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17.10.2016
Are the Refugee Students well integrated into Mainstream Indian Classrooms?
Introduction
Refugee Education means access to educational opportunities for all the refugees in the host country. In India, among the other refugees it is the Tibetan refugees who have been considerably supported. They consider India as their second home. But unfortunately, in India the support provided to Tibetan refugee is by focusing on their immediate needs, such as providing them with safe refugee camps and daily meals, but their long‐term needs like education are not given serious thinking. Therefore, problems persist in the refugee educational institutions that range from poor performance poor attitude of students towards all the subjects, low parental involvement in school, lack of teacher competencies, and ineffective curriculum transaction in classrooms. The students from refugee community often do not have the necessary foundations to be placed into mainstream classes successfully.Sense of alienation and loss of cultural identity and assimilation into the dominant culture prevent students from integrating into mainstream Indian classrooms and closing the achievement gap with their peers. Not only this, thereis also a challenge of low teachercompetency levels to deal with refugees students.To meet the needs of refugee students effectively schools must adopt a whole school approach by focusing on different aspects of school management such as the schools; policies and practices, curriculum and programs, ethos and environment and community relations. The most important of all the other aspects of school management is the teacher competency levels.
The cognitive, emotional, socio cultural and communicative competencies among teachers can help build positive relationships to address the diverse and profound needs in classrooms of refugee students. Therefore it is imperative for Refugee schools to select knowledge for each subject area with careful examination in terms of socio-economic and cultural conditions and goals. Merely providing adequate infrastructure and conducive classroom atmosphere for learning are not sufficient concerns of quality in Refugee schools. Along with this, components of the curriculum viz. syllabus and pedagogy are also important factors which need to be addressed. The heart of education lies with the teachers, therefore the refugee schools must take care of nurturing teachers who understand the unique needs of such students and are willing to make the relationships necessary to help them grow. Therefore the refugee schools must provide teachers with a range of teaching strategies and curriculum ideas to support refugee students. There might be typical emotional blocks to learning for those students who are orphan or have experienced trauma, the learning and achievement of such students in a classroom depend on the competencies of teachers who are instructional leaders andare responsible to transact the planned curriculum successfully in classrooms.
Education of Tibetan Refugees in India
Tibetan refugees are the largest refugee community in India who have enjoyed tremendous social, cultural and economic support from Indian government. According to 2009 demographic survey conducted by the Central Tibetan Administration based in India, there is a total of 19,203 Tibetans living in India. Tibetan refugees are the only refugees in India who have been permitted to establish culturally specific Tibetan schools where Tibetan culture, Buddhism and Tibetan language are taught (UNCHR Document 1998).India is a nation of large and complex school education system, having more than 1.4 million schools under various education boards and more than 230 million enrolments. Still Tibetan Refugees have experienced social mobility through education in India.A huge number of Tibetan schools in India are in Tibetan refugee settlement locations of Dharamshala and Bylakupe.
The mission of Tibetan schools in India is to preserve and promote ancient Tibetan culture language and heritage along with providing quality education to children. The schools therefore strive to achieve this mission with the help of explicit and implicit curriculum (Nowak 1978). The explicit curriculum i.e. the textbooks and subjects and the implicit curriculum i.e. pedagogical approaches and co-curricular activities combine to create school ethos that has strong emphasis on Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan Nationalism. Tibetans feel that the major educational challenge they face today is making their schools vibrant community based institutions that can transmit the core values and raise living standards. For transmitting values the importance of teachers cannot be neglected as teachers are a central dimension of the policies and practices aimed at providing quality education for refugees.Tibetan School Education is beset with a range of issues like poor school and student outcomes, lack of qualified and trained teachers (especially for use of technology), increasing student population, higher demand for personal attention and additional time allocation for effective teaching etc. Apart from these the readiness and the use of ICT in these schools is still not adequate despite highly emphasised by different Education committees and commissions.
The Current Scenario
Despite the guidelines from the National policies on Education (1967 and 1986) and Programme of Action (1992) as well as the reports submitted by state level education commissions and committees to bring improvement in the education quality there are hardly many suitable strategies developed and implemented by school Boards to improve quality at all the levels/stages of school education in India. It is not only the World Bank (1995) that stresses on student’s outcomes as an indicator of quality but education specialists around the world also assert to an education that is student-centred and driven by the needs of the local community.It will not be wrong to maintain that, the quality of education and the teacher competency levels in the Tibetan schools that follow the education system of the host country i.e. India is no different than the other school Boards in the country. There is a noted increase in the number of Tibetan schools since 1950, in India but this increase in the quantity is not associated with improvement in quality of education.
Given the concerns over the deteriorating quality of education in some CTSA institutions, the current scenario endorses some concrete mechanisms from the government to train teachers and bring an improvement in their competency. While achieving education excellence is imperative for Tibetan schools and school Board, it is equally vital for the refugee community to generate quality professionals. To provide education opportunities for Tibetan refugee children, there must be enough of resources available, but unfortunately there is always a great crunch in the community's financial resources to meet the increasing educational needs of the Tibetan education. Another area of concern is the ongoing efforts to gradually convert the medium of instruction in all Tibetan institutions of learning from the pre-primary level up to the highest research study level, into Tibetan language. The quality and role of teachers, teachers competencies, formation of school curriculum, and methodology of teaching is also framed mainly in accordance with the traditional Tibetan principles and sciences, rather than the modern system. This too raises question of quality in Tibetan schools as English language lack the needed importance that in turn hamper the demand of modern education.
Quality Initiatives in Tibetan Schools
Tibet Education Project launched by the exile Tibetan administration in November 2012, aimed at improving the quality of education opportunities for Tibetan refugee students in India and Nepal. Through the funds of this project was expected to increase professional training for teacher development, enable Tibetan students to access opportunities for scholarship program in higher education, textbooks for all the subjects in Tibetan and a special Primary Teacher Training Certificate courses to train primary teachers to teach effectively in the mother tongue. The Department of Education, established Teacher Education Centres in 2012 for developing Tibetan teachers, it conducts music and dance teachers training programmes on the basis of need assessment in the schools. Intensive trainings are provided in collaboration with the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), Dharamshala. Apart from this the Indian Government offers fifteen degree level and five diploma level scholarships to Tibetan children who come from different backgrounds to pursue higher education. The concerns for quality education are lack of parental interest in the education of their children and teacher-student communications, especially in the CTSA Schools, where the majority of teachers do not speak Tibetan. Furthermore, teacher shortage is hampered due to brain drain of educated refugee immigrating to western nations.
