Franchises provide a proven business model, established curriculum, marketing support, and operational guidance, reducing the risks associated with starting a new business from scratch. For aspiring entrepreneurs passionate about education, franchising is an excellent way to enter the booming preschool industry.

Market Potential in India

The preschool industry in India is thriving, with a market size projected to grow significantly in the coming years. Factors like rising disposable incomes, increased awareness of early education, and a growing urban population contribute to this expansion. The preschool franchise sector is expected to continue flourishing, making it a promising investment opportunity.

Top 10 Preschool Franchises in India

1. Shanti Juniors 

Shanti Juniors is the most preferred and reputed preschool franchise in India. With over  375 + Preschool Franchises in 74 + Cities all over India. At Shanti Juniors we celebrate childhood with a Holistic Approach for a child’s development by ensuring a Child Friendly Environment and Trained Teachers.

Holistic development of a child has 2 aspects involving 7 Stages of learning.

 Implementation of curriculum using I - Cube Learning Ladder Methodology, Inquiry , Interaction and Innovation creating  4 C’s , i.e Curiosity, Confidence, Creativity and Continuity.

We conduct 5 Audits in a year for Teachers and Environment.

Innovation is an ongoing process at Shanti Juniors using KIDDO WITTY which is The STEAM Approach incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. 

Key Features of Shanti Juniors  

Curriculum and Pedagogy

We have incorporated a well-designed and comprehensive curriculum with the           perfect combination of  Montessori Method, Waldorf Approach, High Scope Approach, Bank Street Approach, and Reggio Emilia Approach,  that balances academic learning with play-based activities that is essential for a child's holistic development.

Holistic Approach for Business Operations

We not only provide a Holistic Approach for a Child's Development but also implement a Holistic Approach for Business Operations which makes managing the Preschool much easier for the Franchisee.

Low Investment High Returns

The investment required to set up and start a preschool franchise is comparatively Low with High returns on Investment (ROI).

Complete Support and Training

We have a dedicated support team to ensure that our Franchise Partners have all the guidance, support and training needed to make this venture a raging success.

Growth and Expansion Opportunity

Shanti Juniors offers its franchise partners an expansion opportunity to open K - 12 School known as Shanti Asiatic School.

2. Kidzee

Kidzee is one of the largest and most renowned preschool franchises in India. With over 1900 centers across 750+ cities, Kidzee has established itself as a leader in early childhood education. The franchise offers a well-researched curriculum, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and extensive training programs for franchisees. The brand’s commitment to nurturing the potential of every child through a holistic approach has earned it numerous awards and accolades.

Key Features of Kidzee:

Extensive network with a strong brand presence.

Scientifically developed curriculum, "iLLUME," focusing on the child’s unique learning style.

Comprehensive training and support for franchisees.

High returns on investment with a quick break even period.

3. EuroKids

EuroKids has been a pioneer in the preschool industry in India since its inception in 2001. The brand is known for its innovative curriculum that blends play with learning, ensuring holistic development of children. With over 1000 centres across India, EuroKids offers a robust support system for its franchisees, including marketing assistance, operational support, and regular training.

Key Features of EuroKids:

Research-based curriculum focusing on cognitive, emotional, and social development.

Extensive marketing and operational support.

Strong brand reputation and established market presence.

Opportunities for franchise expansion into higher grades with EuroSchool.

4. Bachpan Play School

Bachpan Play School is another leading name in the Indian preschool sector, known for its well-structured curriculum and innovative teaching methodologies. With over 1200 branches nationwide, Bachpan offers franchisees a low-cost investment model with high returns. The brand’s focus on technological integration in education, such as smart classes and e-learning modules, sets it apart from its competitors.

Key Features of Bachpan Play School:

Affordable franchise model with high-profit potential.

Advanced teaching aids, including smart classes and e-learning modules.

Continuous training and development programs for franchisees and staff.

Strong support system with regular audits and guidance.

5. Shemrock & Shemford

Shemrock & Shemford are among the oldest preschool and primary school chains in India, with over 650 branches. The brand’s emphasis on a joyful learning environment, coupled with a child-centric curriculum, has made it a popular choice among parents. For franchisees, Shemrock & Shemford offer a comprehensive support system, including marketing, recruitment, and training assistance.

Key Features of Shemrock & Shemford:

Extensive experience in the education sector with a proven track record.

Curriculum designed to foster creativity and self-expression.

Robust franchise support, including marketing and recruitment assistance.

Opportunity to expand into primary and senior secondary education.

6. Hello Kids

Hello Kids is one of the fastest-growing preschool chains in India, known for its flexible and affordable franchise model. With over 600 centres, Hello Kids offers a unique blend of Montessori and play way methods, ensuring a well-rounded education for children. The brand’s focus on affordability without compromising on quality has made it a popular choice for aspiring franchisees.

Key Features of Hello Kids:

Low-cost franchise model with flexible investment options.

Blend of Montessori and play way teaching methods.

Regular training programs and operational support.

Strong focus on maintaining quality standards across all centres.

7. Little Millennium

Little Millennium is a leading preschool brand in India, known for its scientifically researched curriculum that focuses on the holistic development of children. With over 750 centres across the country, Little Millennium offers a well-structured franchise model with extensive support in terms of training, marketing, and operations.

Key Features of Little Millennium:

Research-based curriculum focusing on all-round development.

Extensive franchisee support, including training and marketing assistance.

Strong brand presence with a growing network of centres.

Focus on providing a safe and nurturing environment for children.

8. Kangaroo Kids

Kangaroo Kids is a premium preschool brand in India, known for its innovative curriculum and world-class infrastructure. Founded by Lina Ashar, Kangaroo Kids has set new benchmarks in early childhood education with its child-centric approach and emphasis on experiential learning. The brand offers a high-end franchise model with comprehensive support in all aspects of business operations.

Key Features of Kangaroo Kids:

Premium preschool brand with a focus on experiential learning.

Innovative curriculum designed by educational experts.

Comprehensive franchisee training and support.

High return on investment with a strong brand reputation.

9. Podar Jumbo Kids

Podar Jumbo Kids is a part of the renowned Podar Education Network, which has over 90 years of experience in the education sector. With more than 400 centres, Podar Jumbo Kids offers a curriculum that blends traditional and modern teaching methods. The franchise model is well-structured, providing support in terms of training, marketing, and operations.

Key Features of Podar Jumbo Kids:

Backed by the prestigious Podar Education Network.

Curriculum that combines traditional and modern teaching methods.

Strong franchisee support, including regular training and marketing assistance.

Opportunity to expand into higher grades with Podar International School.

10. TreeHouse

TreeHouse is a well-known preschool brand in India, recognized for its focus on providing quality education in a safe and nurturing environment. With over 720 centres, TreeHouse offers a well-rounded curriculum that emphasizes both academic and extracurricular activities. The brand provides extensive support to franchisees, ensuring smooth operations and consistent quality across all centres.

Key Features of TreeHouse:

Strong focus on safety and quality education.

Balanced curriculum with emphasis on academics and extracurricular activities.

Comprehensive support system for franchisees, including training and marketing assistance.

Well-established brand with a growing network of centres.

Also Read: Play, Learn, and Grow at Shanti Juniors Preschool

Conclusion

Investing in a preschool franchise in India is a lucrative opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs. The brands listed above offer comprehensive support, established market presence, and proven business models, making them ideal choices for those looking to enter the preschool education sector. Choosing the right franchise will not only provide a strong return on investment but also contribute to the development of the next generation.

Welcome to the Business of FUN, LEARN and EARN.

[finishinglinepress]

FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: A Kind of Flourishing by Angela Griner

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/a-kind-of-flourishing-by-angela-griner/

A Kind of Flourishing contains contemplative #poetry, steeped in the art of paying attention to backyard miracles and the lessons we learn from the #nature surrounding us, no matter the setting, urban, rural, suburban, or on a remote trail somewhere. Each #poem is a practice in consenting to the complex mix that #life and nature bring of astounding love, devastating grief, and magnificent joy.

Angela Griner has worked in the field of education for more than 20 years, with a passion for literature and writing for young children, and inspiring adults to tap into their own creativity to teach young ones the love of reading and writing. She is passionate about the role of mental health, wellness, spirituality, and trauma-informed practices in teaching and learning, with creative expression as an integrative approach towards inclusive, healing centered pedagogies. She holds an MA in Reading and EdD in curriculum and instruction, specializing in urban and multicultural education. She currently resides in Orlando, Florida, teaching, writing, and painting. For more information or permission to use any of the words here, email: angelagriner@gmail.com. To see artwork and regularly posted writings go to: https://angelagriner.com

PRAISE FOR A Kind of Flourishing by Angela Griner

“If I could be a word, Like Yahweh, God’s breath, our love brought out from the chaos lifted out from the depths, broken love made whole, God-breathed yes, that’s it, Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh.” Angela’s poetry in A Kind of Flourishing, searches in what feels like the contradictory nature of human love and builds up as it rests in the finding of the final treasure-Yahweh. As I experience my own chaos and the chaos of the leaders I support, I am reminded of the breath, the answer. “Broken love made whole God-breathed. Yahweh.” It feels like a strong whisper. It brings me to a place of grounded rest.

–Angie Winn, activist, speaker, teacher, author of Pausing in Motion: Cultivating Resilience and Stability for a Life of Intention and Impact (Winn Summit Publishing, 2022)

Reading Angela’s poetry feels like standing on the ocean’s edge, listening to the rhythmic waves as they swell, curl and crash onto the shore of life and as you stand you realize you have been drawn into the ocean; you begin to feel the wave’s swell and every now and then the words curl over you and push you to ride the strong wave from the inside, until you find yourself lying on the sand of the shoreline. Exquisite, compelling, contemplative poetry. A fresh voice that draws my heart to peace. I can’t wait to have this on my shelf.

