Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

Bhavan’s Leelavati Munshi College of Education

Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi
(Recognised by NCTE and affiliated to GGSIPU)
BACHELOR OF EDUCATION
2020-22
Semester-II
Course Title- Readings and Reflecting on Texts
Code- BED 152

Submitted To: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. POONAM SHARMA ARUSHI BHATIA
DR. SULEKHA RAM 01755602120
 A TEACHER’S JOURNEY

 DIRECTOR- Deepak Verma

 Genre/ Form - Documentary, Non-Fiction
 Introduction - An observational film on teaching methodologies of a primary school
teacher in a single-teacher school in MP, India.

Synopsis-
The film narrates how a teacher – Mukesh Malviya, learned through his practice as an ideal
reflective practitioner; this film in some ways is a documentation and reportage of his
experiences. The multiple roles this teacher lives, experiments and narrates to us are that of –
guide and judge in the classroom for children on the one hand; and on the other as a social
persona within the milieu of a tribal hamlet in central India; and probably to the state he is
merely someone at the lowest rungs of a bureaucratic education system.In this context the
director points out to those involved in education practices, to rethink – how a school teacher
survives beyond the poverty of classrooms and the regime of textbooks. Through the film,
the director expects that films gain presence in higher education classrooms that are devoted
towards teacher education and inspire student teachers to begin their own journey into the
profession.

It’s a story of an Indian man, teaching in a very small school of just three tiny cell like rooms
filled with large masses of bantams of different classes in a secluded village of Madhya
Pradesh. The teacher, initially a miner, devoted himself in the task of carving of these hard
rocks into diamonds.
It was the need of the hour to find the solution of the chaos created when a single teacher
was available and no other resource was accessible to those dreaming to live in a new
magical world. The pocket size place and big dreams to touch the sky one day was an
ironical situation with which both the teacher and the students were fighting with every day.
Unlike luxurious schooling systems providing literary resources in abundance, the school has
nothing to offer to the students except a teacher struggling with the troubles which can’t be
just explained in words. Every morning was a new challenge for them but it’s truly said that
where there is a will, there is a way.
So, the team found the solution, which was a little unique but could be the one fulfilling the
requirements of all….
The video explains the concept of mutual learning and throws light in an innovative method
of gaining the essence of knowledge required for living a prosperous life which can just not
be satisfied by the textbooks. The noise is no more a chaos here but the musical rhythm of
the enchanting children thrilled with the joy of learning.
Starting with cleaning the classrooms in the morning, to working the whole day together in
groups, teaching and learning together at same time with too ordinary household things and
giving new meaning to their life, the school running till 4 in the evening is the only hope
for these kids to nurture their future.
The film promises to be the first in a series, we can look forward to view more engaging
ways in which classroom process and teacher’s lives are documented. The film has
already been making its presence felt, winning the Japanese Hoso Bunka Foundation
award for the year 2007. The film has also been screened for teacher education
programmes and gained wide acceptance. Hence with the availability of rich visual
material at least one aspect of the poverty of classroom practices could begin getting
eliminated.

In the words of Gail Godwin,

“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.”

REFLECTION-
The documentary is a satire on the bureaucrat system where the voices of these under-
privileged children does not reach. The director has very subtly portrayed the dark reality of
such villages where education is only a distant dream. A documentary not starring
superheroes as the protagonist but certain small children who are trying hard each day to
learn and put a spark of light in their dark and foggy future.

It depicts the various teaching techniques and practices of a teacher named ‘Mukesh
Malviya’. This film narrates the ideal practices of a teacher about how he performs multiple
roles in his life. He narrates his experience and experiment on different methods to provide
learning opportunities to students. Textbook teaching was not promoted in the film. Students
were made to collect plastic, iron, wood, etc from the surroundings so that they could learn
to identify them. Mukesh believed that it was easier for him and the school to function better
without the burden of textbook driven teaching. The activities depicted in the film – making
graphs, counting, making horizontal and vertical lines, counting and recognizing family
members, classification of different materials – were not content driven or according to any
textbook. Each of the activities and information collected was taken from within the locality.
“I used to think that only a teacher can make a student learn”. It was until Mukesh
realized that learning has no boundaries and it can be acquired from any source irrespective
of age.
Here, learning was not just promoted by the teacher but was even extended to students since
there were fewer classrooms for them to be separated; they learned and taught each other
what they knew; they taught each other whatever little bit the teacher had been able to teach
between Hence he is determined to make use of groups and interactions of children among
themselves to ensure learning.
Not just for the student alone, but even for the teacher each day there is something to learn. It
was with the ongoing conditions of the school which shaped Mukesh’s beliefs while some
were shaken others got strong. It was here that a teacher emerged within him, breaking all
the barriers and making the children learn in the purest form.
The situation into which Mukesh was thrown in the school made him innovate. The noise in
the classroom is made useful and learning takes place beyond the textbooks. More than
bookish and rot learning, Practical knowledge is considered important as a means to build a
foundation. As a teacher, the skills and capabilities of the student are kept in mind. He says
since he was aware that children could drive bullock cart, it is presumptuous of the state
system to consider them as ‘children’.
Hence, when schooling happens it is essential to treat their knowledge and lived experiences
as valuable and should be integrated into the classroom. While treating them as children,
often the state system and the textbooks over simplify learning. This, the teacher wants to be
overthrown.
The director along with his team has portrayed nothing but the truth. The camera has
done its job to the fullest without intervening and altering any angle. This ability to use
visual narratives provides much more accurate descriptions of the classroom that has
often not been brought out in written ethnographies of classroom practices
It is the dedication and spirit of people like Mukesh who know how to turn rock into
diamonds. He taught us that a teacher’s job is not just transferring knowledge but a
committed teacher is the one who is capable of driving out the best from the available
resources. But that does not the mean that this should continue and the system should put a
deaf ear to their plight. Rather, it is a high time that their voices should be heard as quality
education is their basic right.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS-
 Mutual and cooperative learning should be encouraged in classrooms. Students
with different levels of ability come together and perform the same activity,
which can help them strengthen the understanding of a subject.

 Practical knowledge should be given more importance than Bookish knowledge.

When a child learns through experiment, it has a deeper and a longer impact on
his or her mind. Thus, more use of one’s surroundings should be done.

 Learning can be done from any source and is not just restricted to the teacher
only. The same way children learn from teacher, a teacher can also learn from a
student and their experiences.

 A teacher should know how to make best use of the given time and resources in a
limited framework. Where there is dedication to work, anything is possible.

 Focus should be on the process rather than the product. Is the technique is in the
right direction, the product will be in favour

 Students learn best in an engaging environment. Their lived experiences should

be considered valuable inside the classroom as well.
Glimpses from the Documentary-