Some Strategies for Mainstreaming
In schools mainstreaming of education for the refugee students can onlyoccur if the resources are in place to support strategies that will allow teachers toreflect on their teaching and modify as needed to meet the needs of refugee students. This is possible withefforts and commitment of school leadership.Following strategies can be helpful to schools in mainstreaming education;
Conclusion
The range and complexity of competences required for teaching in the 21st century is so great that any one teacher is not likely to have them all, nor can they develop them all to the same high degree. Attention of policy makers and the school authorities must therefore be focused developing competences or attributes in teachersthat help them to deal with the needs of the refugee students.It is unfortunate that the concept of teachers’ competencies is mostly discussed in very narrow dimensions such as teachers’ planning, implementation, assessment of the curriculum, standards for the curriculum or the school. Therefore, professionaldevelopment becomes a critical component for teachers working with refugee student.Good professional development in a refugee school must include understanding the role of first language and culture in learning. Attention must be paid on the demands that mainstream education places on culturally diverse learners, needs and characteristics of students as well as on belief in students.In short attention must be on training teachers to be sensitiveand aware of refugee students’ needs. The main conclusion to be made is that improved teacher competenciescan help teachers to form strategies that will prove effective for refugee students. These practices will help teachers further develop their potential and work on John Dewey’s philosophy of education where he argues that education and learning are social and interactive processesand school a place to learn how to live as well instrumental in creating social change and reform.
Refugee Education means access to educational opportunities for all the refugees in the host country. In India, among the other refugees it is the Tibetan refugees who have been considerably supported. They consider India as their second home. But unfortunately, in India the support provided to Tibetan refugee is by focusing on their immediate needs, such as providing them with safe refugee camps and daily meals, but their long‐term needs like education are not given serious thinking. Therefore, problems persist in the refugee educational institutions that range from poor performance poor attitude of students towards all the subjects, low parental involvement in school, lack of teacher competencies, and ineffective curriculum transaction in classrooms. The students from refugee community often do not have the necessary foundations to be placed into mainstream classes successfully.Sense of alienation and loss of cultural identity and assimilation into the dominant culture prevent students from integrating into mainstream Indian classrooms and closing the achievement gap with their peers. Not only this, thereis also a challenge of low teachercompetency levels to deal with refugees students.To meet the needs of refugee students effectively schools must adopt a whole school approach by focusing on different aspects of school management such as the schools; policies and practices, curriculum and programs, ethos and environment and community relations. The most important of all the other aspects of school management is the teacher competency levels.
The cognitive, emotional, socio cultural and communicative competencies among teachers can help build positive relationships to address the diverse and profound needs in classrooms of refugee students. Therefore it is imperative for Refugee schools to select knowledge for each subject area with careful examination in terms of socio-economic and cultural conditions and goals. Merely providing adequate infrastructure and conducive classroom atmosphere for learning are not sufficient concerns of quality in Refugee schools. Along with this, components of the curriculum viz. syllabus and pedagogy are also important factors which need to be addressed. The heart of education lies with the teachers, therefore the refugee schools must take care of nurturing teachers who understand the unique needs of such students and are willing to make the relationships necessary to help them grow. Therefore the refugee schools must provide teachers with a range of teaching strategies and curriculum ideas to support refugee students. There might be typical emotional blocks to learning for those students who are orphan or have experienced trauma, the learning and achievement of such students in a classroom depend on the competencies of teachers who are instructional leaders andare responsible to transact the planned curriculum successfully in classrooms.
Education of Tibetan Refugees in India
Tibetan refugees are the largest refugee community in India who have enjoyed tremendous social, cultural and economic support from Indian government. According to 2009 demographic survey conducted by the Central Tibetan Administration based in India, there is a total of 19,203 Tibetans living in India. Tibetan refugees are the only refugees in India who have been permitted to establish culturally specific Tibetan schools where Tibetan culture, Buddhism and Tibetan language are taught (UNCHR Document 1998).India is a nation of large and complex school education system, having more than 1.4 million schools under various education boards and more than 230 million enrolments. Still Tibetan Refugees have experienced social mobility through education in India.A huge number of Tibetan schools in India are in Tibetan refugee settlement locations of Dharamshala and Bylakupe.
The mission of Tibetan schools in India is to preserve and promote ancient Tibetan culture language and heritage along with providing quality education to children. The schools therefore strive to achieve this mission with the help of explicit and implicit curriculum (Nowak 1978). The explicit curriculum i.e. the textbooks and subjects and the implicit curriculum i.e. pedagogical approaches and co-curricular activities combine to create school ethos that has strong emphasis on Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan Nationalism. Tibetans feel that the major educational challenge they face today is making their schools vibrant community based institutions that can transmit the core values and raise living standards. For transmitting values the importance of teachers cannot be neglected as teachers are a central dimension of the policies and practices aimed at providing quality education for refugees.Tibetan School Education is beset with a range of issues like poor school and student outcomes, lack of qualified and trained teachers (especially for use of technology), increasing student population, higher demand for personal attention and additional time allocation for effective teaching etc. Apart from these the readiness and the use of ICT in these schools is still not adequate despite highly emphasised by different Education committees and commissions.
The Current Scenario
Despite the guidelines from the National policies on Education (1967 and 1986) and Programme of Action (1992) as well as the reports submitted by state level education commissions and committees to bring improvement in the education quality there are hardly many suitable strategies developed and implemented by school Boards to improve quality at all the levels/stages of school education in India. It is not only the World Bank (1995) that stresses on student’s outcomes as an indicator of quality but education specialists around the world also assert to an education that is student-centred and driven by the needs of the local community.It will not be wrong to maintain that, the quality of education and the teacher competency levels in the Tibetan schools that follow the education system of the host country i.e. India is no different than the other school Boards in the country. There is a noted increase in the number of Tibetan schools since 1950, in India but this increase in the quantity is not associated with improvement in quality of education.