–Reverend Canon Patricia Orlando, priest for Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Care, Cathedral Church of St. Luke

Have you ever encountered that place where the shallow layer of earthen life breaks just enough that you can feel how deep the sea is beneath you? Beneath you with such a beauty that to glimpse it is to find a longing so deep your soul aches? Angela writes from, in, and to this space. Weaving and inviting us into the depths of grief and recovery, nature and heart, the reader is welcomed into a place of such beauty that at times made me have to find my breath and shield my eyes for it was almost too much to bear. How can the vision of a mother’s comb hold such a direct line to our hearts and the heart of God? Angela’s work here is not only a honor to her own mother, but to her own heart, to yours and mine, and to the hands and hearts that have fed, loved, formed, wounded, and healed our own souls. I hope you find that same beautiful ache in these words and pages. I hope that you welcome that longing and in it you find glimpses of yourself, of who you have been, and who you are becoming. These words call out the beauty in the wrinkled hands and old streets that formed us and form us even now, in such heart-rending beauty.

–Aaron Moore, MA, MA, LMHC, speaker, author, advocate, cofounder of Solace Counseling in Orlando, Florida

Please share/please repost

#flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #chapbook #read #poems #nature #spirituality

[dy-patil-university-navi-mumbai]

Uncovering D Y Patil University: A Center for Innovative Education

Pressing issues like environmental problems, public health concerns, and the need to create meaningful experiences and celebrations to make sense of our complicated world are all interwoven into our existence. Redefining education, D Y Patil Deemed To Be University leads the way in helping us thrive in the changing landscape of today.

The university offers interesting degree programs that prepare students to manage the complexities of today’s global scene.

They focus on environmental studies, public health, and event management. Let’s explore some of these programs and discover how they are shaping the leaders of the future.

Environmental Studies Bachelor of Science: Promoting Sustainability

In the struggle against environmental deterioration, D Y Patil’s Bachelor of Science in Environment Studies program provides a ray of hope. This environmental studies course provides evidence of the university’s dedication to sustainability. It has a curriculum created to give students the knowledge and abilities necessary to address urgent environmental concerns.

Program Scope: Students study a broad range of environmental challenges, from deforestation to global warming. It prepares them to have a beneficial impact on the planet.

Career Opportunities: Students who complete this degree can find work in a variety of settings, including government offices, research facilities, non-governmental organizations, and departments of urban planning.

Advanced Curriculum: The program’s emphasis on real-world applications and multidisciplinary approach ensure that students are ready to take on environmental challenges head-on.

Bachelor of Public Health: Promoting Health Equity

The School of Public Health at D.Y. Patil Deemed To Be University is committed to addressing today’s most critical public health concerns. The university’s Bachelor of Public Health degree provides students with the information and skills required to promote health equity and improve population health outcomes.

Modern Campus: The university’s modern facilities include a medical simulation lab and partner hospitals. They give students hands-on instruction and real-world exposure because they have access to the data of the wide number of patients who visit the hospitals.

Interdisciplinary Pedagogy: The program uses a variety of instructional methods and faculty expertise to provide students with a complete education in public health.

Career Opportunities: Graduates of this event management course in Mumbai, pursue careers in a range of fields, including healthcare management, epidemiology, and policy development They make a major contribution to public health.

BSc in Event Studies: Creating Memorable Experiences.

D Y Patil’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Studies provides a BSc in Event Studies curriculum that equips students for success in the fast-paced profession of event management. This program emphasizes creativity, analytical thinking, and practical skills. It provides students with the tools they need to excel in the dynamic world of event planning.

Hands-on Experience: Because the curriculum focuses on real-world management abilities, students are able to apply theoretical information to practical circumstances. It prepares them for industry success.

Diverse Career Opportunities: Graduates of this program can pursue a range of careers in event management, hospitality management, and corporate event coordination. This demonstrates the degree’s adaptability and relevance to industry needs.

Business Readiness: Students who complete the extensive program are able to draw attention from the public. They also meet and surpass client expectations. Connections with industry leaders, internships and more help students to become ready for the future. Thus, this makes them invaluable resources for the event business.

Final Thought: Developing Future Leaders

Education at D Y Patil Deemed To Be University transcends the classroom. It enables students to act as change agents both inside and outside of their communities. The university is preparing the next generation of leaders with creative, compassionate, and knowledgeable degree programs in environmental studies, public health, and event management. These graduates will be able to meet the problems of the twenty-first century. D Y Patil Deemed To Be University is laying the foundation for a better, healthier, and more sustainable future. Therefore, it places more emphasis on practical effect and a dedication to quality.

[padhaicrew]

Transforming Education: The Digital Revolution in Rajasthan

Digital Learning Redefined: Rajasthan's Leap into Educational Transformation

Amidst the vibrant tapestry of tradition and culture, Rajasthan is undergoing a profound transformation in the realm of education through a digital revolution. Recognizing the potential of technology to transcend geographical constraints and democratize learning, the state is embracing innovative approaches to education. From the historic city of Jodhpur to the bustling streets of Ajmer, Rajasthan is leading the charge in reshaping the educational landscape, heralding a new era of accessibility, inclusivity, and excellence through the digital revolution.

Pioneering Digital Education for Women

At the forefront of Rajasthan's digital education revolution is the best girls' university in Jaipur. This esteemed institution is not merely adapting to the digital age but is actively shaping it by integrating cutting-edge technology into its educational programs. From virtual classrooms and online resources to interactive e-learning platforms, the university is providing a dynamic and inclusive learning environment that empowers women to thrive in the digital era, preparing them for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

E-Learning Platforms: Bridging Gaps and Expanding Access

Rajasthan's digital revolution in education is breaking down traditional barriers to learning. E-learning platforms have become instrumental in reaching students in remote areas, ensuring that quality education is not confined to urban centers. From primary education to higher learning, these platforms offer a diverse range of courses, allowing students to pursue their academic goals regardless of geographical constraints. Rajasthan's commitment to expanding access through digital means is leveling the playing field and fostering a culture of continuous learning.

Digital Literacy Initiatives: Empowering Every Learner

Recognizing the importance of digital literacy in the modern world, Rajasthan has embarked on comprehensive initiatives to ensure that every learner is equipped with the skills necessary to navigate the digital landscape. From introducing coding and programming in schools to providing specialized digital literacy programs for adults, the state is empowering its citizens to not only consume digital content but also actively participate and contribute to the digital economy.

Smart Classrooms and Virtual Labs: Transforming Traditional Pedagogy

Rajasthan's digital revolution extends to its classrooms, where smart technology is redefining traditional pedagogy. Smart classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards, multimedia content, and collaborative tools are enhancing the learning experience. Virtual labs in science and technology subjects provide students with hands-on learning opportunities, transcending the limitations of physical infrastructure and expanding the horizons of practical education.

Digital Assessments and Personalized Learning: Tailoring Education to Individual Needs

Assessment methods in Rajasthan are undergoing a digital transformation, moving away from traditional exams to adaptive and personalized assessment tools. Digital assessments not only provide real-time feedback but also allow educators to tailor learning experiences to individual needs. Adaptive learning platforms use data analytics to understand each student's strengths and challenges, creating a personalized learning journey that optimizes educational outcomes.

Industry-Academia Collaboration: Aligning Education with Market Demands

Rajasthan's digital revolution in education is not only about leveraging technology for learning but also aligning educational programs with the evolving demands of the job market. The state actively encourages collaboration between educational institutions and industries to bridge the gap between academia and real-world skills. Internship programs, industry-led workshops, and skill development initiatives are ensuring that graduates are not just academically proficient but also equipped with the practical skills required in the digital age.

Rajasthan's Digital Educational Odyssey

In conclusion, Rajasthan's digital revolution in education is a testament to the state's commitment to providing quality and accessible learning opportunities for all. The best girls' university in Jaipur and other educational institutions are spearheading this transformation, embracing technology as an enabler of progress. As Rajasthan continues on its digital educational odyssey, it is not just shaping a more technologically savvy generation but also laying the foundation for a knowledge-driven society that thrives on innovation, adaptability, and inclusivity.

[ushamartinuniversity]

Faculty of Agriculture - Admisison Open B.Sc (Hons.) Agriculture Course at UMU

Faculty of Agriculture:

Welcome to the Faculty of Agriculture at Usha Martin University, Ranchi, Jharkhand. The University is adobe of innovation and wisdom has attained the hallowed height in the sphere of higher education and created a place of eminence as the best University in Ranchi.  Since inception the University is doing sublime work in the sphere of higher education and has attracted brilliant brains from across the country who created their own space at international level.

The Faculty of Agriculture at Usha Martin University is committed to impart high-quality and holistic education, promoting cutting-edge agricultural research, and take the innovation to the farming community. Our objective is to produce Agricultural Scientists, Agripreneurs, Agribusiness Managers, and Social Entrepreneurs who could serve the farming community with dedication and zeal. 

Our Agricultural Programmes are judicious blend of practical and theoretical pedagogy that provides solid academic base, blend of the latest industry and best business practices, and focused on creating a link between theory and practice that supports advanced career in the sphere of agriculture and its allied areas.

At the Department of Agriculture students get a conductive teaching-learning environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities that enhances their professional competencies, research competencies, critical thinking and problem solving skills and enable students to succeed in a highly competitive global environment. 

About B.Sc (Hons.) Agriculture:

B.sc Agriculture at Usha Martin University is an 4 Years undergraduate Course of four years. The programme is designed meticulously by industry experts and highly qualified faculty of the University to prepare a dedicated and skilled workforce in agriculture and its allied sectors. B.Sc Agriculture course is an excellent blend of theory and practical pedagogy, which provides students a perfect exposure to get hands-on experience in the laboratory’s playhouses, experimental plots, and fields within and outside the university in peri-urban rural, and industrial settings.

Some major topics, which students are taught in B.sc Agriculture are modern scientific instruments machinery and techniques in plant and animal-based farming systems, land surveying, soil science, water resource management, animal and poultry management, basics of biotechnology, etc. Agriculture department of Usha Martin University has well-equipped laboratories, smart classrooms, and well-stocked library, where students get full-fledge atmosphere to acquainted with various facets of agriculture and its related specializations.

