Practical Knowledge

PRIYA KULASAGARAN

P
opular education seeks to fill thousands, and made headlines every
the gaps left by more formal other day.
systems, by encouraging
action, promoting social awareness and “Then May 13 happened, and everything
making complex issues accessible. was forgotten,” he says.

This is nothing controversial, just factual Fahmi may not be an accredited professor,
history; how this information is going to but he boasts of what every teacher wants
motivate you to do something is entirely – passion and rapt attention from his
up to you,” says independent filmmaker listeners.
Fahmi Reza.
“I feel that many students these days are
It is a sweltering August afternoon in a just not aware of current issues, and
stuffy makeshift classroom, and Fahmi is ‘politics’ is seen as a bad word.
addressing his assembled audience of 20-
odd university students. “The point I’m trying to make is that being
political is not about protests or joining
The talk was initially scheduled to take (political) parties, but about taking an
place within the nearby university campus interest in what’s going on and working on
in Shah Alam, but was cancelled at the last improving the country.
minute; leaving the event’s organisers to
speculate that the lecture is “too “It’s an education on how average people
controversial”. can change things for the better if they
just tried,” he says.
Weaving his research into a compelling
multimedia narrative, Fahmi continues with The heart of Fahmi’s work, reinforced by
a forgotten bit of local history. the history he puts forth, is a sort of
learning that is for the people by the
“In 1969, the Universiti Malaya Students’ people – or what can be described as
Union decided to do a road show to popular education.
educate the public on issues they felt
should be addressed by election Informal learning
candidates. There seems to be no hard and fast rule of
what popular education is. Some say that
“While many political campaigns at the its roots lie in Enlightenment-era thinkers
time were focusing on race, these students and the French Revolution, while others
wanted to get people thinking about argue that informal learning practices –
broader issues such as public healthcare, such as that of tribal communities – have
agarian reforms and basic democratic existed for thousands of years.
rights.
One notable figure who arguably provided
“These multi-lingual rallies held by the foundation for the concept’s evolution
students of various races drew crowds of is Brazilian educator and theorist Paolo

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Freire. she says.

Most famous for his book Pedagogy of the Examples of how popular education has
Oppressed published in 1970, Freire been used in social movements throughout
developed his ideas on education and its the world are numerous and diverse.
role in empowering the disenfranchised
through his work with poor and illiterate For instance, the Highlander Folk School
farmers in Brazil. based in Tennessee, the United States
(US) connected literacy to voter rights by
Rejecting the idea of students as mere using the United Nations Universal
empty vessels to be filled up by teachers, Declaration of Human Rights as a starting
he advocated a form of education that is a point in their literacy classes for poor
“practice of freedom”, where learners “deal African-American communities during the
critically and creatively with reality and civil rights movement there.
discover how to participate in the
transformation of the world”. In Uganda, the Islamic Medical Association
of Uganda works with village imams
Former Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) (Muslim religious leaders) to engage
lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Chan Lean Heng is Muslim communities in open dialogue
actively working on introducing popular about HIV/AIDS prevention.
education as a learning methodology in
educational institutions. On the local front, the Fallen Leaves forum
theatre project based in Batu Arang,
She belives that the promotion of such Selangor, uses interactive theatre to
pedagogy will help achieve sustainable highlight the plight of marginalised
human development. communities such as those living with
HIV/AIDS.
“It’s crucial for us to promote learning that
values action, so we can produce students Another recent example is “Chow Kit Kita”,
and citizens who are socially responsible a community mapping project by
and motivated beyond their self-centred teenagers living in and around the Chow
goals of individual wealth and success,” Kit area, Kuala Lumpur.
she says in an e-mail to StarEducation.

In her presentation at a Unesco-Asia-

Pacific Programme of Educational
Innovation for Development (APEID)
International Conference last year, Dr
Chan further explains that popular
education uses creativity and participation
to promote a rights-based agenda.

“The main aim of popular education is to

engage people by relating their daily
experiences to larger societal problems.

