Editors’ note: This article by a university faculty was written in response to a concern expressed by a reader, who wondered whether meaningful learning could take place in young people from diverse backgrounds in India, where there exist wide socio-economic inequities. Rather than be motivated by a desire to escape poverty as seen in underprivileged communities, or long for material success and yet have a sense of ‘guilt’ as seen in privileged students — both self-destructive emotions in different ways — can another kind of motivation be nurtured in students?
The students sat quietly in the classroom, looking apprehensive yet excited. Their fresh faces eager to learn what lay ahead of them in the next four years at university. I could feel the weight of their expectations of me as I stood before them. It was the first day of what would be a month-long summer programme for a fresh batch of undergraduate students.
They had been invited to the campus for very specific reasons — some for improving their English language or for strengthening numeracy skills, and all of them for learning to navigate the complexities of academic and social life in college. All were from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. At the Azim Premji University, we hold this summer programme as a bridge for students between their cloistered school life and the independent college life ahead. It is often a critical first step toward creating social justice and equity for these youngsters. My role, and that of all my colleagues, is to equip the students with relevant capacities and awaken their minds to the range of possibilities that emerge as a result. Over the days that follow, students gradually begin to take ownership of their progress, and I feel that weight of expectation lifting off my shoulders—maybe not wholly, but quite substantially.
Every year at the end of such summer programmes, the other students in the batch join those assembled on campus. These students are usually from privileged backgrounds. Together, they then attend a weeklong orientation before classes begin. As the campus bustles with their collective excitement, I am confronted with a fundamental question: what motivates all these students to take ownership over their learning and make the most of their time in college? Most Indian schools use the examination system to motivate students to work hard. This extrinsic form of motivation is short-lived and requires constant stoking. Surely, it is necessary for students to cultivate inner motivation and become autonomous learners? An innate curiosity about the world and the desire to contribute meaningfully to society can be strong intrinsic sources of motivation. Isn’t the nature of motivation an important determinant of the kind of society we create? How can a teacher help to motivate students in the right way towards creating a just and equitable society? The teacher would need to possess a similar kind of motivation too.
Early in their college life, students begin to develop a sense of self. This has been beautifully described in a previous issue of this journal by Arjun Jayadev1, my schoolmate and now colleague. Furthermore, the sources of motivation with which students come to college vary from one student to another. Both a teacher and the curriculum play an essential role in shaping student motivation and outcomes. I would like to explore four factors that help students from a range of social backgrounds develop inner motivation: self-belief, prior knowledge, a sense of belonging, and shared goals.
For students, just believing they can tackle academic challenges goes a long way in motivating them. This requires their educational environment to provide them with layers of support, much like the scaffolding around a building that is under construction. This is required for students to feel that they can achieve their potential. The curriculum must be so designed as to be accessible to all, especially those with disadvantages who may be coping with the twin challenges of urban life and classroom transactions in English for the first time. One of the ways in which we at Azim Premji University accomplish this is by creating a level playing field. This is where practical work, such as laboratory, fieldwork and computer programming, comes to the rescue. This is due in large part to the fact that these learning opportunities are neglected in schools of all kinds. Working with one’s hands in a lab or being able to connect with people and the environment during fieldwork are equally novel for the first-generation student and the urban elite, sometimes more so for the latter. We have seen that our courses in the first year of college, which emphasize these two skills, often help disadvantaged students build self-belief and assurance. Meanwhile, those accustomed to privileges in life realize that discomfort is a natural part of learning something new.
College learning also needs to connect with a student’s prior knowledge, for it can be used to scaffold new learning. Students from rural areas may have had the experience of working on family-owned farms or of helping to run a small business, like an electrical store. I have noticed that such students thrive, for example, during laboratory work in the ‘Electricity and Magnetism’ course. The typical school curriculum, usually relying on teaching the syllabus verbatim from textbooks, divorces the ideas being taught from the lived realities and experiences in students’ lives. The diversity of experiences students bring to the classroom, when it is drawn upon while teaching, enhances learning for everyone in the group. Sharing these experiences through group work and discussions brings students closer to one another by creating empathy and a common understanding. This can lead to the development of a shared purpose and motivation.