Advantages of B.Sc (Hons.) Agriculture

There are various options available after the completion of the B.SC Hons Agriculture course. Options start with higher studies in this field such as M.Sc, Ph.D., and M.Phil in Agriculture; which make you eligible for the post of lecturer in any university or college.

After completion of this course, graduates become eligible to join agriculture research centers in the government sector.

This degree equips students with the skills and competencies required to manage Agripreneurship, work in the agriculture field, conduct research and field surveys, and manage different areas of farming practices.

Self-employment opportunities are also available after earning a B.SC Hons Agriculture degree.

This degree allows you to join the banking sector by appearing in the IBPS exam, You become eligible for various competitive exams such as FCI, UPSC-IFSC Exam, State forest Exam, NABARD Grade-A Exam, and many more.

Career Scope after B.SC Hons Agriculture?

B.Sc Hons Agriculture is considered a significant professional degree. The degree provides access to avail wide range of jobs opportunities in both the government and private sectors. A degree in Agriculture from the Best Agriculture College in Ranchi will enlarge your employment opportunities by enhancing your skills to apply the latest emerging science technologies to expand and improve field productivity and crop quality. Self-employment options are also available in this field. The career scope in this field is extremely comprehensive. Students become eligible for various competitive exams such as FCI, State forest Exam, UPSC-IFSC Exam, NABARD Grade-A Exam, and many others. If you have a keen interest in research work, then you can opt for M. Sc in Agriculture degree followed by Ph.D. You can also go for teaching jobs and get employed as a teacher, assistant professor, or professor. If you want to pursue a successful career in the field of agriculture, Admission Open B.SC Hons Agriculture at UMU; apply now.

Source Url: Faculty of Agriculture-B.Sc (Hons.) Course Admission Open at Usha Martin University

[bschoolcollegesakha]

What are the differences between the IGNOU MBA and the CEPT MBA?

Institution: IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) is a public, distance education institution, while CEPT (Center for Environmental Planning and Technology) University is a private university located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Curriculum: The IGNOU MBA program covers general management topics such as accounting, finance, marketing, and operations, while the CEPT MBA program focuses on sustainable development and management in the built environment, urbanization, and infrastructure.

Duration: The IGNOU MBA program is a two-year program, while the CEPT MBA program is a two-year residential program.

Pedagogy: IGNOU MBA is a distance education program that provides study material and conducts periodic exams, while the CEPT MBA program is a residential program that emphasizes classroom teaching, project work, and internships.

Eligibility: The eligibility criteria for admission to the IGNOU MBA program is a Bachelor's degree in any discipline, while for the CEPT MBA program, the candidate must have a Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Planning, Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or any related field.

Accreditation: The IGNOU MBA program is approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), while the CEPT MBA program is accredited by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Council of Architecture (CoA).

Overall, the IGNOU MBA and the CEPT MBA programs have different focuses, curriculums, and pedagogies, so it's important to research and compare the programs to determine which one is best suited to your career goals and interests.

IGNOU MBA and CEPT MBA are two different MBA programs offered in India. Here are some of the differences between the two programs:

[affective-vernacular]

From Fandom to Collaborative Education

Arcosanti, January 2019 (not quite Brutalist, but a beautiful concrete beast nevertheless).

Through my research of Tumblr-centered discourse and theory it became evident that the notion of fandom is prevalent. My initial thought was that this is not the Tumblr I am familiar with - I associated the term fandom with obsessions over TV shows like Dr. Who, the oeuvre of Joss Whedon, or My Little Pony, as well as Comic Con, Gen Con, Dragon Con, and any other nerdy conventions. (No offence to the nerds, I too have periphery nerd interests, I just hadn’t yet associated them with Tumblr). Early in my research I wondered whether I did in fact follow fandoms through Tumblr but simply never thought of them as such, and this was confirmed while reading Annette Koh’s (2020) critical essay of urban-themed Tumblr fandoms:

The concrete behemoths of mid-twentieth-century #Brutalist architecture had Tumblr fan clubs who celebrated the much-maligned buildings as exemplars of design rather than failures of modernism…Niche fandoms found each other and shared their transformative works, what fandom calls the creative adaptation of other people’s published work. There was a Tumblr devoted to redesigning subway maps for greater legibility, which struck me as a kind of fanfiction for public transit. Cartography as art was enthusiastically embraced, with a boomlet in hometown maps constructed from hand-lettered neighborhood names. Maps also rendered unfamiliar cities knowable, the overwhelming massiveness of Moscow or London or Tokyo turned into a friendly tangle of crayon-colored subway lines (pp. 337-338).

It is true, I am a member of the brutalist fandom, I’ve been following architectureofdoom and bauzeitgeist for years. What other fandoms am I a part of? Antique art ephemera, strange compositions, outsider art, demure collage, 60s psych GIFS, old photos of old buildings, retrofuturism, poetic space memes – my fandoms may be less nameable, but they exist, there’s a defined aesthetic connecting me with my followers and those I follow. Not only did I frequent Tumblr to experience ‘a mood’ or the affect created by my highly curated dashboard feed, but also to connect with the feeling of being around people who get it. Without having to ever explicitly state the fact, it felt like I had managed to surround myself with likeminded people in a nebulous world that existed within me, through the internet, and within others as though we connected as a kind of hive mind ruled by twee poetics, light melancholia and beautiful absurdity.

In 2017 Allison McCracken, who has extensively researched Tumblr phenomena and co-edited the 2020 ebook: a tumblr book: platform and cultures, wrote an article that focuses on the “peer education” (p. 151) that the digital platform fosters. My Tumblr participation waned in 2015 as I neared the end of my 20s, yet it seems that just as I left, an increase in collaborative activity, information sharing and circulation began within and amongst Tumblr communities, which mirrored and reverberated off the rising erratic political and social energy that continues today. McCracken sees more in the platform than just a meeting of minds: “For many youth, Tumblr has become an alternative, tuition-free classroom, a powerful site of youth media literacy, identify formation, and political awareness that often reproduces cultural studies methods of media analysis” (p. 152).

The consideration of Tumblr as a vibrant, multimodal digital space of intersecting thoughts, evolving literacies, symbiotic pedagogies and ongoing cultural critiques, evokes the New London Group’s (NLG) call for a redesign of educational approaches. Their collaborative 1996 article, "A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies", radically suggests a designer-like approach to the revisioning of teaching methodologies. NLG’s focus was on the notion of multiliteracies, both “to account for the context of our culturally and linguistically diverse and increasingly globalized societies... [and to] account for the burgeoning variety of text forms associated with information and multimedia technologies” (p 61). Is it possible that Tumblr has organically developed into the kind of pedagogical environment that NLG was envisioning? Not only does the platform allow for the rapid exchange of cultural information, but also supports and fosters various text technologies, while concurrently allows users to design both their outward-facing persona, and their incoming feed of content. NLG further describes their technologically and culturally diverse vision:

A pedagogy of multiliteracies, by contrast, focuses on modes of representation much broader than language alone. These differ according to culture and context, and have specific cognitive, cultural, and social effects… Multiliteracies also creates a different kind of pedagogy, one in which language and other modes of meaning are dynamic representational resources, constantly being remade by their users as they work to achieve their various cultural purposes (p. 64).

In a current reality where we are constantly balancing our mindless technological obsessions with news-induced anxiety and wellness sentiments, it’s exciting to see that the space within a social media platform echoes, cultivates and carries forward a radical call for change from our recent past.

Whether used as a “backchannel” (2018, p. 363) within a formal education setting, as Melanie E. S. Kohnen advocates for in "Tumblr Pedagogies", or simply integrated into one’s recreational learning routine, Tumblr affords its participants with a space to explore content, learn socially, and connect to other likeminded individuals and their own sense of self.

Reference List

[architectuul]

Informal City: 2 Days To Go!

The International Summer School Informal City: Temporal-Autonomous Utopias opens up topics on how the transformation of the system over the past thirty years has affected changing patterns of behaviour, values, and beliefs about living and understanding cities on the case study of Koper, Slovenia.

Koper before development of the Port, 1955. | Source Archive of Port of Koper

Examples of temporary use of empty spaces and staging of new city venues with content that is open to all city users will seek to create new urbanity based on inclusive social integration, social solidarity and ecological inclusion on the basis of participatory cooperation. 

Plan of Giacomo Fino for Koper’s morphology, 1619. | Source HISTRIA

The island of Koper from 1781 drawing’ by Francesco del Pedro and Marco Sebastiano Giampiccoli, where are evident 52 churches, also described by Bernik (1968, 199). | Source Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, SI PAK KP 344, t. e. 1.

The research work will be based on an analysis (with the aim of understanding) of the current situation in Koper. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss in open public platforms through contextual interviews with various interested publics, and later through methodological processes of inclusive social design to develop potential concepts including urban and architectural planning. This can  serve the Municipality of Koper as a basis for the municipal spatial plan. Based on a well-thought-out and in-depth realized process, a new vocabulary will be defined for residents, spatial users and policy makers in order to create a common language for spatial development.

Mihevc’ study for the urban development project of Koper in 1961. | Source N. Čebron Lipovec (2012)

The development of the silhouette of Koper. | Source Guček (2000)

The first summer school will introduce the topic of water recuperation, the promotion of organic food production methods and the creation of a connected community. It will enable participants to both understand and apply new strategies to shape the participatory process and inclusive lifestyles in cities throughout the post-COVID period.

A view on the historical city centre with a new city’s park and parking on the left, an unfinished complex on the right and the port behind. | Photo © Enota

In addition to the listed activities in the new center of culture Libertas, we created a series of events for the upcoming months. From the iconic Kiosk K-67 relocated in Koper for a special collaboration between Obalne Galerije Piran and Avtomatik Delovišče, to the BankArt project space of VUO program by University of Primorska, Faculty of Education. In order to produce and share the knowledge, content analysis and results will be disseminated through various media: Primorske novice in the monthly Prostorska frka, Radio Koper Koperiskop and WELTRAUM radio show on Indepented Coastal Radio NOR.

