CRITICAL PEDAGOGY OF FREIRE

Freire has done a remarkable job in the development of critical pedagogy. Paulo Freire, a world-renowned educationist, was born (1921-1997) into an ordinary Brazilian family. His childhood was spent in poverty. He worked with poor workers and gained experience in what and why poverty is. Freire became a grammar teacher while still in high school. Even then his intuition pushed him toward a dialogic education in which he strived to understand learners’ expectations (Bentley, 1999) . These experiences led him to believe that ignorance, illiteracy and a culture of silence are the result of the prevailing economic conditions, social and political trends in society, which influenced his views on education. In this context, he presented a theoretical and practical outline of critical pedagogy.

Paulo Freire (1970) analyzed society through a combination of religious liberalism and Marxist thought. He called it Critical conscientization. The conscious person thus analyzes the world around him and acts collectively on the basis of what he has achieved after the analysis. The combined form of such work he called praxis. Through his book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, Freire criticized education as a banking system that stifles learners' creative potential. In this book, he made it clear how people have never learned to think critically about their situation. In his point of view, the banking (conventional) education system is one of the most important instruments for maintaining the culture of silence. He tried to prove such a fact that it is only possible to liberate people from the culture of silence and obscurity of ignorance through education and awareness. Therefore, He advised teachers to be liberal, humanitarian, and respect the freedom of the learner, and to teach participatory. He initiated the empowerment process based on the policy of utilizing the creative potential of the learners. At the same time, in his view, education should make the learner optimistic and increase correlation. But the critical approach must be strengthened.

Freire attempts to transform oppressed people and prevent them from being objects of education into subjects of their self-governance and emancipation (Aliakbari & Faraji, 2011) . With this in mind, learners have to act in a manner that enables them to transform their societies, that’s excellent performed through emancipatory education. Through problematic education and questioning of problematic issues in the lives of learners, learners learn to think critically and develop critical awareness that helps them improve their lives and take responsibility for them, measures necessary to construct a greater just and equitable society. Thus, it is often said that critical pedagogy challenges all sorts of domination, oppression and subordination in order to liberate the oppressed (Aliakbari et al., 2011) . As Kessing-Styles (2003) has mentioned, critical pedagogy is an academic reaction to inequalities and oppressive relations of power that exist in schooling system (Keesing-Styjes, 2003) . Thus, the fundamental aim of education is to achieve a critical awareness which enables individuals to prepare the ground for their progress.

CRITIQUE BANKING SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

Paulo Freire (1970) opposes the banking (traditional) concept of education and emphasizes problematic education. Because banking education begins with an illusion about human as objects, it cannot encourage development. According to him, banking education suffers from narrative illness. So the remarkable feature of this narrative education is the richness of the sound of the words, no longer their changing power (p.53). Banking education creates a situation of oppression in society and acts as a means of oppression. In this system learners are handled like a blank slate and information is accumulated by the instructor.

The focal point of Freire critical pedagogy on critical thinking is predicated on the objective realities within the person’s life (Burbules & Berk, 1999) . In contrast to different strategies, the posed-problem method has been presented by Freire requires exchange of thoughts and beliefs through dialogue in which both instructors and learners have critical cooperation in research. Freire states that education must begin with resolving the paradox of the instructor-learners, including the poles of contradiction that both the instructor and the learner belong together. He accepts that cognizance is the indication of progress and advancement. Such a progress and advancement is the main output of good critical instruction plan.

Indeed, following narrative-based method defective teaching-learning process in the educational system and also hamper from social progress and critical thinking among learners:

• The teacher teaches and the learners are taught.

• The teacher knows everything and the learners do not know anything.

• The teacher thinks and the learners are memories contents.

• The teacher speaks and the learners listen modestly.

• The teacher makes rule of discipline and the learners follow them.

• The teacher chooses and imposes his choice, and the learners command them.

• The teacher acts and the learners imitation his/her action.

• The teacher selects the contents alone, and the learners adapt to it.

• The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his/ her professional authority, which he/she determine as opposed to the freedom of the learners.

• The teacher is the main subject of the learning process, while the learners are mere objects (Freire, 1970) .