When students see that their experiences are valued, they begin to feel a sense of belonging on campus. Contextualising classroom learning in the new surroundings makes students feel like they are a part of the same community, not unlike the one they left to come to college. Fieldwork within the campus and its neighbourhood is an essential ingredient in our curriculum and allows students to immerse themselves in their surroundings. Even for urban and comparatively well-prepared students, adjusting to learning is not smooth and easy. With the emphasis on laboratory work, building things with one’s own hands, and doing fieldwork in peri-urban and rural areas, where they often face harsh realities, many of them feel challenged too. Building connections between the classroom and the broader surroundings helps to anchor these students, transforming the college into their home.
By working together, students gradually begin to focus on a more lasting set of goals. This is not to discount the fact that many privileged students are initially motivated by their family’s and society’s expectations of them and try to live up to these. However, as they begin to realize that their advantages only help them to a certain extent in college, they begin to look for a more fundamental purpose in life and develop more lasting sources of motivation. For underprivileged students, it is almost a socio-economic imperative that they get a college education. However, with appropriate support and guidance, these students too develop the confidence to think and act in ways that are not purely instrumental; many are motivated to perform better so that they can go back to their communities and help them with issues they see as important and which require thoughtful solutions. They begin to see themselves as agents of the change they wish to see in society, and this gives rise to their deep intrinsic motivation.
At the risk of sounding prescriptive, I have observed that students who feel supported by the acknowledgement of their prior knowledge and have acquired a certain self-belief and sense of belonging to the college community, start taking charge of their own learning. It takes a year or two of concerted effort on the part of administrators and educators, and of course from students themselves, to create such reflective learners. Aided by scaffolds that are not merely seen as remedial, but as a holistic endeavour, many students eventually become independent thinkers and autonomous learners. Thus, students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds too do not necessarily feel deprived in this kind of an educational setting. An independent learner who feels a part of the student community can find sources of deep lifelong motivation. As a teacher, I find that helping students from either end of the spectrum to reach this sort of self-realization is exhilarating.
It is important to note that less than a third of all school students in India go on to study in college2. So, although college can help students make the transition and build lasting inner motivation, perhaps it would be better to start the process earlier, when they are still in school. Alternative schools do this reasonably well because of a holistic approach to learning: avoiding dependence on a rigid curriculum, connecting students with their surroundings, encouraging students’ curiosity, giving them space to ask questions, and ensuring that there is cooperative learning.
Some wonderful examples of how to build student motivation and resilience, however, come from the schools run by the social welfare departments of several states in India3. Committed teachers and administrators in these residential schools inculcate important values in their very underprivileged students. Through non-academic means, such as sports, debates, outbound activities and so on, students begin to believe that they can achieve their goals through hard work and perseverance. Our university admits several such students a year from these schools, and it is evident that they are better prepared to face many of the challenges common at this level. I recall that an undergraduate physics student who had come from such a school once requested me for a reduced course load over the next two semesters, so that he could spend more time on existing coursework. Even the fact that he felt he could ask for such a concession was itself commendable. Of course, we did what was possible to help him, and today he works in data science projects of the Ministry of Rural Development. Further, our college alumni from these schools have created important social networks that new entrants from their schools can tap into, handing them a cultural and social advantage that many new students do not have. Given that a college education is still a luxury that many cannot access in India, it is crucial that students develop this awareness and such capabilities in school.
A year has passed. The sheepish-looking students in the summer programme of the previous year are now blossoming in both predictable and unpredictable ways. Many are planning summer research projects and looking for internships. They are developing specific interests which they articulate clearly. They approach me with requests to write them letters of recommendation and put them in contact with researchers in various institutes. While my instinct is to tell them to take a well-earned break over the summer, I know that they are eager to have new experiences and further develop their interests. The desire to spend a summer break working is testament to their motivation to contribute to society in meaningful ways. Some of their privileged counterparts already have internships lined up, and many of those may be in social service organisations. They describe how their interest in working with migrant communities or in urban slum schools was piqued by attending ‘Understanding India’ courses. I see that a social chasm has narrowed. My colleagues and I are already looking forward to the coming year.
Endnotes:
1 Arjun Jayadev, ‘Meeting Life at Eighteen: Some experiences at an undergraduate program’, Journal of the Krishnamurti Schools, Issue 24, January 2020, see: https://www.journal.kfionline.org/issue-24/meeting-life-at-eighteen-some-experiences-at-an-undergraduate-program
2 AISHE Report, https://aishe.gov.in/aishe-final-report/, 2021-22
3 Bollam Karunakar, ‘Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society: Programs and Facilities Available for Students Empowerment’, Educational Quest: An Int. J. of Education and Applied Social Science, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 125-133, December 2019.