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Quarterly Report

June, July, August 2012

Project:

Improvement in quality of education through social science subjects and language in four
Elementary Schools in the Tadoba buffer zone villages

Overview:

June 13
th
Meeting with teachers and selection of schools
July 13
th
Meeting with teachers of 4 selected schools
14
th
Visit to Anandwan
15
th
Visit to Sewagram and meeting with Sushma Sharma
August 7
th
10
th
Working in schools
11
th
Meeting with Chandrapur historian- Prashant Durve and visit to
Gondi rulers samaadhi

Objectives:

1. To design and conduct training programs with teachers for improving education
methodology
2. To work with students and teachers to find and document the history and geography of
the villages in their own area and link it to the mainstream, known history-geography
taught in schools
3. To work with students, teachers and parents (including community) to study linguistic
patterns in the area and increase parents participation in learning teaching process
4. To study biodiversity of the area and design the ways of conservation of forest and wild
life
5. To document the history and cultural patterns of the area, which can contribute to the
preservation of Adivasi culture






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JUNE
13
th
, Wednesday- Chandrapur
Participation in the meeting of teachers conducted by IIE and
selection of 4 schools for the project-

4 Schools in Bhadravati district were selected for implementation
of the project by Mekhla:
2 schools of Mudholi village- Zilla Parishad (ZP) School
and Saraswati Vidyalay (High School)
Katwal village- ZP School
Villoda village- ZP School

It was decided to work mainly with students of Standard VII and demonstrate some modules and
methodologies of teaching, mainly History, Geography, Language (Marathi) and Environment, with an
effort to rediscovering the history and geography of the area and linking it to the content in the
textbooks. The focus would be on experiential learning and generation of knowledge through productive
work.
This would be facilitated by Mekhla and carried out by teachers, students with as much village
participation as possible.
Shilpa Ballal from Mekhla spoke to the teachers about the proposed plan for the whole year. It was
decided to have a meeting with teachers from all 4 schools in Mudholi ZP school 13
th
of next month.

JULY
13
th
, Friday- Mudholi
Meeting with 4 schools Teachers at Mudholi-

Teachers from all 4 schools of Mudholi, Katwal and Villoda
assembled at the Mudholi ZP school for a meeting. Shilpa
discussed the proposed plan of the project for the year with the
enthusiastic participation of all teachers. Along with trying to
reconnect children with their own local history and geography,
the stress was on breaking compartmentalisation of education
and integrated teaching methodologies. In this regard,
possibilities of work-based learning were discussed. Professionals
from the village, e.g. Cycle repair shop owner- could be invited
to interact and teach children, with teachers linking different subjects together.

As an exposure to the significance of their own area, an excursion of students as well as teachers to
important historical sites like Sewagram Ashram or Bhadravati caves as well as interactions with subject
experts like archaeologists, historians etc. was proposed. Also some activities with the participation and
cooperation of the respective village communities were proposed for- like film show, exhibition and night
star gazing.

These activities would be carried out whenever possible in this year, subject to planning and permissions
from education department authorities, for the excursions, which would be mainly handled by the
teachers. Mekhla would be responsible for liaison with the subject experts and permissions, if required at
the sites.

We also visited each of the 4 schools for a short time; to get a feel of each school we would be working
it. There was also a brief interaction with the students in each school.

To begin with, teachers seemed enthusiastic, cooperative and open to new ideas. It would be interesting
to see how the project progresses.





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14
th
, Saturday- Warora

Visit to Anandwan-
It was very important to visit Anandwan to see the great, pioneering work and perspective of Baba Amte
and Sadhanatai Amte. Here, students would be exposed to values such as compassion and the fight
against all odds, for dignity of life through self-reliance. Since Anandwan is a one-of-its-kind institution,
the fact that it is in Vidarbha, would also make students feel a sense of pride and attachment.
A potential visit of students and teachers to Anandwan was discussed, but it was suggested by Anandwan
authorities that the rainy season would not be a very suitable time for such a visit.