Given the concerns over the deteriorating quality of education in some CTSA institutions, the current scenario endorses some concrete mechanisms from the government to train teachers and bring an improvement in their competency. While achieving education excellence is imperative for Tibetan schools and school Board, it is equally vital for the refugee community to generate quality professionals. To provide education opportunities for Tibetan refugee children, there must be enough of resources available, but unfortunately there is always a great crunch in the community's financial resources to meet the increasing educational needs of the Tibetan education. Another area of concern is the ongoing efforts to gradually convert the medium of instruction in all Tibetan institutions of learning from the pre-primary level up to the highest research study level, into Tibetan language. The quality and role of teachers, teachers competencies, formation of school curriculum, and methodology of teaching is also framed mainly in accordance with the traditional Tibetan principles and sciences, rather than the modern system. This too raises question of quality in Tibetan schools as English language lack the needed importance that in turn hamper the demand of modern education.
Quality Initiatives in Tibetan Schools
Tibet Education Project launched by the exile Tibetan administration in November 2012, aimed at improving the quality of education opportunities for Tibetan refugee students in India and Nepal. Through the funds of this project was expected to increase professional training for teacher development, enable Tibetan students to access opportunities for scholarship program in higher education, textbooks for all the subjects in Tibetan and a special Primary Teacher Training Certificate courses to train primary teachers to teach effectively in the mother tongue. The Department of Education, established Teacher Education Centres in 2012 for developing Tibetan teachers, it conducts music and dance teachers training programmes on the basis of need assessment in the schools. Intensive trainings are provided in collaboration with the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), Dharamshala. Apart from this the Indian Government offers fifteen degree level and five diploma level scholarships to Tibetan children who come from different backgrounds to pursue higher education. The concerns for quality education are lack of parental interest in the education of their children and teacher-student communications, especially in the CTSA Schools, where the majority of teachers do not speak Tibetan. Furthermore, teacher shortage is hampered due to brain drain of educated refugee immigrating to western nations.
Some Strategies for Mainstreaming
In schools mainstreaming of education for the refugee students can onlyoccur if the resources are in place to support strategies that will allow teachers toreflect on their teaching and modify as needed to meet the needs of refugee students. This is possible withefforts and commitment of school leadership.Following strategies can be helpful to schools in mainstreaming education;
- Topay attention to the needs and capabilities of the refugee students.
- To enablerefugee students to perform complex skills.
- To encourage refugee students to express their thoughts and feelings by helping them develop writing skills.
- To teach students about cultural diversity and cross-cultural harmonyabout the host country and its culture.
- Toprovide opportunities to refugee students forvariety of co-curricular activities like storytelling, drama and role play within the school curriculum.
- To provide students with an age-appropriate political understanding of the causes of displacement and refugee experiences to remove misconceptions.
- To develop links with community and take their help to organise peer support programs, teach students about health and wellbeing.
Conclusion
The range and complexity of competences required for teaching in the 21st century is so great that any one teacher is not likely to have them all, nor can they develop them all to the same high degree. Attention of policy makers and the school authorities must therefore be focused developing competences or attributes in teachersthat help them to deal with the needs of the refugee students.It is unfortunate that the concept of teachers’ competencies is mostly discussed in very narrow dimensions such as teachers’ planning, implementation, assessment of the curriculum, standards for the curriculum or the school. Therefore, professionaldevelopment becomes a critical component for teachers working with refugee student.Good professional development in a refugee school must include understanding the role of first language and culture in learning. Attention must be paid on the demands that mainstream education places on culturally diverse learners, needs and characteristics of students as well as on belief in students.In short attention must be on training teachers to be sensitiveand aware of refugee students’ needs. The main conclusion to be made is that improved teacher competenciescan help teachers to form strategies that will prove effective for refugee students. These practices will help teachers further develop their potential and work on John Dewey’s philosophy of education where he argues that education and learning are social and interactive processesand school a place to learn how to live as well instrumental in creating social change and reform.
| are_the_refugee_students_well_integrated_into_mainstream_indian_classroms_dr.swaleha_sindhi.docx |
| are_the_refugee_students_well_integrated_into_mainstream_indian_classroms_dr.swaleha_sindhi.pdf |
1.07.2016
Intercultural Education in the Contemporary Indian Society: A Perspective
Introduction
India has undergone significant social, cultural, demographic and economic change since the year 1991, with the adoption of new economic policy of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation. Until that stage, the population was heterogeneous, to a limited extent. But after the LPG policy the migration patterns changed in India. There has been a significant increase in migration to urban areas along with transnational movements, both among males and females. The new destination for them in the process of migration presents the state of transition of the cultures of migrated people. The benefit of migration is the opportunities to develop into both a multi-lingual and intercultural society, (only if the process of integration in host countries works efficiently and the policies change periodically). Thus new set of Diaspora population profile presents us with both new opportunities and challenges. One of the challenges and opportunity is to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the cultural heritage unique to each different group whilst at the same time realising that this is contributing to a shared collective awareness of Indian identity, which is constantly evolving. Migrants in India, represent some 200 nationalities, and a heterogeneous group. They have different cultures, languages and levels of education. A minority may not have received a basic education prior to arriving in India, whilst the majority are highly educated, many to post- graduate level. Some may not be working in jobs commensurate with their qualifications and experience. There is need of heterogeneity approaches which see continued cultural difference and highlight local cultural autonomy, cultural resistance to homogenization, cultural clashes and polarization and distinct subjective experiences of globalization. (Robinson, 2007). Thus, in a world that is experiencing rapid changes education has a major role to play in promoting social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, through programmes that encourage dialogue between students of different cultures, beliefs and religions. Education can make an important and meaningful contribution to sustainable and tolerant societies.
