45

Seminar papers

XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

SPACES FOR EDUCATIONAL BUILDINGS

Various countries, in particular those in Asia and Pacific regions, have been concerned with the growing needs for educational buildings and their physical facilities. In addition to providing adequate educational buildings there is also the need to improve existing buildings. The Governments of these countries are equally conscious of the fact that vast sums of money are required to provide even the basic spaces for education. There is an urgent need for research and development on educational facilities. The research must include the development of user and space requirements both for formal and informal education, development of space standards for work related activities , generation of innovative ideas on how to provide schools in urban areas , developing a new concept for rural schools, and improving the present educational facilities. Those concerned with the planning and development of educational spaces have an uphill task. The need is for a rapid and thorough dissemination of information amongst those charged with the respontibility of planning and construction of these facilities.

Educational spaces have not been adequately met through available resources in most of the countries. Whilst the demand for such facilities is enormous, the available resources are limited. The vicious circle of demand and supply therefore continues to dominate and the scene of the present approach seems to be grim. A fresh and realistic approach , particularly in the direction of making use of local resources, both material and human is necessary.

Education has principally two contexts :

a) Search for knowledge and development of creative faculties.

b) Equipment for fulfilling an individual's specific role and function in society.

The first means the exploration of the innate capacity and the creation of physical environment for a Community and to develop to the fullest extent the student's creative urges and powers. Educational spaces must develop an acuteness of sensitivity in a student so that he can react to all the sensual phenomenon in a way that his hidden capabilities blossom forth. He must be exposed intensively to all factors which go to make a community life.

Education is increasingly concerned as a life long process, confined neither exclusively to children of school going age in time , nor to the space in school. Schools, cannot function in isolation from the rest of the community where learning takes place^- both formally and in-formally. There should be an integration between the educational spaces and the communities.

The exact nature of learning and the precise conditions under which learning takes place cannot be defined in view of varied situations. Interaction between the learner and a mediator in a psychological environment may change from place to place. An environment created in one school may not suit the needs of another because of different backgrounds - social, cultural and economic.

The report of the Education Commission of the Government of India notes "There is growing awakening among the masses who, suppressed for centuries, have now awakened to a sense of their rights and are demanding education, equality, higher standards of living and better civic amenities. This explosion of expectations has to be met through a planned programme of national development." .

There are four elements that constitute any educational institution: students, faculty, physical facilities and academic programmes. The quality of education imparted by an institution directly depends upon the quality of each of the above elements and their interaction.

Winston Churchill once said "We shape our buildings and afterwards they shape us." The environment of an educational institution has a great deal to do with the ability to discharge its responsibility effectively.

It is also recognised that the quality of education is the prime responsibility of the Government. The destiny of India is now being shaped in her classrooms. A democracy cannot flourish or sustain itself unless it has at its disposal trained and motivated educated class.

Because of these obvious needs and scarcity of resources, the quality of the end product is being neglected. Much of the problem is due to lack of understanding and incorrect goals. Objectives are being scarified under the plea of achieving planned targets.

At present many schools have inadequate provision of the right kind of space and the pressure of numbers has resulted in great deal of improvisation. In many schools, because of shortage of adequate space, the staff cannot be efficiently used. Makeshift arrangements have to be made to cater for larger number of students.

It is Architect's responsibility to make the best use of space, whereas the planner must construct a system in which the interacting components can function effectively.

The principles of planning , particularly in the physical environment are all relevant to planning educational environments. Four areas of concern to planners are (1) the wide range of human activities encompassed by the various kinds of educational institutions (2) human requirements for physical facilities (3) the planning of physical functions in terms of processes and techniques and (4) the administration of the school and equipments.

To paraphrase an old saying about human greatness-some communities are born with school sites, others acquire sites, while still others have sites thrust upon them.

A school site should normally be located within a residential community, close enough to be easily accessible to the pupils and homes it is to serve.

According to standards laid by planners , elementary schools are located within a kilometre of the farthest home in the neighbourhood to be served. Intermediate schools would serve homes upto three kilometers; while high schools would serve a maximum radius of five kilometers, These standards, by and large, are applicable to densely populated areas. However, each community can best work out its standards and requirements based upon availability of land and its educational needs.

The following factors should be taken into consideration whilst locating them in neighbourhoods :-

A. Accessibility :

Travel distances, transportation to schools, traffic hazards.

B. Environment :

1. Type of district. Its present and future use. Its relationship within the residential area and with the nearest business or industry zone.

2. Atmospheric conditions, smoke, dirt, and odours which adversely affect health and comfort.

3. Noise every city is subject to a lot of noise from surrounding traffic, factories and scores of other noises , which seems to become magnified because of the relative quiet of the classrooms.

4. Light and ventilation : Adequate natural light and ventilation must be available. The prospective site should be carefully examined for any light obstructions, present or contemplated.

5. Proximity to other public facilities. The increasing importance of the school as a centre of community activity has been emphasised. Its facilities such as, library, the park, the playfield , would be natural neighbours to the school.

6. The vista : A good view and surroundings could be stimulating. Aesthetic values are hard to define, and their influence on growing children is difficult to measure. Every effort should be made to acquire a pleasant environment by extensive use of planting and landscaping.

As the improvement of the quality of living is the chief goal or purpose of education, educational spaces comprising of grounds, buildings and equipment , provides a facility which should be planned, designed, constructed, and so used as to make possible for a better living in the community which is located.

The classrooms should receive adequate consideration in orientation for favourable sun and breeze. It should be so located in relation to other space areas that there will be a minimum of noise distraction. Spaces for workshops, music room and other areas generating noise must be isolated. Spaces should be connected to the recreation, the assembly, the administration, the canteen, and other service units, by corridors, either enclosed or open; or use of pergollas , etc.

It is also desirable to group playroom or gymnasium next to playfield and close to the eating space, since students often prefer to have lunch coupled with some activity. the assembly rooms and administrative offices should preferably by adjacent to eating and playing spaces, since these are the units used most by the Public. Administrative offices should likewise be certainly located for ease in accessibility and overall supervision. Many schools have demonstrated the advisability of separation of age-groups, by providing separate leading to their own play spaces.

It should be remembered that an educational space is not an end in itself; it is a tool, an instrument towards an end. This instrument for education and community service serves many interrelated purposes. Their relationships are expressed eventually in terms of physical plan. Educational buildings should have relationship between the community as a whole; and interrelationship between the elementary, junior high school and senior high school numerically, educationally and geographically. Each must be conveniently located in relation to the feasible travel of the students of each age group. School building should have intrinsic relationship to the site; aesthetically and educationally' related to setting, traffic and to the site itself. In addition , there is the relationship within the school of its various departments, expressed by physical proximity.

These relationships may be grouped into five different categories of learning and development.

Class room and Auxiliary Spaces Large Group Spaces Shops and Laboratories, Health & Physical Education Building Services.

Building Services

Each is important in its relationship to the others, to the needs of each student and in its reflection to the needs of the community.

Physical education requires space for health instruction, medical clinics; in addition to areas for exercise and games which may take place anywhere from the kindergarten with movable furniture on to playsheds, paved play areas, gymnasiums and elaborate playfields.

Education also deals with the relationship of students with each other. Building provisions should be made for places devoted mainly to group experiences. The corridor and the Courtyard is, for good or bad , a socialising instrument. A much better example in this category is the auditorium, where the audience's reaction on itself is just as important a developing experience as the information or cultural uplift, if any, which emanates from the stage. The cafeteria, too, serves a social function.

This enough classification of functions, even though overlapping is introduced to help in forming basis for emphasis. Any of these functions in the school, an Architect plans, may be stressed.

Government of India is presently engaged in a new educational policy consistent with the present day needs and to meet the challenges of 21st Century. Architects must be equally concerned with planning educational spaces and creating a new environment to meet these challenges. Educational spaces for the future must take into consideration new technologies, new development in teaching methods and the many kinds of pupils for whom different types of education are to be provided. It is extremely difficult to define the frontiers between education and new spaces required. The discussion on education must accompany the new trends in planning.

Value for money is widely recognised feature of the design. Educational spaces must be imaginative and skilful in raising space and quality standards above the normal level. Educational spaces should be design on modular basis using standardised components to make the best use of space and the economic resources of the country.

The present seminar sponsored by International Union of Architects, UNESCO Council of Architecture, Academy of Architecture and other organisations concerned with education would discuss affordable spaces for education. The main features and objectives are spaces for early childhood care and education, primary school, non-formal education, skills training and affordable spaces for technical education, etc.

Our aim is to determine to achieve universal access to educational facilities drawing upon architectural and technological developments in the field consistent with Affordability and contextuality.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

LOW COST BUILDINGS FOR EDUCATION ­THE NEED OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Prof. S. H. Wandrekar

I. EDUCATION IN INDIA

a) In India, we recognise that education is the key to reaching the national objectives of social and political integration, increased productivity, accelerated modernisation, cultivation of moral and spiritual values, and a higher standard of living for all. Of course, the key to success depends upon the quality of education and the extent it is provided to the masses. Education , therefore , has been given the highest priority in India's national plans.

b) It is necessary to relate education to the needs of life and aspirations of the people. Broad expansion of educational facilities on the basis of manpower needs are required with the emphasis on equal educational opportunities for men and women of all ages.

c) The destiny of India is shaped in its class-rooms. It is accepted by the policy makers that it is the education that determines the level of prosperity , welfare and security of the people. The quality of education, therefore, is of crucial significance. The present capacity of the educational institutions in the country is inadequate and needs to be increased.

d) It is granted that the quality of academic content is important, but it depends on the quality of the social, living, work and study environment of school, college, or university campus. If the environment at an institution or at university campus fails in discharging the educational responsibility effectively, it is likely to affect the moral efficiency of students and staff.

e) While achieving the target of educating the masses and large scale student enrolment in schools and colleges in minimum available funds, the quality of physical environment in form of buildings suffer to a great extent. The democratic idea of educating the masses demands well-planned schools, colleges and universities to take the country ahead. the student of today would be extremely handicapped if the functionally planned, well-lighted and ventilated, as well as well-equipped academic buildings and other physical amenities are not made available at the teaching institutions. Unfortunately, today most of the students get themselves adjusted to austere surroundings and get acceptable education.

II. EDUCATIONAL CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY

1. An educational institution is an organisation with mission to serve the society and lead it to progress. It needs to be organised with set of values prized by the community and has to play an important role of making an impact on the society in which it functions, It must develop a continuing dialogue with the society and must work for the values upheld by the community. An institution should have creditability and strength to lead the community and must influence values which symbolise community aspirations.