15
th
, Sunday- Wardha

Visit to Sewagram Ashram
Another place of high significance and value in the Vidarbha region, Sewagram ashram is an enriching
experience.
A visit to Sewagram would be an excellent exposure to our national history for students, because
important events of our freedom struggle have connections to this ashram and Gandhijis way of life and
principles can be witnessed here in a concrete form.
Here again, the fact that our countrys great leader spent a considerable amount of time in their area,
would give students a sense of pride and belonging.

Meeting with Sushma Sharma Principal, Anand Niketan (Nai Taleem School)
Anand Niketan is a school based on Gandhijis concept of Nai Taleem. The meeting with Sushma
Sharma, the schools Principal was very productive. An exposure of the teachers from our 4 schools was
proposed to the Nai Taleem School in Wardha, so that they could see a model of work-based education
for themselves.

AUGUST
7
th
11
th
, Tuesday- Friday- Katwal, Mudholi, Villoda

School sessions
A whole day was devoted to each of the 4 schools,
demonstrating methodologies of interactive, integrated
learning. The sessions were planned mainly with Std. VII but
for 3 schools (Katwal, Villoda and Mudholi ZP) students from
Std. VI too were included, since numbers were low. The
students were encouraged to ask as many questions as they
could think of about anything, any subject, anything they
wondered about in their surroundings. Initially they were shy,
but soon they came up with some very interesting questions:
Some examples

- Why does the flame of a lamp get extinguished if one blows into it and why does the burning
coal burn more brightly when one blows into it?
- Which people are red in colour?
- Where does the sky rest? (

?)
- Is the sun going to finish soon?
- Is the earth bigger or the sun?

There was a discussion about these questions for a long time giving references of their own surroundings-
their village, their district and state. Then a Pre- project testing questionnaire was filled out by students
individually. This was to see how much they know about their own surroundings and what they feel about
their own language, backgrounds, ambitions to see their general confidence levels. At the end of the year,
a similar post-project questionnaire would be filled from the students, to know if anything has changed in
course of the year.




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Katwal School :































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Villoda School :









Mudholi ZP School :







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Mudholi Saraswati School :
































Links emerged from the discussions itself and we jumped from one subject to another, finding answers,
further links and more questions. All the different textbooks were referred to from time to time, thus
linking the outside world with the syllabus. The goal of this was to break compartmentalisation of
education, and use interactive tools to convey concepts, rather than just stick to the words in the
textbooks. Singing poems aloud and watching short video clips, poring over maps and reference books,
various group activities and a demonstration in the open, outside the classroom, for various subjects-
History, Geography, Science, Mathematics, Language were some of the methodologies used. Students
responded very well to these sessions.

Here is an example from the sessions showing how the subjects flowed into each other:

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Language : Poem
Contents
Discussions about
values in our
Constitution
Language: poem
about one of the
values- Brotherhood
Who wrote this poem? Who
was Sane Guruji? History-
Freedom struggle
Mathematics number line,
calculating age/ time
between different ages
History Ancient, Medieval
and Modern eras
Anthropology Human
civilization
Sociology dignity of labour,
future ambitions
Language
Since the class was
conducted outside 4
walls of classroom.
Why do we have preamble to
constitution in every textbook?
Discussion about how all subjects
are related to each other.

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Language
Geography natural
resources, forests
Geography
characteristics of our
own area
Geography Map reading
+ Working in a group
Astronomy
Outdoor game
They have been asked to write a small note about what they want
to become when they grow up and find out different lessons from
their Marathi text book about some people and their ambitions.

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11
th
, Saturday- Chandrapur

Meeting with historian and history teacher- Prashant Durve
We met Mr. Prashant Durve, a history teacher and researcher, and told him about the project. He was
very interested and gave us a very positive response. He and his circle would be a great help in retracing
and documenting local history.

