Our Story:

In the summer of 2021, Navtej Johar, a Delhi-based dancer/choreographer moved to Chamaru, a small village in Punjab, at the invitation of the village sarpanch (head), Harpreet Singh, whom he had connected with through the Kisan morcha (the fifteen-month long farmer’s protest outside Delhi). It had been Navtej’s childhood dream to live in a village, thus this invitation was readily accepted and heartily appreciated. Many years ago, he had the opportunity to work in a small Punjab village, where he taught children and conducted theatre workshops with adolescents. What he learned about village-level education through those interactions was discouraging; many of the high school students could barely read or write. Not only was this system not providing the basic skills and proficiency that school education promises to offer; but it was also killing the child’s interest and confidence in education. Navtej wished he could contribute in some capacity to change things around, and it was then that he thought of the Homework Room, which he is now getting a chance to put into place at Chamaru.

Harpreet Singh became the sarpanch of Chamaru in December 2018, and one of his primary missions as sarpanch was to bring quality education to the sarkari school in his village and to bring it at par with “good” schools in cities. As the education mode gradually moves towards the digital platform, he wishes the school to be furnished with all the latest technologies and apparatuses, so that children from his village belonging to all social and economic classes can come together to study at the sarkari school instead of the private schools. In fact, his parallel aim is also to break the “private school mafia”, as he calls it because such schools seem to work more like commercial enterprises, they have become status symbols for relatively privileged families, and offer very superficial education that is mediocre if not unsound, and charge very high fees.

Harleen Kohli spent a decade (1985-1995) running a Bal Preet Milni Kafla, to reach out to the people, particularly children, across strife-torn Punjab villages during the post-militancy period. Schools had grinded to a halt, all the play spaces for children and young people, all the bazaars, the open spaces, and fields evoked terror and sometimes spine-chilling memories. The kafla, consisting of children’s books, performances, and formal interactions with artists, writers, poets, and filmmakers was created to bring the best of Punjab for the children to witness; and to bring back joy, learning, and fun to children and their adults. Subsequently, Harleen has been involved with children’s community theatre and continues to explore alternative processes of teaching science, math, and language, creating fun learning spaces in melas, parks, and marketplaces along with facilitating teacher training in schools and colleges.

Pehal: Strengthening the Basis of Education brings the three, Navtej Johar, Harpreet Singh and Harleen Kohli, as trustees, to jointly put their respective visions, expertise and commitment to education into a common endeavour with the aim to make education substantive, creative and joyous in village Chamaru!