Changing narratives of primary education in rural Maharashtra

[My experience from April 2016]

As a CSR Project Planning intern for Godrej Interio, one of my tasks was to plan remedial classes for a School adopted by Godrej Interio. The CSR team wanted to adopt best practices from a nearby Govt School. This School in Kenjal was coveted for its appeal and innovation in educational practices.

By now, I had an experience of 3 years with Make A Difference and was pretty well versed with the idea of an ideal education system. I also had visited plenty of rural schools that were considered 'good', all decked up in bright colors, its English-medium instruction, and appeal, barring any recognition to its mundane pedagogy. I was almost picturing the same visual for this hyped up School in Kenjal. [ prejudice and stereotype are bad qualities of a social worker, btw!]

I reach the School and i was blown at the sight of its campus and especially the assembly zone.

I calmed myself, put my skepticism back [pedagogy! focus!]  and went to meet the administration and children. 

"Let us converse in English if you don't mind, as my Hindi and your Marathi are equally bad", said Mr.Patil as the opening line, who's been serving as the Headmaster since 26 years. He began his briefing which seemed more like a well-rehearsed speech [pretty understandable, given the School's popularity].

The first unique thing about this School is the curriculum and the concept of Bagless School. The School had adopted something called ABL - Activity-based Learning for its primary classes.

Children in Maths Lab

ABL is basically a shift from the traditional methods of rote teaching. "Earlier syllabus was very limiting for a child. It wouldn't fulfill the child's dreams and hunger. And there has been a need for new and different teaching mechanisms.", continued Mr.Patil. "Imagine there is no burden of examination on this child, even though for every concept the child is being evaluated. There is no burden of learning. And we also have the concept of Bag less schools. No bags and no baggage. The National Curriculum Framework (2005) suggests that don't teach a class, but help the child in the learning process. Teachers should be more of facilitators and helpers. And these facilitators will identify the learning capabilities and give the child their own space according to grasping capacity. In 2011, Ms.Reshma Agarwal from UNICEF and an org in Pune chose 30 schools out of the 181 schools in the Tahsil under CBPR scheme (Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction) and thus began the advent of ABL."

One wall of the Marathi Lab showing basic grammar lessons

"kids from 6 to 10 years are very active and have early age influences that last a lifetime. This is the time when they have to mingle, socialize, improve and learn to help each other. There should be no gender bias, no boys rows, and girls rows. This school was established in 1914 and 2014 was its centenary year. And on this occasion, on 21st Aug 2014, an energy park was inaugurated with an investment of Rs.80 Lakh and on 22nd August 2015, this new building was constructed with special labs following our ABL curriculum. And not just this, this school has also adopted 11 other schools in Nandurba District and sends ABL material and provides teaching. We have recently supplied 3300 library books and 1000 clothes."

[This picture has no relevance to the text, but isn't it adorable?!]

Mr.Patil concludes saying, "I want to see this school go digital now. Make it a wi-fi area and see that the high school kids operate tabs and learn through them. I might be transferred in a few months. But, that doesn't make me sad anymore. as I know, wherever I go now, I'll bring about  a change like this."

Kenjal School stands as a revolutionary example changing the narrative of primary education in rural India. Instead of mundane classrooms with mediocre learning for 4 years, this School has 4 labs - Maths, EVS, Marathi, and English. The children move through different levels in each lab. By this way, all capacities of children are nurtured. Faster one gets to proceed, help others and the slower ones get the special guidance they need.

Faculty Experience

"I taught 6 years in the old method and for the last 2 years, i have been facilitating ABL. In this method, I've seen a growth in learning and individual confidence. It is now interesting to both me and my students, as both of us get different experiences. Earlier, I was a class teacher teaching all subjects, but now I am a subject teacher. By focusing on one subject, I also get to understand the student better", said Ms.Ratnamala who is the facilitator/teacher at Marathi lab.

EVS lab

"Earlier, the syllabus was only in teacher's hands, but now, the students take the initiative. All they have to do, is enter the lab, see which level are they at, go to that tray, pick up the ABL material and play along. If they're done, they come to me and they quickly move to next module. If they're struck, they first ask their friends to help, either senior level or junior, and then come to me. All I have to do is just motivate" said Ms.Rupali who is the  EVS lab facilitator.

She then eagerly pulled out a file to explain one of the activity - mapping aspirations. The kids were asked to aspire, to have a dream and role models. Each child had a different dream, which was so beautiful. [ Usually, all kids want to become teachers or constables in rural schools]. While one kid wanted to serve The Indian Army just like his grandpa, the other wanted to become a Police Officer drawing her inspiration from a recently released movie starring the famous actress. [Who said media doesn't have influence, again?!] 

"Earlier P.E.T was a separate period. But in ABL, its included in the mainstream. Creativity is also focused from the beginning." says Ms.Pratima, Maths Lab teacher. She continued " It's time we adopt such innovative methods. Teachers should begin with the change. if we have grown to adopt mobile phones, we can definitely grow better in the education sector. Our memory shouldn't be wasted on rote learning but rather creativity should be enhanced."

As I was talking to these wonderful teachers in the assembly hall, the kids had all gone to their respective labs and had already begun with their ABL. Now, that's something! [The usual sights would be the teacher shouting, banging on table, blah, bleh!]

Anganwadis [Pre-School/play school]

The best thing about this Anganwadi was the atmosphere. The teachers here had to fundraise themselves for the wall paintings in their classrooms. They had raised more than Rs.30,000 and have successfully got the painting done for one classroom. And they are now raising money for their other classroom. [and they narrate this with no sense of any extraordinary achievement, while i'm in awe asking them questions about their motivation!!] They reply by saying "Our village persons are very sweet and they've asked us to approach them for anything. and that's what we do. It's quite normal we think.". 

[Cant hide my happiness]

The Energy Park

This Energy park, adjacent to School, has simple models of mechanical energy, solar energy and wind energy applications in our daily life. Pedal for an hour and get your bulb powered for an entire day. mechanical energy innovations to water your plants, turn grains into flour, air compressors, grinders, juicers, water pumps. Just swing in your lawn/farm and your plants/fields shall be watered!! Bio-gas plants, solar cookers etc.

The swing that'll water plants and the mandatory picture with the donors' note 

P.S. By the end of my visit, I was glad to break my prejudices of rural Indian Education. And I was also glad to slightly change my perspective of CSRs. and super glad to have been a small part of Godrej Interio's CSR team.

Acknowledgements:
1. Ashwini Deodeshmukh, for being one of the most committed and empathetic managers i've ever met in my life!
2. Vaibhav Godhalekar, Kapil Dhumal , Vinay Sarode, Junaid Shah