2. The educational campus is made up of visible, physical, measurable systems, which directly express and support invisible and immeasurable, psychological systems of human interaction. It must encourage single unified community of individuals with different experiences, who study and work together to assimilate knowledge, improve skills and develop character. It is an academic institution in which instruction, research and student life are integrated insofar as possible. In fact, the campus should serve as a cultural centre. The people of the region should be allowed to share in its activities. It should contribute as economic generator and provide progressive ideas to the local community and help to solve the problems of its region.

c) When institutions are provided with proper infrastructure in the form of good buildings and equipment, they can act as repositories of learning resources , so vitally necessary for education, research and development. The institution thus built can play proactive role in projecting new virtues and become an agent of change in the community. In short, it should act as an agent of change in the community, even while it is serving the expressed needs of the community that supports it.

d) In India the planners have to see that education is possible and easy despite disparities arising from gender, age, income, cultural, ethnic, linguistic and caste differences, as well as geographical remoteness. Today education is recognised as critical investment to promote human development at all levels amongst youths and adults. There is need for developing creative approach to the formal systems of education and the buildings required to cater it.

e) The new buildings need not be designed to provide more than necessary space, or that cannot be fully utilised. Buildings constructed in minimum cost and easy to maintain are necessary. Their carefree long life is important as the government grants are usually too merge.

f) Economy can also be achieved by putting the educational building to its optimum use. The spaces should be so devised that they could be used depending upon growth and dimension of work. The building is expected to be regarded as community asset and an investment in quality of community life. The educational building has duel purpose to perform. It has to be combination of learning institution and a social organisation of relevance to the community. The building is expected to serve the needs of the man spiritual , mental and material.

III. THE DESIGN CONCEPT

1. The architectural appearance of the school buildings must reflect the pedagogical concept of the school. The students must find a new home in the regular class-rooms. The students must like their class-rooms and get themselves busy throughout the day doing different activities. The school should be active during the whole year, which would really make the building the main area of reference. Manageably sized, well-lit and well-ventilated classes with appropriate furniture and technical equipment are intended to force interest and make the time spent in the school buildings interesting excursion into subjects taught. A gymnasium-cum-assembly hall with a stage can add a high value of sport and drama as a means of self-realisation and practising community skills in the school's curricula.

2. The building must provide an environment in which active learning will be student-centred. Teachers, now and in twenty-first century, will use a variety of techniques to engage students and to provide an environment that encourages students to risk, stretch and enlarge their capacity to learn in varied styles and situations. Classrooms, schedules and facilities will he organised so as to encourage a multiplicity of activities. Educational modes will become more participate, active oriented and project oriented, rather than passive learning in a traditional classroom. We can foresee a facility with variety of learnirig models and variety of spaces to fit the needs of the students.

IV. THE ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

1. School in developing countries is effectively a building organism that interacts with the students and with the environment. It can be supportive to the mental development and health, or as it is too often the case, it can be harmful to both. It is therefore, very necessary that the children are provided with buildings that are healthy and life-giving.

2. Physical environment and health within and around the school buildings and well-being of school children, particularly in villages, is a very important issues in education. Though electricity and water is available in villages , irregular supply is evident in most situations. Due to severe budgetary limitations, sanitation gets the last priority. The land surrounding the school building is mostly neglected as such covered with litter and rubbish.

3. We must provide an environment that brings a substantial sense of community and culture to the school. As Buckminster Fuller said, "Reform the environment, stop trying to reform the people. They will reform themselves, if the environment is right."

4. Sound has powerful sensory effect on the whole being - mind, body and spirit. Pleasant sounds can help induce feeling of well-being and supportive. Sounds of nature - the wind in the trees and grass, the babble of running water or the calls of birds - all help to reinforce one's connectedness with the natural world.

5. Unpleasant and constant noise will cause auditory fatigue as the mind tries to minimise the intrusion. It distracts the concentration, which is harmful in the learning process. Noise is one of the least recognised and regulated of all pollution sources. It is almost like a real health hazard. While planning of school buildings one needs to select such locations that the sites are least polluted with noise from surrounding areas.

   V. RESPECT TO CLIMATE AND ECOLOGY.

   a) School buildings , through simple structures, can assure comfort and tranquillity in any kind of harsh climatic conditions. Use of natural physical properties of heat, wind and water - the natural environmental control can offer efficient and comfortable living and working conditions successfully in the designs of new buildings.

   b) There is a great advantage of integrating a building with the surrounding ground. The earth is a natural moderator of temperature and keeps the annual temperature fairly constant. A movement of air is needed to avoid feelings of stuffiness. the fresh air stimulates the skin and assists correct breathing

   c) To achieve comfortable conditions in school buildings, particularly in hot or humid climate during the summer months it may be advisable to use the forms and lay-out of the building which have proved their worth since ancient times. A courtyard type plan with thick outer walls, verandahs, wide roof eaves, screens may help to reduce the amount of sun's energy falling on the building and entering through openings. Emphasis on shading the whole structure with trees, shrubs, creepers and earth cover will also help to create cooler and comfortable atmosphere inside the building. The goal must be to make maximum use of natural, "soft-energy" sources the sun, wind and water.

   d) Insensitivity to the character of the locality, its climate, land, indigenous materials creates alienating buildings. Poor orientation to the sun and natural shelter of trees eliminates cooling and lighting. The buildings must interact with local environment.

   e) The building needs be constructed in such a way that it supports the natural ecology of the region or else the delicate ecological balance can be disruptive and damaging.

VI. LOCAL MATERIALS AND TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY.

a) A vision of future architecture for education in developing countries cannot help, but open doors to an awareness, assimilation and acceptance of indigenous materials and the vernacular heritage.

b) In search of new low-cost school buildings, which could be affordable to the poor, the architects of the developing countries need to bring the creative blend of modern technology and traditional techniques and forms. Local identity must not be lost at any cost. Architects and designers working in respective countries must transform the models of the past to act as a catalyst for the future.

c) It is important to know how indigenous materials such as mud, wood, bamboo, rattan, etc. were used in the past and how they can be improved and developed via new technologies to meet present day needs. It is possible to create exciting new possibilities through research. Modern research can also improve durability and the easily available local materials can be developed via new technologies for sound, innovative and aesthetically appealing modern designs for the present and future use. In this way the designers can re-introduce the local materials as economical and sustainable resource, ideal for structures, finishes and furniture's to suit local climate and terrain of any particular region.

VII. ARCHITECT'S ROLE

We, the Architects, have unique opportunity to change the learning process, whether in designing the new facilities, or renovation of existing structures. We have the opportunity to design innovative solutions which reflect the most current knowledge about how we learn along with community and cultural influences that affect the use of educational facilities. We have professional responsibility to design appropriate learning environment for the young children as well as the grown ups , who are the promising citizens of tomorrow. We must examine the existing school buildings and the way they are used and determine what needs to be changed for the future. We must involve the community. It takes the whole village to educate the child. We must plan and design facilities through collaborative effort in which all team players are involved, teachers, students, parents, members of the community, senior citizens, etc. Architects could lead the team to evolve read affordable spaces for education under any situation and for everybody.

Prof. S. H. Wandrekar is the Founder Member, Trustee and Hon. Director of Academy of Architecture. During past forty years he has been instrumental in starting many.educational institutions at Rachana Sansad in Mumbai, India. He is member of the Working Group (Educational & Cultural Spaces). He has been participating in several international conference all over the world since 1962. He is the convener of the XIII U.I.A. /UNESCO International Seminar 1996.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

MAINSTREAMING GENDER CONCERNS IN SPATIAL PLANNING

Ms. Archana Patkar

Educationist

Policy & Practice ,Spaces for Schooling The Issues :-

Sensitive Location of school

Separate Toilets for Girls & Boys

Adequate washing facilities

A Creche/Anganwadi/Balwadi attached

Proximity to a middle school/secondary school

Separate/Single-sex classrooms where required

Secure/Comfortable Residential facilities for Female Teachers

LOCATION Issues:-

Topography , Local climatic constraints, Seasonal constraints , Site Selection , Where in the village? , Next to what?

Availability of Services , Water & Sanitation

Issues :-

Who prioritizes? , Who will maintain? , Who will review? Constraints

Rooms first, toilets later

Inadequate funds

Insufficient information sharing among NGOs & GOs

No legislative or programme guidelines/enforcement

Poor community involvement in entire project : poor maintenance Support Services & Structures

Issues

Concept of a school - rural/urban , Location of school & creche , Timings , Innovations & Scaling-Up Constraints

Services are an after-thought

Minimal involvement of community

Services unlike structures are less visible/tangible Funds & Sustainability

Programme guidelines/Government legislation, Separate Facilities/Rooms Issues

Who designs/builds? , Who defines the need? , Is baseline date used in design?, Are women consulted? Realities: Multigrade teaching, Multiple shift schools, etc.

Constraints

Spatial Planners are male, Social Planners rarely consulted, Funding ceilings, Poor demand

Facilities for Female Teachers

Issues

Residential facilities, Design , Security, Transport , Teacher Training Centres , Locatiori in the village Services.

Gender & Civil Works - The DPEP

Programme Design - Components - Hard & Soft

Programme Commitment, Structural Limitations , Staffing Limitations, Rigid Financial Parameters, Rigid Time-bound Schedules , Limited Participatory Planning & Design, Preference for Prototypes,

Monitoring & Evaluation System

Key Limitations

Civil works and Gender are separate, disparate components

The Gender Coordinator is not empowered to inspect/monitor cw

The GC is not consulted in mapping and location stage

Engineers/Architects develop prototypes in isolation

The GC is not consulted in the formulation of AWP

DIETS, BRCs, CRCs are planned for men

Evaluation Missions for CW are separate from those for Gender

Poor involvement of community, VEC in building activities

24% Ceiling on budgetary allocation for CW is key

The Need

Participatory Gender Planning in School Building

Mandatory guidelines for design and construction phases Consultation with local clientele in all phases of planning Parnerships between planner & GC/social planner

Needs-analysis and profile of target group

Resource mapping preceding school location

Involvement of community in schhol design and building phase Community involvement in maintenance & renovation activities Community involvement in day to day running of centre/school Community identifies additions, renovations, alterations Design parameters be broadenend to include the out/in between Research in scaling-up of successful innovations

Development of context-specific "types" to service demand

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

ACCESS FOR ALL

Mr. Jal Aria

Architect and Educationist

The movement for barrier free design and universal environmental access has been around for several decades and accepted in principle by all. However in practice little significant and systematic work has been done to create a user-friendly physical environment accessible to all.

The creation of such an environment - more inclusive and less hostile - in the context of products and spaces (built and un-built), is fundamental, though not limited to, the issue of Affordable Spaces for Education For All.

Recognising that 'bad environmental design disables far more than any medical condition' (Elspeth Morrison ­1993) environmental access for the physically challenged needs to be tackled on a priority basis in a holistic and multi-disciplinary manner.

• To achieve this objective the major areas of attention are :

• Sensitisation of society's attitudes and creation of an informed public opinion.

• Development of pragmatic guidelines, regulations and legislative framework..

• Activation of concerned disciplines (including the design disciplines - architecture, engineering, urban / landscape / interior / product design

• Empowerment of people who are directly affected by disabling environments and their involvement as students, educators, innovators and decision-makers.

Keeping in mind that this paper addresses an international multi-disciplinary forum, vitally concerned with issues of environmental access, the presentation will focus on strategies, organisational and others to achieve Access for All.

58

XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

Prof. Anton Schweighofer

Professor of Architecture, Technical University of Vienna

The humanitarian, social and cultural responsibility of the architect is especially evident in the context of educational buildings. Educational buildings coin young people in a time of "apprenticeship" important for their personal development. Additionally, the internationally much appreciated idea of "lifelong learning"-adopted by the EC as a motto for the year 1996 - extends this period to the whole human life-span.

The question of economy - calls for a precise specification of the criteria of the architect's work. Taking into account the differences in regard to culture, tradition and orientation towards future development it can be said that :

• Architecture can still be evaluated in regard to function, construction/form.

