A Warm Welcome to Dr. Kalmadi Shamarao High School (KHS)!

Day 1 at KSHS! It was no surprise at all that Davie and I were greeted with a warm welcome and treated like honored guests throughout our first day at school. The Dr. Kalmadi Shamarao High School is a private school in Pune, which hosts about 1600, mostly middle-upper income students, grades 5-10. The principal, Pallavi Naik is our host and has been working at the school for 27+ years. She leads a dynamic, engaged, and motivated crew of students and teachers. Here are some highlights from the day:

• We learned from the Student Government ambassadors that Punekars, as they call residents of Pune, are very proud and very direct and that they take a lot of pride in their festivals, their education system, and their food.
• We learned a bit more about the role of religion at this and other schools in India. The question/topic I’m examining while in India is the role that religion plays in schools. At nearly every school we have attended there have been spiritual and religious elements infused throughout our visits. From the tilaka greetings and marigold leis we receive upon arriving, to lighting oil lamps at altars, to listening to religious songs or the recitation of prayers, religion is deeply embedded in the education system–especially Hindu religious traditions. That said, everyone you speak with will say unequivocally that India is a secular country, and proudly so. So, what does this actually mean? Well, to those we’ve spoken to in India, it means that India celebrates many different religious traditions and takes great pride in its religious diversity. I told them that the general American conception of secularism as it relates to school is that religion and the state are often separate, which is why in most public schools you will not hear prayer or sing religious songs. The reason we started chatting about this is because they were proud of the fact that the school had made a deliberate decision to shift away from ONLY reading Hindu prayers over the PA system every Friday to reading various religious groups’ prayers over the PA system every Friday. Now, in order to promote the idea of “secularism” or what I would call religious pluralism, each month prayers of a particular religious tradition are recited each Friday before shifting to a different religion the next month. Totally fascinated by this and excited to dig into it a little more.
• We visited a grade 9 elective class called ThinQ, which emphasizes critical thinking and inquiry skills. All 6th grade students are required to take this class but by 9th grade it’s optional. The students in the class are truly committed and love the chance to discuss and debate and wrestle with ethical and philosophical topics and concepts. They all said that it provides them with the most opportunity during the day to think outside the box, talk more freely, and hone their thinking and argumentative skills. Today’s topic was identity and nationalism. It was fun to watch them challenge each other’s thinking.
• One of the highlights of the day was attending a session of “Know and Grow”, the school’s sex and gender education course. The instructor works at a local theater company and does this work with students as a visiting faculty member. Hina Siddique was one of the most animated, down to earth, and unabashedly straight forward teachers I have seen deliver this type of content. I was so blown away by the progressive nature of the curriculum, her ability to connect with kids and be relatable, and her willingness to address ANY question that came her way with humor and candor. She talked a lot about the importance of consent, about the importance of accepting rejection, about why people have sex, about porn addiction and being properly educated, and about the importance of understanding the spectrum of gender identity, and the differences between sex, gender, and orientation. (See the chalkboard behind her in the picture above.) The whole thing was masterful and the students are so lucky to be going into the world more informed about their fellow humans. The sessions will continue for the rest of the week and Davie will get to assist her on Thursday in a lesson about body shaming. Oh, how I wish I had had such comprehensive and forward thinking information at their age.
• Lastly, we ate delicious food (AGAIN) from the school’s cafeteria and enjoyed talking with administrators and board members about the founding of the school. And now we’re off to dinner…because we never stop eating.