Intercultural Education
Interculturality is a dynamic concept and refers to evolving relations between cultural groups. It has been defined as “the existence and equitable interaction of diverse cultures and the possibility of generating shared cultural expressions through dialogue and mutual respect. Interculturality presupposes multiculturalism and results from ‘intercultural’ exchange and dialogue on the local, regional, national or international level. As a minimum, intercultural education requires majorities to learn about the minorities and their cultural and traditions while minorities must similarly learn about other minorities in the same society as well as about the majorities. (Eide, 1999). Intercultural education, according to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA, 2006), sensitises the learner to the idea that humans have naturally developed a range of different ways of life, customs and worldviews, and that this breadth of human life enriches all. It is education, which promotes equality and human rights, challenges unfair discrimination, and promotes the values upon which equality is built. Thus, Intercultural Education Strategy aims to ensure that all students experience an education that respects the diversity of values, beliefs, languages and traditions in Indian society and is conducted in a spirit of partnership. Therefore, schools can play a role in the development of an intercultural society when they are assisted with ensuring that inclusion and integration within an intercultural learning environment become the norm. Intercultural education in schools cannot be just a simple ‘add on’ to the regular curriculum. It needs to concern the learning environment as a whole, as well as other dimensions of educational processes, such as school life and decision making, teacher education and capacity building, curricula, languages of instruction, pedagogy, teaching learning materials etc. This can be done through the inclusion of multiple perspectives and voices. The development of inclusive curricula that contain learning about the languages, histories and cultures of non-dominant groups in society is one important example.
Existing Scenario in India
Fundamental values underlying Intercultural education are respect for human rights and rule of law, intercultural values, and openness to world democracy. In India there already exist diversity in cultures and tradition. Indians are subconsciously more aware about other cultures and this awareness subtly contributes to an understanding about other’s viewpoint. Indians have by default an implicit compassion for other cultures. Indian schools deal with students from different cultures. Their backgrounds differ in terms of parent’s education, religion, socio economic status, household and family norm, also they differ in values and attitudes, lifestyles, abilities/disabilities, and ethnicity, in case of urban schools even nationality. Ethnicity or nationality is therefore only one of the factors that make our classrooms diverse and thus influences our student’s culture. But in the existing Indian scenario the contemporary education is at a crossroads and facing multiple challenges related to equity, equality and quality, there is a need to evolve multi-pronged, context-specific strategies for addressing the needs of children from diverse backgrounds.
Time and again government policies attempt to address issues related to equity, equality and quality concerns in education. The National Policy on Education, 1968 and the National Policy on Education, 1986 addresses these issues. Both these policies laid special emphasis on removal of disparity and equalize educational opportunity by attending to the specific needs of those who had so far been denied equality. These policies lay special stress upon making education a vehicle of social transformation and empowerment. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 is another attempt of government to make primary education for all mandatory. To give effect to the recommendations of commissions, policy initiatives and legal provisions have been made by central and state agencies and civil society to provide education to all irrespective of gender, caste, class, faith and location. A plethora of schools run by different agencies, i.e. government, government aided, private and those managed by minority institutions, provide access to children from diverse backgrounds. Several national schemes such as the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), 1994, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), 2001 and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), 2010 have worked towards fulfilling the unfinished agenda of education for all at different levels. SSA also developed and implemented innovative training model, for primary school teachers in the tribal areas of Orissa. The model focused on attitudinal training of teachers and their sensitization to tribal language, culture and knowledge systems.
Various innovative experiments in school reforms have been taken up by civil society organizations as well as in the government sector in different parts of the country. These experiments have attempted curriculum design, development of teaching-learning methods and materials, and teacher development with child-centered inclusive perspectives. These have shown encouraging results in terms of the learning achievement of children from diverse backgrounds. Indian schools can transform total school environment with the help of pedagogy that aims at achieving equity and equal educational opportunities for all of the nation’s children, including socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnic minorities in the micro cultures. The Activity Based Learning methodology introduced in response to the poor learning levels amongst children and uninteresting classroom processes is a step towards creating inclusive classrooms. The most notable feature of the reform is its focus on changing classrooms, in terms of methodology, the role of teachers, classroom organization and classroom environment as a whole. Although many efforts are made towards making diverse classroom interesting there is a need for preparation of text books, supplementary materials and bridge courses in the mother tongue of the learners for better comprehension of subject. In addition, multilingualism and bilingual approaches needs to be explored. Equity pedagogy also requires teacher to develop an understanding of the different learning styles students develop from their own cultural upbringing so that educators can employ alternative instructional strategies to help all students learn the key concepts, principles, facts, and generalizations in the various content areas and academic disciplines. To be able to do this, teachers will need to develop pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions that allow them to adapt alternative teaching methods or modify instructional strategies in culturally diverse classrooms. School and classroom climates must also be changed so that academic success is achievable by students from all cultural groups. Therefore, dealing with intercultural education requires adequate understanding of the demographics of the students, culture, and race in popular culture, and development of social action skills. It also emphasizes the clearing up of myths and stereotypes associated with gender, age, and the various races and ethnic groups by stressing basic human similarities (Nieto, 1997). Apart from this, Intercultural education promotes developing an awareness of discrimination such as cultural racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination.
Conclusion
There have been many demographic changes in India in recent years. The educational policies and programs therefore are reviewed in light of contemporary circumstances. The development of an intercultural education strategy acknowledged these demographic changes, which are reflected in the education system. But alongside the adequate development of learners' intercultural competence can't be achieved exclusively through policies and programs. Without teachers' sensitiveness and understanding of the diverse student community in the classroom students' progress cannot be achieved. It is clear that professional growth commitment and motivation of teachers is essential. Thus, through the combined effort from institutions and education agencies, teachers can fulfil their responsibilities with a greater confidence. The Schools must create congenial classroom environment that address the emotional make-up of children and encourage them to voice their opinions and feelings without fear of being intimidated. The creation of such an atmosphere would go a long way in strengthening the bonds between teachers, children and the school. Integration of context specific technology in classroom processes and multiple activities conducted in schools would help in skill development of children from diverse origins for self-reliance.
References
India has undergone significant social, cultural, demographic and economic change since the year 1991, with the adoption of new economic policy of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation. Until that stage, the population was heterogeneous, to a limited extent. But after the LPG policy the migration patterns changed in India. There has been a significant increase in migration to urban areas along with transnational movements, both among males and females. The new destination for them in the process of migration presents the state of transition of the cultures of migrated people. The benefit of migration is the opportunities to develop into both a multi-lingual and intercultural society, (only if the process of integration in host countries works efficiently and the policies change periodically). Thus new set of Diaspora population profile presents us with both new opportunities and challenges. One of the challenges and opportunity is to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the cultural heritage unique to each different group whilst at the same time realising that this is contributing to a shared collective awareness of Indian identity, which is constantly evolving. Migrants in India, represent some 200 nationalities, and a heterogeneous group. They have different cultures, languages and levels of education. A minority may not have received a basic education prior to arriving in India, whilst the majority are highly educated, many to post- graduate level. Some may not be working in jobs commensurate with their qualifications and experience. There is need of heterogeneity approaches which see continued cultural difference and highlight local cultural autonomy, cultural resistance to homogenization, cultural clashes and polarization and distinct subjective experiences of globalization. (Robinson, 2007). Thus, in a world that is experiencing rapid changes education has a major role to play in promoting social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, through programmes that encourage dialogue between students of different cultures, beliefs and religions. Education can make an important and meaningful contribution to sustainable and tolerant societies.