• The question of economy has also be superimposed on these criteria. During the twentieth century this has been attempted in many approaches.

• Economy of construction: As early as in the twenties, solutions have been sought through industrialisation, pre-fabrication and use of new materials. Today ecology and energy-saving and the consideration of life-cycle-costs have gained importance.

• Economy of function: Since the sixties multiple-usage of spaces, flexibility and variability in the concept of "function" has been extended , relating economy of function not only to "use", but also to the question of "milieu".

• Economy of form : On the one hand economy of form has been addressed by technological considerations, on the other hand by minimalist concepts in art theory. Architecture as an art has to be demanded especially for educational buildings, as the cultural aspect must not get lost through a primitive reduction of aesthetics.

As an example for these considerations a pilot project for an SOS children's village in Greenfield, India,—developed and built (1964-1968), shall be presented and discussed.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

SPACES FOR EDUCATIONAL FOR ALL

Jeney Lajos, Hungary

By the extreme simplification of the essence of the development policies of our basic public institutions, one might say, that the objective now is, that the basic public institutions located previously in a segregated manner (day-care centres, nursery schools, educational halls, libraries, sport and recreational facilities ) should now be located in concentration, and should be operated in an integrated manner, on the basis of modern principles in such a way, that they should become the educational, social, recreational and sport centres of the residential area.

In order words, it is not simply a question of combining but rather, it is the birth of a new type of public institution, which will offer significantly more in its contents, than what would be obtainable by the simple combination of institutions, i.e., a new functional, contentual quality is created here.

This basic principle was first defined in 1968 by the complex research group, which, under commission to the Ministry of Constructions (of those times), investigated with the involvement of the representatives of the social sciences, what has taken place in the past quarter century in parts of the world more advanced than we are, and what has in fact, happened in Hungary.

We have defined our recommendations on the basis of the comparison affected between the two development processes, which can be summarised, in essence, in the above outlined basic principle.

Then we have named this new type of public institution "educational centre" since this was the only name which could withstand the rushes of proposed names designations of the innumerable official and non official quarters, and still remains so today.

A long and arduous road led to the point, where the defined basic principle assumed a truly definitive role in the actual policy of public institution development, despite the fact, that the social demand for public institutions operating in this spirit became more and more burning. The analysis of the development process of the past years is reassuring in proving, that the changes in social requirements assumed tremendous strength and have brought the question of a reform in the development of basic public institutions to the fore, emphasising the need for the creation of such a new type of public institution, which will be capable of following the rapid changes occurring in social demand.

If we investigate the development of the hungarian society in the past three decades from this aspect, we shall find, that these changes of requirements have stemmed from several directions.

Some have urged raising the question "what's next" from the aspect of location, others with a view of function and contents, and others still from the side of changes in the management demands and requirements.

From the aspect of the locational and functional requirements, the dissolution of the obligatory construction type designs seemed to be essential.

By doing so, possibilities were provided for the construction of basic public institutions more in tone with the local siting and functional demands, and at the same time, it has also become evident that obligatory design prescriptions were not always the best means of validating the basically correct central objectives. As a result of our public institution network was created, which subsequently became the source of a number of tensions. Similarly serious tensions were resulting from the spectacular process of moral attitude, which our cultural halls experienced by the end of the sixties. it came to light, that as far as the physical state of the cultural halls were concerned, they could be used almost without reservations, however, from the aspect of functuality, they are completely outdated, consequently, more than half of the facilities were placed out of commission.

The demographic waves in the seventies have only added to these sources of social stresses, presenting a continually urgent quantitative demand against nursery schools, schools and secondary schools, in turn, some significant changes in methodology, contextual, technological content of the educational, public educational and social, community work as well as in the field of sport education and training, which all resulted in functional demand alterations, in general with increased space demands directed at the conventional network of basic public institutions.

We determined the circle of the institutions involved in the scrutiny so, that they

- cover the whole country from the point of view of territorial distribution

- would represent all the issues of settlements from the smallest community to the regional centre

- should characterise the settlement as its central or sub-central position

- should be built on a new or existing residential area respecting the character of the settlement or part

- should be built as a new or reconstructed one respecting its technology.

- should be erected in one stage or in many phases concerning the financial effectuation.

Should be built as far as the realisation and floor plans concerned.

- center corridored

- lateral corridored

- center hall

- staircase connected

- suitably and courtyard system

Should involve all systems widely used in Hungary concerning the managerial and educational system.

The order of magnitude, composition, radius of influence and related institutions of the institutional complex were in all cases determined on the basis of detailed analysis of sociology, economics, urban development, public education.

Naturally, in a number of cases, we did not have adequate funds available, in such cases, we have designed the full complex, with a view of the basic development program - at least at the level of installations design ­and implement as such we can provide for the investment costs.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH IN DISADVANTAGED SCHOOL

Uno Winblad

Introduction

The health and well-being of children is a fundamental issue in education. This is catered for through school health services, health education and school meal programmes. Relatively little work has been done on the relation between the physical environment of the school and the health of school children: particularly with relevance to schools in low-income communities.

As part of its programme of School Health Promotion, WHO is currently undertaking a study of Primary School Physical Environment and Health. The purpose of the study is to define areas where interventions are feasible and suggest what can be done and how, particularly under difficult conditions and severe budgetary constraints, to promote a healthy school environment. This paper outlines some of the preliminary findings of the study.

Overview of the current situation

It is widely recognised that schools can have an important role in promoting health in society. Much effort has been invested over recent years on health education techniques for schools in low-income communities, including child-to-child methods, curriculum development, and the production of locally-appropriate education materials. However, the direct impact of the actual fabric and management of the school premises on child health has been relatively neglected. Many schools fail to provide healthy environments for their pupils. Poorly designed and maintained schools can be a source of disease and ill-health. Sick children also make poor learners.

Many schools in developing countries are characterised by dark, damp, overcrowded classrooms with little or no furniture. Often there is no regular water supply, nor any sanitary latrines. The grounds surrounding the school are littered with faecal material and rubbish. Poor maintenance results in dangerous structures that cause injury while ill-considered designs make some buildings effectively unusable in extremes of hot or cold.

It is clear that many of the problems of poor quality schools stem largely from poverty. Our thesis is that however resource- starved the school, there are always measures which can be taken to create a healthier environment. While well targeted additional resources will always be welcome, in the meantime there are ways of using existing resources better.

Health and the school environment

The study is to explore the various common correlations between schools physical environments and child health. While physical environments vary greatly from place to place there are several key recurring correlations between physical characteristic and ailments :

Despite the wide range of issues discussed it is apparent that in schools, as in the community at large, the two key problems are diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections. While there is scope for improving school environments in ways which may reduce the risks of respiratory infections, it is clear that for most schools in low-income communities the biggest scope for heath- related improvements is going to be in the area of water and sanitation.

Elements of healthy school environment

It is important that the decision makers on the ground understand a set of common broad objectives for a healthy school rather than adopt a package of standard technical solutions. The study has tentatively identified eight such key objectives: committed and informed people, a faecal-free environment, safer thinking water, convenient hand-washing, well-lit learning spaces, protection from the elements, structural safety and regular maintenance.

Recommendations

It is anticipated that, in practical terms, the main focus of the recommendations will be on :

• technological options for water and sanitation;

• management options for water and sanitation facilities;

• techniques to promote water and sanitation alternatives.

Resources must be allocated -

• not only to the provision of buildings but to essential services like water supply, handwashing arrangements and sanitation;

• not only to conventional classrooms but to all kinds of open and semi-open teaching learning spaces;

• not only to initial construction but to regular, on-going maintenance and repair.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

Mr. W.R. Ainsworth

Arch (Hon) Dunelm

FRIBE MCSD FRSA

Senior Partner in Ainsworth Spark Associates, Architects and Design Consultants, Urban Planners, Stone

Conservationist

Over a period of 33 years, the practice has completed in excess of 3,000 projects. Virtually every building type has been designed during that period.

Educational buildings include the full spectrum from nursery schools through to colleges of further education and universities . 'Affordability' varies with the politics and cultures of each Nation and it is not possible to make worldly comparative with so different constraints, climate and standards.

This small selection of schools concentrate on infant and primary school education and are only relevant with educational system of the UK. Nevertheless concepts of teaching spaces and the manner in which they are interpreted may have connections and relevance elsewhere. All the school work to budget constraints and 'Affordability' relates closely with 'buildability' and this will be a theme in my presentation.

1. QUEENS INCLOSURE INFANT

Lies on the edge of the ancient Forest of Bere, Hampshire and designed by Michael Hopkins. Sits parallel and close to the edge of the forest, to maximise the rest of the meadow site and to provide secret teaching areas outside the classrooms that face it. Circulation spine with class bases/tutorial pods breaking up the volume. Steel frame, profiled metal roof and glass.

BURNHAM COPSE INFANT

More urban site - a tent like classroom block and smaller hall. Classrooms around a central shared teaching space, each with their own class/resource base.

Staff and service rooms are grouped around the hall in the second block. Multi pitch roof shares in slate, glass and tiles act as landmark to children and community.

3 BISHOPSTOKE INFANT

Complex internal plan, derived from the last school and set against a woodland backcloth. Building sunk into the land form to reduce the scale. Land mounds formed from the excavations. Classrooms with mezzanine level resources bases over, spiral around the central hall. Multi pitch roof in zinc, glass and cedar shingles. Composite structure with rafters and purlins.

4 HATCH WARREN JUNIOR

Set in sweep of open downland - 2 principal elements; the hall with kitchen and the double curved classroom wing.

Essentially closed classrooms accessing a central shared resource space with separate closed class bases opposite. The spiral form of the building echos the manmade features and extend into the landscape.

5 BORDON WHITEHILL PRIMARY

Architect Nev Churcher.

A splendid pine, birch and oak wooded site.

This is a very different approach with a loose cluster of cedar roofed 'shades'. Building lies along the contours of natural bowl on three different levels connected by stairs and ramps.

Mixture of timber framed structure and load bearing brickwork with cedar shingle roofs.

6 STAKES HILL : HAMPSHIRE INFANT

Under construction at time of slides, but now complete.

_Ten classrooms on a steeply sloping site.

open plan with three linked spaces of repetitive timber primary structure. Clad in timber with cedar shingles. The tree columns and free floating canopy of acoustic suspended ceilings produce highly individual space.

Hardwoods are sourced from ecologically managed forests.

7 WESTGATE WINCHESTER : HAMPSHIRE

A small extension to a 1910 neo-Georgian brick school and the first phase of a series which will finally produce a large court. The light steel structure and lightweight flexible panels contrast with brick and concrete block. Section brings light into the central space.

8 RABY STREET : NEW CASTLE UPON TYNE NURSERY AND INFANT

A school designed in collaboration with Ralph Erskine within the Byker wall housing scheme.

Old red brick Victorian school part demolished to release open playing fields. Part retained for a community hall.

School contains two sides of a new piazza with a church and housing containing other two sides. This

is a public thoroughfare and in good weather, the children use the piazza as a resource space.

Each classroom has a small open terrace south facing to the playing fields. Roof dormers bring light into the central hall volume.

