Migration to pay for it. (Shubhra, 2003) Jawahar

Migration is a common phenomenon. We knowthere are birds and animals that migrate for various reasons.

So is the case ofhuman beings. Shift from one place to another in a general way is treated asmigration. In case of JNV (Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya) migration scheme wasintroduced to foster the national integration under the umbrella of threelanguage formula.

This paper deals with the factor that may affect the processof migration inside the school viz. culture, food habits, method and medium ofinstruction and most important language. Suggestions for the school authoritiesare being discussed in order to minimise the negative effects of these factorson the migrants.

Key words: migration, JNV, culture, food habit, medium ofinstructionINTRODUCTIONAccording to Oxford Dictionary boardingschool/residential school is “a school which providesaccommodation and meals for the pupils during term time”. In other words, it isa school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year withtheir fellow students and possibly teachers or administrators. JawaharNavodaya Vidyalayas are also a kind of residential school in India. TheNational Policy on Education-1986 envisaged the setting up of residentialschools, to be called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas that would bring out best ofrural talent. This scheme is managed by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, which is aregistered society under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. This societyis fully financed by the Government of India through an autonomous organizationunder the department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

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  As a part of the programme of action of thenew education policy in 1986 the Government of India launched the scheme to setup Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in all the districts of the country in order toprovide opportunities to the children with special talents to proceed at afaster pace by making quality education available to them irrespective of theircapacity to pay for it. (Shubhra, 2003)Jawahar Navodaya VidyalayaTheNavodaya Vidyalaya System is a unique experiment unparalleled in the annals ofschool education in India and elsewhere. Its significance lies in the selectionof talented rural children as the target group and the attempt to provide themwith quality education comparable to the best in a residential school system.

Such children are found in all sections of society, and in all areas includingthe most backward. But, so far, good quality education has been available onlyto well-to-do sections of society, and the poor have been left out.It was felt that children with special talent or aptitude should be providedopportunities to proceed at a faster pace, by making good quality educationavailable to them, irrespective of their capacity to pay for it. These talentedchildren otherwise would have been deprived of quality modern educationtraditionally available only in the urban areas. Such education would enablestudents from rural areas to compete with their urban counterparts on an equalfooting. The National Policy on Education-1986 envisaged the setting up ofresidential schools, to be called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas that would bringout the best of rural talent.The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are workingon following objectives:Ø  To provide goodquality education including a strong component of India’s cultural heritage,inculcation of values, awareness of environment, adventure activities andphysical education to talented children belonging predominantly to rural areas,without regard to their family socio-economic condition.Ø  To ensure that allstudents of JNV attain a reasonable level of competence in three language asenvisaged in three language formula, andØ  To serve, in eachdistrict, as a focal point for improvement in the quality of school educationin general, through sharing of experience and facilities.

MigrationScheme of Jawahar Navodaya VidyalayaTofulfil the objectives of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and fostering nationalintegration, scheme of migration has been introduced in the school forstudents. It is a scheme of exchange students from one Vidyalaya in aparticular linguistic region to another in a different linguistic region topromote understanding of the diversity and plurality of Indian’s cultural andits people. The main aim of migration in JNV’s is focused on nationalintegration. According to the scheme, selected 30% of the 9th classstudents are exchanged between JNV’s of non-Hindi speaking region for one year.The definition of a migrant is a personliving outside their own country for a year or more, for that matter,migration, “consists of individual who, under the influence of great number offactors, move from one place to another at a certain time”. (Oderth, 2002)Therefore, a person(s) who moves from one place to another is referred to as amigrant.

Migration is a process of social change wherean individual, alone or accompanied by others, because of one or more reasonsof economic betterment, political upheaval, education or other purposes, leavesone geographical area for prolonged stay or permanent settlement in anothergeographical area. Any such process involves not only leaving social networksbehind (which may or may not be well established) but also includesexperiencing at first a sense of loss, dislocation, alienation and isolation,which will lead to processes of acculturation.  (Bhugra, 2004).There can be any number of reasons formigration among human beings.  These canbe broadly categorized into economic, political, marital, religious,educational and the traditional. For education and particularly highereducation people move to various seats of learning.

  In the past when the seats of higher learningwere very, few people used to move great distances.  In the ancient period in India Nalanda andTakshila were such centres.  In the case of JNVsmigration, it was introduced to foster national integration and to minimize thecultural gap.

