A Different Way to Impart Education

Prof. M Zahidul Haque

Prof. M Zahidul Haque and Tanzila Rahman

There is a popular proverb—“Where there is a will, there is a way”. But Deep Narayan Nayak, an enterprising village school teacher in a remote area in India’s West Bengal has brought slight change into the proverb making it –“Where there is a wall, there is a way”. The reason behind this change lies in his extra-ordinary work--turning village’s mud house walls into blackboards and roads into classrooms with a view to close school gap and to facilitate learning sessions in these ‘open-air’ classrooms for the underprivileged children. 

Tanzila Rahman, UAO, Ramu

It was during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, so many schools were shut down for indefinite period in India including remote village school at Joba village in West Bengal.

Dedicated school teacher Nayak got worried that his students, most of who are first-generation learners and whose parents are poor would be detached from the educational system if they’re ceased to continue with their schooling. So, he translated his wonderful idea towards ensuring education for the underprivileged children into reality by establishing ‘Open-air’ school by painting blackboards on mud thatched walls to implement his 3G education model. The 3G includes—the first generation (children), Second generation (their parents) and the third generation (their grandparents) to participate in education process together at a time. The curriculum included--learning traditional literacy together with integrated technology, nutrition, hygiene etc. to address holistic development. Several students started getting benefit from this model of education.

The 3G open-air education model innovated by Deep Narayan Nayak, whom the grateful villagers honored as the “Teacher of the Street or Raster Master” soon become very popular; the model now thrives with 50 Centers, 150 teachers and 10,000 students.

According to the UNESCO Gem Report 2023, half a billion underprivileged students could not access digital classrooms during the Covid-19 months.

Nayak hopes that his model if replicated properly will ensure education to underprivileged children so that every child gets a chance at education. 

It may be mentioned here that Deep Narayan Nayak was introduced in Zee Bangla’s popular educative and entertaining reality show--‘Dadagiri Unlimited’ Season 10’s inaugural episode on October 6 2023 by its host, the legendary cricketer Sourav Ganguly.

The 3G open-air education model of Deep Narayan Nayak may also be adapted in Bangladesh‘s children and adult education program. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) may also use Nayak’s education model to imparting non-formal extension education to the farming community. The 3G education model has received international recognition.

(Prof. M Zahidul Haque retired as Professor and was also a former Dean of Faculty of Agriculture at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka and Tanzila Rahman (BCS- Agri) is Upazila Agriculture Officer, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar.)