From ‘‘time pass’’ to transformative force : school-based human rights education in Tamil Nadu, India / Monisha Bajaj

From ‘‘time pass’’ to transformative force : school-based human rights education in Tamil Nadu, India / Monisha Bajaj

London: Elsevier, 2012

English

This article presents data collected at the level of practice to highlight one NGO’s approach to human rights education (HRE) and how household-, school-, and community-level factors mediated student impact. Findings suggest that a variety of factors at the three levels contribute to the programme’s successful implementation in government schools serving marginalised students. These responsese merge along a continuum from ‘time pass’ –a commonly used term in India for anything that does not directly contribute to greater performance on high-stakes exams– to ‘transformative force’, wherein students internalise knowledge and values related to human rights and take action based on it. Responses to HRE were characterised in four areas and representative examples are provided of each: (1) personal changes; (2) attempts to intervene insituations of abuse; (3) reporting (or threatening to report) abuse; and(4) spreading awareness about human rights.

Published in International Journal of Educational Development 32 (2012) 72–80

English