In this scheme the students migrate from one linguistic region toanother linguistic region under three language formula. When students migratefrom their JNV to another JNV, they meet new culture, food habits, environmentand language. In the new environment students may learn a lot of new things, takeup to new challenges and enjoy themselves making new friends, learningdifferent language, getting involved in new social community but at the sametime they  might face many problemsrelated to social, emotional and academic area.

The challenges to adapt into this newenvironment, faced by these migrated students can be categorised in terms ofculture, language, food habits, medium, method of instruction and environmentalchanges.  These challenges  are difficult to face,  especially when you do not have enough timeto adapt with the new environment and people as in case with migration inNavodaya schools which is only for one year, and being a teenager doesn’t makeit easier. As a culturally and spatially transitionalstage, the immigration process introduces possibilities for change, as well asresistance to new habits, new behaviours, and new cultural experiences. Thesechanges, in turn affect our physical and mental health, our perceptions ofself, and our relations with others (Koc and Welsh, 2002).We shall now move to the differentchallenges, a migrated student faces in a short period of stay, to meet theobjective of this whole migration policy that is inter- regional migration.CULTUREOne feature that is most often noticed aboutIndia is its diversity. This overworked cliché has become a part of India’sself-identity. India is a country of sub continental proportions.

From north tosouth, east to west, people from diverse backgrounds have mixed and cultureshave intermingled over centuries (NCERT, 2003).   Culture refers to the patterns of thoughtand behaviour of people. It includes values, beliefs, rules of conduct, andpatterns of social, political and economic organisation. These are passed onfrom one generation to the next by formal as well as informal processes.Culture consists of the ways in which we think and act as members of a society.Thus, all the achievements of group life are collectively called culture.

Inpopular parlance, the material aspects of culture, such as scientific andtechnological achievements are seen as distinct from culture which is left withthe non-material, higher achievements of group life (art, music, literature,philosophy, religion and science). In sociology, however, culture is that whichis created by women and men be it material or non-material. Culture is theproduct of such an organisation and expresses itself through language and art,philosophy and religion. It also expresses itself through social habits,customs, economic organisations and political institutions. Culture is acomprehensive term and it includes the following:1.     Patterns and modes of behaviour. 2. Techniques and technologies for production,social organisation, institutions for the promotion of the arts and thesciences, education, health and other services.

 3. Basic postures, values, beliefs, worldviewsthat are represented in art, music, literature, philosophy and religion. Culture has two types: (i) material, and (ii)non-material. The first includes technologies, instruments, material goods,consumer goods, household design and architecture, modes of production, trade,commerce, welfare and other social activities.

The latter includes norms,values, beliefs, myths, legends, literature, ritual, art forms and otherintellectual-literary activities. The material and non-material aspects of anyculture are usually interdependent on each other. Sometimes, however, materialculture may change quickly but the non-material may take longer time to change(Lammervo, 2005).Culture has been defined in different ways bydifferent disciplines. The anthropologist Geertz (1973, p. 89) defines cultureas a “historically transmitted pattern of meaning embodied in symbols, a systemof inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which mencommunicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towardlife”.

In contrast, Hofstede’s (1997) definition represents the psychologists’point of view: every person carries within him or herself patterns of thinking,feeling, and potential acting which were learned throughout (her or his)lifetime. Many of these patterns are acquired in early childhood, because atthat time a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating. Thecognitive, social and contextual approaches are brought together by Ting-Toomey(1999), who defines culture as “a learned meaning system that consists of patternsof traditions, beliefs, values, norms, and symbols that are passed on from onegeneration to the next and are shared to varying degrees by interacting membersof a community”.   If the surface of the culture we observelooks similar to our own, we may mistakenly conclude that the people also thinklike us. Cultural differences, however, go deeper to values and beliefs, normsand traditions. According to Andersen et al. (2003), cultural differences arenot random events; they occur because cultures develop with differentgeographies, climates, economies, religions, and histories, each exerting aunique influence.