In the banking system of education, the more learners work to accumulate the deposits entrusted to them, the less they produce significant sensations that will arise out of their arbitrariness as transformers of that situation. The more they fully accept the passive role imposed on them. The more they adjust to the world in general and amassed, the divisive outlook will be on reality. According to Freire, individuals who knowingly or mistakenly use a banking approach fail to experience that deposits themselves are logical anomalies about reality. Accordingly, Freire (ibid,) refers to the metaphor of the traditional way to deal with education as the banking model of education since it resembles saving cash in a bank. This model reflects the structure of an oppressive society wherein the oppressed and the oppressors are divided. It advocates the determination of reality. So it is a vehicle for proceeding with the political mistreatment and neutralizing freedom.

EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

Freire (1970), states that educational process is not neutral. Education either works as a tool to motivate the reconciliation of generations into the logic of the existing system, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which people are critical of reality and how to take an interest in the change of their reality can. Freire adds that this doesn’t depend either on the content of the education offered or on the goodwill of the educator. The educational process itself is decisive here.

Freire therefore suggests that the nature of liberation education based on dialogue. He differentiates banking education from dialogue-based and problem-based education. Instructors are the pillars of knowledge; they know it all and the learners don’t know anything. Instructors gather information in learners and never ask those questions they know. Learners in this model are receivers of information. They receive, memorize and repeat. They are not asked to relate this knowledge to the current problems and injustice in society in order to improve society. He gets a passive role in this process.

The question raised by Freire on the education system and teaching process in the '60s is equally important in countries like Nepal today. In the teaching process, the learner is treated like a thoughtless machine. Some information specified by the curriculum is provided through one-way communication. The learner memorizes limited information, writes in the exam, and is declared to know him. But the learner has not been able to understand the real problem of his life. In other words, a person has become literate but has not become educated. In order to change this situation, the educational process has to start from the learner's experiences, and real-life problems. For this, the critical method based on collaboration with the active participation of the learners and role of facilitator of the educator in the learning process may be the basic condition. Therefore, in the educational process, the teacher must accept the freedom of the learner, and make dialogue strategy the medium of instruction.

PRACTICING FREEDOM BASED TEACHING STRATEGIES

A person by nature wants freedom. One can determine one's own direction and position. In Freire's view, education is a practice of freedom, and education should be an activity of freedom (Freire, 1970) . Therefore, the teacher should understand the method of how to maintain the opportunity of freedom to the learner in the educational process. Through this method, teachers and learners participate in the learning process in many ways, and meaningful learning occurs. It can empower both teachers and learners. Thus the teacher should use the method based on asking questions during teaching. Ask questions about problems in the learner's living situations, and allow them to think critically. With this, the learners can create new value of life for themselves. Such a state of teaching actually gives the learner an opportunity to make self-choices and self-decision making.

CHANGE IN CURRICULUM PLANNING PROCESS

The curriculum should be based on a combination of the learner's different learning experiences and learning meanings. Similarly, the curriculum should also address social issues. The aim of education is to develop in the learner proper knowledge, skills, attitude as well as human values, self-reliance, self-awareness and self-realization in the field related to various aspects of life. Therefore, when planning the curriculum, teachers or curriculum developers should think deeply about how students will achieve the expected goals of education.

The curriculum planning is based on the idea that there is no single method that can work for all people. Therefore, the curriculum is designed using the experiences of the learners and the realities of their lives (Degener, 2001) . In Freire's view, curriculum planning is a completely learners-oriented process that starts with the learner's expectations and desires. He accepts that curriculum development is a continuous process that can be achieved through the mutual participation of educators and learners. Although the role of intellectuals in curriculum planning is also important. They should participate in the process of development and transformation of the curriculum through critical dialogue and reflection on work issues and division of labor.

Based on this perspective, curriculum development is not an upward-down process and all those involved in education and learning process should play their role in educational planning in the best way. From this point of view, education is a means to make people aware, while the status quo of society impedes their mental progress due to political and social conditions (Shim, 2008) . In this context, providing of critical consciousness is seen as the starting point of the curriculum forming process from Frere's perspective.

Freire (1985) states that it is necessary to concentrate on the rural reality so as to adjust education to the realities of the country. In fact, they have tried to focus in educational planning on the fact that any curriculum must be based on the current realities of the lower classes of society. He considers that education is a political activity aimed at analyzing social relations. Such analysis develops the political consciousness of the people. Therefore, curriculum planning should be able to bring the backward communities in the society into the mainstream of education and make them aware of their political rights.