Intercultural Education
Interculturality is a dynamic concept and refers to evolving relations between cultural groups. It has been defined as “the existence and equitable interaction of diverse cultures and the possibility of generating shared cultural expressions through dialogue and mutual respect. Interculturality presupposes multiculturalism and results from ‘intercultural’ exchange and dialogue on the local, regional, national or international level. As a minimum, intercultural education requires majorities to learn about the minorities and their cultural and traditions while minorities must similarly learn about other minorities in the same society as well as about the majorities. (Eide, 1999). Intercultural education, according to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA, 2006), sensitises the learner to the idea that humans have naturally developed a range of different ways of life, customs and worldviews, and that this breadth of human life enriches all. It is education, which promotes equality and human rights, challenges unfair discrimination, and promotes the values upon which equality is built. Thus, Intercultural Education Strategy aims to ensure that all students experience an education that respects the diversity of values, beliefs, languages and traditions in Indian society and is conducted in a spirit of partnership. Therefore, schools can play a role in the development of an intercultural society when they are assisted with ensuring that inclusion and integration within an intercultural learning environment become the norm. Intercultural education in schools cannot be just a simple ‘add on’ to the regular curriculum. It needs to concern the learning environment as a whole, as well as other dimensions of educational processes, such as school life and decision making, teacher education and capacity building, curricula, languages of instruction, pedagogy, teaching learning materials etc. This can be done through the inclusion of multiple perspectives and voices. The development of inclusive curricula that contain learning about the languages, histories and cultures of non-dominant groups in society is one important example.
Existing Scenario in India
Fundamental values underlying Intercultural education are respect for human rights and rule of law, intercultural values, and openness to world democracy. In India there already exist diversity in cultures and tradition. Indians are subconsciously more aware about other cultures and this awareness subtly contributes to an understanding about other’s viewpoint. Indians have by default an implicit compassion for other cultures. Indian schools deal with students from different cultures. Their backgrounds differ in terms of parent’s education, religion, socio economic status, household and family norm, also they differ in values and attitudes, lifestyles, abilities/disabilities, and ethnicity, in case of urban schools even nationality. Ethnicity or nationality is therefore only one of the factors that make our classrooms diverse and thus influences our student’s culture. But in the existing Indian scenario the contemporary education is at a crossroads and facing multiple challenges related to equity, equality and quality, there is a need to evolve multi-pronged, context-specific strategies for addressing the needs of children from diverse backgrounds.
Time and again government policies attempt to address issues related to equity, equality and quality concerns in education. The National Policy on Education, 1968 and the National Policy on Education, 1986 addresses these issues. Both these policies laid special emphasis on removal of disparity and equalize educational opportunity by attending to the specific needs of those who had so far been denied equality. These policies lay special stress upon making education a vehicle of social transformation and empowerment. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 is another attempt of government to make primary education for all mandatory. To give effect to the recommendations of commissions, policy initiatives and legal provisions have been made by central and state agencies and civil society to provide education to all irrespective of gender, caste, class, faith and location. A plethora of schools run by different agencies, i.e. government, government aided, private and those managed by minority institutions, provide access to children from diverse backgrounds. Several national schemes such as the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), 1994, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), 2001 and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), 2010 have worked towards fulfilling the unfinished agenda of education for all at different levels. SSA also developed and implemented innovative training model, for primary school teachers in the tribal areas of Orissa. The model focused on attitudinal training of teachers and their sensitization to tribal language, culture and knowledge systems.
Various innovative experiments in school reforms have been taken up by civil society organizations as well as in the government sector in different parts of the country. These experiments have attempted curriculum design, development of teaching-learning methods and materials, and teacher development with child-centered inclusive perspectives. These have shown encouraging results in terms of the learning achievement of children from diverse backgrounds. Indian schools can transform total school environment with the help of pedagogy that aims at achieving equity and equal educational opportunities for all of the nation’s children, including socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnic minorities in the micro cultures. The Activity Based Learning methodology introduced in response to the poor learning levels amongst children and uninteresting classroom processes is a step towards creating inclusive classrooms. The most notable feature of the reform is its focus on changing classrooms, in terms of methodology, the role of teachers, classroom organization and classroom environment as a whole. Although many efforts are made towards making diverse classroom interesting there is a need for preparation of text books, supplementary materials and bridge courses in the mother tongue of the learners for better comprehension of subject. In addition, multilingualism and bilingual approaches needs to be explored. Equity pedagogy also requires teacher to develop an understanding of the different learning styles students develop from their own cultural upbringing so that educators can employ alternative instructional strategies to help all students learn the key concepts, principles, facts, and generalizations in the various content areas and academic disciplines. To be able to do this, teachers will need to develop pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions that allow them to adapt alternative teaching methods or modify instructional strategies in culturally diverse classrooms. School and classroom climates must also be changed so that academic success is achievable by students from all cultural groups. Therefore, dealing with intercultural education requires adequate understanding of the demographics of the students, culture, and race in popular culture, and development of social action skills. It also emphasizes the clearing up of myths and stereotypes associated with gender, age, and the various races and ethnic groups by stressing basic human similarities (Nieto, 1997). Apart from this, Intercultural education promotes developing an awareness of discrimination such as cultural racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination.