Temporary use of the unfinished complex Solis. | Photomontage © Bugarič

In parallel, the urban acupuncture table for the future will be tested for the community. The table will be a stage to address the audience, while participants will share food, exchange informal ideas and open new cultural dialogues. The table is also an infrastructure where the production and distribution of food is celebrated, which is an introduction of an ecologically more conscious community.

With the international summer school, participants will gain experience in working in interdisciplinary teams and learn about ways to develop social innovations. In other words, participants will learn skills that will help them become agents of change and better team players in interdisciplinary groups while working on projects with tangible social effects. Therefore, the curriculum systematically focuses on improving the soft skills of the participants, presenting them with the best work methodologies through both theory and practice.

Tomos Skyscraper before the renovation. | Photo © Boštjan Bugarič

As an answer to growing economic and social problems in all their complexity can only be a comprehensive and multidisciplinary intertwined solution that grows out of cooperation and interdisciplinary participation.

Exhibition at the temporary use in Tomos Skyscraper. | Photo © Natalija Gajić

UAU! (Urban Activation Unit) Temporary Utopia aims at reaching and being reached by a truly global audience, overcoming geographical and cultural differences, in order to contribute to finding possible answers to some of the relevant urban issues of the present times.

We believe ‘everything is architecture’ and consider the latter as one of the last remaining humanistic activities, in which one can read the traces of many subjects, processes and compromises. The architectural project can still be considered as the convergence point of many different knowledge which must find a balance in order for it to be realized. Temporary Utopia is born from our interest in those alternative forms of pedagogy, capable of collecting and interpreting the many signals coming from communities around the world, asking for more just and accessible spaces and cities where everyone feels welcome and that everyone can equally call his/her own. 

We aim at using collective intelligence and mutual exchange through design, in order to amplify people’s voices beyond ordinary borders, thanks to an educational program that is as complex and fun as it is solid and coherent. In said process, both listening before acting and having fun while doing is essential. By consequence we consider any design form as necessarily suspended between sustainable play and achievable dream, that’s why we believe in utopias as essential in order to rediscover the pleasure of architecture, outside academies.

[kuramirocket]

“In Lak’ech 

Tu eres mi otro yo/ You are my other me.

Si te hago daño a ti/ If I do harm to you,

Me hago daño a mi mismo/ I do harm to myself.

Si te amo y respeto/ If I love and respect you,

Me amo y respeto yo/ I love and respect myself.”

In the Tucson High Magnet School located in Arizona, high school students enrolled in Mexican American Studies (MAS) would start their day reciting this poem by Luis Valdez, signifying unity, oneness, and love. Their echoed words would fill their classrooms and celebrate their humanity with respect and empathy. But when the MAS program was banned and eliminated by Arizona lawmakers in 2010, it failed to silence students’ voices or deter their unity. Their passion and echoed chants caused an uproar across their communities in Arizona, and ultimately led to the rise of an Ethnic Studies movement nationwide.

The Mexican American Studies Program

Established in 1998, the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program was designed to motivate students and equip them with the tools to become agents of change within their communities. In a school district where Hispanic students made up the majority,  the MAS program was necessary to assist and guide students in reaching their full academic potential. Although it was not the first school to offer ethnic studies classes, Tucson Unified School District became the first to implement it at a district-wide level. 

And it worked. 

Over the next 13 years, the program flourished and more than 1,300 students had enrolled in these classrooms. The high school dropout rate for MAS students decreased significantly, at 2.5%, a notable contrast to the 56% drop out rates for Latino students, nationally, at that time. In addition, MAS students were found to academically improve, achieve high performing state tests, and enroll in college. 

“I had been in their classes for quite a while and when I was in their classes I was like ‘Woah! This is happening in public schools?’ Just to be in those classes, even the physical aspect and the feeling of coming into those rooms, the way they were decorated, the love from the teachers, the sense of belonging of the students was just like night and day from the rest of the school,”  states Anita Fernández, a scholar activist from Prescott College in Arizona and Director of XITO, the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing. 

In these classes, students learned about art, history, literature, government, and contemporary issues through the lens of the Mexican American experience in the U.S. 

They would participate in numerous activities, such as reading passages from Chicano authors, analyzing hip-hop/rap lyrics and connecting it to pop culture. They would write research papers about contemporary issues like poverty, school segregation, etc. 

“But I also had in the back of my mind, ‘they are going to come after you. There is no way this is going to fly…’” recalls Anita Fernández. 

HB2281 and SB1070

Sure enough, in 2008 the Mexican American Studies program became under scrutiny as a group of legislators began to openly attack the MAS program. Former state superintendent, Tom Horne, believed the Mexican American classes were meant to indoctrinate students and create hatred for other races by breeding ethnic solidarity. In 2010, with the new appointed Arizona Governor, HB2281 was signed and passed, banning the MAS program.

According to the bill, no school district or charter school in the state of Arizona, could include any programs or instructions containing the following:

1. Promotion of the overthrow of the United States government

2. Promotion of resentment toward a race or class of people 

3. Curricular design for pupils of a particular ethnic group

3. Ethnic solidarity advocacy instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals

If schools were not found compliant, the State of Arizona would withhold up to 10% of district funding, which would be restored once the schools were found compliant with the law. 

This bill was passed one month after the enactment of Arizona’s SB 1070; one of the strictest anti-immigrant laws in U.S. history. 

“[SB1070] was really, really scary and really dehumanizing as well for the families and the young people. Then, very shortly after, 2281 was signed into law which said, ‘your history and your culture are illegal. It is illegal to teach about that in this state…’ The law was really written to attack that specific program, even though it was state legislation,” explains Anita Fernández.

This was a dangerous time to be a person of color in Arizona. Not only were individuals racially profiled, stopped, and arrested, students were now restricted from learning certain subjects that taught them about agency, community involvement, and cultural pride. In fact, many books written by Mexican American authors were banned from the classrooms. Books like,  House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, and other nationally-awarded books were banned from the classrooms.

Movement and Countermovements

As a response to this bill, Tucson, Arizona became a state of resilience. Community organizing and student-led protests infiltrated Tucson, as students pushed back on the legislator’s decisions.

On April 26, 2011, nine students had chained themselves to chairs at one of the TUSD board meetings in an act of civil disobedience to protest the banning of Mexican American Studies. Holding microphones, they sat inside the TUSD boardroom and chanted,

“When Our education is under attack, what do we do?”

“Fight back!”

These students belonged to a group called United Non-Discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies (UNIDOS), a grassroots, radical youth collective founded in January 2011 to defend ethnic studies, and the MAS program in particular. UNIDOS also organized walkouts through Tucson Magnet High School, hosted educational workshops, and community-wide events. 

But the protests didn’t just stop in Arizona. 

National media coverage of the protests reached California and Texas, where they started to take matters into their own hands. In Houston, Texas, a group of Chicano writers, poets, artists, and activists, including author and professor, Tony Diaz, came together and coined the term, Librotrafricantes, book smugglers. Soon after, a caravan formed and the book smugglers traveled from San Antonio to El Paso, then, Albuquerque, and finally Tucson, handing out copies of banned books to communities and local libraries. 

In Los Angeles, California, Jose Lara, a social studies teacher raised recommendations to incorporate their own Mexican American Studies classes within LA school districts, motivated by the protests in Arizona. With the help of his campaign, other districts in San Francisco, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura county explored the inclusion of ethnic studies in their curriculum. Soon after, the Los Angeles school board approved the requirement and a few weeks later, the San Francisco School board ordered every school district to offer ethnic studies. 

Meanwhile, educators back in Arizona, like Anita Fernandez, took steps to defend the curriculum.

“When the program was banned, Curtis Acosta [one of the MAS teachers] said ,‘I’m not allowed to teach Chicano literature…I have to teach Chicano literature to these young people,’ recalls, Fernández. 

Sure enough, with the help of Anita, Curtis Acosta, and former MAS educators, they continued to carry out the legacy of the program through a Sunday school platform. 

“He said,  ‘I don’t know if the youth will show up,’ and 10 youth showed up to continue taking the classes. He and I partnered together and I said, ‘What if we could get Prescott College, (where I teach), to actually award college credit for the Sunday classes?’ So they did, and that was the launch of how we continued this work that is so critical and has been so successful, outside of Arizona, because it was illegal here. This is how we started to develop, XITO, in response to the banning of the program here.”

XITO, the Xicano Institute of Teaching and Organizing serves as an urban education consulting collective where they instruct teachers and school staff on how to develop an ethnic studies curriculum. The institute’s members travel the country hosting workshops and professional development training to help communities create ethnic studies programs for their specific school districts. With the use of a culturally responsive and rehumanizing pedagogy approach, XITO creates spaces for teachers and administrators to learn the tools to establish inclusive learning environments within their own classrooms.

“It is a rebuilding, a reimagining of what education spaces look like whose knowledge is centered in those spaces and legitimacy is given to RAZA, BIPOC folks by using these method.”

Currently, Anita Fernandez and other XITO members are working with the San Jose Unified School District to design their first ethnic studies curriculum while simultaneously training teachers for these courses.

Nationwide Uprising

After a seven-year long fight, Federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima, ruled that state law (HB2281)was unconstitutional and based on racial animus in August 2017.

Although the MAS program was replaced in 2013 with  a culturally-relevant curriculum, the Tucson district does not have any plan to reimplement MAS back into the curriculum. Still, the ethnic studies protests, organizing, and resilience led to the upbringing of a push for ethnic studies nationwide.

“The whole wave of ethnic studies that we are seeing right now…they were inspired by the program in Tucson. Even though the community here has been devoid of having that opportunity, what has grown in all these other places was influenced by the banning of the program here. It really highlighted the importance of ethnic studies,” affirms Fernández.

The growth of Ethnic Studies

Texas: Mission High School became one of the first public schools in the state to offer a Mexican American studies course after the Texas State Board of Education allowed schools to include ethnic-studies curriculum.