Cultural background plays a very importantrole in child rearing and has a large impact on the way a child develops(Millam, 1996). Culture comprises the way of behaving; the way we do things andthe mean by which we do things. Culture is in us and all around us, just as isthe air we breathe (Banks 2010).In the migration scheme students migrate fromone region to another, where they meet new materialistic and non- materialisticculture. Materialistic culture is almost same in every JNV, but migrants facechallenge in coping with the non- materialistic culture i.

e. norms, values,beliefs, myths, legends, literature, ritual, art forms and other intellectual-literaryactivities. Coping with non- materialistic culture is not an easy task as thesethings are relatively permanent in nature and take long time to change andperiod of migration is only one year.  Thisdifference in culture makes the process of social adjustment challenging forthe migrants. LANGUAGELanguage is the means through which we aresocialized into our culture. Through language, the cultural heritage of thepast is received, reshaped, and bequeathed to the following generations(Skutnabb-Kangas, 1981; Sung, 1985).

Language therefore is a vehicle ofsymbolic value, including for the transfer of ideology as well as main mediumof expression and interaction. Language is source of cultural diversity as wellas unity. It contributes to collective identities and even to conflicts.Language has a particularly significant role to play in the process ofindividual and societal integration. It constitutes both the medium of everydaycommunication and a resource, in particular in the context of education.Furthermore, languages and accents can act as symbols of belonging orforeignness and give rise to differentiation and discrimination.  Like cultural diversity in general,linguistic diversity can lead to innovative stimulation and inter-culturalexchange, on the one hand, but can also give rise to problems of understandingand coordination, on the other, for example in the context of work situationsor social contacts (AKI, 2006).

A good knowledge of the national language iscentral to educational success.  Schoolperformance is both directly and indirectly associated with linguisticcompetence and this means that proficiency in the national language andlanguage of instruction is crucial. This applies irrespective of the effects ofother factors on the educational opportunities of immigrant children, such asenrolment in pre-school education, the choice of school, family circumstancesand direct or indirect discrimination within the educational system. Theconditions that have a positive influence on school performance in language-related subjects are generally the same as those that promote second languageacquisition, i.

e. a low age at migration and a higher level of education of theparents. At the same time, the school achievement of children and young peopleis particularly badly affected if learning takes place in schools andclassrooms with a high proportion of students who do not speak the nationallanguage. Additional competence in the language of origin has no discernibleinfluence on school achievement (Hartmut Esser, 2006).India is a multilingual country. Eighteenlanguages are recognised by Indian Constitution. All major languages haveregional and dialectical variations, for example, Hindi has Awadhi, Brij,Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Bundeli, Pahari, Malwi and several other dialects. Thesituation is further complicated since 179 languages and 544 dialects arerecognised in India.

These languages and dialects are divided into threelinguistic families — Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Mundari. Indo-Aryan family oflanguages includes Sanskrit and other North Indian languages such as Hindi,Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Urdu, etc. and their dialects.   The major regional languages are used in theirown provinces and recognised as other “national” languages through theirincorporation into the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Hindi is theofficial language of the country (NCERT, 2003). Thus linguistic skills seem to be veryimportant in accounting for migrants’ well-being. Recent studies show that itis easier for a foreigner to acquire a language if her native language islinguistically closer to the language to be learned (Chiswick and Miller, 2005;Isphording and Otten, 2011). This suggests that the ability to learn and speak otherlanguage quickly might be an important factor in the potential migrants’decision making.JNVs follow three language formula, as otherschools are following in India.

This three language formula has link with themigration scheme of these schools. As in this scheme, migration is done withthe region of which regional language is taught as third language in JNVs till9th standard i.e. in JNV, Manpur, Morena third language is Oriya andtherefore migration place is Orissa. When migrants come through this migrationscheme in the other JNV School, they find language as a barrier thus faceproblem in communication with the host group. Usually English language is usedas communicative language by the migrants as well as by the host group.Communicating in English language is not an easy task for both the groups, asat the 9th standard both the group try to come out from the shadowof regional language thus not sound in English language. This makes thecommunication a bit difficult for both the groups, thus proper communication isnot always possible.

This makes the situation as challenging as adapting withthe new culture and food habit. This language barrier considerably hinders theadjustment process of migrants in the new environment, where migrants feel uncomfortablein having a proper communication with their classmates, hostel warden as wellas with teachers. Thus language problem presents challenges in front ofmigrants.FOOD HABIT To survive we need to eat. Yet, food is morethan a source of energy and nutrients essential for human health and well-being. What we eat, how we eat, and when we eat reflect the complexity of widecultural arrangements around food and food ways, the unique organization offood systems, and existing social policies.

