I'm standing in front of you today in all humility, wanting to share with you my journey of the last six years in the field of service and education. And I'm not a trained academic. Neither am I a veteran social worker. I was 26 years in the corporate world, trying to make organizations profitable. And then in 2003 I started Parikrma Humanity Foundation from my kitchen table.
今天我站在各位的面前, 很榮幸地, 想要與你們分享 過去六年來我所經歷 在服務 以及教育的領域所走過的旅程。 我並非受過專業訓練的學術人員, 也不是身經百戰的社會工作者。 當時我才26歲,在企業工作, 努力幫公司賺錢。 然後,在2003年, 我成立了Parikrma人道基金會, 一切就從我的廚房桌子上開始。
The first thing that we did was walk through the slums. You know, by the way, there are two million people in Bangalore, who live in 800 slums. We couldn't go to all the slums, but we tried to cover as much as we could. We walked through these slums, identified houses where children would never go to school. We talked to the parents, tried to convince them about sending their children to school. We played with the children, and came back home really tired, exhausted, but with images of bright faces, twinkling eyes, and went to sleep.
我們做的第一件事,是走訪貧民區。 對了,你們知道吧,在班加羅爾有800個貧民區, 住著200萬人。 我們沒辦法走訪所有的貧民區, 但是我們盡力而為。 我們走訪這些貧民區, 找出那些沒有讓孩子去上學的家庭。 我們跟那些父母談, 努力說服他們讓孩子去上學。 我們和那些孩子們一起玩, 拜訪完回到家,真是累壞了, 累癱了。但是我們都記得 孩子們煥發神采的臉龐、閃耀光芒的眼睛, 這樣的影像伴我們入眠。
We were all excited to start, but the numbers hit us then: 200 million children between four to 14 that should be going to school, but do not; 100 million children who go to school but cannot read; 125 million who cannot do basic maths. We also heard that 250 billion Indian rupees was dedicated for government schooling. Ninety percent of it was spent on teachers' salary and administrators' salary. And yet, India has nearly the highest teacher absenteeism in the world, with one out of four teachers not going to school at all the entire academic year.
當時我們都熱切地想要開始推動, 但任務如此龐大,使我們難以招架。 有2億個兒童, 年齡在4至14歲之間, 本該接受教育,但是卻沒有去上學。 有1億個兒童, 已經上學,卻沒有學會閱讀, 還有1億2千5百萬個兒童不會簡單的數學。 我們還得知,印度政府有兩千五百億盧比 教育的經費預算, 但其中百分之90都是用來付教師的薪水, 以及行政人員的薪水。 還有,印度的教師曠職率 幾乎是全球 最高的。 每四個教師當中,就有一個 一整個學年從未到過學校。
Those numbers were absolutely mind-boggling, overwhelming, and we were constantly asked, "When will you start? How many schools will you start? How many children will you get? How are you going to scale? How are you going to replicate?" It was very difficult not to get scared, not to get daunted. But we dug our heels and said, "We're not in the number game. We want to take one child at a time and take the child right through school, sent to college, and get them prepared for better living, a high value job."