Seattle, Washington: A growing group of students and educators in the Puget Sound region spent their summer this year designing curriculum in science, math, English, history and other subjects that focus on the experiences of people of color. 

Oregon: In 2016, Governor Kate Brown signed an ethnic studies state-wide requirement legislation, making it the only state that now offers ethnic studies curriculum in K-12.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Launched a new ethnic studies program for all 13 of its high schools in 2017 and offer courses with Hispanic-American, African-American, Native-American, and Asian-American content.

California: Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed AB540 requiring all California State Universities to offer courses in African American, Asian American, Latino/a American and Native American studies. Now, California is pushing to establish ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for all of California’s K-12 public-school students.

They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds

Although the growing movement of ethnic studies has spread like a wildfire, the fight for ethnic studies is not over. Recently, the Trump administration ordered  federal agencies to eliminate anti-racism training focused on critical race theory and white privilege, casting these ideas as un-American and encapsulating the same narrative that dismantled the MAS program.

The Mexican American Program in the Tucson School District gave the education world a small look into what could be a future education system that speaks to students of color and their experiences. But it also gave us a look into the unintended consequences and results when taking this powerful knowledge away from students, and why today, we need it more than ever.

As Cesar Chavez once said, “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.” 

[architecture-ljmu]

City Lab

Seminar 1: Rethinking the City. 

Wednesday 9th December

3pm – 5pm

3pm – Introduction to The City Lab Seminars: John Byrne

3.10 – Alessandra Saviotti – The DPI Toolkit Explained

3.40 – Owen Griffiths – Landscapes of Resistance/Owen’s City Lab

4.10 – Jo Marsh - Ty Pawb, Wrexham’s Arts, Markets and Community Hub

Further Information:

In this first/opening City Lab Seminar we will be joined by three key thinkers and practitioners who are actively using the city as both a context and a tool for social change.

Each contributor will speak for 20 minutes, followed by a 10 minute opportunity for questions. There will also be time for further questions and discussions at the end of the presentations.

Ideas and themes that emerge from this first City Lab Seminar will be picked up again early next year (date to be announced) when all three panellists will join us for individual discussions/seminars as a first ‘open access’ point of the TPG shared module ‘Transdisciplinary Pracitce’.

Information on Speakers/Contributors:

Alessandra Saviotti (LJMU School of Art and Design / Asociación de Arte Útil)

Weblink: www.arte-util.org

Alessandra Saviotti Presentation: DPE Toolkit Explained - Alessandra will talk about the DPE's Toolkit section in particular on the idea of usership within the education context. Alessandra will address this question: is it possible for art to infiltrate the formal education environment in the form of a radical teaching approach that seeks to give a new shape to the existing configuration of the system, within the system itself?

Alessandra Saviotti Biography: Alessandra is a curator and educator who lives in Amsterdam. Alessandra is also a PhD candidate at the Liverpool John Moores University - School of Art and Design. Alessandra’s focus is on socially engaged art, collaborative practices and Arte Útil. Her work aims to realize projects where the public becomes a co-producer in the spirit of usership. Her reflection is taking into consideration collaborative processes according to the motto ‘cooperation is better than competition’. She is a co-founder of the art collective Aspra.mente (2006-2016), a group which focuses on the common definition of ‘work in progress’, seeking the contribution of operators in other fields than art for interdisciplinary projects that are free from time constraints. Alsessandra was part of the curatorial team of the 'Museum of Arte Útil' at the Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, NL) and since 2014 she has been collaborating with the Asociación de Arte Útil especially aiming at emancipating the usership around the Arte Útil Archive. She led online and offline seminars at the San Francisco Art Institute (2017), California College of the Arts (2017), SALT (2018), The Whitworth (2019), Chicago Architecture Biennial (2019), Accademia di Brera (2020), and she was the coordinator of the Escuela de Arte Útil at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (US). She currently teaches at ArtEZ - International Master Artist Educator, Arnhem (NL) and she is a tutor at Accademia Unidee, Biella (IT). Since 2007 Alessandra has also been working in collaboration with several institutions such as SFMOMA (US), MAXXI, Rome (IT), Delfina Foundation, London (UK), Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (UK), Visible Project (IT), Manifesta 7 (IT), UNIDEE – Cittadellarte (IT), SALT (TR), Estudio Bruguera (USA) e Studio Grilli (BE). She is a 2013-14 van Eyck Akademie fellow, a 2015 Mondriaan Foundation grantee and a 2014 Demo Movin'Up grantee and she has been awarded an international mobility grant from i-Portunus – Creative Europe in 2019.

Owen Griffiths (Artist & Curator: Founder / Director Ways of Working- a locally engaged social enterprise). Owen is based in Wales.

Weblink: www.aboutreconnection.com

Owen Griffiths Presentation: Owen’s City Lab:

Owen will talk about his work as a series of landscapes of resistance - an emerging archipelago of collaborative project in civic spaces across the city of Swansea. Owen is interested in long term work, overlapping edges, social economic model santi gentrification and empowerment. His research is based around, collaboration, food and systems of land use and alternative ownership seeded through collaboration and social justice. 

Owen Griffiths Biography:

Owen Griffiths is an artist, workshop leader and facilitator. Using participatory and collaborative processes, his socially engaged practice explores the possibilities of art to

create new frameworks, resources and systems. This takes many forms, but includes reclaiming and rethinking events, rituals and spaces of dialogue. Griffiths explores climate, landscape, urbanism, social justice, food systems and pedagogy, creating projects and events that prepare us for the gentle work of the future.

He is interested in working locally and in long term dialogue with communities and projects. These long-term dialogues make a case for slowing down time, rethinking the expectations around participation to model new collaborative methods which raise questions around equity, empowerment and sustainability. 

In 2020 Griffiths developed Ways of Working a new community participation platform and company in order to work in ways he feels are urgent; speaking to climate crisis, localism and radical collaborative projects. 

Jo Marsh (Creative Director at Ty Pawb), Wrexham’s Arts, Markets and Community Hub.

Weblink: https://hes32-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.typawb.wales&umid=26848098-e77f-414c-a12b-2449a4ca4efe&auth=768f192bba830b801fed4f40fb360f4d1374fa7c-d5eaefcbd2ec131e42ae96d121134efa26351191 and/or https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/01/ty-pawb-review-art-gallery-everybodys-house-wrexham-market

Jo Marsh Biography:

After graduating in 2009 Jo worked as a freelance artist for a few years, this included lots of gallery education work in Wales, some in France and at the Design Museum in London. In 2011 Jo won the Leeds based Woolgather Art Prize, with my project ‘With Love From The Artist’ that had developed from my side hustle as an itinerant market trader https://hes32-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=www.withlovefromtheartist.com&umid=26848098-e77f-414c-a12b-2449a4ca4efe&auth=768f192bba830b801fed4f40fb360f4d1374fa7c-514d3850b6845bcd75526d65f4321d8d79885aa5.

In 2013-14 Jo was funded by Arts Council Wales to build and tour a travelling gallery called WanderBox, offering residencies to artists in a wide variety of settings and locations https://hes32-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.axisweb.org%2fp%2fjomarsh%2fworkset%2f213293%2dwanderbox%2f&umid=26848098-e77f-414c-a12b-2449a4ca4efe&auth=768f192bba830b801fed4f40fb360f4d1374fa7c-5710c37b68c29a33d55e90625a283baa14a13fb9

In late 2014 Jo became the Learning and Engagement Officer for Oriel Wrecsam, leading the off-site engagement programme for three years as plans for a new arts and markets development unfolded. This off-site programme included working with young people to build a full sized Shepherd’s Hut, and working with local people to establish a makers group that met regularly and adventured round the county.

In 2017 Jo was appointed Creative Director at Ty Pawb (formerly Oriel Wrecsam and the People’s Market, Wrexham). Since then Jo have been leading a programme of exhibitions and projects that grow out of local connections, and respond to local urgencies. So far this has included building a temporary adventure playground in one of the galleries (complete with 16 tonnes of sand!), working with members from our resident mental health charity to design and manufacture lamps for sale, and establishing a nascent rooftop garden on our multistory carpark.

[milkboydotnet]

Christians for National Liberation in the Philippines

from Jose Maria Sison's lecture at the Forum for Liberation Theology, "The new democratic revolution through protracted people’s war" The Christians for National Liberation (CNL) was founded at the worship room of the Sampaloc University Center in Manila on 17 February, 1972 on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora. Seventy-two revolutionary disciples of Christ gathered to bear the “cross of sacrifice” and raise the “red banner of revolution”. They described themselves as a revolutionary organization of church people who had been challenged by social realities and their Christian faith to take part in the new democratic revolution under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines and in accordance with the Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution. They adopted the battle cry, “Love your neighbor. Serve the people.”

The founding process extended to the general assembly that was held at the Assumption Convent in Herran, Manila on 19-20 August 1972, a full month before the Marcos regime declared martial law and imposed a fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people. The nearly 250 delegates included priests, nuns, pastors, seminarians, novices, and church militants involved in social action projects in urban and rural communities. They elected the National Executive Board of the CNL.

The CNL officers and members arose from and developed in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal or national democratic movement from the late 1960s to 1972. They were motivated by a high sense of patriotism sharpened by renewed studies of the Philippine revolution of 1896, the current dismal conditions, and the urgent need for continuing the Philippine revolution. They wanted to end the semi-colonial and semi-feudal conditions. They wanted national and social liberation from the evils of foreign domination, domestic feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. Like the rest of Filipino patriots and progressives, they were also inspired by the revolutionary resistance of the Vietnamese and other Indochinese people against the US war of aggression.

They were appalled and challenged by the ever worsening social crisis, the increasing violence of the Marcos regime towards mass protests, and apparent scheme of the regime to impose a fascist dictatorship on the people. They deemed it necessary to fight for democracy not only in the sense of upholding civil and political liberties but also in realizing the substance of democracy though land reform for the benefit of the peasant majority of the people. They desired the end of the conditions of underdevelopment and the start of genuine development through land reform and national industrialization.

