Known for his unconventional approach, the doughty and disciplined personality, K.L.Karanth, the older brother of writer Shivarama Karanth, was an exceptional teacher in Kota and Kundapura High Schools in Udupi district. The school he built, Kota Viveka Highschool, with its multifarious educational activities came to be known as a model school in Karnataka. An academician and a horticulturist, he lived a long, fruitful life, earning the moniker -- Science Master. Shivarama Karanth had great respect for his elder brother an “uncommon common man”.
These are a few snippets from his memoir, “Nenapinangaladalli Mussanje Hotthu”(Twilight in the courtyard of memory), collected and narrated by the acclaimed Kannada writer Vaidehi.
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. . . .When I was studying in class four , our textbook published by Macmillan said coconut tree bears only two fronds in a year. Back from school, washing my feet, I looked closely at the two coconut trees near the well and found there were more than two fronds. I asked my mother the age of these trees. The years and the number of fronds didn’t tally at all. I later learnt that the tree gives out 12 fronds a year!
Immediately I informed the Macmillan publishing house about this. They thanked me and rectified it in the next edition.
For 30-40 years, thousands of teachers mechanically taught this error to lakhs of students, though the truth was waiting to be discovered in their own backyard! Without observation and experimentation what would happen to science education in India?
Seeing is believing and doing is learning...
I used to ask my students to collect samples of plants and animals and bring them to the biology class. Once, in a class on weeds, I mentioned four types. Balayya Sheregara, a student, brought 21 types of weeds with their names! It was a hair-raising moment! The fact that I still remember his name is a testimony to this.
I wanted all the children to see what moth infestation in lemon and curry leaves is . I had made an insect case in the lab. “If you find such insects in any tree you can keep them in this and observe their growth,” I told them. Forty children in the class brought 50-60 varieties of moths and observed their life cycle.
The unbound joy of the children and their friends (invited by them) as they watched the spectacular colours and patterns of the insects and their life cycle - egg, larva, pupa and adult -was nothing short of an award to me! Do you need words or notes at all for learning?
A teacher taking the lesson on insects for the same class for ages happened to see our insect case and asked, “Which is this insect?” I was aghast. The man who had parroted the four stage life-cycle of a moth year after year had never seen a real one in his life!
Horticulture by and for children
It was my fear that English education might make the students shirk their household duties.
I made it mandatory for them to grow vegetables in the large space near the school well. I taught them how to graft different varieties of lemon. Fertiliser was to be got from their homes and they grafted the saplings. Children took home thousands of tomatoes and tomato saplings. I did not see a single grumpy face: on their own, they worked in the garden happily. When Madhav Menon, the erstwhile education minister of the Madras state visited us after school hours, he was overjoyed to see students still at work in the garden.
I planted hundreds of Casuarina trees along the school’s east wall. When they were two inches thick, I cut the stems and planted them along the roadside. On either side of the path leading from the gate to the school building I planted rare varieties of flowers: Nagalinga (cannon ball) flowers, legostromia, many African flowers, etc.
Their seedlings were distributed. We raised a coconut grove near the well which I believe is giving good yield now.
Love of beasts and birds
Having seen my father raise animals and birds, I was very fond of them. Children have a natural affinity towards them. I arranged to get rabbits, white mice, love birds (from Australia) and colourful parrots. Children, divided into groups, took turns to take care of them.
I was in Bombay to buy a film projector for school, I was fascinated by the colourful fish in the aquarium. I personally designed and ordered some aquariums. The children were overjoyed to see different species of fish proliferating in different glasshouses! I put some plants into the aquarium so that they would take care of the oxygen supply. The students took it upon themselves to clean the aquariums.
The fishermen rarely spotted a dolphin in their nets.I had requested the nearby fishermen to inform me if they happened to catch one. And, one day, they sent word. I took the high school students and teachers to the Manoor beach and demonstrated how a dolphin was a mammal. Later, an adult female dolphin, pregnant with an 8-10 inch long baby, was caught by these fishermen. We preserved it in our natural history museum. Shells collected by me in Rameshwaram, and Saligrams, the fossilised shells I bought in Benares also found their place there.
I encouraged my students to learn hands on, to experiment, and derive scientific principles. To teach first aid methods, I used to distribute surgical cotton, lint, Boric acid, Potassium Permanganate etc. Children learnt swimming and rowing in nearby Achaladi river. I had kept a cycle in the school so that they learnt cycling on their own. No other school did this.
Movie magic
Short films and documentaries can be very effective educational tools. The projector and generator (sponsored by my brother, Parameshwara) came from Bombay to Malpe on a steamer. From then on, every week there was a film show in school. I got the films from embassies of England, France and Russia in Delhi. Indian government also used to procure some films. Before the show I used to brief them about the background of the film, the film maker etc. There were films on sharks, on the Russian ballet form, about the cathedrals of France, famous waterfalls, films based on novels etc. British embassy was surprised that we were ordering so many films and even asked: “Why are you so enthusiastic?” I gave them Bernard Shaw’s classic reply. “Why didn’t you go to Africa to see the Victoria Falls?” someone asked him. Shaw retorted, “Fools go there. I can see it here for six pence.”
All round knowledge
I believed that general awareness is necessary for shaping a personality. Both in Kundapura and Kota high schools, if I had to stand in for an absent teacher, I used to read out English stories or discuss political and social issues. Then, Europe was experiencing political turmoil. I used to tell them that after the revolution, dictators would take over, and that another world war was imminent. I used to talk about the radical changes in Russia. The class used to be transformed into a vibrant place where an interesting dialogue on world affairs ensued.
Translated by Sumathi Niranjan Karody