Based on Freire's curriculum perspectives, the process of expanding and developing knowledge with simultaneous work and practical participation in economic efforts is implemented. When quantitative and qualitative educational development based on critical awareness can be effective in a broader development and expansion of individual and collective life, educators associate school and educational plans with the job and economic production process. It should also be linked to political situations and cultural heritage. Freire's education focuses on the education of the oppressed. He believes that oppressed people have no critical thinking power for various reasons. Freire proposed various measures for society wherein the silent culture is dominated and the oppressed people are deprived of their rights. Knowledge of these measures is important for curriculum development.

Freire emphasizes education to help a person become self-sufficient rather than ready-made. Therefore, the curriculum should include learners' daily life experiences and techniques based on traditional skills. In addition, they need to be able to think critically and creatively, to have useful life skills while being able to lead a humane life with freedom.

CHANGE IN ROLE OF TEACHERS AND LEARNERS

According to Freire approach, the educator is a problem poser to learners. He indicates that teachers should be involved in the continuous reconstruction of their own path of curiosity, opening the doors to learning habits that benefit everyone in the classroom . In fact, Learning through problem-solving and practical application allows learners to play a more active role in determining their experiences and positions within society (Dewey, ) . Instructors should empower their learners by creating awareness about the reproducibility of the process of unequal status in school education and offering social institutions (Kincheloe & Mclaren, 1994) . Therefore, teachers must have the knowledge, skills, and ability to critique and transform existing inequalities in society. In this sense, they are transformative intellectuals. This transformative intellectual role is related to learning from learners, valuing their ideas, and participating in the dialogue process (Giroux, 1997) .

According to Freire (1998), classroom experiences with the help of instructors, should create relationships wherein learners should act as active agents in their learning and develop a critical awareness, allowing them to develop legitimacy, Help to evaluate fairness, and rights within their educational and life situations. Therefore, teachers need to be able to know the opinions of learners in the educational process, make teaching interactive, and find a way out when classroom discussions are interrupted. Teachers also have an important reflective role for creating an open and equal environment, they must engage in deeper self-reflection about their position in the classroom and the implications of their authority (Degener, 2001) .

As Horton and Freire (1990) suggest, teachers should have authority over their subject, but the learner should be given an open opportunity to express his or her views while interacting in classroom activities. In critical pedagogy, educators communicate with learners about society and culture so that they can critically reflect on different aspects of the culture they are studying and prepare to enter (Aliakbari et al., 2011) . Freire (1970) further noted that educators' efforts need to be tailored to learners to engage in critical thinking and the pursuit of mutual humanization. (p. 56). For this, the teacher should help the students to understand the reasons behind the facts. In addition, the teacher are concerned about releasing knowledge that helps learners understand how power and privilege relationships are distorted and manipulate social conditions, and help oppressed learners by identifying with them.

Learners are those who actively participate in the teaching-learning process that they together with the instructor, correct the curriculum, and they share their ideas and learn to challenge assumptions that they must engage in social critique to create a public sphere where citizens can exercise power over their own lives and learning (Giroux, 1997) . Learners contribute to curriculum decisions and determine the field of study and related reading material. Critical learners are those who can accept, reject, or suspend judgment on a claim. They can also give good reasons for their thoughts and correct their own and others' processes (Moore and Parker, 1986, as cited in Aliakbari & Faraji, 20007). Freire (1970) suggested that there is a fluid relationship between instructor and learners, that is, the teacher is a learner and a learner is a teacher. Therefore, learners are not recipients of knowledge, rather they become creators (Aliakbari et al., 2011) . Freire also affirms that "no one teaches the other, and no one is self-taught, People teach one another, mediated by the world" (p. 61). He suggests that learners should develop their knowledge power to critically understand how they are in the world and where they are; they see the world not as an unchangeable reality, but as a reality in the process of transformation.

Freire (1970) confirms learners as beings in the process of becoming - as unfinished beings. The unfinished character of the learners and the transformative nature of reality requires that education be a continuous activity. The learner isn't always only a listener; they are important co-investigators in dialogues with the instructor (p.65). Therefore, the learner has to face problems related to themselves in the circumstances and with the circumstances. They need to simply accept the challenges and be prepared to respond to that challenge. In their response, new challenges must be challenged followed by new understanding; and committed to it. Hence, co-operation and co-existence between learners and educators in learning seem necessary to improve our current education system.