“It also empowers people to act and effect “Chow Kit Kita” uses creative mediums such as photography to
help teens understand the social issues in their neighbourhood. —
change on the issues that affect them,” File photo

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Fahmi, who is involved in the project, says solutions, planning a concrete action plan,
that his team was inspired by the work of and reflecting upon the strengths and
Arts-Ed Penang, a creative arts weaknesses of the plan after it is carried
organisation that runs programmes to help out.
young people understand the significance
of cultural heritage. “This approach is directly opposed to the
traditional top-down education — so
With over 25 years of experience as a people can have ownership of what they
community organiser, Malaysian are learning, rather than just being talked
Community Communications Centre at,” he says.
(Komas) founder Tan Jo Hann is well-
versed in popular education techniques. He cites his work with the urban poor as
an example of this process.
Aside from carrying out social work with
the local urban poor through the “When we conduct community education
Community Residents Association of sessions in slum and squatter areas on
Selangor and Federal Territory (Permas) their land rights, we don’t just sweep in
and serving as the councillor for the and bore them with legal statutes.
Subang Jaya Municipal Council, he is also
involved in training grassroots “Our sessions involve role play, group
communities across South-East Asia and is exercises, and mapping techniques so they
the co-founder of the South-East Asia can understand complex law on their own
Popular Communications Programme terms and contribute their own ideas,” he
(SEAPCP). says.

As participatory learning is a key

Continuous process component to this method of learning,
While he mostly deals with marginalised creativity is central to the concept.
communities, Tan believes that the “Art is an especially effective medium as
concept is relevant to all levels of society. the mind retains visual information more
easily,” says Tan.
“Critical pedagogy is crucial in getting
messages across effectively – from “This makes it cut across language barriers
highlighting gender discrimination in the and educational backgrounds.
office, to educating factory workers on
safety precautions, and instilling leadership “For example, when working with villagers
qualities in our youth. in Preah Vihear, Cambodia on land rights, I
encouraged them to draw out how
“The interative nature of popular education deforestation is affecting their income and
makes it a powerful tool to help people what practical solutions they can come up
internalise,” he says. with to solve the issue.

Tan adds that educating for social change “Instead of lecturing them on
is a continuous process rather than a one- environmental protection, this simple
off lesson. method proved to be more effective. The
villagers that I trained are now conducting
“It’s a constant cycle of analysing the root their own workshops and organising
causes of a larger problem, brainstorming themselves to combat forest degredation.”

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The issue of rights
Furiously drawing a picture of a large After a few more exercises, the students
spaceship on a piece of paper, lawyer express their opinions on how the law
Edmund Bon is on a mission to get affects their daily lives, sparking debate on
university students thinking about the issues such as privacy, the Internal
fabric of society. Security Act and cultural freedom.

“Imagine that earth has been destroyed,” “Some say that this is subversive content
he starts. because we openly discuss ‘explosive’
issues,” says Bon.
“You need to choose six people from a list
of 25 to board this spaceship to repopulate “But why is it a bad thing to encourage
a new ‘earth’. people to think about ways of making the
country progress?”
“Your group’s decisions must be
unanimous; my advice is start your According to Tan, popular education serves
discussions from a point of collective to fill in the gaps left by the more
understanding before taking a personal traditional system in place in schools and
stand.” universities.

The session is part of “Reconstituting Earth “Not everyone has an interest in the
Version 2.0”, a workshop series held in academic learning provided in schools, and
conjunction with the Malaysia Bar Council’s not everyone has the good fortune of
rights-education campaign titled going on to university.
“MyConstitution”.
“The least motivated in schools are the
The two-year nationwide campaign aims to ones who are the least engaged because
educate the public on their rights and they don’t see anything meaningful in pure
responsibilities as citizens as set out by classroom learning,” he says.
the Federal Constitution.
Thus, the role of popular educators is to
As the groups deliberate over their make sure these people are equipped with
choices, Bon explains the purpose behind skills to get them through life, and that
the exercise. includes having values and the ability to
“It’s a warm-up before getting participants build relationships with other people.
to dissect the sort of values their new
society needs to function. He adds: “Education should be more than
just reading, writing, and counting — it
“Then when they draft their own should be about being human.”
constitutions for these imaginary societies,
they will be better prepared to tackle the The Malaysian Star, Sunday, 05 December 2010

issues of the Federal Constitution,” he

says.

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