9. LISS JUNIOR : HAMPSHIRE

Funding came from the sale of the old school when the new school was complete. Very little finance available for a difficult site with 1 in 10 slope.

Earth moving too expensive and .an ingenious ramped interior came out of the constraint.

Principal obstacle was to persuade staff, gevernors, disabled advisor to accept ramped floor. Practical demonstration set on a large roadway covered in carpet. One fine day the slope was carpeted and 'Mad Hatter' tea party ensued. Everyone was persuaded.

10 QUEEN ELIZABETH SIXTH FORM SECONDARY : HEXHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND.

11 SOLENT : PORTSMOUTH INFANT

Designed by Kate McIntosh

South facing 1 in 14 slope with a sea view

Open plan resisted by staff, governors and parents as such a string of nine individual classrooms is broken down in trio of rooms, each with a shared space. Shared areas double as circulation space.

The Headteacher asked for her room to be dissociated from the staff room area and placed in the centre of the classrooms. As she had little time for teaching , she wanted the children to be aware of her presence. It also gave good surveillance of playground and entrance.

Hardwoods from managed sources and softwoods treated in organic non-toxoc stains.

The overriding feature of good school design is never to take the architect away from the initial and constant contact with the client and user. Any procurement method which eliminates these contacts will fail.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

PARTICIPATORY BUILDING DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

Mr Ashok Grover and Ms Aruna Grover

1.0 The Lok Jumbish Movement in Rajasthan

There is a picture postcard view of Rajashtan of palaces and kings, sand dunes, colour, music, valour and sacrifice. There is also the other view of Rajasthan, of deteriorating environment, large scale prevalence of child marriage, high infant mortality rate, caste and community stratification. Educationally, it is a backward state with male literacy at 45%, and female literacy at 14% (1991 census). In the Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jalore districts rural female literacy rate is between 1-2%, with no literate women in many villages.

It is against this background that the Lok Jumbish Project was mooted. The word "Lok" means people and "Jumbish" means movement. Together, they convey the idea of a movement by the people with a goal to achieve Education for All, by the year 2000. The objectives of the Lok Jumbish, include a composite programme of access to primary education and provision of opportunities to maintain, use and upgrade their education. It attempts to set in motion processes which would empower women and the backward classes, to move towards equal participation. As the purpose of the Lok Jumbish is to empower people and to revitalise basic education from below the stress is on processes and strategies governing project planning and implementation.

2.0 The Buildings Development Programme

2.1 The Process :

Work was to be carried out under the leadership of private architect groups at the block level, assisted by the Block Steenng Group while the actual work would be done by the village Bhavan Nirman Samiti (henceforth mentioned as BNS). A typical BNS comprises of 8-10 members, compulsorily including one school teacher, a woman, representatives of the SC/ST, and 2 members who have volunteered their services through the BSG.

The BNS under the guidance of the architect would :

- Identify problems in existing school building

- Prepare and agree upon estimates for repairs

- Operate a Bank Account on behalf of the community

- Purchase material and employ labour

- Supervise construction

- Maintain accounts on paper and on the school black-board for transparency

- Obtain a certificate from the architect when work is completed

It was generally found that a large section of village schools required repair as well as additional work space. In addition, certain primary schools needed upgradation to a middle school due to/their location and the enrolment pattern of students. A few villages called for a new school building.

2.2 Other aspects of the buildings programme

Other than school buildings, the following tasks were also identified:

Training of women as masons and semi-skilled workers for the construction programme Construction of field training centres

Rain water harvesting in the school compound

Identification of appropriate technology and/or upgradation of existing technology for cost optimisation

Preparation of detailed bilingual reports and manuals on the processes, technologies etc., so that this documentation could be used in other blocks in the district.

2.3 The Community Participatory Approach

It is a well known fact that the community participatory approach is a dynamic process. It acts as a catalyst for the community to make choices for itself in areas which had been hitherto beyond its domain. Thus, this takes into account:-

Perception of the community as to what are its priorities

Use and promotion of democratic process by the common man at the grass roots level

Transparency of approach, expenditure and responsibility

It has been well established that this process varies with the socio-economic status of the community, its cultural perception, level of literacy and the resources available with it and the external catalysing agency. Thus, there is a strong need to record the various outcomes of the process with its inbuilt nuances. This would not only help the profession in understanding the contents of the community participatory approach to architecture but also its importance in the education of the Architect.

3.0 The Chohtan Block, Barmer District

3.1 The Terrain

Chohtan block in the Indo-Pakistan border has a population of 1,71,105 persons spread in 167 revenue villages as per the 1991 census. The settlement pattern comprises of a mix of individual homesteads scattered in the landscape at one end of the scale, to groups of 40 to 50 homesteads at the other end of the scale. Due to this settlement pattern, children have to walk long distances to school. Further, 85% villages are accessible only by dirt tracks over a sandy terrain, which get hidden by moving' sands during summer and become parts of cultivated fields during monsoons making vehicular access difficult. Lack of water is the major problem in most villages. For this the government has created a system of large underground or surface tanks which are fed by deep tubwells or a passing water supply line. Water is collected and stored by individuals in their domestic tanks with the help of camel carts.

3.2. The Existing School Buildings

It was found that the designs of the existing buildings was stereo-typed and generally speaking, not suitable for a learning centre. Insufficient space, poor lighting conditions, the need for structural repairs and urgent provision of drinking water and toilets are some of the problems. A typical two-room school may thus be running outdoors because the better room is used as the store, while the other may be unusable. Underground tanks for rainwater harvesting in the premises do not hold water due to cracks with instances where the retaining wall is a two inch thick cement plaster applied on the excavated sandpit.

4.0 Evaluation of Building Programme in Barmer

4.1 On the composition of the BNS

The assumption that reservation of seats for women and the babkward classes would ensure their participation has not worked in reality.

Regarding women's participation the following issues have emerged :

Difficulty of finding women who would play the lone active role amongst a group of men.

Finding a literate woman who is upto the task of being an active co-signatory to the bank account.

Lack of positive social acceptance by both men and women of this system of participation leading to the woman playing a passive role. Regarding the Backwards, similar attitudes have been seen. Perhaps, both these groups have been repressed too long and would find it too difficult to change overnight, within the same socio-cultural milieu. On the positive side, the central concept has not

been rejected outright, indicating that they are prepared to give it their consideration.

4.2 On the community-BNS-consultant relationship

Here the process design has been successfully implemented. The BNS has represented the community will in most cases. Where there has been suspicion of malafied intentions the community has replaced the particular member of the BNS. As the programme is a transparent one, the BNS has been held in check by both the community and the architect consultant. In this regard the following comments may be made:

• The concept of writing down the daily expenditure on the school black-board is not successful as the school teacher has too many responsibilities. To most of the illiterate community written accounts become meaningless.

• However , word goes around by month and the community is able to keep tabs on the BNS.

• As the final sanctioned amount is not known to the BNS the architect is able to keep the BNS on its toes.

• The consultant team also makes regular site visits and informs the community of the activities of other BNS in the surround moving villages to keep the entire system moving.

4.3 On the Pivotal role of the School Teacher

The school teacher is required to keep accounts, withdraw money from the bank, render accounts to the village community and the consultant and act as the trouble shooter for the BNS. Due to lack of specific training he finds it difficult to cope with the pressure. Though assisted by the members of the BNS the ultimate monitory responsibility rests with him. If he is not a local, the villagers also keep him at a polite social distance , pushing him to take unwelcome unilateral decisions.

4.4 On the construction activity

There is a strong desire to build better buildings. The instructions of the architect are much appreciated but seldom totally understood leading to constant repeatation. As drawings proved to be a poor mode of communication models were made to explain the basic spaces. Hence, during construction there are changes recommended by the BNS and accepted by the architect if found to be responsible . The following points have emerged :

• The members of the BNS are more than willing to take on the responsibility^, of material purchase , arrangement of labour, procuring water for the construction activity.

• In several communities , villagers including members of BNS have requested that they be employed as labour. This form of employment is in no way considered below their dignity

4.5 On technology : its choice and appropriateness

As the core strategy involved the identification and the use of appropriate technology , an initial attempt was made to promote the use of systems used by the villagers in their domestic buildings. This was put aside by them as :

* The high maintenance requirements of these buildings would not be met as no government agency would be prepared to put aside funds for its repair and maintenance. School buildings continue to be viewed as government buildings.

• The community felt that under its supervision and control most problems in existing buildings could be avoided as exemplified by the prevalent private pucca construction in the villages.

• As the government was providing funds they wanted the best option and to them technology was a status symbol. Moreover, the BNS was taken to deliver the best option as per their perception.

The community has a clearer understanding of life-cycle cost and appropriateness than most of us would like to believe. The following points may be made :

• Stabilized mud blocks by themselves were acceptable; it was the lack of a compatible roofing system which would be light weight and yet deliver the required capacitance that was the problem.

* The community has on its own suggested the use of hand made precast stone block masonry. This area is being explored in greater detail in the phase comprising of expansion and new projects which has just started.

* In one village where tremendous initiative was shown, the additional work was a simultaneously started with the repairs. Here, for the first time an arch spanning 4.5m has replaced the steel girder , to take care of cracking due to differential expansion of materials. This is being used as a demonstration case for other village communities to follow.

4.6 On Research and Development

Some of the elements which have been explored are :

• Use of water based polymer compounds for waterproofing existing roofs without opening the existing terraces.

• Using the waste material after construction , developing an imperative floor around the watertank to augment the harvested rainwater.

• Directing design development towards achieving a suitable environment within exiting constraints.

Proper courtyards, playing corners and theatrical stages have been provided where additional spaces are being built.

Plantation and care of saplings by the students. Care has been taken to plant hardy local species like neem, saresh, khejri, piloo and babool.

On the attitudes of the Administrative / Power Groups

The block level personnel are not happy with the components of the programme, as data emerging from the field, on the status of existing buildings, is not rosy. Further, on completion of this programme the administration would be left to deal with a vocal and involved community. As a reaction they have :

Blocked land transfers for proposed schools and field training centres.

• Harassed school teachers by unexpected transfers, cutting of casual leave when the teacher uses•office hours for programme related liaison etc.

Village level power groups have reacted in two distinct ways. In about 65% of the villages, the elders are active participants in this programme after an initial period of mistrust of the mobilizing agencies. As a manifestation of this support , two such village panchayats have moved to provide panchayat land for the field centres. In other cases, corrupt members and factions have been eased out the BNS by active support of the village community.

4.8 On the overall impact

Considering project nature and its intangible objectives, the programme has had a good impact. Its objectives regarding women's participation seem to be overambitious in hind sight. On the other hand if not setup, no attempt would have been made to herald a change. But crucial question of how the community would continue on its path of self-reliant decision making once the supportive frame work of block steering group, the mobilizing agencies and the consultants, is removed , has perhaps yet to be framed.