Conclusion
There have been many demographic changes in India in recent years. The educational policies and programs therefore are reviewed in light of contemporary circumstances. The development of an intercultural education strategy acknowledged these demographic changes, which are reflected in the education system. But alongside the adequate development of learners' intercultural competence can't be achieved exclusively through policies and programs. Without teachers' sensitiveness and understanding of the diverse student community in the classroom students' progress cannot be achieved. It is clear that professional growth commitment and motivation of teachers is essential. Thus, through the combined effort from institutions and education agencies, teachers can fulfil their responsibilities with a greater confidence. The Schools must create congenial classroom environment that address the emotional make-up of children and encourage them to voice their opinions and feelings without fear of being intimidated. The creation of such an atmosphere would go a long way in strengthening the bonds between teachers, children and the school. Integration of context specific technology in classroom processes and multiple activities conducted in schools would help in skill development of children from diverse origins for self-reliance.
References
- Eide, A. (1999). Multicultural and Intercultural education: Conditions for Constructive Group Accommodation. Revue Quebecoise de Droit International. 12. 1-23
- Fullan M. (2001), The New Meaning of Educational Change, Teachers College Press Columbia University , New York and London.
- Govaris, C. (2002). «Open questions for intercultural education». In Kaila Μ. et.al (eds) Contemporary Pedagogic Considerations, Athens: Atrapos (in Greek).
- Nieto, S. (1997). School reform and student Achievement: A multicultural perspective. In J. A. Banks &C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (3rd ed., pp. 385-407). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Sleeter, C. E. (1996). Multicultural education as social activism. Albany: State University of New York Press.
- Parekh, B. (1986), “The Concept of Multicultural Education”, in Mogdil, S. et al. (eds.), Multicultural Education, the Interminable Debate. (Lewes and Philadelphia: Falmer Press,
- Parekh, B. (2000). Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
- Putnam R. (2004), Education, diversity, social cohesion, and “social capital”, talk given to the OECD Education Ministers, Dublin.
- UNESCO. (2006). UNESCO Guidelines on Intercultural Education: 1/1 Key Issues and Interrelationships. Paris
- Vesajoki, F. (2002). The Effects of Globalization on Culture: A Study of the Experiences of Globalization among Finnish Travellers.
- Water, M. (2001). Globalization. 2 nd ed. London: Routledge.
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17.5.2016
DEBUNKING THE MYTH OF GENDER CONCERNS IN EDUCATION POLICIES:
SOME REFLECTIONS
Introduction
Gender inequality in India persists despite its induction (with GDP, 7.62%, 2015-16). into the world’s elite developing nations, i.e. the BRICS. Persistent inequality is reflected in the low human development attainments of the country’s most marginalized groups including scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, rural populations and women. India has performed poorly in removing gender-based disparities, ranking 114 out of 142 countries in World Economic Forum's 2014 gender gap index, scoring below average on parameters like economic participation, educational attainment and health and survival.Besides low women participation in employment and decision making. This disparity is not likely to be eliminated soon due to existing traditional patriarchal norms. Though government has launched several commendable schemes to save and educate the girl child and the national average has also risen from 943 females per 1000 males, but in many parts of India
it still continues to remain low.Women literacy in India as per 2011 census was65.46% (overall 74.04 %, men 82.14 %,). It is alarming for India to improve women literacy rates as India has 30% of the world’s total illiterate population and around 70% of them are women.Among these illiterate women forty percent arerural belonging to socially backward communities who have never been to school or are dropouts. The hurdles prohibiting these marginalised sections from attending schools are; prejudices that families have about girls, domestic work, mobilisation of community for enrolment of girls, working children, less number of female teachers, long distance to school non-availability of schools etc.
Education has the inbuilt potential of initiating social change in the context of gender relations. Therefore, conscious and pluralistic interventions have been put forward by the Government of India to address gender equality in education at thecentre and state level. Government madecommitment to create an integrated school system free from the issues of equity, equality and social justice in education. Steps were taken to make education a fundamental right(for children aged 6-14), along with initiatives like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (to universalise primary education) and RashtriyaMadhyamikShikshaAbhiyan(to universalise secondary education).
In India gender related policies have always been victim of political discourses and the policies made by governmenthave faced multiple accidents in their implementation. Sometimes due to lack of political will, human resources, human expertise, funding or spending.Therefore to reduce gender inequality in education the immediate need is to reflect and focus in a proactive manner on transforming
attitudes, beliefs and behavioural patterns that impact gender relation in family, community and schools. It is thus, essential for both the government and the civil society to discuss female education as a social aspect at micro-levels.
Issues and Concerns
India lacks a larger perspective with respect to education of girls. The government schools of India has large presence of girls from disadvantaged groups and communities. These schools are dysfunctionalwith unstable management conditions, inappropriate or lack of leadership, lack of vision, unhealthy school climate and culture, and low staff and learner morale. In the Indian context textbooks are a part of social milieu and an important source of knowledge that teachers and students rely upon across the country. In the construction of knowledge in different subjects’ domains, it is important to analyse the content, visuals and exercises of the textbooks from a gender perspective. But textual materials do not include sufficient issues of equity and equality in India.
In fact, a gender friendly environment can easily be created by a teacher in any context to build harmonious relations between boys and girls at different stages of education. It just requires sensitivity and positive intent of teachers, but unfortunately teachersdo not define their roles as mentors and facilitators but they work as instructors and knowledge experts aiming to disseminate information.The efforts to address biases in curriculum transaction have been entirely missing.
While educational planning in India is centralised, and does not allow comparing diverse perspectives, women’s confidence in state led reforms has diminished. The
reach out programs towards girls is not autonomous and governmentalso miss reaching out to the masses.India also happen be missing gender mainstreaming, there is more politicization in the mainstream of women education.It is a fact that even after 67 years of independence, there is very little representation of women on the ground and they are still not emancipated. This emancipation needs a change in perspective which is missing at the moment.
Women Participation continuous to be low in India, let’s take an example of the state of Meghalaya in the North East of India. Meghalaya, separated from Assam on the grounds of being a Matriarchal society but if we see the women participation and representation in the state, it is a sad fact that we have only one female Member of Parliament out of the 128 MPs in the state Assembly. When this is the situation of a Matriarchal society then forget about the ground realities of a Patriarchal society that exists in the major states of India.Another issue is with evaluation and reporting of policies and programs, the government reports come out with data on quantitative improvements, theyfail to show qualitative changestaking place.
Education Policies and Plans
Five Year Plans
The all-round development of women has been one of the focal point of planning process in India. The importance of the role of women in development had been recognized by the government ofIndia right from the very first plan.