這樣的數字實在太驚人了, 讓人難以置信。於是一直有人來問我們 "你們什麼時候要開始?""會成立幾所學校?" 會收多少個學生? 你們會如何推展? 你們會如何複製經驗? 那時,真的很難不害怕,很難不氣餒。 但我們堅守初衷, 告訴自己:我們不以數量或規模為目標。 我們要一個一個地教好孩子, 把孩子送進學校,讓他們接受完整教育, 讓他們上大學。 讓他們準備好,去過更好的生活, 做有價值的工作。
So, we started Parikrma. The first Parikrma school started in a slum where there were 70,000 people living below the poverty line. Our first school was on a rooftop of a building inside the slums, a second story building, the only second story building inside the slums. And that rooftop did not have any ceiling, only half a tin sheet. That was our first school. One hundred sixty-five children. Indian academic year begins in June. So, June it rains, so many a times all of us would be huddled under the tin roof, waiting for the rain to stop. My God! What a bonding exercise that was. And all of us that were under that roof are still here together today. Then came the second school, the third school, the fourth school and a junior college. In six years now, we have four schools, one junior college, 1,100 children coming from 28 slums and four orphanages. (Applause)
於是,我們成立了Parikrma, 第一所Parikrma學校是在 一個貧民區裡成立的 那裡有7萬個居民, 都過著貧窮線以下的生活。 最初,第一所學校的所在地 是在貧民區內一棟建築物的頂樓。 那是一棟兩層樓建築,也是貧民區裡 唯一的一棟兩層樓建築。 而且頂上沒有天花板, 只有一半覆蓋著一層鐵皮。 那就是我們的第一所學校。有165個學童。 在印度,新學年是從六月開始。 六月常常在下雨,有很多次 我們擠在鐵皮屋頂下躲雨, 等著雨停。 天哪,那真是培養感情的好機會。 當時一起在屋頂下躲雨的我們, 到現在都還在一起。 後來,我們成立了第二所學校, 第三所學校,第四所學校, 以及一所專科學校。 至今為止,六年來 我們共成立了四所學校,一所專科學校。 共有一千一百個學童。 他們來自28個貧民區,以及 4所孤兒院。 (鼓掌)
Our dream is very simple: to send each of these kids, get them prepared to be educated but also to live peacefully, contented in this conflict-ridden chaotic globalized world. Now, when you talk global you have to talk English. And so all our schools are English medium schools. But they know there is this myth that children from the slums cannot speak English well. No one in their family has spoken English. No one in their generation has spoken English. But how wrong it is.
我們的夢想非常簡單, 就是要讓這些孩子準備好, 去過他們的人生、接受教育, 而且能夠過著安穩的日子, 在這個充滿衝突、全球化的混亂世界, 能過得自在滿足。 好,說到全球化, 你必須能夠說英語。 因此我們的每一所學校 都是用英語教學。 大家都以為, 這些來自貧民區的孩子 不太會說英語。 在這些孩子的家中,沒有人是會說英語的。 在他們的同輩當中,也沒有人在說英語。 大家都錯了。
Girl: I like adventurous books, and some of my favorites are Alfred Hitchcock and [unclear] and Hardy Boys. Although they are like in different contexts, one is magical, the other two are like investigation, I like those books because they have something special in them. The vocabulary used in those books and the style of writing. I mean like once I pick up one book I cannot put it down until I finish the whole book. Even if it takes me four and a half hours, or three and half hours to finish my book, I do it.
影片:女孩:我喜歡看冒險的書,其中我最喜歡的是 希區考克,還有[語意不清] 還有哈迪男孩(Hardy Boys)。 這三個很像,但是 故事的背景不一樣。 其中一個是魔幻故事,另外兩個則是偵探故事。 我喜歡這些書是因為 他們都有很特別的地方, 書裡面用的字彙, 還有寫作的方式, 我是說,每次我一拿起書來看, 就欲罷不能,非看完不可。 即使要花四個半小時, 或三個半小時才看得完。我還是會看。
Boy: I did good research and I got the information [on the] world's fastest cars. I like Ducati ZZ143, because it is the fastest, the world's fastest bike, and I like Pulsar 220 DTSI because it is India's fastest bike. (Laughter)
男孩:我很會做研究。我找到有關全世界 跑得最快的車的資料。 我喜歡Ducati ZZ143, 因為它是跑得最快的, 全世界最快的摩托車。 我喜歡Passat 220 GTSI, 因為它是印度跑最快的摩托車。
Shukla Bose: Well, that girl that you saw, her father sells flowers on the roadside. And this little boy has been coming to school for five years. But isn't it strange that little boys all over the world love fast bikes? (Laughter) He hasn't seen one, he hasn't ridden one, of course, but he has done a lot of research through Google search. You know, when we started with our English medium schools we also decided to adopt the best curriculum possible, the ICSE curriculum. And again, there were people who laughed at me and said, "Don't be crazy choosing such a tough curriculum for these students. They'll never be able to cope." Not only do our children cope very well, but they excel in it. You should just come across to see how well our children do.