The Catholics, the members of the Philippine Independent Church, and the Protestants all used the Bible as the source of inspiration. They had their respective theological authorities to support their commitment to the cause of national and social liberation. Certainly, the Catholics found wider new ground in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. The book Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire became available in English translation in 1970, and influenced those who became members of the CNL. It was well ahead of the book A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez which was published in English by Orbis only in 1973. The book Rules for Radicals of Saul Alinsky also influenced those Christians who engaged in community work. The Filipino Redemptorist, Fr. Luis Hechanova advocated the Theology of Struggle and wrote a pamphlet on this.

The CNL departed from the conservative tradition and position of the institutional church and hierarchy. It called for the church of the people, especially for the poor, deprived, and oppressed. It propagated conscientization and preferential option for the poor. The lower clergy joined the CNL and consciously distanced themselves from the mindset and actuations of an institutional church that owns substantial land and stocks in major corporations, and that provides services mainly to the exploiting classes. In the shift from the Spanish to the US colonial period, the Catholic Church retained their property rights and gained capital for corporate investments from the sale of friar estates which came under the US-instituted land reform program.

The religious and church workers that comprised the CNL also differentiated themselves from the reformist tradition cultivated by the American Jesuits since the 1930s to propagate the social encyclicals of the church, advocate social reforms, and carry out social action with the objective of improving upon and preserving the ruling system, and preventing the communists from winning the people and taking power. The American Jesuit, Fr. Walter Hogan became prominent in the Philippines for establishing the Institute of Social Order which trained the organizers of the Federation of Free Workers and the Federation of Free Farmers starting in the 1950s, in order to seize the initiative as the state cracked down on the suspected communist organizations of workers and peasants. They also pushed for the enactment of the Anti-Subversion Law to target suspected communists.

Special mention must made of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, based in the state-owned University of the Philippines, in the university belt in Manila and the Protestant colleges and universities. It studied and published articles against US domination and the unjust social system in the Philippines. The Khi Rho, a militant Catholic youth and student organization, declared itself a national democratic organization. It promoted the line of the new democratic revolution not only in the Catholic schools and the National Union of Students of the Philippines but also worked to win over to the line such organizations as the Federation of Free Workers and Federation of Free Farmers. It actively opposed the rabid anti-communist line of Fr. Jose Blanco, S.J.

The officers and members of the CNL studied the documents of the Communist Party of the Philippines, especially the Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution and Amado Guerrero’s Philippine Society and Revolution, and engaged the communists in dialogues for mutual understanding and cooperation in the social, economic, political, and cultural fields. The Christian side did not oblige the Communists to study Christian theology. Neither did the Communists oblige the Christians to study Marxism-Leninism. But certainly in the course of ever continuing dialogue, each side took interest in studying the principles of the other side, in appreciating the desire of the other side to join the cause of national and social liberation, and in creating the bridge of cooperation.

The Communists learned more deeply than ever about the faith and good works of the Christians. They distinguished the good Christians from the bad ones among the exploiting classes, who used religion as an opium to delude themselves and the people. On the other hand, the Christians learned to appreciate materialist dialectics and class analysis as tools for understanding and solving social problems and for changing society. Many do so without having to give up their religious faith. Some priest friends of mine also said that they accepted historical materialism but not dialectical materialism.

When Marcos declared martial law on 21 September 1972, the CNL played an important role in opposing the fascist dictatorship and in providing refuge and facilities to many people, especially the activists, who were targeted for arrest and detention. They also helped families in asking the military for the whereabouts of people arrested and detained, and in providing humanitarian aid and legal counsel to those in need. They did so even as then Cardinal Rufino Santos supported the proclamation of martial law and declared that it be given a chance to carry out reforms.

The CNL joined the National Democratic Front of the Philippines when it was established on 24 April 1973 as a united front of patriotic and progressive forces committed to work for the unity of the broad masses of the Filipino people in fighting the US-directed Marcos fascist dictatorship. It cooperated with the organizations that sought its help. It deployed CNL members to strengthen the urban underground. It played a key role in encouraging and supporting the La Tondeña workers’ strike in 1975, and the consequent nationwide wave of workers’ strikes in 300 workplaces that extended up to 1976.

It authorized CNL members to work in the countryside in order to do religious work and mass work, or join the New People’s Army and become spokespersons or communicators to the people. Many priests, nuns, pastors and seminarians became communists and even joined the NPA in the course of working with communists and Red fighters in serving the people and fighting the enemy. There is a long list of martyrs and heroes who were religious and chose to become revolutionary fighters. There is also long list of religious who became political prisoners.

In the broad united front of the religious promoted by the CNL, the secular priests in the Philippine Priests Incorporated and the Association of Major Religious Superiors made significant contributions to the people’s struggle against the Marcos fascist dictatorship. Many social action centers of the Catholic Church adopted the national democratic orientation and enjoyed the support of Bishop Julio X. Labayen and Fr. Luis Hechanova, head and executive director of the National Secretariat of Social Action (NASSA). Bishop Labayen inspired and supported the Basic Christian Communities-Community Organizing which became targets of propaganda and physical attacks by the military minions of the fascist dictatorship.

Archbishop Jaime Sin took over the archdiocese of Manila when Cardinal Santos died in 1973. By then, human rights violations had become rampant and more bloody, with forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings victimizing oppositionists, trade unionists, and peasant leaders, who were affiliated with the church and who were not at all connected to the revolutionary movement. The CNL played a significant role in persuading Cardinal Sin and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to criticize the fascist regime and demand justice for the victims of human rights violations.

However, Cardinal Sin would only proclaim a policy of critical collaboration towards the Marcos fascist regime. This policy would come to an end only on 13 February 1986 when the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines issued a pastoral letter declaring the regime illegitimate and immoral after the farcical snap presidential election of 1986.

In accordance with their own respective reasons, the Catholic and other Christian churches, the conservative opposition forces, the Communist Party of the Philippines, the US, sections of the reactionary armed forces, the chambers of commerce and industry, and other forces, converged on the decision to overthrow the Marcos regime. The broad masses of the people carried out gigantic mass actions in the national capital region and in the provinces to put the fascist dictatorship to an end.

[assemblepapers-blog]

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In the third article we’re sharing from ‘Future West (Australian Urbanism)‘ – a new print publication looks at the future of urbanism through the lens of Perth and Western Australia – urban planner Nic Temov explores how the importance of community engagement cannot be underestimated in the battle to improve local communities. 

As Perth continues to sprawl, a shift towards higher housing density has been met with hesitation at best. To counteract this, Temov believes that we need to “take consultation out of the town hall and into local areas, so everyone can engage and be heard”. One suggestion is the promotion of Jane’s Walks – a series of locally led walking tours aimed at getting people out of the house and talking about their communities. The inclusive events, named after prominent urban activist Jane Jacobs, take place in cities around the world and have rapidly gained in popularity due to their equitable debate and accessible nature. Recent walks in Perth took place in eight locations and attracted more than 300 residents. 

Temov also suggests the creation of visual policy documents, referencing the success of New York City’s Center for Urban Pedagogy, whose teaming of public policy with graphic design helps citizens understand often complex laws, regulations and changes in their communities. One such example is the ‘What is Zoning?’ guidebook, which explains specific zoning terminology and other convoluted concepts, enabling people to voice concerns about their community with elected leaders. 

Temov argues that if planning professionals find new ways to engage with communities, concerns many locals hold about higher density living can be explored and explained, ideally leading to a betterment of cities for all. 

Images: Nic Temov, The Center for Urban Pedagogy. 

[givology]

Innovation in everyday teaching: No more waiting for Superman.

Despite the increased and improved reporting of teachers and schools that are innovating the teaching of new skills and learning goals for the 21st century, schools are largely still seen as very resistent places for innovation. As asseverated by Charles Payne ten years ago, if the emphasis on school reform has witnessed “so little change” it is primarily due to the difficulty of capturing and understanding the daily realities of urban schools...

Teachers are not technicians who implement the educational ideas and approaches of others, but rather professionals able to think about and look for solutions when they face new problems. However, a brief look at the teaching innovation landscape can be both overwhelming and discouraging for most teachers. Overwhelming, the lack of a common international framework of pedagogies results in teachers trying to make sense of the hundreds or even thousands of innovative cases and experiences coming from diverse sources—see, for example, the 2855 innovations cataloged by researchers from the Center for Universal Education... This is also discouraging because quite often the way these innovations are showcased revolves around their unique nature, one that is too intertwined to a particular context and makes them difficult to scale up and adapt to realities outside of where they come from...

THREE KEY AREAS TO PROMOTE TEACHING INNOVATION

In short, we can identify three key areas to promote teaching innovation. First, to envisage the role of teachers as champions in the promotion of more interactive, horizontal, and caring relationships with students. The social and caring nature of learning is the common principle underpinning all of our six clusters, which means that teachers should allocate the time and resources necessary to allow learners to interact and experiment.

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[thefranklinoutdoor]

LOVE ALL POTATOES

Jim Duignan Claire Pentecost Melissa Potter

Opening: Friday, June 14 from 6 to 9pm

From June 14 to September 7, 2019

Love All Potatoes is a garden laboratory project by Jim Duignan, Claire Pentecost, and Melissa Potter. The artists will plant heirloom variety potatoes (e.g. Jersey Yellow and Okinawa Purple) in improvised planters, start a compost bin, and install a handmade garden cart to seed their intersecting dialogues on plant personal histories, microecologies, and intangible heritage craft histories. Over the summer, the potatoes will blossom on vines running from the sacks along strings to parts unknown. The artists will activate the Franklin as an eco-pedagogical space to engender conversations on the Garfield Park community and land in general, and to develop other collective works-in-progress, such as a publication printed on paper made from potato vines.