The First Five-Year Plan (1951-56)envisaged a number of welfare measures for women. Establishment of the Central Social Welfare Board, organization of
Mahila Mandals and the Community Development Programmes were a few steps in this directionthe empowerment of women was closely linked with the overall approach of intensive agricultural development
programmes.
The second five year plan (1956-1961) continued to reflect the very same welfare approach, providing priority to women’s education, their rightsand status of women in the fast changing socio-economic condition of our Indian society.
The Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans (1961-66 and 1969-74) supported female education as a major welfare measure.
The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974-79) emphasized training of women, who were in need of income and protection. This plan coincided with International Women’s Decade and the submission of Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. In 1976, Women’s welfare and Development Bureau was set up under the Ministry of Social Welfare.
The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-85) saw a definite shift from welfare to development. It recognized women’s lack of access to resources as a critical factor impending their growth.
The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985-90) emphasized the need for gender equality and empowerment. For the first time, emphasis was placed upon qualitative aspects such as inculcation of confidence, generation of awareness with regards, to rights and training in skills for better employment.
The Eight Five-Year Plan (1992-97) focused on empowering women, especially at the gross roots level, through Panchayat Raj Institutions.
The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) adopted a strategy of women’s component plan, under which not less than 30 percent of funds/benefits were earmarked for women-specific programmes.
The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07) aims at empowering women through translating the recently adopted National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001) into action and ensuring Survival, Protection and Development of women and children through rights based approach.
The Eleventh Five Plan (2007-2012)says it is about to change all that. The document reads; “An important divide which compels gender special focused efforts will be made to purgesociety of this malaise by creating an enabling environment for women to become economically, politically and socially empowered.
The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017)has identified inclusivenessissues an integral part to achievingfaster but sustainable growth as well as has given recommendations,suggestions and strategies for quality improvement in higher education.
Educational Policies
Gender concerns in education have been reflected in its policies. A landmark initiative was undertaken with the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and its revised POA 1992 as well as theNational Policy on Empowerment of Women 2001, all these focuses on promoting gender sensitive curriculum for addressing gender discrimination at all levels of education. The new draft of National Policy on Education 2015, lays emphasizes on “Encourage, Educate and Employ”, all irrespective of their socio-economic background. The National curriculum frameworks of 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005also have made specific efforts to focus attention on gender disparities in education.The other national initiative to promote basic education, with a focus on greater participation of girls and women is
Operation Blackboard (1987) that focused on construction of school buildings and appointment of a second teacher in single teacher schools.
All the above stated five year plans and educational policies of education have made interventions for improving gender inequalities in education. There are combination of approaches, such as; constructing more schools, improving school management and administration, increasing accountability and bringing curriculum reform.Reforms in access is far less successfuland there is hardly any attempt made to reduce gender inequality. It is imperative to formulate an integrated policy and strategy to addresseconomic, social, and political empowerment of women,especially from the disadvantaged groups and communitiesthat can enable them to break out of existing stereotypes.
Last Word
Since independence, the Indian Government has been trying to improve the situation of girls. But government fails to realize that the policies with respect to the education of girls cannot be seen in isolation, instead, policies must be seen in a larger perspective with larger inclusivity and in totality.In India the problem of generality is proving to be the biggest curse, which follows a single model of education, whereas the country has diverse socio-economic issues. The 29 states in India have 29 cultures, with every state being a distinct world in itself. What India need is multiple policies with multiple implementations, especially with respect to policies for the education of girls. Unfortunately there are few signals of a serious effort to implement this vision or to have a holistic planning process. The Indian government has to rethink the overall gender justice perspectives and policies that are currently in place.
17.5.2016
Gender inequality in India persists despite its induction (with GDP, 7.62%, 2015-16). into the world’s elite developing nations, i.e. the BRICS. Persistent inequality is reflected in the low human development attainments of the country’s most marginalized groups including scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, rural populations and women. India has performed poorly in removing gender-based disparities, ranking 114 out of 142 countries in World Economic Forum's 2014 gender gap index, scoring below average on parameters like economic participation, educational attainment and health and survival.Besides low women participation in employment and decision making. This disparity is not likely to be eliminated soon due to existing traditional patriarchal norms. Though government has launched several commendable schemes to save and educate the girl child and the national average has also risen from 943 females per 1000 males, but in many parts of India
it still continues to remain low.Women literacy in India as per 2011 census was65.46% (overall 74.04 %, men 82.14 %,). It is alarming for India to improve women literacy rates as India has 30% of the world’s total illiterate population and around 70% of them are women.Among these illiterate women forty percent arerural belonging to socially backward communities who have never been to school or are dropouts. The hurdles prohibiting these marginalised sections from attending schools are; prejudices that families have about girls, domestic work, mobilisation of community for enrolment of girls, working children, less number of female teachers, long distance to school non-availability of schools etc.
Education has the inbuilt potential of initiating social change in the context of gender relations. Therefore, conscious and pluralistic interventions have been put forward by the Government of India to address gender equality in education at thecentre and state level. Government madecommitment to create an integrated school system free from the issues of equity, equality and social justice in education. Steps were taken to make education a fundamental right(for children aged 6-14), along with initiatives like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (to universalise primary education) and RashtriyaMadhyamikShikshaAbhiyan(to universalise secondary education).
In India gender related policies have always been victim of political discourses and the policies made by governmenthave faced multiple accidents in their implementation. Sometimes due to lack of political will, human resources, human expertise, funding or spending.Therefore to reduce gender inequality in education the immediate need is to reflect and focus in a proactive manner on transforming
attitudes, beliefs and behavioural patterns that impact gender relation in family, community and schools. It is thus, essential for both the government and the civil society to discuss female education as a social aspect at micro-levels.
Issues and Concerns
India lacks a larger perspective with respect to education of girls. The government schools of India has large presence of girls from disadvantaged groups and communities. These schools are dysfunctionalwith unstable management conditions, inappropriate or lack of leadership, lack of vision, unhealthy school climate and culture, and low staff and learner morale. In the Indian context textbooks are a part of social milieu and an important source of knowledge that teachers and students rely upon across the country. In the construction of knowledge in different subjects’ domains, it is important to analyse the content, visuals and exercises of the textbooks from a gender perspective. But textual materials do not include sufficient issues of equity and equality in India.