是的,你們剛剛看到的那個女孩, 她的爸爸是在街頭賣花。 而這個小男孩已經上學五年了。 不過真奇怪,怎麼全世界的小男生 都喜歡跑得快的車? 他從來沒看過車子。當然也從來沒騎過, 但是他用Google搜尋,做了很多的研究。 在我們成立學校,用英語教學的同時, 我們也決定要盡可能採用 最好的課程。 印度中等教育認證(ICSE)課程。 然後,同樣地,有人嘲笑我們, 告訴我們:"你們瘋了嗎? 竟然用這麼困難的課程來教這些學生? 他們永遠學不會。" 結果,我們的學生不但學得會, 還學得非常好。 你們真該來看看 我們的孩子學得有多好。
There is also this myth that parents from the slums are not interested in their children going to school; they'd much rather put them to work. That's absolute hogwash. All parents all over the world want their children to lead a better life than themselves, but they need to believe that change is possible.
本來一般人都以為, 貧民區的父母們 並不熱衷讓他們的孩子去上學, 他們寧可叫孩子去工作。 那絕對是一派胡言。 全世界的為人父母者, 都希望孩子能夠過得比自己更好。 但他們得先相信這種改變是可能做到的。
Video: (Hindi)
影片:(北印度語)
SB: We have 80 percent attendance for all our parents-teachers meeting. Sometimes it's even 100 percent, much more than many privileged schools. Fathers have started to attend. It's very interesting. When we started our school the parents would give thumbprints in the attendance register. Now they have started writing their signature. The children have taught them. It's amazing how much children can teach.
蘇克拉‧波絲:我們學校的親師面談, 出席率有八成, 有時候甚至可以達到百分之百, 比許多明星學校都要好得多。 學生的父親開始會來參加, 很有趣。記得學校剛成立時, 家長們在出席登記時是蓋指印, 現在,他們開始會簽自己的名字, 這是孩子教他們的。 孩子能教的東西之多,實在很驚人。
We have, a few months ago, actually late last year, we had a few mothers who came to us and said, "You know, we want to learn how to read and write. Can you teach us?" So, we started an afterschool for our parents, for our mothers. We had 25 mothers who came regularly after school to study. We want to continue with this program and extend it to all our other schools.
幾個月前, 事實上就是去年年底, 有幾個媽媽來找我們,跟我們說: "我們想要學習讀書和寫字。" "可以教我們嗎?" 於是我們成立了課後補習班, 招收家長,招收媽媽們, 有25位媽媽固定會來, 在學校放學之後來上課。 我們打算繼續推動這樣的課程, 並且在我們所有的學校都實施。
Ninety-eight percent of our fathers are alcoholics. So, you can imagine how traumatized and how dysfunctional the houses are where our children come from. We have to send the fathers to de-addiction labs and when they come back, most times sober, we have to find a job for them so that they don't regress. We have about three fathers who have been trained to cook. We have taught them nutrition, hygiene. We have helped them set up the kitchen and now they are supplying food to all our children. They do a very good job because their children are eating their food, but most importantly this is the first time they have got respect, and they feel that they are doing something worthwhile.
我們學生的父親,有百分之98都有酗酒問題。 所以你可以想像學生們的家庭環境 充滿著怎樣的精神創傷,家庭失去了應有的功能。 我們得把這些酗酒的父親送去戒酒中心。 等他們戒了酒,清醒地回到家, 我們得幫他們找工作, 這樣他們才不會重蹈覆轍。 其中有三位父親,接受了廚藝的訓練。 我們教他們營養學、衛生知識, 還協助他們設立廚房, 現在他們負責為學校的孩子供應餐點。 他們做得非常好,因為 他們的孩子願意吃他們準備的餐點。 不過,更重要的是,這是他們第一次 獲得敬重, 而且他們感到自己做的事有價值。
More than 90 percent of our non-teaching staff are all parents and extended families. We've started many programs just to make sure that the child comes to school. Vocational skill program for the older siblings so the younger ones are not stopped from coming to school.
