Interview with Manika Sharma, Director of The Shri Ram School

SHARANYA: How did you get into teaching?

MANIKA: To be very honest, I always loved children that’s the first reason but I didn’t think that I would be a teacher. I wanted to get into civil services then my parents, my generation thought that no instead if you took yourself some teacher training degrees. So thats how after college I went and did a 2 year montessary programme and then I got a job immediately and I loved being in a classroom. Even today if you ask me if I had to trade off I would love to be with children and I love what I do. The seed was sowed then frankly by my parents. Then they probably knew that I had the patience and the gentle demeanour to be able to interact with children. So that’s how it was.

SHARANYA: As a woman and a teacher what inequalities have you faced?

DEEPA: The way you have lived your life?

MANIKA: Fortunately no, I haven’t faced those kind of inequalities probably how I was raised because I am an army daughter .Dad’s from the army, so I have always been exposed to different cities and people. I have always appreciated-I have never had any gender biasis in my head and that probably came from how I grew up and how I was raised. As a teacher...not really but it does bother me when I don’t see too many women drivers and male teachers. Male teachers are limited to either senior classes or sports and PE. I feel there is such a divide and I mean we have such fantastic women gymnasts, cricketers but why is it that they have been divided into streams. Why don’t I get a fabulous elementary school teacher who is a male. So in that sense I feel that in my professional capacity I have seen those limitations.

SHARANYA: Do you still feel that the education of girls is not given importance?

MANIKA:I mean its much better than it was before but if I talk of the villages the awareness has really increased . Now there are many organisations like nunny chaaon that actually promote women education. Its also got intensified the government does provide for extra opportunities , they have opened up new vocations and jobs where girls are educated. What has also helped is that awareness among the educated of not to employ the young girls and the government comes down heavily on child labour and that also helped. So we are not there yet but atleast I would say we’ve reached 50%.

SHARANYA: But I’ve heard some teachers say that child labour is not what you think it is, the children are only working because they have no food or no family to take care of them and they’re thinking it’s right.

MANIKA: it’s a very good debate, that one could have I personally feel that it is our responsibility if they have no food on the table then I think it is our moral responsibility to be able to provide them education and so that they also know that tomorrow when they grow up so now what has happened with the government bringing in the EWS into schools, 25% as you are aware do come from an economically weaker background those are children who come from homes which has less than 1 lakh per annum income .And we are teaching them, providing them a mid meal in our school. I think if the youth come together and make a movement to say that ‘no’ we can provide for food, support the children, I think we will see a better tomorrow.

SHARANYA: Mostly when I see people from EWS they are not aware of charities and they don’t know where to go to get food.

MANIKA: So you know what we did schools like us that raise awareness . We recently did a crowd funding exercise where senior students- we brought in this gentlemen who comes from an organisation called Fuel A Dream and we identified charities that needed support and the students identified. The students did the crowd funding on their own. We supported 3 organisation. We raised 10 lakhs- 15 lakhs. So where there’s a will there’s a way. We need to be conscious of the fact that you can be the enabler, you can be the changemaker. If you come together, we can make the difference.

SHARANYA: What do you do to make the EWS feel more comfortable?

MANIKA: When the government came up with this act ten years back. My oldest child’s two girls who come from- we don’t call them EWS because it doesn’t sound nice. For our own internal communication, we call them ‘pupils’ for the teachers, just to identify them and help them. But if I call them EWS, it’s not nice because it becomes a part of your daily vocabulary. Some of the things that we do, early when we started ten years back we used to get the children to school and they would be invited to birthday parties and I would say and my teachers would say it is so sad, they dress so differently, so everyone’s dress were cool cloths like jeans, t- shirts, sweatshirts and a t- shirt. And these children come in , they wouldn’t be accepted. So, then my teachers and all of us got together and we made little packets of clothes that they could wear on birthdays for different age groups and then we call these parents, they were not second hand clothes and we identified the sizes and nobody got to know and we called the parent and told them to take it. Similarly when you’re like when your class children are going on a trip, the parents came together to collect a little bit of money so that they could send on the trip. The school provides the food, stationary and transport which is not needed because now that the children are with us we needed to go all out. But it’s all the little things, the parent community came together , we’ve contributed thousands because we want those children with us on the trip. There are situations like these.

SHARANYA: What is equality to you?

MANIKA: For me, equality is equal opportunities, equal experiences, fairness, empathy because I strongly feel that we’re all born the same, then I don’t see how we can differentiate by virtue of where we come from, which home we come from so, I think as a school as educators we need to be very mindful of the fact that we never lose sight on those children who are invisible in the class. So, equal opportunities is how I would explain equality.

SHARANYA: What would a totally equal society be like?

MANIKA: It’s like the haves and the have-nots, that you say it like everyone needs food on the table, everyone needs water in the toilet, means of transport which can take you from one place to another. So, that’s the happy space I look for. Some have more, some have less our children, in schools like ours, similar schools there’s this instant gratification all the time that bothers me to, say that you cant have anything all the time. So as long as you have enough. So, as long as you have enough to live your life differently, its also a question of being born where you are. That also a little bit of your luck. But we as a community can make a difference to those who come from financially weaker backgrounds. We can make a difference in their lives

SHARANYA: When we imagine a job like a nurse we see a woman, how can we change that mindset?

MANIKA: You know it’s a very good question. I have always taken pride-when you are travelling by any airline you will see air hostess and stewarts, they have equal jobs to serve. There is nothing good or bad just because you are a man or women there is no gender bias there. I think its our mindsets that have carried on for years where nursing schools what I mean by nursing schools is when we have to apply. To get into a nursing collegeto train themselves to be nurses also need to change what their criteria for entry level point is. They need to reach out and say “we welcome men and women”. We carry this cobwebs in our head for certain professions are linked with gender. The first thing was that there was an organisation called ‘sakhi cabs’, they only have women drivers. They have petrol pumps in Delhi that are only marred by woman. So we need some brave hearts out there. I have been trying in my school, there is so much happening in the world of disability where you know children who are differently abled are treated differently and they get jobs in big organisations. So for me the day I have managed that you know to get in so many women drivers would be absolutely wonderful. Similarly for nurses a change in mindset. A change in mindset from the beginning to educate boys and girls in schools to saty its ok for boys to go because nursing is associated with tlc(tender love and care) and that is associated with softwares a woman comes with. So somewhere its all got intertwined over generation. To say ‘a woman’ is always right, her heart is in the right place. She is supposed to do her duty and hence she would make a better nurse.

SHARANYA: What advice will you give to project equal?

MANIKA: I would say keep at it. Once you are sur of what do you want to do, you have a clear goal. You have one short and long term goal. In your short term goal you make sure you meet the right people. In your long term goal take a few people around, then what happens is you build a synergy around yourself and you can spread whatever your message, passion is. You can do it in a better way. Talk to the world technology is at your door. It will take time , don’t be in a hurry. You will have breaks, interruptions. Everything takes time but make sure you are an influencer.

SHARANYA: Thank you so much for your time.

MANIKA: No problem. Bless you

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