Ashok Grover Practising architect & associate professor at the Sushant School od Art and Architecture, Sushantlok, Gurgaon

Aruna Grover Practising architect – planner and faculty member at the School of planning & Architecture, New Delhi

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

MAKING CONTINUING EDUCATION CENTRES (CECs) ACCESSIBLE TO WOMEN

Anita Dighe

Senior Fellow

National Institute of Adult Education

Ministry of Human Development,Govt. of India

One of the strengths of TLCs is that they are accessible, particularly to women learners. There are no daunting barriers to their participation - whether psychological, social or institutional. Since emphasis is placed on an initial environment-building phase and the appeal is directed at all non-literates - male and female, young and old, to join literacy classes, women obtain a kind of social sanction to join literacy classes. This is to their advantage as husbands do not have to be convinced individually about sparing their wives to join literacy classes nor do the mothers-in-law need any persuasion. Institutional barriers do not exist as the literacy classes are held in the immediate neighbourhood of the women learners, whether in the home or in open places. Since the literacy volunteers are from the same milieu and background, they are in most cases boys and girls known to the learners. Also, each class sets its own hours, depending upon the convenience of the learners. The classes have a low learner teacher ratio and there is generally a good relationship between the volunteer and the learners. Research experience is now showing that most of these features are favourable to women's participation in literacy classes. It is therefore not surprising that women participate in the TCLs in large numbers as learners and as literacy volunteers (the reported figures are as high as 70% to 80%). Now that the TLCs have spread to more than 350 districts in the country, the mobilisation levels can be said to be quite high.

But while the basic literacy phase seems to have elicited women's participation, what is envisaged in the next phase of post-literacy and continuing education is an institutional structure called the Continuing Education Centre (CEC) that is intended to respond to varied educational needs of people to include all of the learning opportunities all people want or need outside of basic literacy education and primary education. According to the scheme of Continuing Education for Neo-Literates, the overall functions of the (CEC) would be to serve 'as a window or a focal service point where diverse kinds of continuing education programmes and activities are taken up to provide opportunities for life-long learning to all sections of the population.' The specific functions are spelt out as under -

I) as an evening class to upgrade the literacy and numerically skills to be organised for 3 to 4

hours once a week;

2. as a library and reading room that would house books, old journals, wall papers and newspapers, development literature etc.;

3. as a 'charcha mandal' (discussion group) for discussing common problems;

4. organising training programmes of long and short duration relating to agriculture, animal husbandry, health etc.; also for organising vocational training programmes and income-generating programmes of various kinds;

5. for recreational and cultural activities, particularly the traditional and folk forms of art;

6. as an information window for disseminating information on various development programmes;

7. as a communication centre that would house some audio-visual equipment for community listening and community viewing.

According to the central government scheme, while the centre would provide financial assistance for the initial establishment and running of CECs, in the long term it is envisaged that the CECs would develop as a people's institution in the true sense of the term. It is therefore envisaged that community support would be established by the Zilla Saksharta Samiti (an autonomous organisation working for literacy at the district level, with the District Collector as its chairperson) and efforts made to mobilise financial and material resources from the community itself so that the CECs and their programmes become, as far as possible, self-funding in due course. With regard to the institutional infrastructure, however, what is envisaged is that the CECs would be housed in a school-building, panchayat ghar or any other public building. The present scheme of the government thus refers to eliciting peoples participation in running CECs without paying sufficient attention to the institutional structures that may not necessarily evoke such a response, particularly from village women. The question that needs to be asked is, how accessible-physically, psychologically, socially - are these existing institutional structures such as the panchayat ghar, school or any other public building to women?

Experience seems to indicate that the school building is often located some distance away from the village. This fact alone deters a large number of neo-literate women from attending a CEC, particularly at night the physical security of women and girls can become a major constraint. With the location of a CEC in a school building, the hours of the CEC would have to be regulated keeping the school timings in mind. In most cases, this would mean that the CEC would be open only in the evening or at night. The lack of physical proximity of the CEC could deter a large number of women from taking advantage of the programmes and its activities.

In the case of the panchayat ghar or any other public building, these have unfortunately become male spaces from which women have either been excluded or have been pushed to the sidelines. Panchayat ghars have been characterised by an air of formality and can be daunting and alienating, particularly since they have tended to be dominated by upper caste groups, generally all male. Undoubtedly, with the newly constituted panchayati raj institutions, it would be necessary to train villagers in the use of such institutional spaces to their advantage, but until then, mere location of CEC in a panchayat ghar might act as a hindrance to the participation of most neo-literate women, particularly those women from the SC/ST communities.

There are other problems of women's access if a CEC is housed in a panchayat ghar. The panchayat ghar oftentimes consists of one room, with the coming and going of people. Such an ambience would hardly be conducive to learning . Women particularly, would require a more enabling environment for learning where there is peace and quiet, where they can unwind and relax and feel comfortable. They would require separate spaces so that they can talk to one another, share experiences, laugh, even sing with joyous abandon. Formal institutional spaces would cramp such a learning process from taking place.

From the way the CECs are presently conceived it is clear that gender issues have not been given any consideration. For it CECs have to cater to neo-literate women, then clearly the institutional structures would have to become more accessible to women, more geared to meet their needs and demands. Rather than conceiving such centres as being part-time and open at only certain hours of the day to suit the convenience of the existing institutional structures such as schools, panchayat ghars etc., they would have to be conceived as centres that are open at all times and to which village people, particularly women, can come as and when time permits or as needs arise. If conceived thus, a creche for children could possibly become a necessary adjunct to such an institutional structure. With rampant alcoholism in rural areas and with women suffering from domestic violence, a CEC could also become a place away from home for battered women and women in distress.

The CECs are intended to be multi-purpose in their orientation and range of activities and programmes. But somehow the underlying assumption is that by merely organising an evening class for upgrading literacy and numeracy skills or by setting up a library or a reading room, that neo-literate women would automatically participate in such activities and programmes. Besides the need to conceive of different strategies to challenge women to use their newly literacy skills, it is possible that women would require separate spaces for themselves to enable them to hone their newly acquired literacy skills or have 'read-aloud' sessions that could possibly generate their interest in independent reading. Such privacy organised for adolescent girls and young mothers or women have to discuss wife beating or rape or any issue that concerns their lives. if education has to 'empower' women, then clearly women would need a separate physical space where they feel uninhibited, relaxed, challenged to continue their learning. This is not to suggest that women would not have any intersection with men at all. As women experience self-confidence and feel emboldened to interact with men, they could then share common spaces. Such common spaces would be necessary for organising training programmes relating to agriculture, animal husbandry etc., or training in areas that have hither-to remained male preserves.

If a CEC has to become a people's centre, then_. it is the people themselves-particularly poor women and men-who would have to decide to be a multi-purpose centre, it is possible that the existing institutional structures are rejected by them due to the unsuitability of design and inadequate space or problems of access due to various social, psychological or physical constraints. If people's participation particularly that of poor women has to be elicited, then it is they who should be informed about the CEC should be located or whether a new institutional structure that is open , people-friendly, and yet responsive to the specific needs of women, should be created. Besides, their ideas about suitable designs, suggestions about the use of locally available materials as well as harnessing of existing development programmes (JRY, TRYSEM, DWCRA., etc.) or even augmenting the resources in other ways-might go a long way in the creation of such a people's centre. In the meantime the colleagues from the field of architecture might wish to address the design challenge if the CEC has to become a people's centre for continuing education.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

BUILDING FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION

Mr. Satish Khanna

Prof. of Architecture

School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi

School Building is one of the important Pre-requisites for imparting education. In 1989 the SPA had prepared guidelines for construction of Primary Schools under Operation Black Board (OBB) Scheme of the Government of India. Last year for the I.B.R.D. a study was completed relating to the construction of Primary Schools. A number of NGOs, individual architects and government research institutes also have been enganged in developing , using and propogation of appropriate technology. Ipsite of the work of these institutes and individuals, by and large for primary school buildings only convenetional construction techniques are used. There is no innovation and sesitivity in building design either, irrespective whether the sponsor is a private individual, trust or a government department.

The Architecture for education , except in the case of the elitist public schools catering to the higher income groups, has failed to provide the physical setting and environment which could be considered satisfactory by any yardstick. The buildings, through substantially built are crude and are mere shelters. The site is invariably undeveloped and the whole presents only a desolate, non descript and bleaky prospect. the situation is further aggravated by the sad fact that the premises, even the class rooms, are not regularly swept , cleaned and dusted. Indoors, the class rooms do not have a presentable furniture even for the teacher. Even when the students have to squat on floor, the mats are either too flimsy or worn out. The result is that despite the provision of the physical assest in the form of a substaintial building, the environment available to the children, is not conductive for inclduding any positive attitudes and values. What is our reaction to it. Do we believe that the situation could be better ? or we believe that this is the result of lack of resources. In addtion to the school buildings , designed & built for the specific function, there are numerous Private Schools in small and big towns alike , run in old buildings initially built as houses. Here one notices that despite inferior space standards and other deficiencies, the compact (controllable) nature of the premises results in a more orderly environment as it can be looked after and maintained. The better managament , better unkeep and maintenance of these schools, produces an environment which has at least some semblance to an educational institution. This is vital. One therefore may tend to conclude , and rightly, that substaintal building by itself is not adeaquate. Building environment and teachers are to be provided simultaneously. Buildings are at best mere shelters, being uncomfortable during winter months , Classes are thus often held under the comfort of the sun, in the open. Tagore's Shanti Niketan established in this century demostrated that with use of landscape the environment for teaching can be created even outdoors, climate permitting. why is it that in the case of Primary Schools, emphasis on this aspect has not been laid ?

During the last decades despite the Country's competent engineers , intelligent administrators and educationist with a vision, the nation has been hesitant to tackle the right problem. In the first place, the very perception of the problem has been faulty. We tend to state that the problem in a manner that makes it so gigantic and stupendous that it defies any solution. The resources available fall too short of the needs and plans. Compromises are thus made at all levels, be it policy, designing or the implementaion. The two major faults have been 'Centralisation' and the govenment trying to do everything. Government builds Schools, and the people criticise it for insensetivity & leakages. The goverment appoints teachers and it is criticised for appoiting incompetent persons who lack dedication. The dropout rate is high. The physical assests stand neglected and fall into a state of dispair. For a piece of chalk the helpless teacher waits for help from a distant headquarter. The community who is the user and the benefactor is an alien , has no care or concern for the government's program & efforts and investments. The community looks at the government as a 'provider' and it does'nt contribute on its own. Unless the people contribute to the funds, the resources are bound to remain grossly inadeqate. The same is true of the technical resources. The only satisfation of the technical person is the status and perks that go with his job. The masons and other workers in the building trade are not equal in the process of construction.

The talk of appropriate technology and the use of local materials remains as mere

slogans. There is no conviction of belief . There is no continuity. Very good work and experiments end up as one time efforts and then delegated to the archives. Resources for teaching are unneccessarily made into permanent fixtures. A bad and unwilling teacher recruited by fault or chance , continues to remain in the service for life long, without contributing. While millions of intelligent youth remain unemplyed. There is need for mobility and incentive in the profession of teaching. For primary education purposes, even voluntary youth , detailed for short terms can do better work than permanent teachers. There is the need to privatise the whole program. It is more necessary , to make a beginning in the right direction. Mere formality of providing a physical infrastraucture , and imparting perfunctory primary education have failed to make any visible change. The community is to be involved, the community has to bear the cost, howsoever poor its resources.

