an initiative of

Learning to be Frugal, Flexible and Nature-Friendly:

Grassroots Innovations for Inclusive Education and Development

Anil K. Gupta, IIMA and Honey Bee Network anilg@sristi.org

How educated are we, really?

Encounter with a shepherd in the desert

“How to trace your sheep

when they get mixed with sheep of another herd?”

The shepherd took a shodh yatra brochure from my hand and said:

“To me all the letters on your paper look alike”

Shodhyatra every summer, every winter

the teacher Withinthe teacher Around (peers)

the teacher in Naturethe teacher among

Common People

Frugality is to affluence what wisdom is to

knowledge

Learning to unlearn

The Honey Bee Network

– Repurposes the inquiry

– Redefines the norms of accountability

– Redesigns pathways for the future

Honey Bee Network

Repurposing the inquiry

– Asking questions about accountability towards oneself

– Share of private, common and public goods in one’s production and consumption basket: portfolio of purposiveness

– Did we create any open source content for children, whom we love, in local language

– Did we dispense with at least one need, living with less to have more

Sounds of silence…

Why does education reinforce inertia and not

innovation?

Social Inertia: why do certain problems remain unaddressed persistently?

http://www.singingsandsbb.com/starfish-lg.jpg

Saga of the starfish

“What are you doing, trying to throw them back into the sea? It are too many!”, exclaimed the lady on the shore.

“You cannot save all of them!” she insisted.

“True, but I can at least save this one”, said the manwhile throwing it back into the sea.

Knowing

Feeling

doing

We know so much, feel only about a little and act on even lesser

Learning from my naiveté, foolishness

“Why did you pluck this twig?”, asked Karimbhai

“But are there not so many of these ‘weeds’ on the roadside?”

“Nature has never anything too many or too much”, he said.

From Inertia to Institutionalisation

of Innovative Mindsets

Learning from Grassroots Teachers

Technology is like

words,

institutions are

like grammarand culture is like

thesaurus

Three pillars of sustainabilityMeghalaya

Creating

open source

standards

of excellence

Institutional heuristics

Meghalaya

A public innovation for public use Jharkhand

When things fill our mind, thoughts don’t find much

place

Take home library in a boxby Pritiben Gandhi

« Postcard Project » by Thakarshi P Kunbar Solving problems with frugality

IGNITELearning from Creative Children

Arnab ChakrabortyClass 12, Kolkatta

Shalini KumariClass 8, Patna, Bihar

NIF engaged a design firm to develop a prototype

Blending of

Passion

Purpose

Performance and

Persistence

Through Platforms

SRISTI, GIAN, NIF, Techpedia.in

Dimensions of learning

1) Artefactual

as a simple replication of idea 

2) Analogic

metaphor to inspire

3) Heuristic

as a model or principle

4) Gestalt

configurational level

institutions, technology, culture

National Innovation Clubs

• Search: Celebrating the decade of innovation by scouting and mapping the creativity and innovations in the hinterland

• Spread: Disseminating/cross-pollinating innovations across spaces, social segments and sectors

• Sense and benchmark: Identifying the roots of persistent problems and the mindsets that trigger their continued tolerance in society to solve problems

• Celebrate: Recognising achievers in different social spheres

Shanu Sharma, Vardan, IITK

Image, Speech Recognition and Speech Synthesis

For people with hearing and speaking disabilities

Saurabh Saket and Rahul Ranjan Bhutta College of Engineering & Technology, Ludhiana

by Dhruv Mesana

Has any big company given you a fridge

also provides hot water,

keeps food warm and consumes less electricity?

Head load carrier byRaghunath Lohar

« Vazra »

Bicycle hoe

Lao Yang

Shan Dong Province

Zhang Xingming

Shaanxi Province

Wang Fuhe

Miyun County, Beijing

Gopal Malhari Bhise

Ahmednagar, Maharashtra

Golden Triangle of Creativity

Innovations and Traditional Knowledge

EnterpriseInvestment

Distribute open source, multi-media, local language content in every school

Have a wall with folk art in every school

UnLearning inertia

Redesigning pedagogies

Celebrating grassroots

Creativity

Internalising a frugal future

Role Reversal torole peripheral

Teachers learn from students

Children learn from four teachers

Communities create open source standards of excellence, empathy, equity, and efficiency…………

Authentic Leadership through Learning to be vulnerable

Cross-Pollination

Cross-pollination will cultivate diversity

Diversity will lead to pluralistic passions

Platforms for distributed learning which is frugal, friendly and flexible

Dissolving learning costs across civilsations through open innovation and learning platforms such as the Honey Bee Network

Creativity pervades

Innovation instigates

Knowledge humbles

Wisdom sustains

Image: Eric Comstock www.ericcomstock.us

Creativity pervades

Innovation instigates

Knowledge humbles

Wisdom sustains

Joy of Discovery

– On halloween day, children will see pumpkins at home, to ward off evil spirit, but in school they were taught, believe only in rationality,

– How do they blend sacred and secular

– How do we respect diversity of cutlures, institutions and technological approaches around the world to make our society more creative, compassionate and collaborative

anilg@sristi.org

Will you be a bee?