1. It's sex segregated. Men sit at one table, women at the other two. Occasionally a male teacher will wander over to speak to a female teacher for some reason, but it's rare. My friend Nidhi explained the rationale: women want to talk about their personal lives, and men prefer not to discuss such things (marriage, relationships). Women talk about cooking, family, children, husbands; men discuss politics, government, etc. While I usually enjoy my time with the 'aunties', I can't imagine being confined to these conversational roles; I'm going a little nuts as it is. Outside the staff room different rules seem to apply, and I've had one or two interesting conversations with male teachers.
(This issue is related to a more complex one concerning gender roles in India).
2. The school is rigidly hierarchical: The KV board, a central government authority, hires teachers, and, after three years, gives them tenure; principals can recommend that substandard teachers with tenure be transferred to another post--you know, like somewhere they don't want to go-- but can't fire anyone.
But while the principal doesn't have hiring or firing power, she does have the authority to dress down teachers publicly, aggressively. I watched such a dressing down today: it was awful, and even though I didn't know enough Hindi to make out exactly what was going on, the gist was pretty clear. (Principal ma'am, as she's known, was angry that so many teachers were hanging out in the staff room instead of helping out during morning assembly). The teachers tried to explain themselves, but spent a lot of time navel gazing, and offering awkward looking explanations.
This rigid hierarchy extends to the students: there are prefects and class monitors who take the names down of students who misbehave (if they're doing their job, that is), and the students who try hard to impress their teachers, even when their efforts aren't *quite* the right ones. :-) They care so much about pleasing the adult in the room.
3. My presence: Indians, like the ancient Greeks, place a high value on hospitality. I've been given so many gifts, flowers, and blessings, particularly at the schools I've visited (St. Mark's; St. Mudgal's). Weirdly, I've felt a lot less welcome at my school. I spent the first week smiling,a lot, at everyone, and I got some smiles in return, but not as many as I'd hoped. My mentor teacher told me I needed to dress differently, because skirts are 'too casual' here. (Oy). One student, a particularly bright tenth grader, today said to me, "you know, you're not really friends with the other teachers". She wasn't trying to be rude, just matter of fact; and she's right. I'm friends with a couple of teachers--who speak English--but still get stern glares from many of the other women. I keep inviting myself into peoples' classes, but haven't received any invitations.
I wish I knew why so many of my colleagues see me as such a threat. My hunch is that they don't even know why I'm there, so are, maybe rightly, wary.
And, it's possible I may have inadvertently alienated people: I spend a good portion of my free time writing in my notebook; one day my mentor caught me writing down some 'frustrations' about the day, which she read over my shoulder (and then asked if it was okay for her to read them). I was so embarrassed, and furious.
The teachers at K.V.M.M leave at 1.45, as soon as they can, and only a few, those who teacher 11th and 12th graders, stay after to correct work. The teaching profession is not, in general, well regarded in India (a big problem), and I've only met one student who wants to be a teacher when she grows up; everyone else wants to be an engineer (though they can't really say what sort, or why they want this particular job). One of the consequences of rapid development seems to be that not every sector develops at the same rate/pace.
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