Therefore, we should concentrate our efforts to think out (1) how to achieve proper fit between the user and the building (2) how to involve the community and the users in the funding of the schools (3) how to use the services of those engineers and architects who are concerned about the problem and are prepared to accept the challenge and prove that they can deliver the goods , working in unfavourable conditions and with limited resources and rewards, (4) how to make use of the govt. building departments, for improving the delivery system, cutting costs and achieving better standards of construction and (5) how to ensure a steady supply of volunteer teachers from the more fortunate sections of the society. The standards and goals are to be set which should be met, instead of perennial advancement of target dates.

The Governement's efforts should be restricted to creating an awekening in the poorest sections of the citizens an urge to educate their children alongwith preparedness to pay for the service. The task of establising schools and managing them should be left to educational trusts, co-operatives and even individuals. Government should not spend money except in the shape of soft loans and limited subsidies. Let it not be bogged down by the task of purchasing chalks and furnitures.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

AFFORDABLE SPACES FOR EDUCATION FOR ALL - ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

Mr. T.N. Gupta

Executive Director and Advisor

(Housing Technology)

Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council

Ministry of Urban Affairs & Emplyment

Relationship of architectural form and its structural behaviour determines the practical utility, constructive strength, performance level and aesthetics of the building. Built environment if created to satisfy only functional and structural requirements would be called a 'Product'. But in architectural creation performance and aesthetics must come into play in the design and construction process. However, the design process for buildings particularly for social needs like dwelling, health, education and other community needs has to reach beyond the regime of art and science in its creation and construction. This calls for thoughtful and intelligent search for concepts, designs, building materials and methods of construction, and optimisation amongst these different constituents through a creative design process. The architects, educationists and designers have to interpret and transform the historically derived vocabularies of methods, designs and technologies in their own fields to respond to the needs of those who, in most developing situation, can not afford even adequate minimum spaces for education. The variation in the "minimum school space per pupil" in the developing countries and that in the developed ones, highlights the need to focus on the concept of adequate school space, of education for all has to be the goal. This leads to the two essential issues the relationships between educational methods and aspirations of the people on one hand and participatory approach to the design and construction of spaces on the other. A school building in a rural or urban neighbourhood in India, like most other developing countries, is sacrosanct and awe inspiring entry for the community. The school whether under a tree in a community space or in a hired building or in its own precinct is held in high esteem by the parents of the children who study and all others in the community around.

In past, reforms in architecture were intimately related to the systems of construction and the materials used during any particular period. A work of architecture, therefore, depended on the type of supporting structure which in turn was built to enclose spaces and withstand different types of loads to ensure health and safety of the users. Scientific and technological advancements have changed the concept of form which traditionally conformed to statical functions. The architectural form today is a function of dynamic interaction between various parameters. Its major attributes include flexibility to accommodate variety of situations that may confront users of the builtform. This has also added to the responsibilities of the architect who, contrary of the traditional role of a professional working in his own shell, has to coordinate the roles of large number of professional and others associated with realisation of a built environment. No doubt, the basic task continue to be combining materials, design, production and properties.

Today we live in a period of human history where pace of social transformation and scientific and technological achievements have taken over all traditional values and systems. The traditionally accepted distinction between information and knowledge stands threatened under the impact of fast developing computer culture.

Like various other human activities, educational methods have also undergone great change and new educational technology has emerged. The traditional concept of a class room catering to need of "chalk and talk" method can not be validated today against the modern performance parameters acceptable to educationists related to school level which is the concern of the present seminar. Today's educational requirements calls upon the teacher to create situations during the school hours where pupils receive the benefit of information and knowledge on one hand, and learn from experiences and applications of that information and knowledge on the other. The teaching today does not confine itself to the four walls of a class room or to the four walls of laboratory or history or geography room. It is nearer confined to the school boundary or even to the neighbourhood where it is located. The situation in most developing countries, with respect to planning, design and construction of built environment for education has two parallel streams, one refers to the design and construction of such schools which can afford the most modern methods of teaching and

leaning the complex systems of educational gadgetry, equipment and devices like computers, audio-visual aids and other methods of communication. Such schools can also afford the cost intensive building and construction methods employing most modern industrially produced building materials and systems of construction based on the principles of structural and value engineering. The other stream refers to the situation where the large number of primary schools in country like India do not have even a building except having one to three teachers, few blackboard and space sheltered or unsheltered where children and teachers meet during a school-day. Despite the enrolment in our primary schools having not reached 100 percent a very large number of primary schools do not have adequate number of teachers (there is a high percentage of single teacher schools in the country) what to say of building and gadgetry, it is this second stream which needs to be addressed in the present seminar. There is a need to evolve an enabling strategy because most governments in the developing countries have not been able to provide even a minimum built-up space for all primary schools.

Like in all developmental activities, technology provides the link between various essential parameters in the process of building schools. Primary schools like housing are the basic needs for people more particularly for those socio-economic segments who can not afford to spend on the basic education of their children. It is in this context, National Education Policy of India lays emphasis on free and compulsory education for all upto the primary level. The Education Policy further recommends to all States to adopt and operationalise an enabling strategy to realise the goal of education for all. Some of the provincial governments have taken the strategy further to provide free education upto secondary level.

After planning and design, construction is most important phase of a building programme, as it transforms physical inputs into a built environment having desired quantity and quality. Looking to the present need for school buildings and financial constraints minimisation of physical inputs going into the construction is essentially required. A school building in this context can not be treated as a separate entity but has to a part of school building programme. Any school building , particularly in developing countries, has to lay emphasis on the roles and responsibilities of various actors involved in the process and it is here the role of cost effective building materials based on local resources and of appropriate technology starts. It has to be an exercise of optimisation and selecting the best of the available options for different geo-climatic situations. The best has to be defined as adequate capable of pefforming functions associated with teaching and learning with desired standards.

Despite a large number of alternate innovative building materials and construction technologies developed through intensive research and development many of these technologies have not received desired visibility in the construction practice. The architect for school building has to think and act beyond the realms of the tradition concept of planning, design and supervision of construction while conceiving the design of primary schools. His tools include on one hand, the educational brief (which he has to evolve by interacting with the teachers, students and educational planners and decision makers), and on the other a wide palatte for local building materials and construction methods. His ingenuinity lies in integrating the educational brief with the selection of materials , methods and men who apply these materials and methods for finally producing the building. Following activities has to be undertaken in order to augment the availability and arrive at the selection of appropriate technologies for any school building programme. These need to be deliberated during the present seminar.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

COST EFFECTIVE SPACES FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION

Mr. V.K.Mathur

FIIA, FITP, FIE

Deputy Director, Scientist, Co-ordinator & Head - Education & Health Building Division

SYNOPSIS

There is an acute acute shortage of primary schools in most of the Asian Countries mainly due to limited resources on one hand and the increasing demand for more and more schools on the other. The traditional methods for planning and construction of schools in rural areas are expensive and time consuming. To meet the heavy backlog of primary schools an innovative approach for design, construction planning and management is necessary so as to make, the best use of available resources. Some of the innovative and practical approaches found successful for construction of a large number of school buildings, in rural areas are discussed in the paper.

INTRODUCTION

Development of rural areas have been one of the paramount concern of people and the government of India. Constant efforts are being made to improve the conditions of the villages by means of providing basic and infrastructure facilities to the rural areas. Like other developing countries, experiments have been made , with varying degree of success, in India also, to uplift the rural folk by means of the application of researches and developmental activities commensurate with the available resources. In the process of overall rural development, the building activity also plays a significant role. The fast socio-economic changes, age-long cultural heritage and political wisdom are the important parameters which govern the design and construction of almost any building. Besides the house , which is the basic need , the provision of physical facilities like schools, health care buildings and community buildings ,are equally important.

The problem of providing building facilities for elementary education and infrastructure is a significant part of the large problem of development in which the rural population and other deprived sections have generally had a rough deal so far. Education facilities have to be seen as an important input to an integrated approach to the village development process. As the problem concerns dispersed , disadvantaged and deprived sections of the population, who are mainly rural., there is distinct need for linking educational development with rural development. The village school acquires a large purpose than merely providing reading and writing skills to children. properly organised and constructed, it could well become the centre of social and cultural life of the village community and an institution where all development agencies could come together for an integrated development process at the grassroots. If one were to visualise a village development complex of which the school would be one part, a place for learning for both, young and adults, where agriculture, health, industry, information and broadcasting, voluntary agencies, dissemination of information and welfare , funds could be pooled to give each village an integrated community centre of which the school unit could be a part.

Based on the above philosophy and thinking the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) undertook intensive studies, to identify parameters pertinent to scientifically worked out special needs for schools building and integrated community facilities in the context of rural needs and development. The CBRI has also helped several state governments and union territories in their special construction programmes of school buildings for rural areas. This paper includes the status of such facilities in the country highlighting the research and development work, undertaken at this Institute. Some of the innovative experiences where the research work has been implemented in rural areas of the country from the important part of the paper. The need of the hour is to pool such innovative experience and disseminate in same properly.. The inter change of experiences within and outside the.Country will also help promote transfer of relevant technologies to the rural areas for the benefit of the people and the society at large.

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

The schools system in India consists of four distinct stages, namely, middle, secondary and higher secondary. These correspond to the following classes and age groups of the children.

The first two of these are also often referred to as the elementary stage and the letter two as the secondary stage.

India is a union of 25 states and 7 union territories. Some variations do actually exist in different states/union territories in the structure of school system, but by and large the elementary stage corresponds to the age group of 6-14 years and secondary to 14-17 years of 14-18 years. The total duration of the system is 11 years in some states and 12 years in others.

The present educational system in India was established by the British Government in the first half of the 19th Century. Though the preliminary thinking on educational planning began about 50 years ago, the systematic planning could become a national policy of educational development only in 1951, when the first Five Year plan was launched. Since then through Five Year Plans and through Annual Plans the system has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of educational facilities at all levels. The major objectives have been social justice through the equality of opportunities, improvement of living standards and supply of requisite manpower to various sectors of economy for meeting the development needs. Constitution adopted in 1950, provided for free and universal education to all children upto the age of 14 years. These has been unprecedented expansion of the school system during the past four decades.

Due to constant deferment over a long period of time, the problem of physical facilities in schools in general and of building in rural areas in particular, has become acute. A large number of existing primary and middle schools were housed in unsatisfactory buildings. Only 26.5 per cent primary schools were located in permanent building which could be considered safe and satisfactory. However, a large proportion of even these building did not have adequate space to accommodate all the enrolled children and also they were not constructed to suit the curricular requirements. Rest of the schools were held in unsatisfactory, semi­permanent or most unsatisfactory temporary structures. A number of these were meeting even in open spaces. Not even 50% schools can be considered having satisfactory buildings.

Management

The set up for design and construction unit of schools in rural areas, varies rom state to state. The following are the major agencies for undertaking design and construction :

1. Public Works Department of the Sate

2. Zila Parishads (District Boards)

3. Rural Engineering Services

4. Panchayat Raj

Public Works Departments of state government are engaged in the above work in a few states only. There are no separate wings for construction of schools in these departments. In majority of the states Zila Parishads undertake the design and construction of schools in rural areas. In some of the states Zila parishads have strong engineering units on the PWD pattern and are effective in their construction programme. The works committees of the Zila Parishads co-ordinate the construction activities. The mapping as proposed by the Education Departments is discussed and finalised by the General council of the Vila Parishad which has representative of various departments in addition to elected members. The decision

and details of construction are taken by the construction unit. Some of the states

established Rural Engineering Services for looking after rural construction programme. The Rural Engineering Service is organised on the pattern of PWD.

