Web-IDEC 2020: Reconciling pandemic and the passing away of Sir Ken Robinson: A clarion call for the transformation of education.
Two events in recent times have been points of my personal introspection. The Pandemic and the death of Sir Ken Robinson. Trying to draw some kind of confluence of these events could appear to be an odd effort, but as an educator the convergence is apparent. The point of convergence is the “transformation of education” and this call has been able to contain my emotional outburst.
All of us are going through horrible circumstances, and we must admit that it has been harshest on people with low income and especially citizens of developing countries like Nepal. But, if we had to steer ourselves through this hazy “timemark”, thoughts and appropriate actions to make radical changes in our lifestyle, the world economy and primary education would be the guiding headlamps.
As educators, we can fill the void left by the passing of Sir Ken Robinson, by taking advantage of the pandemic to make radical shift and transformation in education. In the case of normalcy, we remain hesitant to take bold steps to make changes that we want. Aspiring change-makers also fall in the trap because we aren’t sure if the need to change in the way we educate our children is urgent, and obfuscate from our own wish and desire; but worry not, the pandemic has us covered, it is there to take the blame if we aren’t quite courageous enough yet or we “fail”.
If we want, we can make this an opportunity to cross point-of-no-return. Ken Robinson emphatically said, “schools mustn’t return to normal after the pandemic subsides.” When the students go back to the school, standardized tests, a narrow one size fits all curriculum, or following the banking education model can really become a thing in the past. Of course, it’s not going to be an obvious outcome, it will take a while before we can find how everything fits in to form a harmonious wilderness. With a collective effort, we can “prepare” ourselves and our children much better to learn the rawness and the wilderness of Education. With pandemic providing us the cover, and the responsibility Sir Ken Robinson has left to us; we must drag out feet and take a step. This is an opportunity for many like us, who kind of nod along to the idea that education can happen outside of the school as much as in the school if not better, to actually get the feel and be enlightened of this reality. Shall we take care of our baby named creativity and then our wealth named literacy, in that order? While many are aware of the work of Sir Ken Robinson, it definitely isn’t the majority. Each culture or country has their own Sir Ken Robinson. The passing away of “the” Sir Ken Robinson is a clarion call for all of us to reflect upon the work of such people and act. Conferences on education like the AERO conference, IDEC, APDEC, EUDEC, and others have emphasized such need.
The energy in IDEC is remarkable, but the participation of people is limited in many ways, it’s an expensive event (travel and stay) and for some it is time-consuming. I am not being hysterical in saying that many Asian and African nations are underrepresented in IDEC, and in educational communities as such. But, I have to rightfully mention that many people from the majority have been putting a lot of effort into making it as much inclusive as possible. Every IDEC conference organizers have taken measures such as funding travel costs for people coming from developing nations like Nepal, India, and other African nations; but it isn’t that easy. Despite the genuine effort by the community we haven’t been able to achieve the diversity we want simply because of the financial constraints.
When we thought of free Web-IDEC, it hit a chord, we simply felt empowered because we could reach out to people as the opportunity to participate cuts across social, economic, geographical diversity to a large extent. It could be a step towards building an inclusive narrative about education. There is a lot of excitement and euphoria around Web-IDEC. We have been in regular conversation with Jerry Mintz, Yaacov Hetcht, Cecelia Bradely and other pillars of IDEC conference. Yaacov Hetcht in a zoom meeting said, “ Web-IDEC has the possibility of bridging students around the world together and share their culture”. Jerry Mintz in a Skype call said, “giving people the opportunity to create spontaneous workshops should be the key of Web-IDEC”. We had an extremely interesting and engaging conversation with Prof. Helen Lees, she was extremely forthcoming and she said, “Let’s turn the ship around” and in fact titled her Keynote to be “Where are the Missing Women Leaders of Alternative Education?”. This is what Web-IDEC offers, we can play a pivotal role in empowering people living in another part of the world.
Another heartfelt aspect of this Web-IDEC has been the humble acceptance by very well known people to deliver Keynote at the conference. To be honest, without their presence, Web-IDEC would be a mere name. These people are not leaders in the political sense, but these people help us unwrap the leadership and passion that each of us possesses. With all this opportunity, Web-IDEC isn’t really a far fetched dream before it becomes an annual event. Yet, we must realize that “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time” as said by Abraham Lincoln.