CONCLUSIONS AND LEARNINGS

1. The selected villages, though in the Tadoba buffer zone, have been part of the mainstream for quite
some time. After visiting the schools and villages we understood that this area does not have any
distinctly different linguistic pattern, so, we will have to see how much we would be able to
document that aspect. Here the language of the people is by and large Marathi. Still, we would be
bringing in the correlation of language and confidence; i.e. the local usage of Marathi in their area
and how that is in no way inferior to that spoken in cities or in western Maharashtra.
2. Overall the response of the teachers has been quite good and over the 3 meetings we have had in
these 3 months, it seems to be growing. But, even though we specifically mentioned that the
concerned teachers should remain in class to observe our session, not many of them did. When the
teachers were present, they were prompting the children quite a bit, which was not conducive to the
childrens participation and learning. The teachers need to be really oriented about how to
communicate with the children- they are not open to questions, mistakes and a general atmosphere
of freedom in class. Even the smallest movements of children were restricted, which puts the children
under pressure and shuts them up.
3. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. Their insatiable thirst for knowledge and excitement to
Do things rather than just sit inside the
classroom was very evident. Students from other
classes also came to watch all the activities. Even
the quieter students soon started volunteering on
their own for activities. The students were even
ready to miss their PT/ games time for this kind
of learning, which is something not often seen in
our schools. Initially, when we suggested it,
children were not enthusiastic about doing
agriculture in school. But later, when we talked
positively about it, they agreed.

4. There are some children, who are much more active in class. Usually, boys volunteer and participate
more than girls in class. We feel that this is mainly because only boys are encouraged to speak, made
to take responsibilities like conducting the assembly etc. They sit in front in the class, while girls
automatically recede into the background. This is part of the gender inequality rampant in our
country, which we will take up strategically during this work.
There were some very simple but crucial things done during the session, that, if continued can
contribute to building a more inclusive attitude amongst the children.
Sitting in a circle, rather than in rows; everyone is equal in a circle, children can see each
other and interact better
In the 2
nd
half of the session, the circle was made to rotate, so that the children sitting in the
back of the class came to the front (near the blackboard)
References were constantly given to the values of Equality, Liberty, Justice, Secularism and
no discrimination based on gender, caste or class, enshrined in the Constitution.
5. It is noticed that children are quite lacking in understanding of very basic concepts in almost all
subjects. E.g.: They did not know what the Constitution was, that it was actually a written book. They
did not know much about the Solar System. They had probably never looked at a world map
properly before. They had never been explained the meaning of the Preamble to the Constitution or
any of the poems, all of which they knew by rote. This is certainly not a comment on the capacities
of the children, but in fact must be attributed to a largely indifferent attitude of the teachers and the
tendency propagated in our education system to just learn everything by rote rather than take the
trouble to understand concepts.

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To talk about the schools individually:
Katwal ZP School
On interaction with the teachers, we discover that the school has no village support. When
preparing a small plot to plant a crop was suggested, the teachers said that the school gate has
no lock and the village youths have been known to enter the school premises, uproot saplings,
soil toilets and generally break things in the school compound.
One of the teachers himself did not know the order of planets in the solar system. During our
session, when we played our Solar system game outside the class, he sheepishly confessed that
since he had not yet reached that part in the syllabus, he did not know. This is only reflective
of the weak grounding of the teachers an inherent systemic fault which continues. This also
may be the reason they do not encourage questions.

Mudholi ZP School
This school had an intensely disheartening atmosphere. The HMs behaviour with the children
was very rude, even hurtful at times. He kept putting them down because of their humble
backgrounds, even referred to the drunkard fathers.
To their credit, some of the teachers here were present during our whole session and seemed
enthusiastic about getting involved. Only thing, they kept prompting the children and seemed a
bit worried about the children always giving the right answers, which we do not expect at all.
The children are quite distracted and compared to the other schools, were quite noisy and
uncontrollable. Again, this is not pointed out as their fault but as a result of the general,
disorganised air of the school.
The school building is dilapidated, cramped and quite unclean.

Saraswati Vidyalay (Mudholi High school)
This school has a very nice campus; lots of green, open space all around and good classrooms.
All the teachers seemed genuinely interested to see the new methodologies and even teachers of
other classes came to observe the session. But again, teachers interference and prompting
students was an issue.
Compared to the other schools, the students here seem to have better knowledge of basic
concepts and answered readily. This may be because of their better off background back home
and better general atmosphere of the school.
2 students have been identified to teach agriculture in the planting a crop session planned for
September.
When we were there, Tree plantation was done by some students from the higher classes;
saplings given by the Gram Panchayat were planted. Many such trees have been planted in the
school grounds and here they dont seem to have any issue with vandalism, like in Katwal.