Some states insist that community should provide building for a school before it is recognised for grant-in-aid purpose. The communities through their Panchayats (Village Assemblies) construct schools and hand them over to the Education Department. Zila Parishads also provide fund to Panchayats for the construction of schools, which the Panchayats get executed, designs, specifications and construction details are provided by Zila Parishads. The works are finally certified by Zila Parishad's Engineering Cells.

Some of the demonstration projects for the construction of schools using new designs and construction techniques were under taken by the CBRI in many parts of the country. The CBRI has a full fledged division engaged in research on various aspects of school buildings. On its initiative some states have started the Engineering calls in their department of Education on a very modest scale.

Design

The state government have their own building regulations, codes standards and type plans. Mostly the classrooms are in row with verandah on the front for circulation purposes. The schools are found in E, L, F or U shapes. In majority of the cases the building codes, regulations and type plans were prepared long time back. With the aid of research done at the CBRI on spatial norms; utilisation of space, lighting, ventilation and construction techniques a number of states have developed new plans and specifications.

Educational activity demands more stress on teaching through activity and craft work. Such activities need groupwork and diverse sitting arrangements. The spaces provided in traditional plans cater for only, to some extent, the need of such activities; the lighting and ventilation level through window and opening are not adequate in them. The storage space required for the basic activity is mostly insufficient for such schools.

The design of schools with classes in row meets the climate requirements i.e. better ventilation and lighting if the schools are properly oriented. There is lack of teaching, equipment/storage, play spaces and other facilities in relation to educational needs. A very large number of schools do not have proper buildings and teaching environment. Space requirement per child varies considerably and spaces to be provided needs to be rationalised.

The plans developed in recent times into consideration educational requirements and to the comfort and needs of the child. They are economical and use recent knowledge on the subject of school planning.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The CBRI took up research on school building with a view to providing design data and studying methods of cost reduction and in addition helping various organisations in the design and construction management of school building. The institute also completed construction of large number of schools in rural areas of some of the states of the country in. order to translate its research on various aspects. It is also sharing its expertise with various agencies on their specific construction programmes of schools building. The significant aspect of studies and experiments include.

• Spatial and functional requirement standard

• Building technology

• Construction planning & management

• Feed-back studies

A detailed investigation regarding the shape and size of teaching spaces in relation to seating pattern, their effect on audibility, angle of vision on chalk board, lighting efficiency and sufficiency of educational needs has been undertaken to optimise the spatial need. This helps in eliminating over-size and/or under-size teaching space and rationalise the requirements.

Storage space requirement in class room as well as in schools have been worked out for better performance of the educational activities.

The studies on the use-efficiency of school spaces have led to considerable economy in the space requirement, thus economising on the total cost of construction. The studies reveal that the use-efficiency requirement of 52 percent in traditional schools could be increased to 76 percent by eliminating unproductive spaces like verandh and head master' room and it can further be increased to 85 percent by rationalising teaching time table. The increased use-efficiency results in 40 percent saving of space requirement. The teaching requirements of single teacher schools demands a new kind of approach due to the greater emphasis on work-experience based education. The designs of such spaces are required to cater for wider range of activities and greater flexibility of interior arrangement. A number of plans have been developed. The salient features are (a) functional efficiency (b) elimination of non-teaching spaces (c) single teacher control (d) adequate provision of physical facilities.

The anthropometric dimensions of students govern the design of school buildings, furniture, and equipment. The dimensions and relationship of body measurements were interpreted in terms of furniture, equipment and school designs to cover various activities and postures. The design data have been grouped to cater for the following.

Furniture design (Table,chair and standing working surface) Reach extent (Shelves,display baord,chalk baord etc.) Eye level (Standing, sitting and squatting postures)

On the basis of the above studies and design data, standard furniture for class rooms have been worked out taking into consideration the distribution of age groups in various clases.

Studies have been conducted on day lighting,natural ventilation,thermal environment and acoustics as relevant to climatic conditions and idigenously available materials.

Day lighting design for a number of Asian countires has been completed. Ventilation studies on wide span building; acoustical partial partition for educational buildings;thermal comfort index for hot humid climate were completed for UNESCO.

Studies and expertise have been developed to analyse, evaluate and interpret the climatic data for architectural solutions. Methodoligies for evaluating thermal and acoustical properties of indigenously available matarials have been developed.

Daylight, ventilation and thermal data for school buildings have been integrated and presented in the form of simple multigraph. Day light levels, wind speed and thermal conditions indoors can be read from these graphs for different window size and orientation. Multigraphs have been prepared for the hot humid and hot arid climates.

Building Technology

Considerable research work and experimentation have been undertaken for efficient and economic structural design of buildings, rationalising traditional construction practices and developing new techniques of construction using conventional and new materials including local materials.

Development of fully and partially precaste construction systems have been demonstrated in details on a large scale. Some of the prefabricated techniques include Doubly curved tiles; cellular units, channel unit, cored units, waffle units.reinforeced cement concrete pank, 'L' panels,• brick panels, reinforced cement concrete, timber and steel tubes trusses for sloping Roof, etc. Use of bamboo as reinforcement in concrete slab has also been experimented. Precaste stone concrete block masonry has been developed where stone is easily available.

A study and experiment on large scale have been conducted for system built schools. The systems have been developed with the following considerations.

- Minimum number of standard components- Simplified casting method, minimising the use of skilled personnel

- Bullock carts as the main means of transpotation in the rural areas.

- Light weight of individual components so as to make use of manual labour for handiling and hoisting. - Simplified joint detailing and erection methods.

- Economical and speedy construction.

Studies on local resource utilisation have been conducted and experimented on a big scale in areas of hot humid climate. A great deal studies on building economics, builiding management and cost reducing techniques have been conducted. Keeping in view the above parameters construction systems were developed for pitched and flat roofs, speacially to suit construction programmes.

Constraints and Constructional Management

Cement and steel are the scarce building materials for most of the Asian countries while on the other hand, natural building materials are available in plenty in most rural areas. Obviously, the use of such materials is desirable because they are not only economical but also merge with the natural environment. Unfortunately, however, these materials sometimes suffer from certain major drawbacks. They are attacked by fungus, white ants, sun, rain and other weathering effects, This results in heavy maintenance cost and periodical replacement of structural members. Experience has shown that the school buildings constructed with local materials need special attention and care for their unkeep.

Besides the above constraints, there is a serious lack of middle level executives, technicians and skilled workers; Morever the available technicians and skilled workers tend to migrate to the town due to lack of opportunities in the rural areas. On the other hand, plenty of unqualified unskilled manpower is available which could profitably be utilised for building activities provided a little attention is given to train them. Rural school construction does not need highly sophisticated technical innovations as such.

In many countries of Asia the building industry has not been able to reorganise itself on a firm footing. Wherever it has been able to do so, it is mainly urban oriented and unable to meet the requirements of rural areas. The procedures, organisations and technologies are suitable for urban needs and their application in rural situations has not been successful. Construction work in rural areas generally involves a small financial outlay in which no reputed contractor is likely to be interested and hence such works are undertaken by local craftsmen. Such men are generally neither in a position to afford the overhead cost of procedural requirements of standard contracts nor to wait long for payment. Experience has shown that the procedural and managerial aspects of construction specially in rural areas have been a big obstacle in the construction of schools. Government building projects are, by rules, required to be undertaken by contractors on the basis of the competitive tendering which consumes time and may result in false economy.

From the above it can be concluded that for rural constructions it is desirable to develop a simple construction technology which _need not be dependent on machinery, equipment and large financial outlay.

Various countries in the Asian region have tried prefabricated construction techniques in the construction of school buildings with varying degrees of success. Efforts were also made by CBRI to implement its research on planning, construction techniques and construction management for construction of primary school buildings in the state of Uttar Pradesh and in the some of the States of North Eastern Region. Experiences thus obtained are discussed below. It may be mentioned that before undertaking the large scale construction of schools, a few prototypes were constructed in the field to study the technical feasibility and functional efficiency of the design. Necessary modifications/changes were made on the basis of performance and user's reactions.

Construction of schools with Partially Pre-Fabricated Systems

At the request of the of Uttar Pradesh the Institute worked out a three phased primary school building design using prefabricated system built construction. The State Government decided to construct schools in large number as per construction techniques developed by CBRI. The State Government approved the construction programme of schools and allocated Rs. million for the purpose at a rate of Rs.8500 per school of 2 class rooms in the first stage in the year 1972. the study of the situation demanded a new approach to the "design and construction of these schools. prefabrication in reinforced cement concrete as discussed above seemed to provide a possible answer that time.

A comparison of cost between traditional construction and prefabricated construction indicated 20 percent saving in the latter. Local materials were used for all elements except for the fabricated skeleton and roofs. The average time taken for the completion of one school amounted to half of that taken by traditional construction. CBRI completed construction of about 2500 school buildings in rural areas of thirty districts of the State with the innovative planning and management approach. Some of these are mentioned in brief.

Centralized Prefabrication of Components

The prefabrication components of the school building comprised perkiest concrete channel units for roofing, roof trusses, lintel cum sunshades and wooden doors and window shutters. This was done at district headquarters due to availability of electric power and water. It also permitted better quality control.

Award of Contract

Experiences showed that the introduction of new techniques using prefabricated components, the open tender system of contracting led to higher tender rates, in addition to being time consuming. It was, therefore, decided to award the contracts through negotiations. Contracts for work at the site were normally awarded to rural entrepreneur with a view to encouraging rural economy through employment of local labour, rural skilled labour was also scarce.

Financial Management

To make quick payments to the contractors for work, a 'number of measures were taken to simplify and streamline procedures:

- The conventional methods of recording measurement of works in the standard measurement books was modified in view of repetitive nature of work. This led to saving of time and energy of staff working at site.

Running payment of the order of 75 to 90% of value of work on progress of materials supplied was allowed. This helped small contractors to sustain themselves and complete the work as per contract.

Rural Schools with Tubular Trusses

CBRI also developed suitable plan and evolved a system of construction planning and management for construction of large number of primary schools in remote areas speedily and economically with steel and

timber structure. Government provided and erected the necessary skeleton with C.G.I. sheet roofing while the community provided non-load bearing fuller walls and floor etc. with the local construction techniques and skills commensurate with available finances in different phases. The basic advantage of the concept is that it provides a permanent skeleton consisting of foundation, columns, trusses and roof to the community and the school starts functioning. Simultaneously or later on, the community also participates in construction. the skeleton thus provided requires least maintenance offers speed in construction and sufficient degree of flexibility of cladding, doors, windows and floor, etc.

The components of the structures are so designed that they can be transported easily by means of transport available in the difficult terrain such as mules or even on head manually.

The assembly and erection of these components are also very easy and quick and can be done by available skills. With the planning and construction techniques explained above, it has been possible to put up a large number of primary school buildings even in the remote rural terrain in various parts of the country.

FEED-BACK STUDY

At the time of construction planning and management and execution of the above projects several difficult problems were faced and immediate local measures for the solution of problems did not always lead to desired results. A feed back study was, therefore, undertaken with the object of drawing lessons from field experiences so that the design and construction of school buildings in future could be more efficient and economical. The study brings out several practical suggestions for improvements in design, construction planning and management. Some of the important recommendations concurring construction, planning and management are as follows :-

- Government rules and regulations should be modified to suit the construction in rural set up.

