ABSTRACT
Drawing lessons from the key principles of Gandhian Education, that is, “Nai Talim” (literally translated as new education), this paper describes a “learning through food” experiment in an urban school in Bangalore (India) called The Ragi Project. In a two-year period (2017–19), middle school teachers and students grew culturally appropriate, local, ecological, and nutritious foods including Ragi (Finger millet) hence the name.
One key feature that distinguishes Nai Talim from similar ideas in school education such as Activity Based Learning or Vocational education is its focus on “correlation”. The Nai Talim framework envisages integrating the chosen craft with the teaching of school subjects in an organic and age-appropriate manner. Historically, this craft has included spinning, weaving, gardening, or agriculture as options for productive work in schools for their potential towards correlation. Amongst other advantages, correlation allows for a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning while productive work in a school space enables real-world learning. A useful and a simple way, therefore, is to define Nai Talim as “Education through productive work”.
In order to explore the possibility of reinventing Nai Talim in contemporary times (a Nai, Nai Talim), the teachers involved in the Ragi Project put extensive effort behind selecting appropriate activities on the theme of food as well as drawing out relevant co-relations. The paper describes and highlights the key learnings of this effort and advocates for teaching and learning through farming or gardening in urban schools in India today.