Villoda ZP School
This school was by far the most positive experience for us. We saw students come early to
school, not merely to run and play on the ground, but to actually clean the campus, write on the
notice board and prepare for the morning assembly. (This supposedly happens every morning)
The most amazing sight was to see one of the teachers actually join the children and sweep the
ground himself. He was directing the children in a very pleasant manner, without shouting at
them.
The children also seemed to be at ease and communicated with the teachers voluntarily and
directly; a rare sight in our hierarchical education system. Even in our very first, short visit to
Villoda in July, we saw a teacher actually console a crying child in a very caring manner.
The morning assembly was a wonderful demonstration of simple, small efforts that make all the
difference to everyday activities in school. After the usual prayers and national anthem, some
Std. VII students conducted the rest of the assembly. This included a story reading, Thought for
the day, Samaanya Gyaan- general knowledge questions (that the students searched and
prepared themselves) posed to the rest of the students, ji taarikh to paadha - one of the
students reciting the multiplication table according to the date that day etc.

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Here, we would specifically like to mention, that the teachers talked in a very respectful and
loving tone with the children. Participating, talking and asking questions was encouraged.
Compared to other schools where children were constantly being told to be quiet, the teachers
here specifically told the children to interact as much as they could with us and not be shy.
In the lunch break, we had a detailed discussion with the teachers about our concept and the
state of the education system and in India in general. The teachers seemed to have a deep
awareness of rural problems. They shared their issues frankly and showed a genuine desire to
learn more and improve their methodologies. The irony is however that almost all the teachers
at the Villoda school are not permanent; they are Assistant Teachers (Sahaayak Shikshak). In the
face of this fact, one has to really think about the reasons for motivation (and demotivation) of
teachers in our education system.

6. On enquiry at Anandwan, a time after the monsoon would be a better time for a visit. Given the
time and budgetary constraints of the project, only one exposure is possible. But our focus being
reconnecting children to their own local history, geography and environment, a visit to the
Bhadravati and/or Markanda caves would be better. Also, we feel that a sensitive place like
Anandwan would require a different level of orientation of the children.

Our Logistics : Getting to the villages from Pune is not smooth. There are limited buses and trains.
Also, from Wardha, Warora or Chandrapur, it is quite beyond the budget to hire a taxi to go to the
villages every month. So we have to depend on a very uncertain public transport system of a single
bus from these centres into the interiors. Through one of the Mudholi High School teachers, we have
found a satisfactory accommodation in Mudholi village itself. We are most happy to stay in the
village, but transport between the villages is not always convenient. Again, since we do not have our
own transport, we have to depend on the single bus that plies between the villages. This greatly
cramps our mobility and flexibility.

Also, to liaison with some subject experts and procure study and other material, we have to stay at
Chandrapur atleast for a couple of days. This is proving to be quite costly. If travel costs were taken
care of, it would definitely save time and help the implementation of the project. This should be
considered seriously.

FUTURE PLANS
1. We have planned with the schools to take one crop of Paalak or Methi in the next month. It is
subject to the schools making some preparations for the plot of land for the same.
2. In September we plan to visit the Bhadravati and Markanda caves accompanied by the subject
experts from Chandrapur, for an initial recce, in preparation for taking the children there. The
main element of this visit would be documentation of the places to be discussed with the
students in terms of exploring their own history and giving it to the ASI for their records.
3. An exposure visit of the teachers has been arranged in September to the Nai Taleem School in
Wardha along with an interaction with the Principal of the school- Sushma Sharma. A visit to
Sewagram Ashram is also planned in anticipation of October, which would focus on Gandhian
thought and concept of education.
4. Trainings with teachers would orient them in interactive teaching methodologies, which they
would actually demonstrate in the coming months in their respective classes. We hope for good
levels of participation from the teachers and to gradually move into a facilitation role.




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Pre and Post testing questions
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