Discovering the World of Pratham
Pratham
2:35:00 PM
By Mallika Kishore, Intern
The
first day I stepped into a 10x12 ft classroom at a ‘Balwadi’ in Mayur Vihar,
Delhi with 16 enthusiastic children between the ages of 6-14 years- my
perception of what could be achieved in educating the under-privileged children
of India, was changed forever.
The
environment was inspiring, stimulating and superbly impressive!
All
around the class, walls had been decorated with lovely creative charts of
Alphabets, Numbers, Animals, Body Parts and many more. The floors were covered
with clean, colourful woven mats. What an energetic and attractive surrounding!
The
teacher: Rekha Maám was clearly a skilled educator, who took a deep interest in
each of her pupils. She treated them like her own... often pulling them out of
their homes and firmly walking them to class!
The
lessons: I was amazed to see such a wonderful, structured curriculum being
followed and so committedly. In fact, it closely resembled the one at the ‘privileged’
school I had attended. Rekha Maám enabled this by engaging
the children through a dynamic style of teaching, mixing the concepts with
games to keep their interest alive and a very firm hand on discipline.
The
challenge here was to ensure that the children thrived in this environment- so
much so that they were drawn to attend day after day, and absorb the learning
as well. The ‘balwadi’ was clearly succeeding in it’s mission.
I
was witnessing a remarkable, organised education program in action.
Elements I Brought to the Classroom
In
this scenario, I was puzzled as to how I could contribute to this ‘replete’ classroom. My assigned role was as a support to the
teacher in running the curriculum. This I found to be an easy task and
extremely enjoyable. But, I was searching for how I could enhance the learning
experience for the children. Over the first few days, I realized that I could
add:
- Creativity to enhance understanding of the lessons
- Increased activities to build interest and attendanc
- Introduce a moral compass to build on value systems
- Reward system to motivate
The mission for my class at Pratham
was to work to re-introduce the children (who had fallen out of the curriculum due
to inconsistent attendance or parental will to send them) back to the
mainstream.
I set about to make creative learning
modules and an array of activities ranging from “Alphabet Caterpillars”, “Shape
Building”, ‘’Number Cube” and many more. I decided to introduce the children to the
simple lessons from the short stories of ’Aesop’s Fables’ which had left such
an impact in my childhood.
Mission
|
Days Assigned
|
What
|
Achievements
|
Method
|
Moral Lessons
|
14
|
Aesop’s Fables
|
Values: Lies, Common
Sense, Hard Work
|
Group Discussion- All
|
Vocabulary building: English
and Hindi
|
Summary of the Lesson- Students
|
|||
Creativity
|
26
|
Colours
|
Consolidate Alphabets, Numbers
|
Caterpillar of Alphabets, Number Cube
|
Shapes
|
Logic Skills
|
Drawing/Cutting Shapes & Creating Images
|
||
Drawing
|
Alphabets, numbers
|
Illustrate each Alphabet
|
||
Maths
|
26
|
3 Digit nos.
|
Addition & Subtraction with carry over
|
Ice- cream sticks activity
|
Rewards
|
26
|
Stars
|
Motivation
|
|
Stickers
|
Learning is fun
|
Selective Awarding: Quick learners, Top 3, Best effort
|
||
Bands
|
Reassurance & Caring
|
|||
Sweets
|
I Believe I Left Behind...
The
children had a spectrum of traits which were unusual to their respective ages
(6-9) and displayed highly developed motor skills and an infectious enthusiasm.
They took to the different creativity based exercises with zest! I found that with
my creative approach the attendance in the class as well as the joy for
learning, multiplied. I first used the system of rewards, to motivate those who
were slower to pick up taught concepts and often brought prizes to class to
further hone their desire for learning. Then, to accelerate the keenness of the
performers. The moral stories re-enforced their feelings towards right and
wrong.
I
believe I left behind love, fun and a new dimension for the learning in the
classroom and for life.
In Conclusion
With
this experience I saw how the right education, especially at a primary stage helped
children blossom across their many facets.
All
the children that I interacted with through Pratham impacted my life as well.
They gave me many laughs, warm moments, a huge sense of satisfaction and
memories to last a lifetime.
I came
away with a grass-root understanding of the education system for the children
of India and a true desire to educate those less fortunate, in every
opportunity that I can.