- Advance planning for selection and acquisition of site, procurement of materials and manufacture of prefabricated building components is necessary.

-Time targeted projects , at state level , should be managed by a high level inter-disciplinary management committee with the assistance of sub-committee at district level and village level.

- Norms for staff provision for rural projects cloud be different from normal constructions. Provision of adequate staff is necessary for proper control of works.

- The participants of local people should be inbuilt in the management system.

- Adequate training programme in construction planning and management should be organised for newly recruited staff.

-Construction of large number of schools, simultaneously should be undertaken with speedy and economical construction techniques.

-The construction techniques adopted in the project need simplification by reducing cast-in-situ conctrete work at site.

-The plan, specifications and construction techniques could be worked out regionwise in order to utilise fully the local resources.

-The concrete system should, be rural oriented. It is, therefore, necessary to liberalise and modify the existing system, payment system, value of earnest and security money and defect liability period.

- Mode of payment also should be liberalised for petty contractors through open cheques if necessary.

-Funds for maintenance of school buildings should be earmarked. White walls, painting of doors windows and trusses etc. should be done every year.

-Regular feed back of technical, administrative, management and other problems in the field is necessary. CONCLUSION

From the research and development studies conducted at the Institute and its implementation , it is concluded that construction of school buildings in rural areas has suffered mainly due to lack of resources including scientific and technical knowledge. The planning and construction of schools based on optimum utilisation of space and partially prefabricated construction technology has tremendous potential for rural areas. The skeleton structure may be prefabricated and be of permanent nature requiring least maintenance.

The method of erection and assembly of prefabricated structure should be so simple that it may require least supervision and guidance from technical personnel and should preferably be done by locally available skill.

A well planned effort is needed to seek the co-operation and assistance of local people in school construction programme. The quality of performance , economy , employment potential and time saving characteristics are the assets of partial prefabricated construction for rural area.

As far as poSsible dry construction methods should be adopted to eliminate faulty construction which is likely to take place due to site limitations and non availability of water and other materials in the interior villages.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

PROVIDING AFFORDABLE SPACES FOR EDUCATION : AN EXPERIMENT WITH ECONOMIC DESIGNS OF CONSTRUCTION IN MAHARASHTRA

R. A. Rajeev, lAS

Deputy Secretary, Rural Development & Water Conservation Department, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai

Within the overall policy framework of "Education for All", the requirement of spaces for imparting education as against the availability of resources has forced planners and administrators in government to think about the cost reduction in construction of learning places. In the State of Maharashtra, the total requirement of primary school rooms at present is of 2.14 lakhs whereas there are only 1.41 lakhs existing primary school rooms and hence the gap is of 73,000 school rooms, while resources available for this year can only cater to 1.57 % of the total demand. This data does not include requirement of spaces for early childhood centres and adult literacy centres.

Against this background, this paper would like to focus on problems which come in the way of cost-reduction in government-sponsored construction programme, the need for attitudinal change, and finally the need for sensitising public works department towards this cause. This paper will also discuss the experiments carried out by this author in Pune and Thane districts. where in all 278 school rooms and 299 early childhood care centres (Aanganwadis) were constructed using economic designs of construction.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

PARTICIPATORY BUILDINGS DEVELOPMENT APPROACH - THE EXPERIENCE OF LOK JUMBISH

Mr. P.K. Lauria

Building Adviser, Lok Jumbish Parishad, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Lok Jumbish is viewed as a people's movement for providing primary education of satisfactory quality to all boys and girls of Rajasthan. The buildings development (limited to 24 percent of project funds) is being taken up through an R & D process to make a beginning in qualitative improvement of school buildings and the school environment , to reduce construction costs and to utilise local materials & technology. Implementation of repair and construction works is carried out through the Building Construction Committee, comprising of the local community and school teacher. Works mainly comprise repairs and extensions to existing buildings and making provision for basic amenities such as storage, toilets, drinking water, play areas, etc. Proposals for additional accommodation or construction of a new facility is based on a detailed village survey & school mapping data. There has been a general appreciation of the way this programme is being taken up with total transparency of all activities including accounting.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SPATIAL MODIFICATIONS NECESSARY IN INTEGRATION OF DISABLE UNDER 5s

Ms. Mithu Alur

Chairperson, the Spastics Society of India

There is voluminous literature showing that the first five years of any child's development is the most critical period of his/her life. Valuable contributions have been in the field from all disciplines such as social sciences psychology education and from the psycho-analytical school. There is now substantial evidence and unanimous agreement on the fact that the optimum time for learning basic skills are the early years. There is also major evidence available that the children who are deprived of these facilities due to social disadvantage or disability, suffer serious consequences scholastically, linguistically and educationally. Current trends in the industrialised countries have been towards integration disabled children into appropriate environments, modification of space and environment has been stressed. In India, the largest package and delivery of services in early childhood care namely ICDS programme, does not include the disabled child. Although India has been a signatory of Education For All, this cannot become a ground reality unless disabled children are also included. The paper will cover the modifications of space necessary for mainstreaming disabled children, the shift that is needed from the medical model to the social model, and to the environmental changes necessary to include this seriously marginalised group. The paper will draw on 25 years of experience the author has had with developmental issues and education of children with special needs from vulnerable backgrounds.

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affordable spaces for education for all

Dr. Sreemay Basu

Director, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi

Roughly 50% of India's population continue to be outside the purview of any sort of education, formal or non-formal. The recent initiatives of the Government of India on literacy, functional literacy and vocational training are signs that this situation is unacceptable. In order to achieve universal literacy and then education with the meagre resources available, the role of built spaces needs to be examined with care. Tagore started Shantiniketan with outdoor classes under the shade of trees. This may still be possible and even appropriate at the primary levels. For adult education and literacy campaigns when classes are usually held after dusk, and for secondary levels where the sheer increase in the quantum of knowledge available to humans in the last hundred years since Tagore makes it imperative to store and retrieve information in different media, built spaces are required. However should such spaces be built through the community with indigenous materials capable of being maintained locally - or be standardised to institute large programmes of construction which may be implemented centrally for speed and quality ?

91

XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

THE VICTORIA MEMORIAL CENTRE:

A SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND IN TRANSITION

A Joint Audio-visual Presentation by the Client & Architect

Meher Aria

Director/ Member of Managing Committee, V. M. School Educationist, Teacher for the Blind

Kishore Desai

Partner, Desai & Aria - Architects, Architect & Educationist

A presentation on the additions/alterations/restoration/refurbishment of an old building (1910), with a collection of out-houses, on a large urban lot in south-central Mumbai.

The presentation will cover:-

• Site reorganisation/development (including landscape design)

• Architectural development/design

• Structural repairs/restoration

• Organisation of Services

• Organisation of Interiors

Issues of Affordability, Contextuality, Innovation/Appropriate use of materials & techniques, Sensitivity and Participatory approach to design/implementation will be focused on. Though the presentation is project-specific, it has wider implications in the eneral context of appropriate, affordable additions and alterations to existing educational buildings to meet with the changing times.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

MUMBAI VIDYA KENDRA:

THE 'BOMBAY BLUE' PRINT ON ASEFA

Students of fourth year

Academy of Architecture 1995-96

&

J. Aria, K. Desai & A. Zarapkar

Visiting Faculty for Architectural Design-Academy of Architecture

This is a presentation of an eight week group experiment with the following objectives :

1. To meaningfully respond to the ASEFA - All India Quest particularly the Quest framework.

2. To focus on only one area of operation familiar to the participants - i.e. Bombay/Mumbai (Urban India Context).

3. Within this area-focus to identify and explore a veriety of projects which, besides being site/ community specific would have wider ramification and applications.

4. To respond primarily to the immediate 'welfare/educational' needs of the 'urban communities' in a 'non-mainstream' manner.

5. The projects aim to provide short-term, immediate action for creating educational spaces in Mumbai.

About twenty areas of operation have been identified, pursued and crystallised as an initial response to the Quest. The variety of responses which have emerged as below:-

• 'Maidan' (play-ground) intervention

• Non-Use to USE

• Ruins to Use

• 'Zero' cost projects

• Network of Learning Spaces

• Legislative action projects

• Community Space Projects

• Revitalisation of Institutions

• Mobile / Temporary / Semi-Permanent Projects

The ramifications of these projects and the experience gained (including pedagogic) will be presented.

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XIII INTERNATIONAL UlA / UNESCO SEMINAR

affordable spaces for education for all

CONCLUSIONS

Issues & Recommendations :-

The Outcome of the Seminar Deliberations & Discussions as presented and ratified in the Concluding session of the 19th.

Spaces for EFA:-

- Spaces for education should include both open and covered elements.

- The in-between spaces are of key importance as they act as meeting places/areas of learning.

- Educational spaces need not be built-up spaces.

- The concept of educational spaces must be inextricably linked to essential services such as water,

sanitation, sewage disposal, etc.

- Spaces must be appropriate to the local context and conditions, whether urban or rural.

Affordability :-

- Affordability shall aim at long-term, cost-effective solutions rather than initial low-cost.

- Cost-efficiency has to be seen comprehensively: investment cost, maintenance cost, durability and construction management cost.

- Multi-use spaces, adaptation, reorganisation, and refurbishment of existing spaces will be a key strategy toward resource optimisation.

An Enabling Environment :-

- All educational spaces must be barrier free.

- They must be user-centred and learner-centred.

- Spaces shall use shape, form, proportion, colour, texture to invigorate and stimulate learning.

- Anthropomorphic, socio-economic, gender, psychological and medical considerations will contribute

to sensitive design.

- The physical in conjunction with the pedagogic, shall endeavor to provide an enabling learning

environment.

Participation

- Planners should aim to increase the role of the community in identifying the site, form and final shape of the space.

- There should be close client-planner interaction for relevant design.

- Early involvement of the user-community in all stages of design, planning, construction and maintenance will ensure ownership of the space and greater accountability.

Monitoring and Evaluation

- Monitoring must be a priority activity at every stage of construction to ,ensure quality.

- Newly designed/constructed spaces should have to undergo a performance appraisal analysis.

- Feed-back is key. Structures/spaces should undergo a post occupancy evaluation after a designated period.

- Educational structures also need to be evaluated periodically for performance value and utility with technological advances in educational practise.

- Experimental projects and innovations in developing and developed countries can learn from each others mistakes.

Partnerships & Networking

- Professional institutions, organisations and projects must actively seek to build partnerships between various disciplines - design, educational, managerial, financial, sociological, engineering and pedagogic.

- A liaising unit for architects/engineers/planners/ designers and educationists/social planners can be set up to promote information sharing.

- Governmental projects pertaining to educational spaces, shall consult both a physical planner and a social planner.

- Compilation and dissemination of a comprehensive database of agencies, institutions, projects, research on ASEFA from developing and developed countries is an urgent need.

The recommendations that have emerged out of the deliberations over the past two days, seek to address and mobilize the support of decision-makers in developed and developing countries. They also aim to sensitize practitioners in the concerned disciplines to the urgent issues raised and the need for increased collaboration in order to meet the growing demand for appropriate, affordable spaces for education for all, that provide a stimulating learning environment.