It has been claimed that Zebras hypothetically are camouflaged, but are they really? Their color isn’t the same as the sand or the grass. But as explained by Dr. Robert Sapolsky there isn’t a Zebra, there is only a herd of Zebras. So Zebras are actually camouflaged against the herd.
So when Sapolsky and his team went out to study zebras, to observe a zebra they had to record what it’s up to. When they looked down to take notes, and looked back up they didn’t know which Zebra they were looking at because the Zebras were perfectly camouflaged against the herd. To solve this problem the biologists put red paint on the haunches of one of the Zebras they wanted to observe.
Guess what happens to that Zebra with red paint on it’s haunches? It gets eaten by the Lions. Yes, you read that right, it gets eaten. As it turns out, Lions cannot hunt a blur of Zebras, they organize their hunt around the Zebra they can identify.
It’s about to be 4+ years since Samarthya started. During these 4+ years, many a times, we have felt like the Zebra with the red paint on our haunches. We have felt vulnerable, exposed, isolated; not camouflaged against the herd.
So in the world of short term tangible impact when our work to democratize governance in public schools is recognized at a global stage by an organization such as HundrEd, it fills our chests with pride, our eyes with hope, and our heart with the courage that we can fend off the lions a little bit longer. We are happy to share that Samarthya was selected among the 100 Innovations selected by an academy of 120+ members from 50+ countries from 2.2k+ innovations from across the globe. You can find the Global Collection 2022 here.
_______________________________________________________________
Ladakh Calling:
Ladakh with it’s new UT status is implementing RTE for the first time across all it’s schools. Ladakh has the rare opportunity to restart things, to do things different, to do things better. We recently went on a context gathering mission in Ladakh and the zeal, the enthusiasm, the commitment of these stakeholders have left us awe inspired.
Samarthya is signing a 3 year MoU with the Union Territoy of Ladakh to support the Administration in design and roll out of the rules to implement Section 21 of the Right To Education Act. You can support our campaign in Ladakh by donating at: bit.ly/SupportSamarthya
(In conversation with the members of the Village Education Committee in Kargil)
_______________________________________________________________
Sonipat Highlights :
We have witnessed a lot of things that SMCs have done over years, but for the first time, we saw SMCs ensure teacher vacancies are filled in a school in Sonipat. The infographic below summarizes the effort of the SMC, it epitomizes how things can be.
This year marks the end of a 2 year cycle of our work in Sonipat. Sonipat has been our lab, our classroom, our teacher. We are grateful for the continued support of the stakeholders associated with us in the district. We have put together a 2-year Impact Report for the work done in Sonipat.
_______________________________________________________________
German thinker Max Weber said that “politics is the slow boring of hard boards and that anyone who seeks to do it must risk his own soul.” It means that change comes in excruciating increments for those who want it. We are trying to move mountains, it takes lifetimes.
When we are trying to bring participatory governance practices to public schools of India, when we are trying to change how SMCs are viewed and treated in the country, when we are trying to foster effective community school linkages, we are not aiming for the stars, we are aiming just an inch higher.
Please feel free to reach out to us for any queries, you can follow our work here.