Food plays a key role in humansocialization, in developing an awareness of body and self, languageacquisition, and personality development.Food habits have been defined in several waysby a number of authors. Burgess and Dean’s Correspondence early definition, describedfood habits as the ways in which individuals or groups select, consume and usethe available supplies of food within the total pattern of a culture. Foodhabits are deeply embedded in the personalities of individuals and are stableand long-lasting, but they are subject to change. Such change may be induced byfactors including changes in the physical or social environment. Food habitsare determined by the interplay of a number of factors, including climate,economy, beliefs, education and advertisements, among others.

In the finalanalysis, what people choose to eat determines their nutritional well-being,which subsequently affects their general health status. There is a closerelationship between people’s lifestyles and what they eat; hence, changes inlifestyle can bring about changes in food habits. This migration results in achange in environment and lifestyle, affecting food habits as the migrant givesin to the pressures of the new environment (Obisaw et al. 2000).  India being a big country has differentgeographical conditions in its states.

There are hilly, coastal, plane areaswhere different types of eating habits are followed depending upon the widelyavailable eatables in that specific area. Rice and fish are most common food itemsin Bengal and other coastal areas while in the northern part of the countrythese are not even included in the daily diet of major part of the population. Henceuniformity in food habit is not found in all regions of India. As in migrationscheme students come from different regions of India, have different foodhabits than host region.

Adjusting with this difference in food habit for themigrants is considerably difficult process.Though,nutrition value is always kept in mind while programming the meal schedule inthe JNVs, but difference in food habit of migrants makes the migration scheme abit challenging. Goingback to the case of migrated students (from Orissa) in my school (JNV Manpur,Morena), most of them were non-vegetarian and faced difficulties in coping withdifferent food habit.

Because of this migrants usually show less interest inhaving meal, which in turn affects the health of migrants.MEDIUM & METHOD OF INSTRUCTIONThe medium of instruction is thelanguage used by the teacher to teach. Simply put, it is a means of conveyinginformation to students. Such a medium could be the official language in thecountry or it could be the native mother tongue of the students. Mkwizu (2003) defines “medium ofinstruction” as the language that is used in the process of teaching andlearning. Furthermore, it is a language which enables students to apply theknowledge and skills they have acquired and to think critically and creatively.Problem associated with the medium ofinstruction is uprooted from the problem of language.

Uniformity in medium ofinstruction starts from 9th standard at which migration is done inevery JNV. Before 9th standard regional language is used as mediumof instruction in every JNV, so at this standard students are in phase oftransition where they have to adapt to the new medium of instruction by leavingthe shadow of regional language. At this level teachers use both English andregional language as medium of instruction to make the learning process easyfor the students because students are not habitual of being taught throughEnglish language. This makes the process of learning challenging for themigrants because they are also not habitual of understanding full contentthrough English language and they are not comfortable in understanding thethings through other regional language. As a result of this for migrantsteaching learning process becomes uninteresting and one way. They also hesitatein putting question as they are very new to the class and also found languageas barrier in communicating the problems related to academics. Every teacher has her/ his own methodof imparting the knowledge. When migrants come in a new environment, they findit difficult to adapt to the unfamiliar methods or techniques use by theteacher in the class.

To adapt to the unfamiliar method of instruction,migrants may take several months. This difference makes the learning processless interactive hence creates uninteresting situation in the class for themigrants. This collectively hinder the academic performance, hence a challengefor the migrants to adjust academically. CONCLUSION Foodhabits, culture, language and method and medium of instruction are found to beimportant factor that could affect the migrants during the period of migration.To facilitate the migrants during the migrations year, the school authoritiesas well as the concerned persons are required to take this fact into theirconsideration.

Teachers should provide the comfortable zone to migrants inorder to let them discuss about their ways of learning or in which language andmethods of teaching, they are most comfortable in. mess committees are requiredto list out the food habits of the migrants and may incorporate the desiredfood in the menu. School authorities should also encourage the celebration ofthe local festivals of migrant in the school premises for better culturalintegrity.

  In nutshell, it could beconcluded that to make the most of migration process, authorities are requiredto make it easy for the migrants by keeping the above said factors into theirconsideration.

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