在我們學校,教師以外的職員有九成以上 是學生的父母或親戚。 我們開設了許多課程, 確保孩子們來上學。 年紀較長的學生可以上職業技能訓練課程, 這樣他們的弟弟妹妹就不會被阻止來上學。
There is also this myth that children from the slums cannot integrate with mainstream. Take a look at this little girl who was one of the 28 children from all privileged schools, best schools in the country that was selected for the Duke University talent identification program and was sent to IIM Ahmedabad.
一般人認為,出身自貧民區的孩子 無法融入主流社會。 來看看這個小女孩, 她跟另外二十七個 來自全國各地最好的 明星學校的學生在一起, 她獲選參加美國杜克大學的 資優生鑑定方案, 並因此前往印度亞美達巴德管理學院。
Video: Girl: Duke IIMA Camp. Whenever we see that IIMA, it was such a pride for us to go to that camp. Everybody was very friendly, especially I got a lot of friends. And I felt that my English has improved a lot going there and chatting with friends. There they met children who are with a different standard and a different mindset, a totally different society. I mingled with almost everyone. They were very friendly. I had very good friends there, who are from Delhi, who are from Mumbai. Even now we are in touch through Facebook.
影片:女孩:[語意不清] 每次我們看到 能夠參加那個營隊是多麼令人驕傲。 我們去到那裡,每個人都很親切, 而且我交到很多的好朋友。 我覺得去到那裡,跟朋友交談等等, 使我的英語進步了很多。 在那裡,我認識 不同生活水準的人, 有不同的想法。完全不同的社會環境。 各種人我都去接觸。 他們非常親切友善。 我在那裡交到很多好朋友。 有的人從德里來,有的人從孟買來。 到現在我們還用Facebook保持聯絡。
After this Ahmedabad trip I've been like a totally different mingling with people and all of those. Before that I feel like I wasn't like this. I don't even mingle, or start speaking with someone so quickly. My accent with English improved a lot. And I learned football, volleyball, Frisbee, lots of games. And I wouldn't want to go to Bangalore. Let me stay here. Such beautiful food, I enjoyed it. It was so beautiful. I enjoyed eating food like [unclear] would come and ask me, "Yes ma'am, what you want?" It was so good to hear!
在這次的亞美達巴德之行後, 我變得跟以前完全不一樣, 會跟各種各樣的人來往、做朋友。 我覺得以前的我並不是這樣的, 以前我不會這麼快去認識別人,或主動去攀談。 我的英語口音進步了很多, 我學會了足球、排球、 飛盤,以及很多的遊戲。 現在我不想回去班加羅爾,我想待在這裡。 這裡食物很美味, 我很喜歡,真的很棒。 我喜歡享用食物,因為 [語意不清] 會過來問我, "小姐,妳想要什麼?" 聽到這種話真好!
(Laughter) (Applause)
(笑聲) (鼓掌)
SB: This girl was working as a maid before she came to school. And today she wants to be a neurologist.
這個女孩在去上學之前, 做著女傭的工作, 而現在她想要當神經科學家。
Our children are doing brilliantly in sports. They are really excelling. There is an inter-school athletic competition that is held every year in Bangalore, where 5,000 children participate from 140 best schools in the city. We've got the best school award for three years successively. And our children are coming back home with bags full of medals, with lots of admirers and friends. Last year there were a couple of kids from elite schools that came to ask for admissions in our school. We also have our very own dream team.
我們的學生在運動方面表現得很優秀, 他們真的學得很好。 每一年,班加羅爾會舉辦一次 校際的體育競賽, 會有來自全市最好的140所學校的 5000個學童參加, 而我們連續三年贏得了最佳學校獎。 當比賽結束,我們的學生都帶著 滿滿的獎牌、滿滿的讚譽和友誼回家。 去年,有一些菁英學校的學生 來找我們, 希望到我們的學校來上學。 我們也有我們自己的夢幻團隊。
Why is this happening? Why this confidence? Is it the exposure? We have professors from MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Indian Institute of Science who come and teach our children lots of scientific formulas, experiments, much beyond the classroom. Art, music are considered therapy and mediums of expression. We also believe that it's the content that is more important. It is not the infrastructure, not the toilets, not the libraries, but it is what actually happens in this school that is more important. Creating an environment of learning, of inquiry, of exploration is what is true education.
