An excellent start has been made to IHEU’s campaign against popular superstition with the launch on 27 August 2007 of a unique Science Education Programme in India.

A project of two of IHEU’s Member Organisations, the Social Development Foundation (SDF) and the Indian Radical Humanist Association (IRHA), and fully funded by IHEU with €6000, the project will engage the services of a full-time teacher, deliver anti-superstition activist training in several parts of India and also adopt five villages and five village schools in remote areas of Nalgonda, one of the most backward districts of Andhra Pradesh state. At a conservative estimate, the project will have a direct and long-term impact on 500 school-going children, and 7500 adults.

Nalgonda district was chosen for the school programme because of stories of human sacrifice and frequent reports of witch killings from this district near Hyderabad, one of India’s important IT hubs. The project will have a travelling exhibition with models and charts that can be used in public outreach programmes and distributed to other non-governmental organisations and schools in the neighbourhood. Children and their parents will be given education and information on hygiene, nutrition and health to improve the lives of those who are victims of dangerous superstition. Teachers will be offered teacher-training.

IHEU is very happy that Mr. Chandraiah, well-known mathematics populariser and anti-superstition activist, has joined this two-year programme as a full-time teacher. All the headmasters and teachers have enthusiastically welcomed the project. It is very encouraging that these headmasters have seen this as more than a school education project; it is a programme of social reform with schools as an entry point to the community.

Prof. Narendra Nayak, President of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, and National-Level Master Trainer of the National Network of Science Technology and Communication is a volunteer advisor.

Engaging Children

Chandraiah has been recently involved in anti-superstition activities in schools in the Chirala and Inkolle area of Andhra Pradesh, thanks to privately raised funds. Now, with IHEU’s support, his activist talents and energy will be available full time to the project for the next two years. One day a week, he will teach in classes 6, 7, 8 and 9 (ages 11—14) in each of the four High Schools and one primary school, following an agreed schedule and syllabus. All of the schools are Government-run and attract pupils from the poorest of poor families.

A mixture of song, dance and magic tricks will be used to expose children to the fun and delights of science and mathematics. During classes they will be challenged to think for themselves, will be exposed to Humanist ideas, and encouraged to examine their traditions and values. As Humanist ideas reach them at a young and impressionable age, they are likely to have long-term impact and even transform the atmosphere in the rural setting where the project will be implemented.

Involving Adults

Chandraiah will be attached to the schools during the school working days and during the rest of the time he will be engaged in miracle-exposure programmes in the neighbouring villages. He will also travel to Humanist groups in the region to help in their work.

At weekends, cultural events and informal activities will be organised in the villages with local participation: the children will perform in the cultural activities so that the parents also develop a stake in these activities.

Training Activists

SDF and IRHA will also invite Chandraiah and Prof. Nayak to different parts of the country (Hyderabad, Chirala and Madanepalle in Andhra Pradesh; Kushinagar, Gazipur and New Delhi in North India; Godhra, Ahmedabad and Mehmadabad in Gujarat and Bangalore and Mangalore in Karnataka) to impart training to rationalist activists in exposing miracle claims.

Scaling Up

There is a crying need for such programmes to be replicated all over Asia and Africa, and IHEU will work with the implementing organisations and other partners to document the activities and collate the teaching material. Using that as a base, and with the help of the rationalist activists who will have been trained, the aim is to enlarge the area of work and the number of schools involved.

Babu Gogenini is International Director of IHEU