Jim Duignan is an artist, forming the Stockyard Institute in 1995 as a civic, artist project in the Back of the Yards community of south Chicago. Stockyard Institute was influenced early by community artists, revolutionaries, local activists, and radical teachers who explored the community as sites of contest and considered the social and civic forms of public engagement as much a part of practice as they did their life. Duignan is a professor of Visual Art in the College of Education at DePaul University in Chicago where he is the Chair of Visual Art Education. Recent print publications include; Back to the Sandbox: Art and Radical Pedagogy, (Ed.) Jaroslav Andel, published Western Washington (2019), Poor and Needy; Baggesen and Brackman, Published by Poor Farm Krabbesholm (2018), Building a Gang-Proof Suit: An Artistic and Pedagogical Framework, for the Chicago Social Practice History Series, (Eds.) Mary Jane Jacob and Kate Zeller, published University of Chicago Press (2015) and No Longer Interested for the Blade of Grass Foundation (2014). Select exhibitions include Stockyard Institute Retrospective, DePaul Art Museum (2021), Envisioning Justice, Sullivan Galleries (2019), PUBLIC SCHOOL, Hyde Park Art Center (2017), Smart Museum (2017), the Chicago Cultural Center (2016), Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland (2016), Interference Archive, Brooklyn, NYC (2015), Sullivan Galleries, Chicago (2014), Kochi-Muziris Biennial, India (2014) and the Hull House Museum (2013). In addition, Duignan’s work has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, The Art Newspaper, Prestel Publications (Nick Cave’s Epitome), New York Times, Chicago Reader, New Art Examiner, Chronicle of Higher Education, New City, Chicago Tribune, and many others. His work has been recognized by the Weitz Family Foundation, Illinois Humanities, Artadia (NYC), and the Art Institute of Chicago. He received a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Studio Arts.

Claire Pentecost is an artist and writer whose poetic and inductive drawings, sculpture and installations test and celebrate the conditions that bound and define life itself. Her projects often address the contested line between the natural and the artificial, focusing for many years on food, agriculture, bio-engineering, and anthropogenic changes in the indivisible living entity that animates our planet. Since 2006 she has worked with Brian Holmes, 16Beaver and many others organizing Continental Drift, a series of seminars to articulate the interlocking scales of our existence in the logic of globalization. She is also a founding member of Deeptime Chicago, dedicated to cultural change in the Anthropocene. A sample of Pentecost’s exhibition venues include dOCUMENTA(13), Whitechapel Gallery, the 13th Istanbul Biennial, Nottingham Contemporary, the DePaul Art Museum (Chicago), the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), the Third Mongolian Land Art Biennial, The Times Museum (Guangzhou), Spencer Museum (Lawrence, KS). Institutions inviting her to lecture include MIT; CalArts; RISD; Northwestern University; Rice University; The University of Virginia; Creative Time Summit and many others. She is represented by Higher Pictures, New York, and is a Professor in the Department of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Melissa Hilliard Potter is a feminist interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator whose work has been exhibited in venues including White Columns, Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, to name a few. Her films have been screened at international film festivals, such as the Cinneffable and the Reeling International LGBT Film Festival. Potter’s awards include three Fulbright Scholar grants, which enabled her to build two papermaking studios at university art departments in Serbia and Bosnia & Hercegovina. As a curator, Potter’s exhibitions include “Social Paper: Hand Papermaking in the Context of Socially Engaged Art” with Jessica Cochran and “Revolution at Point Zero: Feminist Social Practice” with Neysa Page Lieberman. Her critical essays have been printed in BOMB, Art Papers, Flash Art, Metropolis M, Hand Papermaking, and AfterImage among others.

At The FLAT SCREEN

Solo Land Dive: Dukan Desert

Hope Ginsburg

Solo Land Dive: Dukan Desert is part of a body of the Land Dive Team body of work that proposes meditation, practicing present-moment awareness with equanimity, for coping with climate change. Breathing on land with scuba makes for a kind of assisted meditation. The mild, if not moderate discomfort of the equipment (its weight, warmth, constraints) keeps the wearer in mind of his or her physical presence. The intensification of each breath becomes a kind of involuntary meditation; one must “show up” for each exhalation when an entire apparatus is calling attention to it. In this video, one of thirteen Land Dives since 2014, I undertook a solo meditation, breathing with scuba gear in a remote desert landscape crisscrossed by all-terrain vehicles.  As disjunctive as the image appears, it contains the ominous implication of a “future ocean” as rising sea levels are a threat in the Persian Gulf region.

Each of Hope Ginsburg’s long-term projects builds community around learning. Her work is by turns collaborative, cooperative, and participatory. These artworks are made with peers, students, scientists, members of the public, and experts with knowledge from outside of the field. Rooted in first-hand experience, Ginsburg’s projects are invested in the socially transformative potential of knowledge exchange. Hope Ginsburg has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues such as MoMA PS1, MASS MoCA, Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU, Wexner Center for the Arts, Kunst-Werke Berlin, Contemporary Art Center Vilnius, Baltimore Museum of Art, SculptureCenter, and the Mercosul Biennial in Brazil. Upcoming projects include a solo exhibition at the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Ginsburg is the recipient of an Art Matters Foundation Grant and a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship and has attended residencies such as the Robert Rauschenberg Residency, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Wexner Film/Video Studio, and The Harbor at Beta Local. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Hyperallergic, and Artforum.

Solo Land Dive: Dukan Desert 2015 Single channel video with sound 4 min 59 sec

Camera: Dylan Halpern Editor: Tyler Kirby Sound: Joshua Quarles

Edition of three Courtesy of the artist

At The LIVING ROOM

A Metaphor Against Oblivion

Norma Vila Rivero

A Metaphor Against Oblivion is Norma Vila’s latest conceptual body of work, inspired by two themes: landscape and absence. This collection of images references and criticizes the notions of development by metaphorically representing the absent landscape that remains in the collective consciousness. Vila is tempted to convey the impossibility of the landscape that surrounds her by presenting a critical look at the transformation of the landscape -in the broadest sense of the word- while at the same time a contemplative view of the paradox of development in today's world.  

Vila Rivero works with analogies and the double meanings of objects, words, and concepts. Media, disciplines, and materials are intertwined, thereby creating an intricate web of multi layered ideas. Vila’s starting points originate with personal experiences within her collective environment. She then directs her interests into an in-depth critical analysis of selected topics. With a deep dive into the origins and meaning of her subjects, she prepares the groundwork for making critical, contemporary and pertinent visual commentary.

Vila Rivero comments: "For this project I am working with the representation of the metaphor 'the skin of memory'... Everything we have seen marks us, and many times when passing by some place, it is inevitable to remember that place as it was before ... And that absent landscape is impregnated in us, it is a mark and a metaphor against oblivion. In order to represent that mark or trace in the memory, in this series of photos I place a stencil on the back of a model and the sun imprints the image to their backs... Then I place the model - marked by the memory of what is no longer there - in the place that corresponds to the vanished landscape. All the images used as stencils are based on stories that I have compiled from friends, family members, or myself. The result is a photo that serves as testimony or record of the specific event ... The aim is to present a clear and manifest absence. Photography as a medium is vital as it makes an absence visible and serves as a certificate of presence. In A Metaphor Against Oblivion themes such as the impossibility of the natural landscape on an island, the excessive urban development, the abandonment of cultural heritage, and the negligence in the communities and public spaces are over layered to contrast the effects caused by failed leadership and bad management today."

Calls for attention on the ways we relate to the environment are a peremptory key in Norma Vila's most recent proposal. Issues that previously emerged in her work are openly formulated today in what will be a long-term research project about environmental sustainability in the face of economic growth. Reflection through the chosen images allows us to think about ideas: memory-event-revelation, games of presence and absence, traces of hidden realities, as activation of the memory, and of updating past marks, cognitively and emotionally.

Norma Vila Rivero (b. 1982, Puerto Rico) is an artist that approaches art making from a diverse number of perspectives while subtly seeking to address emotional issues or intense social themes from a humanist point of view. She is also an active art projects coordinator of numerous innovative projects in Puerto Rico and in Boston and New York. Vila Rivero has a B.A. in Visual Arts from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón and an M.A. in Arts Administration from the Universidad del Turabo, Ana G. Méndez. Her work has been presented in Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, St. Croix and U.S.A. In 2017 was selected to participate with Occupy Museums Debt Fair installation at the Whitney Museum Biennial. Since 2010 she is the Administrator of the Galería de Arte de la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. In 2011 she co-founded Metroplataforma Organizada an artist run space and since 2015 has been the Director of ÁREA: lugar de proyectos (Founded in Caguas, P.R in 2005). Vila Rivero's work is part of the collection of the Museum and Center for Humanistic Studies Dra. Josefina Camacho de la Nuez (University of Turabo, Caguas, P.R), Luciano Benetton Collection, el Museo de Arte de Puerto RIco (MAPR) and the Foundation FIART (International Foundation Fund of the Arts) in Madrid, Spain, as well as in private collections.

At The FRONT YARD

Are You Ready Kahlil Irving

Previously exhibited at Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, "Are You Ready" is a flag sculpture that connotes the relationship of a surrender flag and a racing flag. There is always a struggle and reality to face. So to use the flag with its complex usage past and present is a symbol I find relevant. "Are You Ready" is a response to the call that Tracy Chapman narrates within her song "I'm Ready".  She is singing for passage, for love, for health, for life. So I am responding to her call. This flag flying is a message for Black life and the perseverance of Black people through the constant pressures faced while living today.

Kahlil Robert Irving (b. 1992, San Diego, Ca) is a multimedia artist, currently living and working part time between Saint Louis, Missouri and Brooklyn, New York. Irving completed his BFA in art history and ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute. In May of 2017, Irving earned his Master of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. At Washington University in St. Louis Irving was a Chancellor’s Graduate Fellow. Irving was awarded the 2017 Alice C. Cole Fellowship from the studio art department at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Recently, Irving completed the Turner Teaching Fellow at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.  His work is in the collections of the Riga Porcelain Museum, in Riga, Latvia; Foundation for Contemporary Ceramic Art in Kecskemet, Hungary; The RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island; The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson Community College in Overland Park, Kansas; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York. Most recently, his practice has involved making objects that are to challenge constructs around identity and culture in western civilization. He wants to challenge realities of Racism and objects that exist within the history of decorative arts and contemporary life.