這一切是怎麼來的?自信是怎麼來的? 是媒體曝光的關係嗎?我們的師資 來自麻省理工學院、柏克萊、史丹福、 印度科學院, 他們來我們學校,教導孩子科學方程式、 作實驗,也不是只在教室裡講課。 美術、音樂被當成 治療,以及表達的媒介。 我們也相信 教育的內容至關重要。 而不是看硬體設備有多好。 不是廁所,也不是圖書館, 而是在學校裡實際發生的事情 比較重要。 創造一個學習的環境、 一個研究與探索的環境, 才是真正的教育。
When we started Parikrma we had no idea which direction we were taking. We didn't hire McKinsey to do a business plan. But we know for sure that what we want to do today is take one child at a time, not get bogged with numbers, and actually see the child complete the circle of life, and unleash his total potential. We do not believe in scale because we believe in quality, and scale and numbers will automatically happen. We have corporates that have stood behind us, and we are able to, now, open more schools. But we began with the idea of one child at a time.
在創辦Parikrma之初, 我們並不清楚該走什麼方向, 我們沒有找麥肯錫公司來訂定營運計畫, 但我們現在很確定, 我們想要做的就是 教好一個又一個孩子, 而不是以規模取勝。 我們要確實看到孩子們完成 人生的旅程, 釋放他全部的潛能。 我們不相信規模, 因為我們相信,當品質達到了, 規模和數量自然會達成。 我們有企業在背後支持我們, 現在我們能夠成立更多的學校。 但我們秉持最初的理念, 一次教好一個孩子。
This is five-year-old Parusharam. He was begging by a bus stop a few years ago, got picked up and is now in an orphanage, has been coming to school for the last four and a half months. He's in kindergarten. He has learned how to speak English. We have a model by which kids can speak English and understand English in three month's time. He can tell you stories in English of the thirsty crow, of the crocodile and of the giraffe. And if you ask him what he likes to do he will say, "I like sleeping. I like eating. I like playing." And if you ask him what he wants to do, he will say, "I want to horsing." Now, "horsing" is going for a horse ride. So, Parusharam comes to my office every day. He comes for a tummy rub, because he believes that will give me luck. (Laughter)
帕魯沙拉現在五歲, 幾年前他在某個巴士站 乞討度日, 後來被送到孤兒院。 四個半月前,他開始上學, 現在念幼稚園。 他學會了說英語, 我們有一套方法可以教孩子們說英語, 理解英語, 只需要三個月的時間。 現在他可以用英語講故事給你們聽, 口渴烏鴉的故事、鱷魚的故事, 還有長頸鹿的故事。 如果你問他,他喜歡做什麼, 他會[用英語]說,"我喜歡睡覺、 我喜歡吃東西、我喜歡玩"。 如果你問他,他想做些什麼, 他會[用英語]說,"我想horsing"。 他說的horsing意思是騎馬。 帕魯沙拉每天都會來我辦公室, 他來搓肚子, 因為他相信那樣能帶給我幸運。
When I started Parikrma I began with a great deal of arrogance of transforming the world. But today I have been transformed. I have been changed with my children. I've learned so much from them: love, compassion, imagination and such creativity. Parusharam is Parikrma with a simple beginning but a long way to go. I promise you, Parusharam will speak in the TED conference a few years from now. Thank you. (Applause)
在創辦Parikrma之初, 我懷抱著驕傲的雄心, 想要改造這個世界。 但現在是我被改造了。 我被我的孩子們改變了。 我在他們的身上學到好多, 愛、同情心、想像力, 以及創造力。 帕魯沙拉就代表Parikrma, 我們從簡單的地方開始,但還有很長的路要走。 帕魯沙拉,我答應你, 幾年後我要再來TED的會議演講。 謝謝大家。 (鼓掌)