In fact, a gender friendly environment can easily be created by a teacher in any context to build harmonious relations between boys and girls at different stages of education. It just requires sensitivity and positive intent of teachers, but unfortunately teachersdo not define their roles as mentors and facilitators but they work as instructors and knowledge experts aiming to disseminate information.The efforts to address biases in curriculum transaction have been entirely missing.
While educational planning in India is centralised, and does not allow comparing diverse perspectives, women’s confidence in state led reforms has diminished. The
reach out programs towards girls is not autonomous and governmentalso miss reaching out to the masses.India also happen be missing gender mainstreaming, there is more politicization in the mainstream of women education.It is a fact that even after 67 years of independence, there is very little representation of women on the ground and they are still not emancipated. This emancipation needs a change in perspective which is missing at the moment.
Women Participation continuous to be low in India, let’s take an example of the state of Meghalaya in the North East of India. Meghalaya, separated from Assam on the grounds of being a Matriarchal society but if we see the women participation and representation in the state, it is a sad fact that we have only one female Member of Parliament out of the 128 MPs in the state Assembly. When this is the situation of a Matriarchal society then forget about the ground realities of a Patriarchal society that exists in the major states of India.Another issue is with evaluation and reporting of policies and programs, the government reports come out with data on quantitative improvements, theyfail to show qualitative changestaking place.
Education Policies and Plans
Five Year Plans
The all-round development of women has been one of the focal point of planning process in India. The importance of the role of women in development had been recognized by the government ofIndia right from the very first plan.
The First Five-Year Plan (1951-56)envisaged a number of welfare measures for women. Establishment of the Central Social Welfare Board, organization of
Mahila Mandals and the Community Development Programmes were a few steps in this directionthe empowerment of women was closely linked with the overall approach of intensive agricultural development
programmes.
The second five year plan (1956-1961) continued to reflect the very same welfare approach, providing priority to women’s education, their rightsand status of women in the fast changing socio-economic condition of our Indian society.
The Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans (1961-66 and 1969-74) supported female education as a major welfare measure.
The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1974-79) emphasized training of women, who were in need of income and protection. This plan coincided with International Women’s Decade and the submission of Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India. In 1976, Women’s welfare and Development Bureau was set up under the Ministry of Social Welfare.
The Sixth Five-Year Plan (1980-85) saw a definite shift from welfare to development. It recognized women’s lack of access to resources as a critical factor impending their growth.
The Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985-90) emphasized the need for gender equality and empowerment. For the first time, emphasis was placed upon qualitative aspects such as inculcation of confidence, generation of awareness with regards, to rights and training in skills for better employment.
The Eight Five-Year Plan (1992-97) focused on empowering women, especially at the gross roots level, through Panchayat Raj Institutions.
The Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) adopted a strategy of women’s component plan, under which not less than 30 percent of funds/benefits were earmarked for women-specific programmes.
The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07) aims at empowering women through translating the recently adopted National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001) into action and ensuring Survival, Protection and Development of women and children through rights based approach.
The Eleventh Five Plan (2007-2012)says it is about to change all that. The document reads; “An important divide which compels gender special focused efforts will be made to purgesociety of this malaise by creating an enabling environment for women to become economically, politically and socially empowered.
The Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-2017)has identified inclusivenessissues an integral part to achievingfaster but sustainable growth as well as has given recommendations,suggestions and strategies for quality improvement in higher education.
Educational Policies
Gender concerns in education have been reflected in its policies. A landmark initiative was undertaken with the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and its revised POA 1992 as well as theNational Policy on Empowerment of Women 2001, all these focuses on promoting gender sensitive curriculum for addressing gender discrimination at all levels of education. The new draft of National Policy on Education 2015, lays emphasizes on “Encourage, Educate and Employ”, all irrespective of their socio-economic background. The National curriculum frameworks of 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005also have made specific efforts to focus attention on gender disparities in education.The other national initiative to promote basic education, with a focus on greater participation of girls and women is
Operation Blackboard (1987) that focused on construction of school buildings and appointment of a second teacher in single teacher schools.
All the above stated five year plans and educational policies of education have made interventions for improving gender inequalities in education. There are combination of approaches, such as; constructing more schools, improving school management and administration, increasing accountability and bringing curriculum reform.Reforms in access is far less successfuland there is hardly any attempt made to reduce gender inequality. It is imperative to formulate an integrated policy and strategy to addresseconomic, social, and political empowerment of women,especially from the disadvantaged groups and communitiesthat can enable them to break out of existing stereotypes.
Last Word
Since independence, the Indian Government has been trying to improve the situation of girls. But government fails to realize that the policies with respect to the education of girls cannot be seen in isolation, instead, policies must be seen in a larger perspective with larger inclusivity and in totality.In India the problem of generality is proving to be the biggest curse, which follows a single model of education, whereas the country has diverse socio-economic issues. The 29 states in India have 29 cultures, with every state being a distinct world in itself. What India need is multiple policies with multiple implementations, especially with respect to policies for the education of girls. Unfortunately there are few signals of a serious effort to implement this vision or to have a holistic planning process. The Indian government has to rethink the overall gender justice perspectives and policies that are currently in place.
17.5.2016
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Design: Sabi / Autors & Sabahudin Hadžialić. Design LOGO - Stevo Basara.
Freelance gl. i odg. urednik od / Freelance Editor in chief as of 2009: Sabahudin Hadžialić
All Rights Reserved. Publishers and owners: Peter Tase & Sabahudin Hadžialić
Whitefish Bay, WI, United States of America
Diogen pro kultura magazin (Online)
ISSN 2296-0929
Diogen pro kultura magazin (Print)
ISSN 2296-0937
Library of Congress USA / Biblioteka - Knjižnica Kongresa SAD
Contact Editorial board E-mail: [email protected];
Narudžbe/Order: http://www.diogenpro.com/diogen-all-in-one.html
Pošta/Mail USA: Peter Tase, 5023 NORTH BERKELEY BLVD. WHITEFISH BAY, WI, 53217, USA
Pošta/Mail BiH: Sabahudin Hadžialić, Grbavička 32, 71000 Sarajevo i/ili Dr. Wagner 18/II, 70230 Bugojno, Bosna i Hercegovina