Are You Ready by Kahlil Irving 2018 3 x 5 feet polyester digital print Courtesy of the Artist and Callicoon Fine Arts, NY

THE FRANKLIN 3522 W. Franklin Blvd, Chicago IL 60624 (312)823-3632 Hours: Saturdays 2-5PM and by appointment http://thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com/ Instagram #thefranklinoutdoor

[stbrittos]

Top CBSE School in Chennai-St.Britto’s Academy

What are the MAIN MEASURES THAT CAN ENABLE THE RIGHT ECOSYSTEM NEEDED FOR IMPARTING QUALITY EDUCATION by the top 10 CBSE School in Velachery?

 A clean, spacious school building having basic facilities including:

Spacious     classrooms with requisite furniture, boards, electrical fittings like     lights and fans

Clean and     hygienic toilets

Accessible     drinking water

Activity     and play areas

Laboratories     with requisite instruments and equipment

And we are one of the top CBSE schools in Velachery to offer all of these in our infrastructure

Computers for students to learn and experiment:

Having a good school building with spacious classrooms is not enough; it needs to be maintained so that students find it to be an inviting environment to which they look forward to coming every day to learn.

Quality of teaching and teachers:

Teachers are key in ensuring that students get the requisite lessons that keep their minds ignited for seeking knowledge Students' likes and dislikes for attending classes, or interests in a particular subject, can be linked to their teacher and his/her quality of teaching.

The challenge of improving quality of teaching by training teachers and supporting them with modern teaching aids, tools and methodologies -- like smart classrooms and digital course content -- needs to be taken up, so that teachers take pride in their jobs.

Extra-curricular activities:

 Extra-curricular activities are also a key component in sustaining a youngster's interest at school. Schools should have requisite sporting facilities and avenues for cultural events, which together contribute to building a student's life skills and personality.

However, vast majority of the youth does not have access to such facilities and quality teachers due to issues like affordability and their location -- especially those residing in semi-urban and rural areas. We will need to urgently transform our education system to meet the aspirational needs of the new generation, which will ensure that India's demographic dividend continues to remain its asset. For example, a top CBSE school can work towards these goals as in Chennai we can always take pride of high quaity education.

            We will also need to ensure that a proper learning ecosystem is available across the length and breadth of the country for desired learning outcomes to be achieved. Only investing in education institutional premises is not enough, these will become centers of learning only if the students and teachers connect, and interest in teaching and learning is enhanced using appropriate pedagogy.

There is a an additional need to have monitoring procedures and processes in our schools so that learning out comes are regularly assessed and remedial measures can be taken in a timely manner to address shortcomings.

Located at the heart of the city in Velachery our CBSE school is one of the best and we are well aware of the recent initiatives of having smart classrooms in public schools could go a long way in addressing this need of an enabling ecosystem with features and facilities like digital content, broadcasting classes conducted by experienced teachers, interactive classes through video conferencing, etc.These can make learning more inviting and motivate teachers to improve their teaching methods using smart technologies

[parismiki]

“How is Paris?”

Hello readers! Welcome to my blog. I’ve been meaning to write a blog for some time now, really since my days in Chicago, but I never felt this urge until now. Currently I feel like I am being tested to my limits and I have so many thoughts about so many different things. Writing has always been an outlet of mine (have kept journals since I learned how to hold a pen basically) and so here it is - a window of insight into my thoughts about a variety of different things. 

I don’t really have a theme for this blog, but I know it will touch on issues that are important to me: race, activism, Japanese American and Asian American identity, feminism, mental health, radical politics, etc. Given that I’m currently also in France with the generous help of a Fulbright scholarship (a lot will be discussed soon about this), my posts may be more focused on my current experience in France and how I have been navigating this foreign country. 

So, to start, many people have been asking me how Paris has been. There is some sort of illusory expectation that people have of my time here in Paris - that I’m happily eating baguettes every day (I am not -- I eat only rice and noodles), that I’m picnicking by the Seine, and I’m going to all these cool art galleries and museums on the daily. 

This could be farther from the truth. 

I am struggling. 

This is not the same experience that I had studying abroad through UChicago three years ago, where I took classes in English taught by UChicago professors at the UChicago Center in Paris with UChicago classmates. I had a huge safety net while I was here, which enabled me to go out and explore the city and meet new locals while still feeling rooted to a community of American students. I didn’t need to get a visa because I was here for less than 90 days, the housing situation was largely taken care of by the study abroad coordinator, and I was used to the UChicago pedagogy. The huge difference here is that I am going to grad school in Paris, working towards a professional degree, which entails a large degree of responsibility, self-reliance and resilience. 

However, this past month has been incredibly difficult for me. The workload is intense, unlike anything I saw in my quarters with the heaviest workloads at UChicago. I am taking eight classes that meet once a week. For one of my core classes, I must read four books for the midterm, which is less than a month away. Work is always on the back of my mind and I fear that I may miss an assignment.  There is rarely any time to be resting or relaxing, because I tell myself, well you could be using this time to study. 

As someone prone to anxiety, the workload and the added stress of being in a new country has taken quite a toll on me. There have been days where it has been hard to get out of bed and days where I feel like I’m just dragging throughout the day. Sometimes I wonder, “is this program worth it? Should I drop out?” but am quickly reminded that if I do, I lose my Fulbright scholarship. Additionally, Sciences Po is not the friendliest when it comes to their students’ mental health - their psychological services are minimal, and they fail you if you miss more than 2 classes (yes, attendance is taken in even the biggest of lecture classes.) I could go on and on about Sciences Po as an institution, but I can save that for another post. I have had to resume sessions with my therapist in Chicago because the French national healthcare system does not cover therapy services! 

Despite all this, I’ve managed to find small pockets of joy during my time here and have really forced myself to practice self-care. One could say that my most recent FB status asking for self-practice tips was a cry for help - surely I couldn’t be the only one who has gone through this. So here’s what has been working for me so far - and you don’t have to be in grad school either to abide by them!

1. Rely on your family and friend networks back home

Thank god for technology - I remember my dad telling me that when he was in college he had to wait in line in his dorm to use the landline to call his parents. I can’t even imagine how my mother kept in touch with her family back in Japan when she immigrated to the US (will write another post on my newfound appreciation for my mom as I transition to life here.) 

That being said, I text regularly with my friends and keep them updated about what’s going on in my life. Some others are also living abroad and it’s nice to know that we have each other’s backs -- one of my dear friends is doing her JET program in rural Kumamoto. She is 7 hours ahead of me, and always texts me a nice meme or a cute gif that I have the honor of waking up to. Last night I felt especially horrible and called one of my friends (who is going to start her master’s in philosophy at Oxford and we’ll be reunited soon!) who helped me calm down. As people starting new lives in new countries we often forget that we have a support system back home, but don’t forget - they helped to get you where you are. 

2. Read books that nurture your soul

I have always loved to read in order to learn new perspectives, but reading now serves a different purpose: it touches and nurtures my soul. When I first got here, I devoured Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for the Time Being - it was a charming and quirky story that whisked me away to British Columbia/Tokyo. I didn’t know how much I needed it at the time. Currently I’m reading a sociology book called Redefining Japaneseness: Japanese Americans and the Ancestral Homeland, which is so comforting and keeps me super rooted to my own identity. 

I was pretty strategic when packing books and spent a good hour deciding which books to bring with me. I knew that I would be reading a lot of dry public policy and urban theory (I even discussed with my roommate, also an American woman of color, which books we would both bring should we want to borrow from each other’s shelves.) So I brought with me Matthew Desmond’s Evicted (which, luckily enough for me, I ended up having to write a paper on), Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor’s From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, and Louise Erdrich’s The Round House (Erdrich is a Native American fiction writer who writes heavily on Native American issues.) I’ve found that conversations surrounding racial justice are quite lacking in French academic discourse, so these books help to fill that gap in my life. In addition, I brought with me some Japanese language books, including ”コンビニ人間” and “君たちはどう生きるか” to practice my Japanese, because I don’t have access to Japanese TV anymore. 

3. Keep yourself intellectually accountable

One of the best pieces of advice I received from the director of the Humanity in Action fellowship I did this past summer was to keep yourself accountable by writing down your own thoughts and critiques of grad school readings in the margins when taking notes. I’ve found that a lot of the readings we are assigned take on a very neoliberal approach to cities and urbanism, and I am incredibly cynical. Sometimes, I just downright disagree. And instead of feeling exasperated by the content, I write down my critiques and will try to bring them up in class, sometimes daring to bring them up with the professor during lectures. This is how I try to stay engaged. 

4. Travel! 

Paris is pretty accessible to many other European countries by plane and train. In fact, just last weekend I was in Madrid visiting a few friends. I was not feeling my best and and even now I still feel awful for my low energy and that I was not as cheery as I hoped to be - but being around people you already know is comforting. In fact, I had a chance to reconnect with a friend from college who is a current Fulbright ETA in Madrid, who told me that he was feeling the same way as me during the same time last year. Knowing that other people have gone through the same motions while transitioning to life abroad makes you feel less alone. 

All in all, to those of you reading, I’m sorry if I have disappointed you with this blog post. However, I do think I need to be honest about my experience here and share with other folks who may be thinking about studying abroad. If anything, I am giving myself all the time I need to breathe, go through the motions, and eventually settle in. This will be a long process, but I am trying to be patient with myself. 

I cannot end this post without acknowledging the people who have been there for me. I’d like to extend a thank you to Keilyn, Sarah, Elisabeth, Gino, Crystal, Brenna, Shirley, Joe, and Amanda. And to my new friends at Sciences Po, I am looking forward to getting to know you and let’s finish this semester strong :) 

Okay and now some photos!

                   This is me in front of the Museo del Prado in Madrid

                    Hard to see but I was really feelin’ my outfit this one day

                                                   Really cute doggo 

              Colorful olives sold at the Marché Saint-Denis, a banlieue of Paris